Evaluation and Feasibility Study of Retrofitting Interventions on Social Housing in Italy

Abstract While there are an increasing number of new projects aiming at combining high residential quality and low power consumption, it is clear that the main challenge in the short term concerns the performance upgrading of the existing residential buildings stock. The feasibility analysis should consider the economic implications of the retrofit projects. A Disocunted Cash Flow analysis can be implemented in order to investigate the economic aspects of such interventions. The DCF approach allows the analysis of costs as well as the revenues and savings with the objective of understanding the period of time needed to recover the initial investment

An advanced design approach to support urban transformations through multi-stakeholder collaborations

Urban transformations depend on the uses of the city by “old” and new citizens (residents, workers, migrants, refugees, students, seasonal, homeless individuals, tourists, city-users, commuters), and on their relation within urban spaces and resources, triggering regenerative opportunities, networking and empowerment processes. Considering the city and its heritage as a common good, in which each citizen could access and play for the knowledge, management, conservation and transformation of urban contexts, the contribute illustrates the results of experimental actions in Bologna (IT) finalized to test new stakeholder engagement processes and to develop new tools for participatory practices and new productions for the reactivation of the city. In the last years Bologna represents a field of experimentation for different forms of collaborative approaches with the aim to test and innovate tools and policies for the public space. The paper presents the results of specific projects linked to EU funding schemes (ROCK project) and local multi-stakeholder initiatives, such as the Bologna Design Week, which are part of the research and experimentation carried out by the research unit team. This article illustrates a model to improve the regenerative capacities of the city, by reinforcing local identity and culture, fostering participation through active engagement of all relevant stakeholders, allowing a diversity of responses of groups of actors with different roles and different strengths

Rethinking social housing: behavioural patterns and technological innovations

The building sector accounts for 40% of energy use and 25% of CO2 emissions, mainly due to inefficient building practices and energy consumption during the operational phase of buildings. Social housing accounts for a significant proportion of the European building stock and about 50% of the existing buildings are likely to require large-scale renovations in the coming years, meeting the current EPBD directive. This could represent an opportunity to renovate the affordable building stock, often characterized by premature disrepair, resulting in a bad perception from inhabitants and community. Significant European experiences have already shown the importance of an integrated approach finalized to the construction or renovation of social housing, leveraging on environmental sustainability, creating urban identity, adopting measures to face social disadvantage, offering at the same time quality housing standard. In this regard, it seems necessary to match technological advancements and knowledge in energy retrofitting with social needs and habits. The implementation of energy-efficiency improvements in social housing requests support and participation of the final energy consumer. The paper investigates how to deal with knowledge gaps in the relationship between retrofit technologies and users\u2019 behaviour and possible strategic measures to increase awareness between tenants through two case studies

From the Redevelopment of High-density Suburban Areas

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND GREENING STRATEGIES AS ENABLING PRACTICES FOR INCLUSIVE AND RESILIENT CITIES

The climate change challenges call for innovative and sustainable policies and governance models, capable of achieving adaptation and mitigation goals working on a necessary behavioural societal change, both at individual and collective levels. Cities and their public spaces represent an ideal ground for the implementation of innovative strategies, which combine participatory and engagement practices to physical transformations of urban areas in a regenerative perspective. Co-design and participatory paths can trigger reactivation and re-appropriation of underused spaces, generate new dynamics in the public space use and provide effective solutions to tackle climate change, improving outdoor microclimatic comfort conditions. The implementation of demonstrative and temporary interventions – based on greening actions co-created with local administrations, stakeholders and citizens and supported by technologies – represents a viable and effective practice in order to experiment, test, monitor and evaluate shared pathways to more liveable, resilient and sustainable cities. This combined approach was experimented in the Bologna University area by the EU Horizon 2020 project ROCK – Regeneration and Optimisation of Cultural Heritage in Creative and Knowledge Cities (GA 730280) – through a series of pilot actions aimed at public open space utilization and potential enhancement in particular in the historical city centres, generating new resilient processes in terms of environmental sustainability and social inclusion

Library Indoor microclimate monitoring with and without heating system. A Bologna University Library case study

This paper aims to illustrate and give an interpretation of the results emerged from a pilot activity developed within the ROCK project, by the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum. Through this activity, we studied the indoor microclimate of the University Library of Bologna (BUB), in the Archive and in the Lecture Hall, with the aim to detect how these spaces are affected by the influence of factors such as the outdoor climate and the cooling and heating systems. Moreover, the paper presents the customisation of the probes’ alert system and of the probes itself, used for a one-year monitoring campaign started on the 20th of December 2018. In addition, we calculated the Heritage Microclimate Risk index, to verify the level of risk to which the heritage in the Library is exposed due to the indoor microclimate, and the Predicted Risk of Damage index, that evaluate the more specific risks of damage to which precise objects hosted in there are exposed. Therefore, this paper enriches the research field of Historic Indoor Microclimate, started in 2013, which concerns issues as preventive conservation and restoration in historic buildings. The new insights about the Bologna University Library facilitate the possibility to draw up a specific ‘Indoor Microclimate Management Protocol (IMMP)’ aimed at the preventive conservation of manuscripts and books in historical libraries

Collective energy actions to pursue a just transition.

The EU recent energy policies aim to rapidly transition to a sustainable and citizen-centric energy system. However, most regulations do not fully acknowledge the social aspect of the energy transition. The relationship between collective energy action (energy citizenship) and the just transition framework requires further examination. This paper aims to explore the relationship between just transition and energy citizenship in Southern European collective energy actions, showcasing their association and varied impacts based on agency dynamics, contextual factors, and governance models. It also proposes new tools and analytical lenses to assess and govern place-based collective energy actions, complementing policy-making efforts

An advanced design approach to support urban transformations through multi-stakeholder collaborations

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Product innovation: lessons learned from some experiences of collaboration between University and SMEs

EU standards and rules concerning energy efficiency in the building sector are pushing to achieve ever-higher performances. This also represents a strong driver for innovative construction techniques, inducing manufacturers to invest professional and financial resources in the development of building components that can meet the highest quality and performance standards. During the last decades, many components have been developed to improve the energy efficiency of the building envelope. This paper summarizes three research activities entrusted by private companies to the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna from 2009 to 2012, aiming at increasing the energy performances of building components and systems. Several themes had to be addressed: two different dry construction systems and a range of installation configurations for airtightness for high quality windows. Although focused on different and specific issues, some criteria common criteria were applied on all three researches: it allowed to outline an approach suitable to be applied in further contexts