Strategies and design tools for smart residential interventions for the elderly

The ageing population is a global phenomenon that is gradually modifying the demographic structures of our cities, imposing a change in the housing demand for seniors, aimed at making the elderly more productive, autonomous and independent, also through the use of modern digital technologies. According to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the 2030 Agenda, the paper investigates the main research guidelines on the theme, in order to identify the orientations and specificities that will condition the next culture of the project, in the particular case of residential interventions for the elderly. The study shows a differentiated knowledge framework in which various housing models and the possible application of advanced ICT/IOT systems are explored, considering the most sustainable and innovative design solutions, in order to delineate strategies and design tools useful for future replicable interventions in different contexts of use

Abitazioni per anziani e tecnologie digitali. Prospettive, processi e scenari futuribili.

Nel contesto di una società che invecchia, l’innovazione tecnologica dettata dall’eradigitale apre nuove frontiere e ambiti di ricerca sul tema degli spazi abitativi e urbaniper anziani. Le opportunità offerte dall’inserimento delle ICT nell’ambiente costruitoprefigurano nuovi scenari insediativi, basati sull’integrazione di servizi digitali innovativi.A partire dall’approfondimento di modelli prototipali di ‘case intelligenti’, il contributopropone una riflessione critica sui processi, i prodotti e i servizi possibili che possonoessere implementati nelle future abitazioni per anziani per agevolare nuove forme dibenessere, sicurezza e inclusione sociale. Rispetto alle sperimentazioni in corso, vengono delineate nuove possibili dinamiche di innovazione di processo e di prodotto, ipotizzando l’applicazione di sistemi smart a contesti abitativi reali

Multidisciplinary approach for a new vision of urban requalification. Multi-scale strategies of social innovation, economic improvement and environmental sustainability practices

Ponència presentada a: Session 7: Participación en planeamiento / Participation in planning. Environmental and hermeneutic plannin

Multidisciplinary approach for a new vision of urban requalification. Multi-scale strategies of social innovation, economic improvement and environmental sustainability practices

Ponència presentada a: Session 7: Participación en planeamiento / Participation in planning. Environmental and hermeneutic plannin

Multidisciplinary approach for a new vision of urban requalification. Multi-scale strategies of social innovation, economic improvement and environmental sustainability practices.

This work is an operative best practice of new methodological approach that connects three disciplines - Planning, Design and Environmental Technological Design – in a holistic project. A multidisciplinary approach is necessary to understand the complexity of urban phenomena meeting social, economic and environmental needs. It is very important boosting virtuous mechanisms for urban regeneration spreading innovation, guiding and shaping spontaneous social-change initiatives, starting from local traditions. The work team was involved in an international workshop, called “Urban Village and Renovation Design”, took between Rome and Shanghai, within May and November 2016, in collaboration with the School of Design and Arts, East China Normal University of Shanghai. Our research team composed by planners, architects and designers has drawn up a methodology in order to apply it in a small rural village requalification project in China. The town, named XibinZhen (Fujian Region) is undergoing in an economic and social contraction process which is bringing it to an incessant depopulation. We recognize landscape aspects, in our case the Youxi River, like a key resources to improve the urban area and the identity related with the context. The methodology is composed in this way: 1) research and analyses in order to know places and ongoing multiscale phenomena; 2) collection of international best practices and references applicable in the specific case study; 3) brainstorming in which different disciplinary figures, local stakeholders and citizens are involved; 4) design strategies considering different stakeholders needs and different cultural approach or points of view: 5) starting from those strategies, definition of specific goals for a design concept and a sub sequential project propose. Our proposal is composed by multi-scale strategies of social innovation, economic improvement, environmental sustainable practices, through a new setting of spaces and uses. Our new vision of Xibin Town runs around three key words for development: “new”, that is to have a “for change” approach; “river”, that is to recognize what we may call “genius loci”; “town”, that is to recognize the urban character of Xibin and its role in a broader context. The three themes on which we set up the project strategy are: · ENVIRONMENT: two linear promenades (the Urban Promenade and the Green Promenade), of new public space for the town with different characters related to the different nature of the waterfronts, north and south. The implementation of landscape qualities (industries on the facing coasts) · URBAN LIFE: two axes: the Urban Axis that consolidates and upgrades the vital core of the collective life, organizing places and activities from the city gate by the Boulevard to the Market Street, to administration and public services (the Civic Street and the Civic Center); the Heritage Path that works between tradition and innovation, organizing step by step from culture to nature (traditional ateliers street, green street, educational theme park) · Functional to these themes is the MOBILITY SYSTEM, re-organized fundamentally in an Urban Ring that distributes the main traffic. The final output is a masterplan which collects and coordinates all the specific project actions redefining spaces, the use of them and architecture, starting from a reinterpretation of traditional technology and local material

Senior smart housing. Housing for the elderly as a community social infrastructure

The situation of multiple socioeconomic and housing emergency crises associated with the ageing of the population raises new challenges for the construction industry. Establishing a relationship between people, the environment and digital technologies opens up broad possibilities for design innovation and in relation to construction, management and use practices in housing for the elderly. This paper investigates evolved housing models composed of interoperable ICT/IoT technological and spatial solutions. The objective of the research is to draw up a code of practice, starting from environmental and technological requirements for spaces and services, as well as quality and performance indicators (KPI) for a new culture of dwelling, with provisions for their replicability, adaptability and scalability to a variety of use settings

Green Infrastructure to reduce cooling loads and heat stress in Mediterranean Climates

Climate change impact on cities and urban warming due to anthropogenic effects are urgent problems to be solved. Among the most beneficious strategies to reduce those impacts we can account the development of green infrastructures in cities, a kind of intervention that assure both mitigation of global warming by reducing greenhouse gases emissions, and adaptation to warmer urban environments. This work presents a building simulation and machine learning methodology to estimate the energy and comfort-related benefits that can be obtained by using a green infrastructure to shadow buildings' façades and roofs. We used previously developed simulation models to test the energy savings provided by different types of trees planted to produce shadows on buildings. Then, we tested different algorithms to predict using a machine learning approach the saving that can be obtained in different buildings-trees contexts for the cities of Catania, Rome, Santiago de Chile and Viña del Mar. Results show that the saving obtained is in the range 5-60%, mainly depending on the number of façade shadowed and on the specie of trees; and the prediction accuracy of machine learning process is over 90% for a binary classification (energy saving > 15% or <15%

Silver (I) N-Heterocyclic Carbene Complexes: A Winning and Broad Spectrum of Antimicrobial Properties

The evolution of antibacterial resistance has arisen as the main downside in fighting bacterial infections pushing researchers to develop novel, more potent and multimodal alternative drugs.Silver and its complexes have long been used as antimicrobial agents in medicine due to the lack of silver resistance and the effectiveness at low concentration as well as to their low toxicities compared to the most commonly used antibiotics. N-Heterocyclic Carbenes (NHCs) have been extensively employed to coordinate transition metals mainly for catalytic chemistry. However, more recently, NHC ligands have been applied as carrier molecules for metals in anticancer applications. In the present study we selected from literature two NHC-carbene based on acridinescaffoldand detailed nonclassicalpyrazole derived mono NHC-Ag neutral and bis NHC-Ag cationic complexes. Their inhibitor effect on bacterial strains Gram-negative and positivewas evaluated. Imidazolium NHC silver complex containing the acridine chromophore showed effectiveness at extremely low MIC values. Although pyrazole NHC silver complexes are less active than the acridine NHC-silver, they represent the first example of this class of compounds with antimicrobial properties. Moreover all complexesare not toxic and they show not significant activity againstmammalian cells (Hek lines) after 4 and 24 h. Based on our experimental evidence, we are confident that this promising class of complexes could represent a valuable starting point for developing candidates for the treatment of bacterial infections, delivering great effectiveness and avoiding the development of resistance mechanisms

BIM e AAL: la rappresentazione digitale per la gestione degli spazi abitativi informati per l’Ambient Assisted Living

Il contributo illustra lo sviluppo di un modello digitale di abitazione assistita (AAL) per utenze deboli e anziani per il controllo e per la gestione dei flussi di informazione riferiti all’inserimento in ambiente di sistemi di Intelligenza Artificiale, attraverso una piattaforma web basata su un’architettura BIM di condivisione dei dati secondo processi informativi aperti e interoperabili.The contribution illustrates the development of the digital model of an Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) home for frail end-users and older adults, for the control and the management of information flows referred to the integration of Artificial Intelligence systems into the environment, through a BIM data-sharing platform, based on open and interoperable information processes