Green roofs for built environment recovery: technological transitions

In 2012, the Laboratory of Recovery and Maintenance at the University of Naples Federico II starts an applied research with the Institute for Composite and Biomedical Materials – IMCB – National Research Council of Italy – CNR, of Naples. The aim is to explore the potential of a patented hybrid foam, Hypucem, as a green technology for the recovery of flat roofs in reinforced concrete buildings. Two green extensive prototypes are developed and tested to provide an adequate response to the problem of residential buildings. The difference between them is in the mode of greening: sowing before or after the on-site assembly, with overlapping layers of green, in the first case, and their integration into special pockets formed inside the panel, in the second. Laboratory tests verify the germination and growth dynamics for a closed-cell polyurethane-concrete foam and for open-cell polyurethane-soil specimens. Trials are carried out in a residential neighborhood realized after Second World War. During six months, the benefits to buildings' performances, in both solutions, are monitored, highlighting the importance of roofs dimensions and accessibility. With a greater ease of installation and inspection, the open-cell polyurethane foam solution, accommodating transplanted vegetation, results more suitable for a direct involvement of users in ordinary maintenance. This attitude is fundamental in order to prevent any decrease in roofs thermal resistance due to the lowering of the green layers performances

Shaping the future of built environment Research commitments to fill the gap between sustainability and recovery

On the threshold of the third millennium, built environments face the consequences of a deep technological obsolescence. While for the past, research enabled the development of systems and devices able to impact on economies, in times of crisis, new smart growth should be tied with the development of appropriate enabling technologies. Assuming spaces and buildings as an expression of human creativity, knowledge and innovation are expected to focus on converging technologies in order to rebalance dissipative processes (Glaeser, 2009). The recomposition of trends, challenges and commitments (Watson, 2008) could drive a smart growth in the western world. The paper discusses the role that architectural technology can play to contrast ancient settlements' vulnerability, promoting shifts towards innovation, involving not only means and tools, but knowledge, rules, processes. The principle of ensuring the conservation of resources, drives an experimental design approach aimed to foster the development of a vegetated closure system for the recovery of buildings' envelopes. Assumptions underlying the design and prototyping experience is that the construction sector, is sensitive to evolutionary innovations rather than radical ones

Urban Renewal and Sustainable Development Efforts in Montreal: Vitality and Multiculturalism Requirements from an Identity Protection Perspective

An Italian researcher, sponsored by the Canadian Studies Faculty Research Program of Canadian Foreign Affairs, investigated the social, economic, and developmental consequences of the urban and architectural renewal initiatives undertaken in Montreal during the last ten years. The study looked at the satisfaction levels of new users of outdoor squares and walkways to evaluate the effectiveness of the preservation, promotion, and integration processes applied to public spaces in response to the challenges of creating a pedestrian culture reflective of contemporary vitality and multiculturalism. Traditionally, open spaces have helped shape the identity of built environments from a technical and constructive perspective while taking into account social and economic dynamics. A review of written documents on the evolution of Montreal's urban spaces suggests that the built environment has become a development driver in the active progress of identity preservation. The squares and walkways, the two elements that epitomize the community's heritage and symbolize its identity, were studied in order to unearth their cultural and imagery value and to understand how they combine individual interests with social values.Un chercheur italien, titulaire de la Bourse de recherche en études canadiennes des Affaires étrangères Canada, a étudié les conséquences sociales, économiques et environnementales des initiatives de renouvellement architectural et urbain entreprises à Montréal au cours des dix dernières années. Il a examiné les niveaux de satisfaction de nouveaux usagers des places et des allées extérieures pour évaluer l’efficacité des processus de préservation, de promotion et d’intégration des espaces publics visant à créer une culture pédestre qui reflète la vitalité et le multiculturalisme contemporains. En général, les espaces ouverts ont contribué à façonner l’identité des environnements bâtis d’un point de vue technique et architectural, tout en tenant compte de la dynamique sociale et économique. Une revue des documents écrits sur l’évolution des espaces urbains de Montréal suggère que l’environnement bâti est devenu un moteur de développement dans le mouvement de préservation de l’identité. Les places et les allées, deux éléments qui incarnent le patrimoine de la collectivité et qui symbolisent son identité, ont été étudiées pour mettre à jour leur valeur culturelle et visuelle et pour comprendre la façon dont elles conjuguent les intérêts individuels et les valeurs sociales

Intercultural welcoming spaces in Montréal. Harmonization drivers for a new sense of identity

The acquisition and strengthening of principles of equality, democracy and freedom marked the approach of the Government of Canada towards the integration between settled communities, during the last decades. Several experiences have been carried on with the aim of promoting linguistic (Canada, Commission royale d'enquête sur le bilinguisme et le biculturalisme, 1965-1969), economic, social (Canada, Chambres des communes, 1971), and cultural understanding and Canadian values sharing (Canada 1988). With the objective of creating synergies strong enough to lead to a collective identity, natural and man-made environment have been assumed as an unaware driver of harmonization (Sassen S., 2010). Often designed as to become common ground among individuals, space has been taken into account for its attitude to host people in productive harmony giving rise to a democratic and tolerant community (Canada, Patrimoine canadien, 2010). Despite the ghettoization phenomena that characterized North American multiethnic cities in late ‘800 and ‘900, a pluralistic issue aims today the province of Québec’s. Here, the stabilization of an inner identity, among all the naturalized groups, goes hand in hand with a shared cultural, linguistic and religious heritage, within a framework of common citizenship. The study deals with small scale outdoor areas often leftover in the dynamic growth of city centres. Since 2002, the Municipality of Montréal (Sommets des citoyen(ne)s, 2002) adopted a protection and promotion approach towards leftover spaces. With the aim of creating a sense of community within an inter ethnic grouping, the City aimed at improving meeting places’ security, accessibility and practicability with dignity and without undue effort or anxiety. Spaces have been taken into account for their vocation in working as repositories of belonging and of sharing,managing diversities among individuals and encouraging mutual, harmonious relations between social groups . The paper, in accordance with the main objectives pursued by the journal (Sasaki M., 2010; Stolarick K., 2010) presents an interconnected view of the cultural, social and design commitments carried out in recent years. For this purpose, it adopts an inductive research method, aimed at the analysis of interculturalism and public spaces management, referring of on one hand, to three small areas taken as case studies, and on the other, to the principles set out in technical documents produced by the Municipality of Montreal. The attitude of outdoor spaces to promote intercultural sharing, is reinterpreted through the discussion of needs and requirements that at a municipal level have informed the design choices, and the detailed analysis of the performances offered by spatial and constructive solutions

THE RECOVERY OF URBAN PRODUCTIVE LANDSCAPE: ISSUES AND PERSPECTIVES

Over the centuries, architectural technologies have been a privileged means for a balanced interaction between natural and human creativity. The industrial development marked a turnaround for physical space, denying, by the name of economic growth, past synergies between spaces - technology - society. The persistence and pervasiveness of the economic and productive crisis are the reference scenario for the research commitment. The paper envisages a design approach mitigating the vulnerability of settlements, that lost their inner attitudes, through a recovery approach able to enhance past vocations. The ancient principle to use without consuming, supports a methodology based on the following actions: analyzing past transition drivers, outlining technological misalignments, building a transition agenda. The potential for growth is investigated, taking into account new requirements and previous performances. Focusing on manufacturing settlements located on the south of Italy, this research fits into the broader context of sustainability for places altered by technological transitions. The research assumes, as a privileged object of observation built environments hosting activities related to the agrifood processing, along the Vesuvius coast. Since ancient times, the need to create an added value, promotes interactions between products and places. A synergy, between technological culture and architecture, informs the quality of food, marking the urban environment in terms of constructive choices, distribution and morphology, environmental behaviour for spaces. The research carried out in the LRRM lab, tends to the identification of a systematic set of drivers of change that can support the recovery.

Innovative technologies for ancient cities: knowledge based transition towards prosperity

This paper discusses the way knowledge and innovation can support the performances implementation in ancient cities. Assumptions underlying the approach is that the construction sector, unlike others, is sensitive to evolutionary innovations rather than radical ones. The future of ancient cities, is inevitably linked with the ability to reinvent new behaviors for spaces and devices, with the design of transition technologies, able to fit within a built system, previously characterized by high degrees of rigidity. To support the theoretical analysis, the historic center of Salerno has been assumed as a privileged case study. The paper shows how textures, monumental complexes and isolated buildings in the real estate market, can become new dynamos of development, enabling EU countries to maintain a strong position in the global economy

Built Heritage Repurposing and Communities Engagement: Symbiosis, Enabling Processes, Key Challenges

The paper debates the results achieved in the Sanità district of Naples within the funded research project Play_ACT by the Department of Architecture, University of Naples Federico II. The research investigates community engagement processes in built heritage design for repurposing. Based on a mixed deductive and inductive approach, this paper frames the built heritage in the following ways: (a) a record of historical development and way of life, a linking capital between community and context; (b) the enabler of community engagement, representative of creative skills and work of humankind; and (c) a driving force for growth. The paper analyses several community-driven repurposing practices experienced within European programs. Supported by the ISO 37104: 2019 and UNI 11151-1: 2005 standards, the paper focuses on the replicability of community engagement in built heritage repurposing processes, outlining the commonalities in terms of strategies, actions, and actors involved in: (1) discovery; (2) negotiation; and (3) sharing. Focusing on the Sanità district of Naples, the research experiences the sustainability of community-led repurposing, observing long-lasting spillover effects on the physical, economic, cultural, and social subsystems. Finally, with the support of a heritage case study, Cristallini 73, future key challenges for a durable and inclusive community engagement are outlined: A activation of collaborative networks; B promotion of inclusive dynamics of long-life learning; and C creation of cultural and creative industries

Repurposing the Built Environment: Emerging Challenges and Key Entry Points for Future Research

The built environment faces challenges in all three dimensions of sustainable development—economic, social, and environmental. The increasing loss of functionality is a cross-sectional issue affecting buildings and settlements and their layering of social, spatial, and cultural processes. Based on a critical review, this paper aims to bridge the gap between international charters and ongoing research for built environments losing their original uses. Three emerging challenges to sustainability in repurposing are outlined from the debate, checking their incidence on research: (a) values preservation, (b) resources optimization, (c) systems effectiveness promotion. Experiences of conversion and regeneration in Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, Hong Kong City, and the USA are taken into account with the aim of comparing approaches, methods, and results. The discussion highlights three key entry points for future research on built environments: (1) communities involvement: new alliances between stakeholders, (2) the potential of technologies: combining resources’ protection and affordability, and (3) renewed productivity to preserve values and uses

The right to the city to contrast the decay of urban spaces : the architectural upgrade of Corso Garibaldi railway station, in Naples

Deep changes in urban frameworks, challenge contemporary cities, where often, common spaces formerly central, risk an indissoluble physical degradation, due to processes of social marginalization. Architects are asked to face the developmental dynamics for spaces of anonymity, every day more numerous, working on previous attitudes as aggregation and relation junctions. Moving from the description of the design criteria that inform the rehabilitation for the ancient area of Corso Garibaldi in Naples, the paper introduces a critical thinking about the links between space’ performances and attitudes towards inclusivity. Urban and architectural solutions are privileged means in order to return to citizenship the right to public space, reaffirming the concept of common space as dwelling, residence of the community, with the creation of new social ties and the growth of local shared identities.Peer Reviewe

DIAGNOSTIC MONITORING FOR HISTORIC URBAN LANDSCAPE CASE STUDY: BUILDING IN VIA CARACCIOLO NAPOLI

Anticipating the rise and degenerate of the degradation processes for urban landscape, is an area of research that requires the deployment of analysis and forecasting, informed to the impacts induced by climatic and environmental pressures on settlements. Taking into account historic areas, the study focuses upon the need to set up a practice-based research, rethinking the processes of condition's relief, by integrating deterioration data with the prediction of the impact-induced by microclimate processes. The paper introduces as a case study, a nineteenth-century neighborhood in Naples, completed in 1869-80, with the reorganisation of the waterfront, filling the beach and constructing new buildings. The degradation reliefs, on sight and instrumental, carried out with the support of the infrared camera in three different moments of the building life cycle (2002, 2011, 2013), constitutes the knowledge base to relate degenerative phenomena with the constructive, morphological and dimensional characteristics and contextual conditions. The infrared remote sensing, long used through the two-dimensional display of the measurement of irradiation in order to evaluate the performance of the building (to detect insulation defects, thermal bridges, the heat loss through the windows, the humidity) is adopted to bind information about the phenomena taking place in location factors, climatic and environmental conditions. The observation of the related iterated and superimposed effects of decay allows the scheduling of control actions, with the intent to prevent an overrun of critical performance thresholds. A recursive approach characterizes the investigation procedure, based on forecast and verifiability