Adaptive Reuse and Sustainability Protocols in Italy: Relationship with Circular Economy

This paper explores the enhancement of adaptive reuse (AR) of buildings through the lens of the sustainability protocols within the context of circular economy (CE) in Italy. Cities and the built environment can play a key role in the transition to a CE, especially considering the documented negative global impact due to resource consumption and waste generation. This is recognised among the principles of circularity defined by the European Commission towards a general strategy for a sustainable built environment, which encourages initiatives of building reuse and land consumption reduction. It has been proven that the AR of vacant buildings can bring environmental, social, and economic benefits towards an urban strategy based on CE principles by generating useful values to support innovative development dynamics. In this perspective, the sustainability protocols can be identified as useful tools to pursue strategies for spreading the culture of sustainable build environment. Considering the huge vacant Italian architectural heritage, this paper aims to analyze how the most widely used sustainability protocols in the Italian context currently address the enhancement of the reuse of buildings, to improve environmental, social, and economic quality in the built environment. We discuss the results highlighting how and which sustainability protocols better intercept these issues, providing grounds for future development

The Economic Evaluation of Projects as a Structuring Discipline of Learning Processes to Support Decision-Making in Sustainable Urban Transformations

This paper is based on the following research questions: i) In which way could the discipline Economic Evaluation of Projects contribute to conveying the sustainability concept in urban settings among master’s degree students? What are the methods/techniques that can support decision processes of sustainable urban transformation? In response to the two research questions, the paper proposes a multi-methodological framework as a design tool for students (future professionals) aimed at representing the decision problem from a sustainable planning perspective. Through a Problem-Based Learning approach based on a case study, the proposed framework considers: SWOT Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis (SA), Multicriteria Analysis (MCDA), Cash Flow Analysis (CFA), and the application of the Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools (NSATools). The multi-methodological framework has been applied to an experimental teaching case study as part of the Economic Evaluation of Projects module demonstrating its effectiveness in terms of sustainable spatial planning and structuring of the decision process from a multi-actor perspective. Future directions of the research are aimed at tackling two major limitations of the multi-methodological framework as the need to closely reflect a real decision process through an iterative framework and the sometimes hard interpretation of some elements of urban sustainability

Limits and perspectives of Neighbourhood Sustainable Assessment Tools (NSATs) in sustainable urban design

This paper aims to investigate the role of sustainability protocols at the neighborhood scale (Neighborhood Sustainable Assessment Tools) as possible tools to support the measurement of sustainability to implement effective design strategies for the built environment. Despite that cities and the built environment are at the forefront of achieving the complex goal of sustainable development, there is still a gap regarding what are the most appropriate ways and tools to measure and monitor the performance of urban transformation projects in terms of sustainable development. This difficulty is particularly evident when considering the sustainability paradigm in its Triple Bottom Line accception, which includes social and economic aspects in addition to environmental ones. In fact, while there are are many established methodologies to measure the environmental performance of projects, the same cannot be said for the measurement of social and economic aspects, especially from an integrated perspective. Based on these premises, the present research analyzes three of the main NSATs at the European level, comparing them in terms of evaluation model and responsiveness to the main spheres of sustainability in order to trace limitations and perspectives

“L’influenza sui percorsi valutativi dell’enciclica Laudato Si’: le aree urbane tra conflitto e solidarietà, tra degrado e rigenerazione, tra esclusione e partecipazione”

Nelle giornate 14 e 15 Aprile, si è svolto il seminario della SIEV dal titolo “L’influenza sui percorsi valutativi dell’enciclica Laudato Sì: le aree urbane tra conflitto e solidarietà, tra degrado e rigenerazione, tra esclusione e partecipazione” ospitato dal Campidoglio e dalla Facoltà di Architettura dell’Università La Sapienza di Roma. A partire dall’Enciclica Papale Laudato Sì, il cui testo è stato reso pubblico il 18 Giugno 2015, obiettivo principale del dibattito è stato la discussione riguardo alle tematiche relative alla rigenerazione urbana e alla tutela del territorio. L’Enciclica affronta, infatti, alcuni temi fondamentali per la comunità scientifica legati alle periferie urbane e le sacche degradate dei centri storici intesi come luoghi in cui la crisi sociale si salda con la crisi ambientale. In questo senso, l’Enciclica è in grado di sollecitare una maggiore consapevolezza riguardo alle tematiche che qualificano gli sviluppi attuali della disciplina estimativa e valutativa

“L’influenza sui percorsi valutativi dell’enciclica Laudato Si’: le aree urbane tra conflitto e solidarietà, tra degrado e rigenerazione, tra esclusione e partecipazione”

Nelle giornate 14 e 15 Aprile, si è svolto il seminario della SIEV dal titolo “L’influenza sui percorsi valutativi dell’enciclica Laudato Sì: le aree urbane tra conflitto e solidarietà, tra degrado e rigenerazione, tra esclusione e partecipazione” ospitato dal Campidoglio e dalla Facoltà di Architettura dell’Università La Sapienza di Roma. A partire dall’Enciclica Papale Laudato Sì, il cui testo è stato reso pubblico il 18 Giugno 2015, obiettivo principale del dibattito è stato la discussione riguardo alle tematiche relative alla rigenerazione urbana e alla tutela del territorio. L’Enciclica affronta, infatti, alcuni temi fondamentali per la comunità scientifica legati alle periferie urbane e le sacche degradate dei centri storici intesi come luoghi in cui la crisi sociale si salda con la crisi ambientale. In questo senso, l’Enciclica è in grado di sollecitare una maggiore consapevolezza riguardo alle tematiche che qualificano gli sviluppi attuali della disciplina estimativa e valutativa

An integrated participative spatial decision support system for smart energy urban scenarios: A financial and economic approach

The decision-making about heating supply system options in an urban perspective is extremely challenging. Nowadays, this type of evaluation is not only a technical and economic issue, but also a political and environmental choice. Aware of this widening of the problem, recent approaches propose to combine financial evaluations (DCF, CBA, ROI, energy budget costs –VEDI SITO ENTRANZE VEDI CORGNATI VEDI INGARAMO)…with Multicriteria Decision Analyses (MCDA), able to consider quantitative and qualitative aspects. However, there is another specific feature of the problem that is rarely considered: the territorial dimension. In fact, it is possible to notice that few Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) have been currently developed in this realm. The paper aims to present a new method finalised to support urban energy decisions in real-time processes, developed in the context of a European project (DIMMER). The method is composed by three parts: i) a new Web-based Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS), called “Dashboard”; ii) an Energy-Attribute Analysis (EEA) develop ad hoc to be integrated in the Dashboard; iii) a MCDA. Differently from other SDSS, one of the main strengths of the Dashboard is the ability of acquiring, storing and managing geo-referenced as well as non geo-referenced data performing real-time analyses of spatial problems taking into account a wide range of information. In this sense, the Dashboard can formally visualize and assess a potentially infinite number of attributes and information being able to read and process enormous web-databases. This character makes the Dashboard a very effective tool that can be used in real-time during focus groups or workshops to understand how the criterion trade-offs evolve when one or several decision parameters change. The paper describes the main procedure of the new method and the Dashboard’s test according to a district in Turin (Italy)

Pursuing the SDG11 Targets: The Role of the Sustainability Protocols

This paper is built on the following research questions: (i) What are the direct/indirect relationships between Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11) and sustainability protocols? (ii) Could the sustainability protocols constitute a solution towards the achievement of SDG11? We underline that, on the one hand, the SDGs are guidelines to support the development of sustainable policies and thus address all elements that may affect them, and on the other hand, sustainability protocols are assessment tools to promote sustainability-conscious design while remaining focused on the built environment. In the Italian regulatory context, the paper highlights how this difference in terms of focus and scale means that they only overlap and mutually reinforce each other with regard to certain aspects, more related to energy and air pollution issues and less to the social aspects of sustainability. Even if there is not always a direct relationship between the evaluation criteria of the protocols and the indicators of SDG11, it is possible to conclude that the sustainability protocols can facilitate the achievement of the SDG11 targets, acting as a key for the implementation of sustainable cities and helping in structuring the process leading to sustainability in a broader framework

Investigate Walkability: An Assessment Model to Support Urban Development Processes

This chapter is about defining and testing a multi-methodological frame- work able to measure the “walkability” in the urban practice perspective, based on assessment indicators and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Nowadays, cities are facing a complex challenge concerning sustainability, which is fueling the search for new development solutions. Among others, one of the most important problems is how to make cities sustainable and resilient, as stressed by the Sustainable Develop- ment Goal 11 (SDG11) highlighted by the United Nations through the 2030 Agenda. The topic of “walkability” appears in this framework: Walking has ecological, social, economic and political benefits. Moreover, designing walkable networks is impor- tant to create a functional and multi-modal city with transport choices and makes urban settlements sustainable and inclusive from the perspective that a sustainable city is also a walkable city. However, despite the positive impact of walkability on public space, it is still difficult to fully include it in governmental strategies because of its novelty in the scientific debate. The ongoing research proposed here aims at: (i) describing the problem, related to what trends and strategies have been implemented to face it; (ii) investigating walkability, understanding its definition in the scientific panorama, and how it is evaluated; (iii) understanding the current evaluation methods to assess the walkability of spaces; (iv) proposing a new multi-methodological frame- work based on existing methods that are able to measure the walkability degree from the perspective of better planning of cities. The multi-methodological framework has been tested through a case study: the Politecnico di Torino Campus (Torino, Italy)

LA WALKABILITY COME STRUMENTO DI MISURA: PRIMI PASSI VERSO UN APPROCCIO MULTI-METODOLOGICO

The constant urbanization of the last century has led cities to face challenges in terms of urban sustainability. In recent years, the discussion on alternative mobility has been the subject of numerous studies, showing that the concept of urban walkability can be used as an additional support in planning sustainable cities. This is what the UN also aims for, among other topics, in its SDGs’ 2030 Agenda. This paper aims to report the first results of an ongoing research whose general objective is to develop and define a multi-methodological approach able to assess urban walkability in order to guide planning projects in terms of sustainability. First the walkability issue will be argued and second an in-depth investigation of the walkability topic will be provided, understanding its definition in the scientific panorama, how is evaluated and how its evaluation could be useful in urban transformation processes. This preliminary research reported the first fundamental step towards the definition of a multi-methodological approach able to evaluate the walkability of a territory in order to guide future urban projects

INTERACTIVE VISUALIZATION TOOL (INVITO): A WEB VISUAL TOOL FOR SHARING INFORMATION IN TERRITORIAL DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES

Territorial planning is the focus of considerable debates, which often develop into uncertain and vulnerable decision contexts. Numbers and quantitative information in fact often dominate the process of decision-making but they are not easily comprehensible through quick and simple reasoning. Nonetheless, the huge quantities of data that describe our cities and regions could provide excellent bases to analyze spatial data in order to assess territories and simulate future development scenarios. The application of innovative digital tools in the analysis of urban issues offers new advantages and opportunities for the improvement of communication values in policies and decision-making processes, concurring to overcome conventional approaches to territorial management. The paper describes the application of the Interactive Visualization Tool (InViTo), a web tool based on maps and visual analysis allowing data to be filtered, explored, interconnected and compared on a visual interface. Data visualization, intended as the way to see the unseen (McCormick et al., 1987), is here used as a new paradigm to highlight the positive and negative effects on spatial systems considering the impacts of choice-alternatives along multiple dimensions. The correlation between information and their localization generates an essential instrument for the knowledge of urban dynamics and resilience in answering to specific policies. The investigation of a number of case studies shows the possibilities and opportunities given by the use of InViTo in creating a shared knowledge between actors involved in decision-making processes and in offering a challenge for integrating new perspectives on the analysis of future cities and regions