Search

This paper delves into integrating technological and social innovations in design through a community-oriented, resilient approach, emphasizing care and sustainability. It explores resource management's application to the local environment and education, focusing on adaptable spaces, active collaboration, and innovative solutions for environmental and social challenges. Developed within the EU Marie Curie-funded TREnD project, it combines 'transition' and 'resilience-building' processes, framing co-creation solutions and tailored innovation policies. The research group conducted theoretical and empirical research in the EU and USA, introducing a place-sensitive approach in managing transition through technological diversification. A case study in Ruston (LA, USA), Camp Alabama, exemplifies inclusive design through circular design and low-tech construction, creating adaptable pavilions for the community. Collaborating with MedCamps of Louisiana, the project designs a shared and inclusive space within budget constraints, emphasizing the pivotal role of architecture in advancing community well-being. Employing a bottom-up approach, the practice engages users, students, teachers, and local stakeholders in co-design, resulting in a people-based citadel of care. Outcomes feature high-design technological projects produced through a "low-tech" approach, allowing adaptability in urban regeneration. The 2023 project received awards, showcasing progress and the potential for replication through standardized methodology. Additional outcomes include educational benefits, training architects for societal needs, and regenerating urban areas by exploiting local resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current environmental challenges invite us to deeply revise policies, governance models, and resource management toolkits towards a circular approach, in order to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requirements. In this framework, circular waste management is one of the pillars of responsible and foresighted planning for territorial sustainability. The "3Rs for a sustainable use of natural resources in Ulaanbaatar" (3R4UB) project aims at transferring a sustainable approach to urban solid waste management, especially focusing on providing effective opportunities for developing circular supply chains locally. In this framework, an integrated approach has been developed in order to adapt the communication/exploitation plan of sustainable waste management within a SWITCH-Asia Country (EU Program) by combining engagement tools and participatory processes for the collaborative design of a waste management masterplan. This paper explores the spatialization of resources/waste flows in the formal and informal settlements, while also considering cultural traditions, social structures, and community habits, in terms of a purposely designed combination of spatial planning, governance modeling, and capacity building activities. Starting from a preliminary communication plan, this paper sets the frame for discussing the role of community engagement tools and protocols in producing an effective and generalizable collaborative waste management masterplan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to provide a GIS model by which to evaluate the ecological benefits of increasing green spaces in dense cities. The research method consists of three stages. First, we apply a GIS-based model to assess the ecological efficiency of the existing urban green areas; then we select several dismissed open spaces to be regenerated by increasing green space; finally, we measure the impacts of these operations on the urban environment based on the increase in ecologically effective green area/inhabitant. We test this approach on the urban districts of the northern area of the municipality of Napoli (Italy). This area is characterized by a high population density and several abandoned/discarded open spaces which can be improved by planting operations as urban green spaces. The result of the study provides the ratio between the costs of the planting works carried out on uncultivated areas and the benefit in terms of ecological efficiency measured in square meters of ecologically efficient green surfaces per inhabitant. Our method can represent a useful tool to support planners in evaluating the ecological benefits of transforming open spaces into green spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agathon: International Journal of Architecture, Art & Design is the property of DEMETRA CE.RI.MED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of TECHNE: Journal of Technology for Architecture & Environment is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This research implements a GIS framework model aimed at evaluating the ecological efficiency of urban green areas. The model classifies urban green areas by identifying those that can provide ecosystem services to sustain green infrastructure at an urban district level. This model can also guide decision makers in the proper placement of the green infrastructure. The model works on the interrelation of four indicators of size, shape, vegetation structure and vegetation diversity, and it was tested in the case study of the Western Urban Districts of Naples (Italy). The selection of this study area is because it presents four urban districts that are different for physiography, urban patterns, land use, land cover and for the existing building stock. The proposed GIS-based framework can be a useful tool for planning actions and measures to protect, implement and restore existing green areas through integration into urban green infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agathon: International Journal of Architecture, Art & Design is the property of DEMETRA CE.RI.MED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents the first results of the research agreement signed by the Federico II University and CDP Immobiliare concerning reusing and recycling construction waste in the urban regeneration project. The research is aimed to develop a technical protocol for the ex-ante evaluation of the demolition operations, with a special focus on the criteria for picking the material samples to undergo chemical-physical analysis. The article is focused on the demolition process, implementing a BIM-based filing of the building system and aimed at a preliminary understanding of the material quantity, the material consistency and the state of conservation of the elements to be demolished. A tentative pre-characterisation, and an inventory of any contaminants present in the materials are also provided. In the form of discussion, further implications related the building characterisation and the planning of material flows with the reuse and recycle supply chains are provided as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agathon: International Journal of Architecture, Art & Design is the property of DEMETRA CE.RI.MED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper depicts emerging scenarios of environmental design, in connection to the paradigm shift brought about by digital technologies, and awareness of future challenges. It reviews selected researches and projects applying ecological thinking principles. It aims at raising awareness on heuristic approaches in research and design. The paper focuses on collective design as a way to improve the governance of complexity in the current anthropogenic era. The main conclusion highlights cultural marks depicting contemporary research trends, with a view to translate theoretical insights into practical experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the impact generated by the un-efficient management of waste flows, on both natural environment, and urbanization process, and on the opportunity to invert it by regenerating Wasted Landscapes, i.e. underused, polluted and abandoned sites, especially located in peri-urban areas. This is one of the aims of the REPAiR project, funded in 2016 by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 framework, developed by University of Naples with TU Delft as Lead Partner. The implementation of multi-scaling/multi-disciplinary approach, for testing out collaborative decision-making, has seen so far the research of a scientific based definition of peri-urban area in the context of the Metropolitan Area of Naples. The selection of the peri-urban areas has also been tested through Living Labs, aimed at designing eco-innovative solutions towards circularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L'articolo è un saggio critico sull'importanza delle infrastrutture verdi per la riduzione della vulnerabilità urbana rispetto ai fenomeni del climate change. Il contributo ha l'obiettivo di mettere in relazione il progetto di infrastrutture verdi con i servizi eco-sistemici erogati, prendendo a riferimento il gradiente di naturalità espresso dalle diverse tipologie di aree verdi urbane, in queste includendo le superfici artificiali (tetti e facciate verdi), i suoli nudi, i siti dismessi. Lo studio delinea una prospettiva di ricerca nella sistematizzazione dei requisiti tecnologico-ambientali dell'intervento, derivanti dalla scomposizione, catalogazione e gerarchizzazione dei servizi eco-sistemici erogati e dalla specificità delle tecniche e dei materiali vegetali impiegati nel progetto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Former and abandoned landfills represent a good opportunity for producing new impervious surfaces for the urban environment, contrasting soil loss (specially the agricultural one) and improving the recovery of brownfield. From such perspective, landfill redevelopment could be intended as the beginning of a new life cycle for the site, corresponding to a kick off action for achieving environmental and socio-economic development. This is the purpose of the Sufalnet Project (Sustainable Use of Former and Abandoned Landfill) that defines a new approach for landfill redevelopment in form of model strategy by which reducing both the risk of the project failure and of the environmental pollution. Model strategy acts as cultural device for managing redevelopment process and its complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contaminated areas represent a crucial concern in contemporary planning all over the world. The absence of shared value for such areas leads to abandonment and soil sealing specially if such areas have lost their agricultural potential. The European Project LIFE/ENV/IT/275 Ecoremed has implemented a protocol for the bioremediation of contaminated soils in Campania region. The cultivation of no food crops (Poplar and Giant reed) is proposed as buffer crops waiting for the characterization of the areas. This facilitates the uptake of the mineral contaminants and the biodegradation of organic compounds reducing the risk for leaching and the run off of harmful contaminants that would occur on bare soils. The study discusses a new approach to land use change (LUC) assessment based on environmental and socio-economic factors, evaluated through GIS tool and decision support software (ArcGIS/ILWIS). Literature data have been used to assess the current value of the ecosystem services (ES) provided by such crops (€/ha/year) and the benefits that people obtained from ecosystems. Three scenarios have sorted out and compared through multicriteria analysis. Moving from the deep knowledge of the environmental condition of the territory the study shows the alternative ES values of the land use change starting from no-change scenario to energy crops (Poplar and Giant reed), to abandonment. Results show that is possible to asses an increase of the ES value, both in case of a private and public action, also referring to the opportunities for farmers income in the short and medium-long period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]