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Housing plays a key role in the world path to energy transition, and retrofitting buildings is a major asset to this end. Unfortunately, despite the supporting measures and incentives promoted in many countries, the renovation rate is still too slow. This is even more complex within some specific assets, such as social housing, which, especially in Italy, depends on the availability of public funds. The study proposes a predictive tool conceived as an enabler in the decision-making process, capable of considering and comparing the performance levels that different retrofitting actions can reach, according to building features, intervention costs, timing, and resource availability. The tool is tested on a social housing case study in Bologna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified a crisis that has already been underway for at least a decade: to stimulate recovery, the EU has put in place an impressive package of measures, the implementation of which is largely left to the national authorities. This would require a systematic reading of the territory, which in Italy clashes with the chronic lack of effective paths to interconnect the political levels to the decision- making processes at different scales. This article presents a method for mapping the relationships between the main environmental challenges and the response (individual and collective) that the community, if enabled, is able to offer in terms of adapting its behaviour. The method consists of a matrix of relationships between environmental priorities and behavioural models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technological advances of recent decades and the integration of disciplines, such as architectural technology and restoration, are progressively improving design culture in the conservation of modern and contemporary heritage. The results of the study focus on the effects produced by a relatively short time interval (50-100 years) on a large number of buildings, encouraging a discussion on the role of technology in the conservation of exemplary cases of Modern heritage, and on the potential impact of this phenomenon on the so-called minor heritage, thus offering tools to support a widespread improvement campaign, one of the most demanding challenges of future decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the methodological approach proposed within H2020 ROCK project, on the adaptive reuse of public spaces in the historic city, particularly focussing on accessibility. The methodology is applied in a test-bed site of the historical context with the aim to identify integrated and effective strategies capable of shifting attention from the single building to the urban scale, following a performance-oriented approach. The goal is to contribute, through a light infrastructure, enabling technologies and new services, to the definition of a barrier-free built environment suitable to satisfy the citizen's environmental well-being in an equitable manner. The integrated approach involved users and key factors such as: disabled associations, sectors of the Municipality, representatives and operators of cultural institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the complex and interrelated nature of the smart city concept, the importance of considering both the potential contribute of informed end-users and the impacts of a more organized - district based - approach to energy management are rising as relevant topics. This paper reports the progress of a research aimed to map energy use at district level, translating the zoning concept to balance actions to be delivered in different areas into a city level perspective. The adoption of energy maps is aimed to facilitate the understanding and the communication of the potential impacts in order to increase end-users and key-players awareness on the energy issue as well as to support decision makers to prioritize actions according to a shared systemic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The renewed interest for under used sites of historical city centres is addressing a change in design paradigms on existing buildings involving local communities in the process from the very beginning. The paper reports a recent cooperation, named "Anteprima Lab", between the Department of Architecture (DA) of University of Bologna, the City of Bologna and Urban Center. The action is intended as an enabler of initiatives aimed at enhancing those places assumed as common goods by local communities. The pilot defined the functional and spatial features of an innovative participated environment that follows the socio-political trends characterizing the modern age of Bologna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European historic city centres are currently experiencing innovative approaches for rehabilitation of urban spaces afflicted by social and physical decay. The revitalization challenges are a consequence of the integration of contemporary technologies and solutions to achieve new requirements and of the impacts of socio-economic dynamics. Understanding and boosting the drivers connected to the cultural potential of the historic city centres can play an important role in adaptive re-use. This paper focuses on the synergy between cultural heritage and urban development, cultural heritage preservation and local economic growth, proposing adaptive reuse design practices applied in historic city centre, through the adoption of a multi-criteria methodology for heritage-led regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides an overview of the key elements of a research project focused on the development of a multilayer platform aimed at supporting regeneration process at district scale particularly for what concerns the improvement of comfort conditions. The paper describes the adopted methodologies and the main stages in which the research is organized. The backbone of the multi-layer platform is described according to the purpose and to the expected impacts. The role of the tool and of ICT in increasing the end-users' awareness about the potential benefit deriving by the adoption of efficient solution and energy saving measures is discussed. A reflection concerning the barriers to further developments and the most promising implementation opportunities completes the text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world economic crisis has further depressed the Italian production of social housing but it dramatically increased the demand of affordable rental dwellings. A refurbishment and retrofitting campaign of the social housing stock appears to be as a credible and effective strategy, able to be applied in the short term to bring this gap, at least partially. Some results of a research in progress on the topic are presented in this paper. The first one is a classification model of the main typology of retrofitting and densification of social housing projects, issued from an investigation on several European case-studies. On this base, the research established a set of design criteria, able to couple the improvement of energy, functionality and comfort performances with the increasing of the use intensity of the built stock. Finally, an application of this method on a pilot-case is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I recenti sviluppi della crisi economica hanno ulteriormente depresso la produzione italiana di nuova edilizia sociale, ma acuito drammaticamente la domanda di alloggi in affitto a canoni contenuti. Per farvi fronte almeno parzialmente, una campagna di riqualificazione e densificazione del parco attualmente disponibile si presenta come una strategia credibile, efficace e di immediata possibile attivazione. L'articolo presenta alcuni risultati di una ricerca in corso: ad un'ipotesi di classificazione delle principali tipologie di riqualificazione/densificazione di comparti di edilizia sociale definita sulla base di una casistica reperita in ambito europeo, segue la proposta di una metodica di intervento che coniughi il miglioramento degli standard prestazionali - in particolare energetici, di comfort e di fruibilità degli alloggi - con l'aumento delle intensità di utilizzo del patrimonio costruito. Dell'applicazione della metodica viene infine presentato un caso pilota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possible effects of climate change in urbanized areas - evidenced by several studies - led the City of Bologna to adopt a Climate Change Adaptation Plan to assess potential risks and vulnerabilities as a basis for adaptation actions prioritizing interventions through a coordinated local strategy. This paper summarizes some measures implemented at local level in collaboration with the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna and, in particular, the pilot actions for urban greening developed within the European project H2020 - ROCK and the proposals for intervention included made during the "Design for Adaptation" project. Resilient Urban Communities" PhD Climate KIC summer school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The progressive worsening of the Italian school stock - in terms of comfort, environmental quality, energy efficiency and functional equipment - is widely documented in several surveys, that indicate severe levels of inadequacy, particularly acute in the regions of Southern Italy. Over the last thirty years, the need to operate an obsolete stock has absorbed a large share of investment in school buildings, which is in drastic decline. Some legislative measures recently adopted aim to correct this situation, with investments in both the renovation of the large stock already in service, and the construction of new schools. In addition to replacing the share of inadequate buildings, the increase in the rate of renewal may allow to fully experience up-to-date design approaches and solutions, oriented not only to satisfy updated functional standards, but also to provide modern educational methods to adequate learning spaces. Called to deal with the social changes, the evolution of educational needs, the organizational and technological innovation, the unconventional scheme of funding, the design of new schools can become reference that also inspires the refurbishment of the existing building stock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent surveys on the condition of the Italian school building stock provide information on its relevant seismic behavior and fire safety levels, however no information is made available on its thermo-hygrometric conditions and energy behaviour, despite the fact that the former has a considerable impact on the use and physical conditions of indoor environments and the latter plays a fundamental role in limiting the buildings operating costs, as literature abundantly shows. This paper reports the results of a study carried out on a sample of Italian school buildings, substantiating their high levels of energy consumption, and describes the application of a specific method of analysis used for identifying the main causes of these, therefore allowing to propose some possible strategies for retrofitting, aimed to improving the building energy efficiency and environmental quality, by way of simulations and validation of their relevant effects and benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recenti indagini sullo stato del patrimonio italiano di edilizia scolastica ne registrano i livelli di sicurezza sismica e di prevenzione antincendio, ma non forniscono informazioni sulle condizioni di comfort termoigrometrico né sul comportamento energetico degli edifici, benché le prime incidano sensibilmente sulla fruibilità e salubrità degli spazi e il secondo sia causa di una quota rilevante dei costi di esercizio. Uno studio condotto su un campione di edifici scolastici italiani, documentato in questo articolo, conferma gli elevati livelli di consumi, ne individua le principali cause tramite l'applicazione di una specifica metodica di analisi e suggerisce alcune possibili strategie di intervento per la riqualificazione energetica e ambientale, simulandone gli effetti e verificandone i benefici. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]