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The definition of the principles regulating the use of public spaces with outdoor catering activities is part of the ongoing process of governance and enhancement of cultural tourism and urban quality in the main Italian “art cities”. The urgent need to reconcile local economic development with the need of inhabitants, visitors and stakeholders must provide for appropriate methods of accessibility, perception, safety and use of public spaces. The research that focused in a few sample areas of the Historic Center of Naples UNESCO site, has defined metadesign guidelines to facilitate works, governance and procedures based on the principle of shared choices between the bodies appointed to control the permits to occupy public spaces, thus setting an experimental regulatory process.

This paper deals with the results of the Research Project “METROPOLIS – Integrated and sustainable methods and technologies for resilience and safety in urban systems”, funded under PONREC 2007-2013. Among all the results of the work, the paper is focused on the development of a model to measure climate vulnerability in urban areas. The application of the model provides the assessment of impacts and the subsequent planning of corrective actions to increase building and urban resilience by means of technological retrofitting. The testing of the model for heat waves and pluvial flooding has been implemented in the urban system of Naples City which has been divided into the physical subsystem and the population subsystem.

The paper shows the results of the first phase of the research project “METROPOLIS - Methodologies and Technologies for integrated and sustainable adaptation and security of urban systems” developed by STRESS Scarl - High Technology District for Sustainable Building of the Campania Region. The project is aimed at the development of innovative strategies for a resilient urban system and design guidelines for appropriate choices of urban regeneration based on the assessment and mitigation of natural and man-made hazards. The paper describes the results concerning the definition of innovative methodologies for the knowledge and mapping of urban vulnerability to climate risks in the East Naples area. The cross-disciplinary and multi-scale approach integrates knowledge and technology from university and industrial partners to develop a decision support tool in the field of urban regeneration. The study of the impacts of extreme weather events, based on the simulation of climate change scenarios in the area of East Naples, includes the data management in a GIS environment from satellite remote sensing, direct surveys and simulation software, focusing on the environmental and technological performance of urban spaces and elements. The research results report risk scenarios for pluvial flood and heat waves hazards according to both climatic variables, both aggravating phenomena arising from the characteristics of urban settlements. The complex reading of the buildings-open spaces system and its response to climate change conditions has allowed to define the vulnerability of elements at risk, as well as adaptation and mitigation solutions to be implemented within urban regeneration interventions, identifying critical issues in relation to comfort and environmental risk conditions, consumption and efficient use of resources, compliance of the technological choices to specific requirements.

In the last years, the progressive upgrade of buildings has significantly developed in many countries such as the USA and the UK, following a planned approach based on the progressive implementation of retrofitting works, in order to achieve effective and controlled targets of energy performance. This is the field of the research that the DiARC - Department of Architecture, University of Naples Federico II - has carried out along with Naples City Administration to develop a study activity and a decision making support tool for the energy requalification of school buildings, in cooperation with other subjects and operational Authorities on the territory. This paper reports the results of the first research phase, whose purpose was the definition of an operational methodology to identify scenarios for the progressive update of school buildings in Naples. Scenarios have been elaborated by means of a multi criteria analysis based on the parameters of environmental and economic sustainability and technical feasibility.

“Historic Centre of Naples, World Heritage Site Enhancement” project has as its goal the rehabilitation of the oldest part of the historic center of Naples, one of the largest and most representative of Europe. The research reference field is placed on the level of strategic approach to the project and process management downstream of EU funding in large cities, with particular multidisciplinary relevance and urban issues of a complex nature. The scientific products of study, training and research were collected in Guidelines for the rehabilitation of public spaces and for sustainable performance of interventions on roads, walkways, squares and urban facilities.

New districts and ‘eco-cities’ built between the '90s and 2000s in the Scandinavian countries and the UK, as well as in Germany, France, the Netherlands and in other European countries, represent a decisive overcoming of the experimental phase where the ecological housing was just an innovative approach limited to small pilot projects. In these districts the social housing is implemented according to percentages corresponding to the housing policies of the different countries. The role of technological choices and the characteristics of the building process have been crucial for building quality to reduce environmental impacts and to support and promote new ecologically oriented lifestyles and a wider social inclusion.