AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The aim of the course is the acquisition of knowledge, skills and tools to understand the challenges and transformations of the city with attention to the mechanisms and processes that determine its forms and their relationship with the architectural scale and its components.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course is aimed at learning and experimenting methods of morphological-environmental analysis and urban design techniques in a multi-scalar approach, to elaborate interventions of urban space transformation through the replicability of design solutions and urban furniture components. The course is organised in a six-month design studio modality on the topics of urban regeneration, by targeting underused urban open spaces and abandoned public infrastructures. Places of reactivation to support local communities, urban greening and active mobility actions, as strategic objectives of the Ligurian Ecosystem of Innovation for RAISE project 'Robotics and AI for Socio-economic Empowerment'.

The learning outcomes to be achieved during the design studio are:

1. Interpretive reading and design concept: critical interpretative reading of the design context (sense of places) in order to map the main spatial and environmental components on which to define the design proposal; study and applicability of international reference projects, verifying the sustainability of the proposed interventions;
2. Development and visioning process: definition of a functional programme starting from the study of product/service design components; development of the design concept, through the analysis of needs, user experience and current urban transformation processes; graphic visualisation of the spatial and architectural qualities of the proposal (visioning) through alternative configurations of uses and replicability (scenarios).

TEACHING METHODS

The semester-long course is organised according to an in-presence teaching format, by means of ex-cathedra lectures and groups desk reviews in which students are called upon to actively participate. In-depth seminars held by external experts may also be held online on Teams. Attendance at mid-term reviews and hand-in of deliverables is considered mandatory.

The projects will be developed by the students in groups of 2/3 people. In parallel, students will have to carry out independently a collection of 3 design readings on the basis of different scales of intervention (local/urban/territorial) as indicated in the course Syllabus. The teaching will be carried out with lectures by the mentors, and presentations of significant case studies (readings) by students, seminars by guests and visiting-experts, desk reviews on a weekly basis, organised according to 2 steps of design elaboration (2 Panels DIN A1 Vertical - 84.1 x 59.4 cm).

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The relationship between urban well-being and social welfare represents an emerging field of action and a recurring topic on the policy agendas of many European countries. It refers to a multidisciplinary convergence on built heritage valorisation in regards to its environmental qualities (comfort) and for its capacity to combine sense of belonging (identity) and community service provisions. Such considerations become significant when we refer to the most fragile individuals living in "marginal urban areas" for whom the quality of daily life becomes a structural issue: of presidium, independence and social inclusion (ageing in place). Public policies aimed at the recovery and enhancement of the built heritage, the Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) and the accessibility to services, become once again rewarding and unavoidable intervention categories.

In this sense, ICTs provide the opportunity to rethink the existing heritage towards inclusive co-housing models, capable of leveraging the regeneration of territories affected by processes of physical and structural marginalisation as well as characterised by increasingly diversified users (user-centred design). In the light of these considerations, the design studio activity proposed is based on the integration of new technologies in the design of responsive public spaces capable of enhancing the environmental performances of sites (micro-climate, ecosystem services, bio-diversity reservoirs, accessibility and fruition) and the interaction between individuals and with the urban context.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Urban planning

• Rossi A. (1966) L’Architettura della Città. Marsilio, Venezia
• Lynch K. (1969) L’immagine della città. Marsilio, Venezia
• Jacobs J. (1992) The Death and Life of Great American Cities, London: Vintage
• Gabellini G. (2001) Tecniche urbanistiche, Carocci, Roma 2001
• Gausa M. et al. (2003) The Metapolis Dictionary of Advanced Architecture. Actar, Barcelona.
• Wolfrum S., Nerdinger W. (2008) Multiple City. Urban Concepts 1908 | 2008. Jovis, Berlin
• Solà-Morales M. (2008) A Matter of Things. Nai010, Amsterdam
• Mostafavi M., Doherty G. (2010) Ecological Urbanism. Lars Müller, Zürich
• Ciorra P., Marini S. (2011) Recycle. Strategie per l’architettura, la città e il pianeta. Electa, Milano
• Ricci M. (2012) New Paradigms. List, Trento-Barcelona
• Baum M., Christiaanse K. (2013) City as Loft: Adaptive Reuse. ETH Honggerberg, Zürich
• Sordi J. (2014) Beyond Urbanism, List, Trento-Barcelona
• Carta M. (2017) The Augmented City. A paradigm shift. List, Trento-Barcelona
• Mareggi M. (2020) Spazi aperti. Ragioni, progetti e piani urbanistici. Planum publisher, Roma-Milano.
• Ricci M., Ferretti M. (2022) CUSTOM MADE Sense and method in the design of architecture, city and landscape, List, Barcelona
• Russo M., Montedoro (2022) Fare urbanistica oggi. Le culture del progetto. Donzelli, Roma

Infrastructures / Landscape

• Corboz A. (1983) ‘Le territoire comme palimpseste’ in Diogene, n. 121, pp. 14-35
• Allen S. (1999) ‘Infrastructural Urbanism’. In: Points and Lines: Diagrams and Projects for the City.
• Corner J., Balfour A. (1999) Recovering Landscape: Contemporary Landscape Architecture. Princeton Archi Press, New York
• Donadieu P. (2002) La società paysagiste. Actes Sud, Paris
• Hauck T., Keller R. (2011) Infrastructural Urbanism. Addressing the In-between. DOM Publishers, Berlin
• Hung Y., Waldheim C., Geuze A. (2012) Landscape Infrastructure. Case Studies by SWA. De Gruyter, Berlino
• Bendiks S., Degros A. (2013) Cycle Infrastructure. nai010 Publishers, Rotterdam
• Reed C, Lister N.M. (2014) Projective Ecologies. Actar, New York.
• Doherty G., Waldheim C. (2016) Is Landscape…? Princeton Architectural Press, New York
• Belanger P. (2016) Landscape as Infrastructure. A Base Primer. Routledge, London
• Waldheim C. (2016) Landscape as Urbanism: a general theory, Princeton Uni Press, New Jersey
• Colville-Andersen M. (2018) Copenhagenize: Guide to Bicycle Urbanism. Island Press, Washington
• Sommariva E. (2018) Bicycle Culture for Urban Design. AREA ‘nextGen infrastructure’, n. 158/2018, pp. 18-25
• Cortesi I. (2022) Paesaggio al Centro. Realtà e interpretazione. Lettera Ventidue, Siracusa

Urban Metabolism

• Gunderson L., Holling C. (2002) Panarchy: transformations in human and natural system. Island Press, NY
• Castells, M. (2004) The Network Society: A Cross-cultural Perspective. Edward Elgar, Northampton
• Heynen N., Swyngedouw E. (2005) In the Nature of Cities. Urban Metabolism. Routledge, London.
• Steel C. (2009) Hungry City. How food shapes our lives. Random House, London
• Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2014) Towards the Circular Economy. WEF Report Economic Forum Report.
• Sommariva E. (2014) Creating City. Agricoltura Urbana. Strategie per la città resiliente. List, Barcelona.
• Markoupoulou A., Farinea C. (2017) Active Public Space. implementing technology in public spaces. IAAC Press, Barcelona
• Lydon, M., Garcia A (2015) Tactical Urbanism: short-term actions for long-term change. Island Press, NY
• Gasparrini C. (2017) Dross City. Metabolismo urbano e progetto di riciclo dei drosscape. List, Barcelona
• Dorato E. (2020) Preventive Urbanism. The Role of Health in Designing Active Cities. Quodlibet: Macerata
• Gausa M. (2020) Resili(g)ence – Intelligent Cities / Resilient Landscapes. Actar Publishers, Barcelona
• Moreno C. (2020) Droit de cité: De la "ville-monde" à la "ville du quart d'heure". Observatoire, Paris
• Schröder J., Sommariva E., Sposito S. (2020) Creative Food Cycles – Book 02 Activities Report, Hannover University Press, DOI: https://doi.org/10.15488/10298

New technologies

• Virilio P. (1994) The vision machine. British Film institute, Bloomington
• Manovich L. (2002). Il linguaggio dei nuovi media. Milano: Edizioni Olivares.
• Maldonado T. (2005). Reale e virtuale. Milano: Feltrinelli.
• La Cecla F. (2006). Surrogati di presenza. Milano: Mondadori Editori.
• MVRDV (1999) Metacity / Datatown. nai010 Publishers, Rotterdam
• Ratti C. (2013) Smart city, Smart citizen. Meet the Media Guru. Egea, Milano
• Ratti C., Offenhuber D. (2014). Decoding the city. Urbanism in the Age of Big Data. Birkhauser, Basilea
• Martel F. (2015). Smart. Inchiesta sulle reti. Milano: Feltrinelli.
• Bamberger M. (2016). Big Data. Into the monitoring and evaluation of programmes. UN Global Pulse.
• Claudel M., Nagel T., Ratti C. (2016). From Origins to Destinations: future of visualizing Flow Maps. in Built Environment Vol. 42
• Ratti C., Claudel M. (2017). The city of tomorrow. Yale UniPress, London
• Ratti C., Picon A. (2023) Atlas of the Senseable City. Yale UniPress, London

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Summer Semester course

II semester _ February 19, 2024 - May 24, 2024

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

During the course, a project proposal will be developed according to two design development steps (graphic panels, layout DIN A1 portrait), and a research of best-practices (3 design readings), that will constitute the final delivery materials (DIN A5 vertical booklet layout).

The final mark will be established during a final presentation at the end of the summer term and will take into account the active participation of the students, the hand-in of all the required materials and the quality of the work produced as a whole. The evaluation of the projects will take into account the clarity of the proposal and its presentation, the spatial quality of the design and the graphic accuracy, the sustainability of the interventions, including their economic feasibility, as well as the student's learning process. The grade will be averaged with the module “Component Design” (cod. 106530).

The final delivery of the course, in order to access the exam, is a project presented through the following materials:

• 2 graphics panels DIN A1 portrait (84.1 x 59.4 cm);
• booklet of readings design references DIN A5 portrait (21,0 x 14,8 cm).

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The development of the design process is based on a research-by-design methodology articulated in laboratory activities among the groups and moments of individual research by each student. The progress of the work and the assessment of students' knowledge is verified weekly. The elaboration of the graphic panels is defined as an open process that can be continuously implemented throughout the semester. The ability to effectively communicate the design proposal, to synthetically elaborate graphics, mappings and project diagrams will be tested through oral presentations and open questions in group reviews up to the exam session.