AGATHÓN | International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design

Ecological and digital transition. Systemic Design in SMEs open innovation processes

Silvia Barbero — 2023-06-30

A systemic and collaborative approach is required to facilitate European Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’ ecological and digital transition, able to frame issues within the complexity of the relationships and interconnections that characterise them. In light of this, the paper aims to investigate how the approach and methods of Systemic Design support an ‘open innovation’ process in industrial and interdisciplinary environments. The DigiCirc European project represents the reference case study, offering a space to test the challenges found in the literature with data collected in the field, emphasising the contribution made by the researchers in Systemic Design of the Politecnico di Torino, both as project partners in the ‘open innovation’ process and through activities supporting the start-ups and SMEs involved. The article is mainly geared toward scholars and design practitioners concerned with ‘open innovation’, and ecological and digital transition within socio-technical systems and in industrial and interdisciplinary environments.

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Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 29/04/2023; Accepted: 08/05/2023

Mapping design-driven processes for the regeneration of small fortified towns in inland areas

Massimo Brignoni — 2023-06-30

The contribution aims to focus on and deal with a methodology of mapping, typifying and cataloguing selected design interventions based on the impacts that the various design disciplines are or have been able to induce at different scales of action in the contexts of small fortified towns, constituting the primary settlement cores of the so-called inland areas. The main keys of research, filing and reading chosen for mapping allow the infographic schematisation of study in a Cartesian diagram based on two primary axes. The taxonomy, developed and adopted by the Design Research Unit of the University of San Marino, identifies, distributes and classifies numerous case studies according to two essential relational variables between human beings, communities and places: the time of permanence and the level of interaction and involvement with the areas.

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Received: 27/03/2023; Revised: 27/04/2023; Accepted: 08/05/2023

Urban forests management. Design-driven technological routes for wood waste valuing

Cyntia Santos Malaguti de Sousa — 2023-06-30

Urban forestry is fundamental to cities’ quality of life and resilience and deserves an effort in planning, management and expansion. This article aims to analyse and systematise technological routes to indicate potential uses of urban tree residues, focusing on the research, teaching and extension activities of the University of São Paulo, Brazil. The methodological procedures consist of: 1) review of related literature; 2) identification and classification of species; 3) analysis of tree management procedures; 4) implementation of experimental projective and productive processes and; 5) conducting capacity building and technology transfer workshops. The results present a mapping of the technological routes indicating a transition to a more sustainable production model for this urban natural capital.

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Received: 27/03/2023; Revised: 11/05/2023; Accepted: 19/05/2023

Design and ecological thinking. The new narratives of contemporary design placing Earth on centre stage

Alessandro Valenti — 2023-06-30

Transcending design as a blueprint (of an object) to enter the realm of inquiry in an era of climatic and social instability, incorporating knowledge and observing and revealing the phenomena around us from a design perspective: these are all themes addressed by this paper in an attempt to reknit the frayed threads of a discipline frequently called upon to speak of the ecological transition. Recalling Buckminster Fuller, who promoted a practice of design based on rigorous analysis and transparency between both material and user, the design approach of Studio Formafantasma in recent years has been adopted as a paradigm in an alternative to the status quo. With their experimentation, research and, above all, questions, the studio attempts to imagine different futures by revealing the limits of the mannerist creativity embedded in a certain way of thinking about design. In this way, the studio with a documentary-like flair produces information and communication without resigning itself to dominant narratives, nor to the boundaries between species or forms of knowledge.

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Received: 14/04/2023; Revised: 21/04/2023; Accepted: 22/05/2023

Making innovative landscapes. Balmori Associates redefining the human-nature relationship for the cities of the future

Javier González-Campaña — 2023-06-30

In the context of the current scholarly debate on environmental and ecological emergency, the contribution presents the work of landscape architect Diana Balmori and Balmori Associates, which has emerged as one of the most visionary and innovative in combating climate change and creating more liveable cities. The description of some of the work carried out by the Firm helps illustrate the foundational and representative elements that characterise its design work, but more importantly, the strategies to be deployed in order to successfully respond to current critical environmental issues. Diana Balmori’s work is a rare compendium of interventions grounded in scientific research and capable of silently but steadily influencing our current vision of Landscape Architecture, laying solid foundations for a more liveable, sustainable, equitable and accessible urban space and for the creation of ‘operational’ landscapes that help define a new relationship between the 21st-century city and nature.

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Received: 02/05/2023; Revised: 05/05/2023; Accepted: 05/06/2023

Global warming and cities. Increasing vegetation and urban planning between the unfinished and the urban landscape

Andrea Sciascia — 2023-06-30

The paper focuses on the relationship between urban planning and global warming mitigation strategies by constructing an argument that, starting from the legacy of the Modern Movement, includes the outcomes of more recent research. The thesis founded on the increase of vegetation in urban areas as an indispensable tool for temperature mitigation emerges as the protagonist from this scientific starting point. In the course of this in-depth study, this proposal finds an experimental verification through some concrete design experiences that combine the environmental objective while taking care of the quality of living spaces. The projects demonstrate how the twofold objective (containment of global warming and quality of living spaces) remains constant regardless of the scales of intervention, testifying to an overall cultural transformation that takes shape from interior architecture to the territory.

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Received: 31/01/2023; Revised: 14/03/2023; Accepted: 10/05/2023

Landscapes without landscape architects. The ecological beauty of informal urban landscapes

Chiara Catalano — 2023-06-30

Regarding the maintenance of urban green infrastructure, most stakeholders prefer achieving an oversimplified aesthetic archetype of cleanliness and order at the cost of high maintenance, whilst landscape architects try to reproduce islands of near-natural vegetation even where the environmental factors typical of urban areas do not allow it. In the long term, the struggle between these two opposite ways of conceiving the look and the role of green infrastructure appears pointless: in the end, what decides the identity of most urban green infrastructure is the ‘vegetation by use’, that is, the daily people’s use of these spaces (whether accessible). By analysing the aesthetic value, the species composition, and the ecological meaning of the vegetation of some roadside habitats close to the city of Catania (Sicily), the Authors shed light on the possibility of enjoying low-cost, biodiverse and beautiful seasonally green areas.

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Received: 30/04/2023; Revised: 07/05/2023; ; Accepted: 08/05/2023

Solving global challenges locally. Collective housing as a catalyst for ecological transition

Andrés Cánovas — 2023-06-30

Confronted with the evidence of climate change, architecture can – and must – play an important role in minimising the harmful consequences of this phenomenon; in this sense, collective housing (especially public housing) is beginning to take its first steps in redefining a new energy paradigm and strategies aimed at responding to the challenge posed by the ecological transition. Three indispensable requirements are thus identified: energy passivity, the use of local materials, and reuse and regeneration, conceived as complementary tools to activate a thorough transformation of the built environment. This goal also requires the complicity of three key factors (or actors) related to the housing sector: the real estate sector, the legislation, and the users.

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Received: 18/04/2023; Revised: 23/05/2023; Accepted: 28/05/2023

Green infrastructure in arid urban contexts. Transitioning ecologies beyond Green Riyadh

Monica Moscatelli — 2023-06-30

Green infrastructures play a crucial role in urban transitions by integrating and coordinating the environmental, economic, and social dimensions. This contribution focuses on green infrastructures within urban contexts characterised by an arid climate, particularly in Riyadh as a hologram of the Saudi city. The goal is to outline the current role of green infrastructure between plans and projects, identifying future limits and possibilities through a ‘landscape-based’ approach to green infrastructure. Seven integrated and interacting strategic lines will therefore be identified, which aim to inform the process of implementation of the green infrastructure in a holistic and complex key, opening up to alternative scenarios of ecological transition for the Saudi city.

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Received: 18/03/2023; Revised: 29/04/2023; Accepted: 09/05/2023

Architecture, the guardian of nature. The project of the ground within the transformation of urban highways, 1962-2018

Zeila Tesoriere — 2023-06-30

An unstoppable shift in the paradigm underlying mankind’s conception of its species’ building modalities is at the root of the interest in embedding greenery in Architecture. The most capable heuristic statute of such a new course is the progressive substitution of Environment for Nature among Design drivers. Within this frame, this paper investigates the hybridisation of greenery and the built environment in the contemporary transformation of large urban highways through a diachronic and comparative approach, referencing international research and expanding its main hypothesis. With this purpose, it reconstructs the hermeneutic reference frame by progressively discussing the theoretical arguments, deepening approaches, and design cases, among which the applicative one elaborated for the transformation of Palermo’s ring road.

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Received: 25/03/2023; Revised: 30/04/2023; Accepted: 14/05/2023

Transcalar project of nature-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda. Innovations and interconnections

Roberta Ingaramo — 2023-06-30

The essay offers a reinterpretation of nature-based solutions (NbS), viewing them not only as devices for the architectural design of urban space but also as highly efficient and cost-effective solutions capable of competing with other strategies for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals promoted by the 2030 Agenda. The authors emphasise the importance of holistically approaching the NbS project at different scales, seeing the urban fabric as a fertile ground that can accommodate adaptive solutions designed strategically and on a site-specific basis. Moreover, international case studies in this field demonstrate the potential of integrating NbS across various scales for enhancing urban resilience and promoting the preservation of the biosphere, following the Strong Sustainability Model, on which the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 is also based. The discussion highlights the limitations and barriers currently slowing down the widespread application of NbS and proposes innovative solutions to overcome these issues, along with possible research scenarios.

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Received: 25/03/2023; Revised: 05/05/2023; Accepted: 16/05/2023

The sustainable soul of the past. Learning from the present to regenerate outdated urban spaces

Antonella Falzetti — 2023-06-30

There are many open spaces that today no longer connote themselves as community squares, places of sharing and belonging, unsuited to meet current expectations in terms of the psycho-physical well-being of the user and far from the logic of urban ecology. The places to which the contribution refers are often the result of a skilful design culture: they have contributed to the design of cities, to improve degraded areas, but they suffer from a lack of aptitude to project themselves into future transformative dynamics, resulting in spaces removed from the life cycle that their urban function requires today. By analysing the life cycle of these individual urban architectures, made before recent environmental policies, the question emerges as to their actual sustainability and resilience in the temporal progression of their operation. The essay aims to open a reflection on the opportunities for modification of these particular areas by acquiring from the NbS strategies specific and measured types of intervention in a perspective of adaptation in an eco-systemic key that is able to protect the architectural identity found.

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Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 25/04/2023; Accepted: 23/05/2023

Nature Capital. An ecological transition and open space transformation phenomena

Renzo Lecardane — 2023-06-30

As indicated by the UN 2030 Agenda and the new European goals for 2030, Ecological Transition is at the basis of the new development model to reduce polluting emissions, prevent and combat land disruption, minimise the impact of productive activities on the environment and improve the quality of life and environmental security for future generations: on the one hand, orienting an ecological transition towards equity and collective well-being means rethinking the system of relations between man and the natural and built environment and, on the other hand, referring to the construction of social and cultural communities starting from environmental issues and land resources. In light of the above, this paper intends to reflect on the not-always-linear working method of the appropriation and transformation of open space concerning the definition of ‘fourth nature’ and ‘urban nature’ through three emblematic case studies. The aim is to go beyond the strictly anthropocentric view by focusing on the role of nature in the city through a selection, albeit not exhaustive, of innovative approaches to sustainable cities, the fight against climate change and the restoration of ecosystems, in a perspective of multi-species integration and the creation of regenerative ecosystems in the urban environment.

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Received: 05/04/2023; Revised: 01/05/2023; Accepted: 16/05/2023

Walking into the wild. A transition to a co-evolutionary landscape

Adriano Dessì — 2023-06-30

This research paper attempts to shift the approach and the possible attitudes of architectural and landscape design towards an interpretation of ecological transition based on the dimension of the ‘wild’, that is, on the possibility that the transformation of places by man contemplates other and the most diverse forms of life, spheres of proximity in which human activities give way to third and fourth natures, which develop their own habitats in an autonomous, dynamic and vital manner. In this reflection, thinking about a ‘landscape of the wild’ means thinking again about the relationship between human and natural habitats, which develops on many levels that cannot be reduced and simplified in the impending phenomenon of ‘rewilding’, ranging from the possibility of giving shape to the spaces of nature, of creating new forms of shared spaces between man and living things, to the conception of minimal architectures necessary to stimulate ancient human practices (such as walking) and which are capable of developing new ecologies.

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Received: 23/03/2023; Revised: 25/04/2023; Accepted: 08/05/2023

Vertical farm. New architectures and cities from the forms of agriculture

Sara Basso — 2023-06-30

The paper investigates the convergence between nature and architecture, analysing the phenomenon of vertical farms as an architectural manifestation of specific contemporary trends. These high-rise buildings are functional for agriculture while also exhibiting sustainability features, such as the reduction of supply chains and land consumption. The issue is articulated through four areas: the origin of the tall building as a symbolic expression and its contemporary evolution; above-ground agriculture in relation to classical macroeconomic categories since the 1700s; and three case studies of experimental vertical farms (Skyfarm, Farmscraper and Farmhouse), interpreted as possible origins of new architectural types. In conclusion, a critical analysis of the potential urban impacts of vertical farms is conducted, based on the concept of the right to food.

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Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 02/05/2023; Accepted: 09/05/2023

An ecology of space. Architectural design for transboundary relationships

Hisham El-Hitami — 2023-06-30

While architectural discussions on ecology focus on technical considerations, a deeper understanding of the notion and its aspects of the inter-relationality between things and beings presents a broader perspective. Ecological architecture could play a central role in shaping the relationships that human beings have with their environment. By identifying the façade as the focal point for cross-border relationships linking interior and exterior spaces, an analysis of historical and contemporary architecture shows how architects have designed transitional spaces to promote these relationships. Such ambiguous spaces are exemplarily found in historic box-type windows, initially intended for thermal insulation. Even these little transitional spaces bear the potential of mediating between inside and out. In this sense, architecture might assume a central ecological role in shaping the relationships humans entertain with their environments.

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Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 09/05/2023; Accepted: 01/06/2023

Cultural environments with more-than-human perspectives. Prototyping through research and training

Marie Davidová — 2023-06-30

The paper focuses on several systemic research-by-design case studies relating ecological, technological and social systems with a more-than-human perspective. The complexity of the real requires methods that leverage digital tools and processes proposed to enable the design of more ecological, dynamic, interrelated posthuman environments. We argue that to achieve social justice, we must also reach environmental justice and become in synergy with the planet, with Gaia. This ethos is presented in multiple case studies demonstrating the relationships between designed and existing socio and environmental systems, evaluating whether our actions on the Earth and use of non-renewable resources are sustainably innovative and what this means for more inclusive practice, the academy and our pedagogical foci and design methods.

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Received: 19/03/2023; Revised: 05/05/2023; Accepted: 15/05/2023

Digital and circularity in building. KETs for waste management in the European Union

Marina Rigillo — 2023-06-30

The article analyses the potential and limitations of using enabling technologies of the digital transition for construction and demolition waste in construction management (BIM, GIS, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Digital Manufacturing, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Digital Twin, Artificial Intelligence) in the context of the European Union. The study adopts the Scoping Review method to return the outcomes of a scientific literature review since 2016, that is the year of the First European Circular Economy Action Plan and the first Selective Demolition Protocol. The results are classified by geographic origin, year of publication, disciplinary field, number of citations, and content. The overall objective of the contribution is to identify scientifically validated contributions to refine further original lines of research in the relationship between digital technologies and circularity culture in the construction sector.

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Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 08/05/2023; Accepted: 11/05/2023

User experience design and sustainability of AI-infused objects

Venanzio Arquilla — 2023-06-30

AI-infused objects have become an integral part of the daily lives of an increasing number of users. While these objects offer undeniable benefits, they also raise concerns due to their environmental impact. This paper explores the characteristics of these objects and the ecosystem they create, presenting an interpretive model that examines three primary components: physical, digital, and usage. When it comes to ‘sustainability’, Design generally focuses on environmental impacts related to the physical component, while Engineering evaluates the impacts of the digital component. However, these assessments are often disconnected and fail to encompass the impacts associated with usage. The proposed approach seeks to integrate diverse methodologies to elicit the impacts related to the user experience and generate greater awareness already in the design phase.

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Received: 04/04/2023; Revised: 02/05/2023; Accepted: 09/05/2023

Reflections and trajectories for interdisciplinary research on the ecological transition

Cesare Sposito — 2023-06-30

AGATHÓN Volume 13 follows its predecessor on Innovability^©® | Digital Transition and collects essays and research on Innovability^©® | Ecological Transition, aware of its pressing relevance, but also of the scope suggested by the proposed dual key of interpretation. The published papers convey several reflections and research trajectories based on the need for a multiscalar nature of interventions, which guarantees effects that are induced to a broader environmental context than the one of reference, and for teams that address critical issues with a holistic and systemic inter- and transdisciplinary collaborative approach, in a sort of speciation of disciplines that modifies their traditional statutes; what emerges then is that the intangible and material tools we can deploy today are numerous also thanks to the possibilities offered by digital technologies in the different design, implementation and management phases of the process.

Advanced models for the construction of an NbS catalogue for resilience and biodiversity

Roberto Bologna — 2023-06-30

The article illustrates the results of a survey undertaken by the authors within the research activities of the National Biodiversity Center established according to the PNRR objectives, regarding the main cataloguing platforms of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for urban biodiversity aimed at restoring natural resources, creating resilient ecosystems, and promoting ecosystem benefits in cities. The analysis and comparison of case study catalogue models focused on NbS has led to the development of an organisational structure of metadata for their cataloguing, to be adopted in the Mediterranean context for the processes of urban forestation, nature-based regeneration, and improvement of ecological connectivity between urban, peri-urban, and rural areas.

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Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 27/04/2023; Accepted: 02/05/2023

Sustainable urban development. Organizing information content for the transition to Positive Energy Districts

Tiziana Ferrante — 2023-06-30

In line with the strategies to promote Positive Energy Districts for a transition to climate-neutral European cities, the contribution reports the outcomes of a research aimed at detecting the enabling factors to incentivize such a transition in the national territory, identifying the role played by the main public and private stakeholders in the different phases. Starting from the study of implementation processes, technological solutions and stakeholder involvement methods that have contributed to the success of virtuous sustainable urban development projects implemented in Italy, the research proposes a systemic approach for the organization of relevant information content capable of supporting Municipalities in identifying potentially replicable good practices, incentivizing them to initiate new urban development processes in Positive Energy Districts.

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Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 11/05/2023; Accepted: 17/05/2023

Rural innovation, ecosystem services and urbanisation processes in Liguria, between coastal and inner areas

Giampiero Lombardini — 2023-06-30

Exploiting environmental resources and urbanisation processes has significantly altered the natural ecosystems over time, turning them into socio-ecological systems strongly affected by anthropic settlements. Spatial planning must therefore aim at new development models able to harmonise the need to preserve the environmental components with the need to reduce the socio-economic inequalities, often linked to inequitable access to ecosystem services. The case study of the Liguria Region is presented, with its marked polarisation between the linear coastal conurbation and inner areas, the areas providing the most significant number of ecosystem services and those with greater population and urbanisation density, which are instead organised as large demand poles. The paper analyses the relationship between environmental values, in terms of ecosystem multifunctionality, and rural innovation forms that support territorial competitiveness. The aim is to explore how a systemic approach can integrate opportunities between the inner and coastal areas, qualifying the valley systems as new elements of the anthropic-environmental structure of the region.

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Received: 21/03/2023; Revised: 27/04/2023; Accepted: 05/05/2023

Architecture of urban pavements. Multi-scale and digital methods for an ecological transition

Spartaco Paris — 2023-06-30

The management of large cities’ road infrastructure is increasingly complex, requiring tools and approaches continuously updated; these drive the governance to define specific solutions capable of being adapted to the variety of urban settings, guarantee renewed performance and contribute towards the pursuit of the objectives of environmental sustainability. This article aims to propose a multi-scale and interdisciplinary methodological approach based on digital tools aimed at defining requirements and strategies to promote widespread urban road regeneration. This approach has been applied to the city of Rome: the result is an operative tool to identify solutions to improve the urban quality of public spaces' vehicular, bicycle, and pedestrian street pavement.

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Received: 20/03/2023; Revised: 27/04/2023; Accepted: 05/05/2023

Product innovation for the ecological transition. Brick and glass recycling

Adolfo F. L. Baratta — 2023-06-30

In the thematic environment of conscious use and material resource recycling, the Department of Architecture of the Roma Tre University is currently conducting a research line focused on environmental product innovation. This line consists of two application studies involving manufacturing companies in the construction sector. Both types of research address the issue of additives in the mix design of bricks and concrete, respectively, to achieve better-performing products. The results led to the prototyping of two products: a brick, made from waste replacing a fraction of clay with a mixture of bentonite sludge and metal residues, and a concrete screed mix, made from construction and demolition glass waste replacing natural aggregates.

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Received: 30/03/2023; Revised: 29/04/2023; Accepted: 08/05/2023

Geopolymers for Eco-Architecture. Integrated approaches for green strategies activation

Raffaella Aversa — 2023-06-30

The construction industry is responsible for 30% of energy consumption, 40% of CO₂ emissions, and 50% of raw material extraction. Introducing actions to improve the sustainability of induced impacts is urgently necessary, and it is essential to bring about this change by using innovative materials with a natural matrix and construction processes that optimise the raw materials and allow their recyclability. The article introduces the first outcomes of an interdisciplinary research project focused on applying geopolymers for building components. The research highlights the strategic role of sustainability combined with digitisation in order to improve ecological-environmental performance.

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Received: 17/03/2023; Revised: 27/04/2023; Accepted: 09/05/2023