The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the relationship between people’s behaviors and residential spaces, bringing to public and academic attention, on the one hand, the exacerbation of pre-existing problems and, on the other, the potential of spaces, such as communal gardens and apartment-block terraces, to become important resources of sociability or privacy. Overall, this raises the question of how to assess the responsiveness of the existing residential stock to needs that transcend the traditional concept of housing adequacy—e.g., the need for adaptable, open, and livable spaces. This research moves from the assumption that underused spaces in residential neighborhoods represent a crucial asset for creating new economic and social values through architectural and urban projects. Consequently, moving from an in-depth observation of a selection of public housing buildings in Turin as a paradigmatic case study, the aim is to explore the potential for the adaptive reuse of residential spaces at different scales—from the apartment to the neighborhoods—highlighting the implications for design. In doing so, the paper puts forward a methodological approach, which widens the way housing adequacy is normally assessed, by focusing on the possibility of transformation of often neglected spatial resources.

This article proposes an integration of methods and sources from the field of architectural design, on the one hand, and evaluation disciplines, on the other. By analysing some emerging trends in the residential demand, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic but referable to phenomena characterised by much longer trajectories, the research aims to highlight certain criticalities and shortcomings in the current design and evaluation practices and to shed new light on the potential value of spaces that are typically underused – and underestimated – but highly transformable. The text thus introduces a critical-methodological reflection, which offers a new perspective for the study of neighbourhoods characterised by a high level of “peripheralisation”.

The abandonment and dismantlement of military installations has raised questions of central interest for the urban and territorial planning of European and North American cities in the last decades...

The Thesis Seminar “Theory and Critique of Architectural Action” is a multidisciplinary educational experience designed to explore the methodological aspects associated with the development of a research project in architectural design, with a focus on Master’s Degree Graduation. The Seminar identifies six key methodological issues in research related to project practices and approaches them from a multidisciplinary perspective, subjecting each component to critical examination. Through lectures and Seminar meetings, each discipline challenges these issues based on its scientific status, providing specialized disciplinary insights. In doing so, the Seminar equips students with the necessary theoretical and practical tools to test the application of a robust methodological structure to address various challenges arising from the real world in their research activities. The structure of the Seminar is not intended to establish a specific sequence among the research activities object of inquiry, nor does it seek to offer exhaustive solutions to every issue raised. Instead, the Seminar’s aim is to provide students with critical and methodological instruments within a collegial space for open discussion and debate. The pedagogical objective is to enable students to critically evaluate and systematize interdisciplinary knowledge and skills acquired during their previous academic journey, allowing them to position original research programs within the broader framework of design practice.