This article aims to study the political, environmental and economic factors in contemporary society that influence new approaches and decision making in design in terms of carbon emissions and energy employment. These issues are increasingly influencing political decision making and public policy throughout every aspect of society, including the design practice. Managing this kind of complexity means adopting new forms of collaboration, methodologies and tools, knowledge and technology sharing. The article aims to narrate a PhD research experience grounded in academy–industry collaboration and aimed at creating a digital methodology for impact evaluation and investment planning. In particular, the digital methodology focuses on responding to international public policy for the sustainable growth of cities, in terms of footprint and energy demand, by including a holistic view of the design process made possible by the use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) procedures. To simplify the calculation, the methodology focuses on the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) data rather than the entire LCA. The EPD is a document that describes the environmental impacts linked to the production of a specific quantity of product or service. The objective was not to create another evaluation method but to employ the EPD results in combination with parametric and computational procedures. The integration of those procedures by using visual programming and scripting allowed the calculation of Embodied Carbon and Embodied Energy and created a user-friendly interface to query the results. The output obtained included automatic and dynamic diagrams able to identify impact scenarios in terms of CO₂ emissions and MJ of embodied energy after the conceptual design stage. The strategic use of the charts lies in their potential to simulate impact conditions and, therefore, in the chance to create sustainable transformation scenarios in the early stages of design. At this point, the influence on choices is at its highest, and the costs are low. Moreover, the methodology represents a platform of collaboration that potentially increases the level of interaction between the actors of the construction process with the consequent improvement in design quality. In conclusion, building the design methodology and testing its performance within a specific sociotechnical context was important in critically evaluating certain topics, for example, the recent European strategies on new technology to reach sustainable objectives, the role of digital tools in proposing solutions towards contemporary social issues, the birth of new forms of partnership and collaboration and the new possibilities coming from digital evaluation approaches.

At present, one of the strategies to reduce the embodied carbon of cement is to partly replace clinker with metallurgical slags. In this perspective, this study investigates the accelerated aqueous carbonation of electric arc furnace slag as possible treatment for its reuse in the cement industry. In view of developing a low-energy and industrially integrated process, mild carbonation conditions were selected: ambient pressure, low liquid-to-solid ratio, minimised temperature (between 20 °C and 60 °C) and short duration time (ranging from 20 to 60 min). To optimise the carbonation process, a design of experiments was developed. The Response Surface Methodology showed a non-representative trend along time. Therefore, a non-linear model was adopted for a better prediction of CO₂ content above 50 min. The results were satisfactory with an optimum CO₂ uptake of 7.7% and the carbonation degree obtained, 30.2%, was the highest registered in previous literature for open systems. Moreover, a literature analysis on previous aqueous and wet direct carbonation of Electric Arc Furnace slag was carried out using Principal Component analysis. This exploratory data analysis identified the most effective carbonation parameters based on the reactor type and suggested the investigation of further parameters such as liquid-to-solid ratio and CO₂ flow rate and partial pressure, maintaining the perspective of a sustainable process.

The utilisation of carbonation treatments to produce building materials is emerging as a valuable strategy to reduce CO₂ emissions in the construction sector. It is of great importance to regulate the degree of carbonation when the mineralisation process is combined with hydration, as a high CO₂ uptake may impede the development of adequate strength. A significant number of studies focus on attaining the maximum carbonation degree, with minimal attention paid to the examination of the evolution of CO₂ uptake over the initial stages of the process. In this context, the present study aims to investigate the evolution of CO₂ uptake over time during carbonation. Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is employed as material, with aqueous carbonation selected as the mineralisation process. This investigation encompasses a range of carbonation durations, spanning from 5 to 40 min. The analysis of the evolution of the mineral composition with time demonstrated that the rate of the carbonation reaction accelerates in the initial minutes, resulting in the conversion of all the portlandite produced during the hydration process in the initial 10 min. Quantitative analysis of the carbonation degree indicated that the CO₂ uptake at 40 min is equal to 19.1%, which is estimated to be approximately 70% of the maximum achievable value. By contributing to the understanding of the early carbonation mechanisms in aqueous conditions of OPC, this study provides valuable support for further investigation focused on the use of cement mineralisation processes to produce building materials.

This study investigates the development of two sustainable cements, CEM II/B-LL and CEM VI, in accordance with the UNI EN 197-1 and 197-5 standards. CEM II/B-LL was produced by replacing Portland cement with limestone (LS) at varying dosages (0%, 15%, 25%, and 35% by mass), and CEM VI was made by substituting blast furnace slag with limestone at different levels (0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% by mass). The results show that both binders are classified as structural cements. LS substitution increases the setting time of CEM II/B-LL but does not significantly affect the setting time of CEM VI. When cured at low temperatures (10 °C), CEM VI mortars retain their mechanical properties even at high LS levels, making them particularly suitable for cold climates. Mortar properties such as total porosity and capillary water absorption increase with LS content, with CEM VI exhibiting lower sensitivity to LS additions. Free shrinkage in CEM II/B-LL mortars decreases with LS content, whereas in CEM VI mortars, it initially increases with up to 20% LS and then decreases at higher LS levels (30–40%). Restrained shrinkage is also lower in CEM VI than in CEM II/B-LL. The Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CEM II/B-LL decreases significantly with increased LS content, whereas in CEM VI, it remains almost constant up to a 40% substitution. However, CEM VI demonstrates a 50% lower environmental impact compared to CEM II/B-LL, underscoring its superior sustainability.