Managing the outdated building stock through more efficient circular processes such as reuse appears to be a sustainable strategy to undertake in limiting the environmental impacts of the building sector. Nevertheless, neither the ties between sustainability and circularity are clear, nor the convenience of architectural reuse processes in environmental and economic terms. The study developed a decision-making tool, a fast self-assessment procedure supporting designers in understanding the convenience in using reclaimed building elements from the project concept. Using desk study and case study methods, and adopting a comprehensive sustainability perspective, the investigation focused on the parameters to use and on the characteristics of the evaluation. Five parameters were identified for the environmental, economic and social assessment. Two scenarios were then compared, the workflows and the boundaries for the evaluation defined, and the direct and indirect impacts on the overall processes evaluated. The results of the case study allowed validating the procedure developed, in both its ease of performing and the comprehensive sustainability perspective. Although the research would benefit from further field testing, it provides an alternative tool for evaluating the circular outcomes in the architectural field, and to develop the sustainability of the built environment.

The main objective of this research is to describe a multidisciplinary investigation part of an ongoing research project. The contribution focuses on the identification and selection of innovative technologies and operative methodologies capable of fostering the sustainable innovation and resilience of the Italian N-E territory by addressing four challenges: energy transition, environmental challenges, adaptation to climate change, and digitalisation. The investigation devised an original conceptual research framework aiming to identify possible solutions and drawing a connection between them and the challenges, by considering the actions, the technological and methodological support, and, indirectly, the European and global policy objectives they help to reach. The research results are: (i) a definition of the four challenges in light of the built environment and construction sector; (ii) the conceptual research framework schema as a replicable instrument; (iii) its contextualization to the research scope; (iv) a preliminary list of technologies and methodologies supporting the sustainable innovation in the given territorial context; and (v) a ranking of the most promising solutions according to their effectiveness and application potential. The results highlight how, in the Italian N-E context, the solutions most effective in delivering sustainability and resilience are the ones operating in the built environment by preserving the built resources, mainly by addressing the building envelope and structure.

The European social housing stock, built since the early post-war period, now needs major energy, structural and functional upgrading. The owners, almost always public bodies, are therefore called upon to adapt these buildings to the new regulations issued by the European Community. To reduce the costs of intervention, the preferred solution is that of a complete demolition and a subsequent reconstruction by using newly supplied materials, without considering the non-sustainability and social fallout of this choice. The contribution, starting from the hypothesis that more sustainable building rehabilitation interventions are possible, analyses which social and material supply aspects must be considered, and which design strategies can be applied to achieve the objective. First, the characteristics of social buildings in their historical evolution are summarized to understand their value in a broader non-economic sense. Subsequently, the requirements for a sustainable renovation of the existing social dwellings are analysed, and three, out of many other, design strategies are proposed. A case study is then presented and the application of the three strategies done through three Master thesis works is described. In conclusion, the results of the application of the strategies to the case study is analysed to assess whether it is possible to intervene on existing social housing complexes to achieve better results with a more sustainability-oriented perspective.

The COVID-19 spread abruptly changed the fruition of indoor environments, where necessary adaptive measures have since been implemented. Buildings open to the public were suddenly equipped with physical devices aiming to encourage users’ appropriate behaviors, such as hand sanitizing, social distancing, and temperature monitoring. Through a twofold architectural-psychological perspective, the paper presents a research aiming to understand how users perceive these devices in the Italian context and to identify the design features that could improve their effectiveness in enhancing individuals’ awareness. With an interdisciplinary approach, four methods were adopted: observational field surveys, background and normative framework analysis, survey research through an online questionnaire, and case studies survey research. The results confirm the overall effectiveness of the implemented anti-COVID strategies, their suitability in encouraging individuals’ appropriate behaviors, and the importance of regulating the users’ flow indoors. The research allowed defining the devices (hand-sanitizing devices and temperature-measurement instruments) and wayfinding systems more suited to be included in the prevention strategy and identified their more appropriate design features in relation to the users’ feedback. Operational suggestions are presented as well. The adopted experimental approach can be useful in supporting decision making in managing of the built environment in both the current and future contexts.

Timber is currently a trending topic in the debate concerning our built environment’s carbon neutrality, due to its renewable nature and the potential to store carbon. Nevertheless, this premise is sometimes inaccurately interpreted, as proven by the recently emerging concept of buildings becoming carbon sinks. The paper explores three fields in which misconceptions appear to be grounded, namely the inaccurate use of vocabulary about carbon storage in timber, the renewable-based assumption disregarding carbon transfer patterns and the finite nature of forests, and the competing market sectors relying on a resource with uncertain availability. By identifying existing and future trade-offs, the contribution points out how the carbon neutrality of urban areas cannot disregard the territory they extract resources from.