More than thirty years after the definition of sustainable development, the commitment to protect the planet has been renewed, and all sectors of human activity have been called to contribute to this critical challenge of our time. Therefore, the construction sector can also make an essential contribution. Designers are called upon to modify their actions to consider the environmental, social, and economic impacts during the entire life cycle of construction. The digital revolution could be a suitable opportunity for a profound renewal oriented towards sustainability. The new digital technologies and the increased computing power are useful for managing the increasing complexity in current projects and supporting collaboration between the many experts involved. The presented research analyzes the current state and identifies the signs of change and the cues to imagine possible virtuous complicity between sustainable development goals and the digital revolution’s potential, which is supported by the operational features of optimization methods. Based on this in-depth analysis, an operational strategy has been defined, combining the three macro themes usually treated separately—sustainability, digitization, and optimization. This strategy can be a valuable tool to guide designers in optimizing the process of sustainable design and regenerative construction.

Small municipalities, if taken individually, have difficulty in implementing energy policy and sustainable projects (economic, environmental and social), because they do not have sufficient financial and human resources. The idea is to regenerate a territorial area following the principles of innovation and sustainable development, that is the applicability of the concept of Smart Villages on an entire “small” territory with homogenous characteristics (similar morphology, coastal village or bordering the coast, tourism as the main business, ect.) and with several villages with less of 3000 habitants; this is the “Golfo dell’Isola” in Liguria.

Many of the recovery and renovation interventions of the existing heritage conducted today in Europe are the result of urban policies careful to reduce land consumption and improve safety, comfort, and quality according to the needs of users. A substantial historical building heritage characterizes the Italian territory. Historical centres' regeneration is one of the constant and recurring themes of extreme complexity and importance due to the extension, the peculiarities, and the conformation in some cities. The contribution presented deals with the redevelopment and reactivation of a historic district of Genoa, which has one of the largest historical centres in Europe. Innovation, together with the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic), are the engines of this pilot project to trigger virtuous processes for the district's reactivation. It is an area of the historic centre with high potential in its proximity to essential activities of the city, the port, and infrastructure. The proposed plan for the regeneration of the area resulted from an in-depth analysis of the territory's state and existing practices and was carried out in close collaboration with the reference bodies and actors involved. This preliminary analysis made it possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses that were the starting point for the pilot project. The article then focuses on two specific aspects. Some of the university's buildings are in the district, and this is the starting strength for creating a "diffuse" university campus with areas to serve students. On the other hand, the open spaces are the point of weakness on which we have worked with outdoor lighting to increase the degree of security of the neighbourhood and enhance the peculiarities and value of existing spaces.