This study provides LCA reference benchmarks for residential buildings in Northern Italy and Denmark. Furthermore, the benchmark derivation process is analysed to highlight the trade-offs that relate to the methodological choices made by benchmark developers, considering the objectives of the stakeholders. Reference benchmarks for the two contexts are calculated based on national samples of residential buildings. A comparative analysis pinpoints the methodological factors regarding system boundaries, inventory requirements and databases that, from a calculation aspect, affect the benchmarks. Results thus highlight the uniqueness of each benchmarking system put into practice, and emphasize the need for clear calculation rules and transparency within each benchmark system. The identified trade-offs from the derivation process furthermore indicate the inherent need to balance the different interests relating to the stakeholders’ roles when applying the benchmark. The mapping of different trade-offs presented in this study provides benchmark stakeholders with an overview that allows for open discussion about which priorities and choices will fit a specific context of benchmark application.

The topic of sustainable affordable housing in developing countries is gaining increasing importance within international debates. The challenge is to find a balance between the concepts of sustainability and affordability in building construction within fragile contexts, overcoming basic self-made shelter solutions towards the creation of sustainable durable housing. In particular, concerning the selection of constructive technological solutions, the goal is to shift from the current decision-making process based only on economic factors to a more holistic approach based on a triple bottom line perspective, integrating economic, environmental and social sustainability. With this aim, this paper proposes a decisional support tool for contexts characterized by poor information to sustain decision-makers in identifying suitable technological solutions. The tool is based on a set of key indicators, articulated into the three pillars of sustainability. The proposed tool, conceived as scalable and replicable, is finally applied to the specific context of Mogadishu (Somalia), since it is representative of the uncertain social, political and economic nature of fragile contexts.

This paper analyzes the results and the methods applied to an environmental research activity within a team participating in the C40 reinventing cities call of the Municipality of Milan. The aim was to support the decision-making process in the selection of material, construction, design choices oriented toward the circularity of resources, and the reduction of impacts connected to the greenhouse effect (carbon footprint), through the verification of environmental performances (life-cycle assessment) of alternative solutions and to identify an innovative and efficient environmental model for low carbon buildings.

Nowadays, the transformation processes of the built environment, particularly those with the “common good” as their target, face complex regulatory systems organised in multiple areas, levels and scales. The different legislations often hinder the possibility of achieving the defined objectives due to the inability to interpret and translate the contents of these instruments into practice, and the difficulty of coordinating the tools as a result of different perspectives and goals. The research addresses this critical issue within the redevelopment and value-enhancement processes of properties confiscated from organised crime by proposing an innovative management model, which systematises the rules and roles of multiple subjects, increasing the social impact of requalification actions.