The dissemination of the tangible and intangible values of heritage building represents one of the most important objectives in the field of Digital Cultural Heritage (DCH). In recent years, different studies and research applied to heritage monuments have shown how it is possible to improve the awareness of the architectural heritage through the integration of latest developments in the field of 3D survey, 3D modelling, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and eXtended Reality (XR). On the other hand, this digital workflow requires a huge amount of data sources and a holistic approach to reach a high level of information sharing coming from different disciplines and sectors such as restoration, geomatics, 3D virtual museums and serious gaming. In conjunction with entertainment software and gaming, this research shows the main results obtained during the generative process of digital environments oriented to improve the level of information and to enrich the contents coming from the informative models. The case study is represented by one of the most important Lombard monuments: the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan. This study, starting from the 3D survey and the data collection of the historical records of the church, improves the creation of an XR experience that reaches a new level of interactivity for different types of devices (desktop, mobile, VR headset) and users (experts, non-experts).Highlights:Generative modelling requirements and novel grades of generations (GOG) and accuracy (GOA) are presented in order to improve the digitisation of built heritage from the 3D survey, reducing time and costs of the scan-to-BIM process.The holistic value of generative modelling allows experts to create digital worlds able to faithfully and accurately represent the detected reality and improve new immersive environments for Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) projects.Immersive environments are created with a mixture of the latest generation software and hardware, allowing users to discover the hidden historical values of built heritage with new levels of interactivity and information.

The HBIM of the Basilica di Collemaggio in L'Aquila is part of the restoration project of the building seriously damaged by the earthquake in 2009. The project "Ripartire da Collemaggio", funded by ENIservizi, involves an interdisciplinary group called to work together toward a common goal: the need of security of the structures and the need of conservation of the architectonic value of the Basilica. Starting from the photogrammetric and laser scanning survey, interpretation and modelling were needed to create a detailed HBIM to manage the phases of analysis, simulation of structural behavior, economic evaluation of the project, and final restoration. This paper described the generation of the HBIM and its use in the on-going restoration project with a particular attention to the procedures used to preserve the complexity given by photogrammetric and laser scanning data.

Digital twins (DTs) and building information modelling (BIM) are proving to be valuable tools for managing the entire life cycle of a building (LCB), from the early design stages to management and maintenance over time. On the other hand, BIM platforms cannot manage the geometric complexities of existing buildings and the large amount of information that sensors can collect. For this reason, this research proposes a scan-to-BIM process capable of managing high levels of detail (LODs) and information (LOIs) during the design, construction site management, and construction phases. Specific grades of generation (GOGs) were applied to create as-found, as-designed, and as-built models that interact with and support the rehabilitation project of a multi-level residential building. Furthermore, thanks to the sharing of specific APIs (Revit and Autodesk Forge APIs), it was possible to switch from static representations to novel levels of interoperability and interactivity for the user and more advanced forms of building management such as a DT, a BIM cloud, and an extended reality (XR) web platform. Finally, the development of a live app shows how different types of users (professionals and non-expert) can interact with the DT, in order to know the characteristics with which the environments have been designed, as well as the environmental parameters, increasing their degree of control, from the point of view of improving comfort, use, costs, behaviour, and good practices. Finally, the overall approach was verified through a real case study where the BIM-XR platform was built for energy improvements to existing buildings and façade renovations.

Monitoring landscapes in times of climate change patterns is a crucial issue, moreover, in the analyzed Mediterranean area, one of the major global candidates to develop land degradation stresses and consequential desertification phenomena. The research presented here is developed in the Mediterranean Basin, specifically in the Basilicata Region (southern Italy). The region is characterized by a very long history of intensive anthropization endowed by the high diversity of relatively geologically young soil types that consequentially created a vastity of spatial mosaics, which contributed to the composition of its archeolandscapes and endorsed some specific characteristics of the Mediterranean region, that evolved to respond to the human impact, including grazing, cultivation, and fires. Those key elements lead to the crucial issues of the region investigated here as soil erosion, salinization, loss of organic carbon, loss of biodiversity, and landslides, which together with deforestations, depopulation, and wildfires, define the exact framework of degradation and marginality. The evaluation of the sensitivity to degradation was performed (i) firstly at the regional scale, through a MEDALUS (Kosmas et al. 1999) approach, by implementing 6 main indicators (Soil Quality Index, Climate Quality Index, Vegetation Quality Index, Management Quality Index, Landslide Risk Index, Water Availability Index), and (ii) secondly at the mid-regional scale, through remote sensing by evaluation of the NDVI differencing thresholds in time intervals, covering a 20 years’ time span going from 2000 to 2020. The study helped to define the in-progress land degradation trends and scenarios of the region, which must be the evidence-based foundation of integrated landscape planning strategies in marginal territories, implemented through a Decision Support System (DSS) based both on ecological, climate-adaptive, and environmental indicators, and on social, cultural, and economic development co-creation strategies.