..
:
Producing
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Project
edited by MASSIMO LAURIA ELENA MUSSINELLI FABRIZIO TUCCIMassimo Lauria
Associate Professor of Architectural Technology at dArTe Department, Mediterranea University ofReggio Calabria.
Elena Mussinelli
Full Professor of Architectural Technology at ABC Department, Politecnico di Milano.
Fabrizio Tucci
Full Professor of Architectural Technology at POTA Department, Sapienza University of Rome.
The transformations created about the design activity by the severa! challenges started by the economie crisis, climate change and environmental emergencies, together with the impact ofthe Web and ICT on socia! and productive systems, highlight many criticai issues, but also significant prospects for updating conceming places, forms, contents and operating methods of"making architecture", at all levels and scales.
In this context, the cultura! tradition and disciplinary identity of Architectural Technology provide visions and effective operating practices characterized by new ways of managing and controlling the process with the definition of roles, skills and contents related to the production chains of the circular economy/green and to real and virtual performance simulations.
The volume collects the results of the remarks and research and experimentation work of members of SITdA -Italian Society of Architectural Technology, outlining scenarios of change useful for orienting the future of research conceming the raising ofthe quality ofthe project and ofthe construction.
Producing Project
edited by
Massimo Lauria
Elena Mussinelli
Fabrizio Tucci
Book series STUDI E PROGETTI
directors Fabrizio Schiaffonati, Elena Mussinelli
editorial board Chiara Agosti, Giovanni Castaldo, Martino Mocchi, Raffaella Riva
scientific committee Marco Biraghi, Luigi Ferrara, Francesco Karrer, Mario Losasso, Maria Teresa Lucarelli,
Jan Rosvall, Gianni Verga
edited by
Massimo Lauria Elena Mussinelli Fabrizio Tucci
editing, collection and supervision of texts by
Maria Azzalin
proofreading by
Filedelfja Musteqja Francesca Pandolfi
This e-book has been subjected to blind peer review process.
Cover: adaption of
Siemens digitalization tour, Siemens, 1996-2019
ISBN 978-88-916-43087 © Copyright of the Authors.
Released in the month of November 2020.
Published by Maggioli Editore in Open Access with Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Maggioli Editore is a trademark of Maggioli SpA Company with certified quality system ISO 9001:2000 47822 Santarcangelo di Romagna (RN) • Via del Carpino, 8 Tel. 0541/628111 • Fax 0541/622595
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I
NDEXTHE NEW SCENARIOS OF TECHNOLOGICAL DESIGN
Maria Teresa Lucarelli 12
REFLECTIONS ON RESEARCH AND DESIGN IN ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE
Paolo Felli 16
PRODUCING PROJECT 22
Research for the quality of the project
Elena Mussinelli 23
Technical culture and disciplinary statutes
Massimo Lauria 26
Requirements, approaches, visions in the prospects for development of technological design
Fabrizio Tucci 33
PART 1.DEMAND FOR SERVICES, OFFER OF COMPETENCES
Values, contents and project actors in the new organizational models of
the building process 43 1.1 Architects’ training and profession: current status, trends and
perspectives
Ernesto Antonini, Pietromaria Davoli, Massimo Lauria 44 1.2 The Italian design market from the point of view of the supply
Aldo Norsa 52
1.3 The profession of architect in the VUCA society
Paolo Mezzalama 60
Innovation in the demand for design services: priorities, strategies, tools and practices of the client and their effects on the market
1.4 The demand for quality in architecture: project competitions
6
1.5 The impact of social demand on the project: the inclusive living for vulnerable people
Genny Cia, Marzia Morena, Ilaria Oberti, Angela Silvia Pavesi 73 1.6 Circular and Collaborative: two terms of the project culture in the era
of Industry 4.0
Mariangela Bellomo, Antonella Falotico 83 1.7 Project and crowdsourcing: phenomenon mapping and future
perspectives
Timothy Daniel Brownlee, Valeria Melappioni 90
The evolution in the organization of the offer and in the project production: dimensions, structure, skills of the design structures, between multidisciplinarity and specialization
1.8 The digital transformation of the AEC sector: innovation of processes and organizational models
Marcella Bonanomi, Cinzia Talamo, Giancarlo Paganin 97 1.9 The digital challenge for the innovation of the design processes
Alessandro Claudi de Saint Mihiel 104 1.10 New management models for design and construction: the Solar
Decathlon ME 2018 experience
Antonio Basti, Michele Di Sivo, Adriano Remigio 111 1.11 Towards a Maintenance 4.0. Chance versus need
Maria Azzalin 119
1.12 The environmental-oriented complexity of design process
Anna Dalla Valle 126
1.13 The innovation within building design and management processes
Valentina Frighi 134
1.14 Rating system as design tool to manage complexity
Lia Marchi 141
New professional skills: definition, organization and education of knowledge, skills and competences
1.15 Green Procurement and Architecture. New horizons and skills for
professionals
Riccardo Pollo, Corrado Carbonaro 147 1.16 Tendencies and new players for participatory design
Giovanni Castaldo, Martino Mocchi 154 1.17 Training to research. Strategies to bring closer universities and firms
towards joint research
Massimo Rossetti 161
1.18 Project production and University. Values, contradictions and
opportunities
Oscar Eugenio Bellini, Andrea Tartaglia 167 1.19 A new profession for the architect. The Project Manager
1.20 Digital technologies, construction 4.0 and human factors
Erminia Attaianese 182
1.21 Automation geography. Redefine the prefabrication
Margherita Ferrari 188
PART 2.QUALITY OF THE PROJECT, QUALITY OF CONSTRUCTION.
Technological innovation and ICT for the building process 195 2.1 Digital innovation and design complexity
Eliana Cangelli, Valeria D’Ambrosio 196 2.2 Project production and digital culture
Mario Losasso 202
2.3 Is BIM an Innovation?
Daniel Hurtubise 208
Information and Big Data for advanced management and decision-making processes
2.4 Technical innovation and GIS to qualify renovation processes
Giovanna Franco, Simonetta Acacia 212 2.5 Which invisible technology? Metadates for the retrofit of historic
buildings
Marta Calzolari 219
2.6 Identity cards for multi-layered districts. BIM/GIS instruments for
the design of smart cities
Saveria Olga Murielle Boulanger, Rossella Roversi 226 2.7 Multi-criteria analysis method for the preliminary design of a
hospital structure
Salvatore Viscuso, Milan Dragoljevic, Alessandra Zanelli 234 2.8 Trasparency in management and circularity. Blockchain and the
production of the project
Cristina Fiore, Daniele Iori, Giuseppina Vespa 241 2.9 Natural ventilation and CFD in the space of the historic city: the
quality of urban design
Gaia Turchetti 248
2.10 Decision-making in the design of circular buildings. Information on
materials in BIM tools
Paola Altamura 255
Collaboration, integration and coordination of skills for sharing and managing data for project production
2.11 Transdisciplinary and shared methodologies for the design: input
data identification
Lucia Martincigh, Gabriele Bellingeri, Chiara Tonelli, Lucia Fontana,
8
2.12 GIS a tool for 20th century architecture. From the territory to the
building scale
Marta Casanova, Elena Macchioni, Camilla Repetti, Francesca Segantin 271 2.13 Heritage-BIM. The integrated management of the historical centres:
the case study of Artena
Filippo Calcerano, Elena Gigliarelli, Raffaele Pontrandolfi 279 2.14 Light resource building approaches for eco-innovation of building
processes
Martino Milardi 287
2.15 New technologies and design: innovative co-design tools
Grazia Giulia Cocina, Gabriella Peretti, Riccardo Pollo, Francesca Thiebat 294 2.16 Improving buildings quality through the reduction of the energy
performance gap
Emanuele Piaia 301
Integration of innovative methodologies, tools and technologies for off-site and on-site production, in relation to all phases of the building process
2.17 Industrial production, new tools and technologies for design of
custom prefab housing
Spartaco Paris, Roberto Bianchi, Beatrice Jlenia Pesce 309 2.18 Hybridization between BIM and VPL. Software development for
embodied energy calculation of buildings
Roberto Giordano, Massimiliano Lo Turco, Yoseph Bausola Pagliero 316 2.19 Concrete innovation between dematerialization and Industry 4.0
Jenine Principe 323
2.20 New tools for environmental design. A parametric model for the
envelope
Paola De Joanna, Antonio Passaro, Rossella Siani 329 2.21 Possible integration approaches of Life Cycle Assessment in BIM
Elisabetta Palumbo, Stefano Politi 336
PART 3.DESIGNING THE PROJECT, INVENTING THE FUTURE.
Innovation of knowledge forms and cognitive statutes of the project 343 3.1 Design research: from the technological culture of design for social
innovation to the anticipatory and creative function of design
Fabrizio Tucci, Laura Daglio 344 3.2 For a new centrality of the figure of the architect
Fabrizio Schiaffonati 353
3.3 Innovating projects in the Wisdom Economy
Luigi Ferrara, Caitlin Plewes, Graeme Kondruss 359
Project culture and social innovation
3.4 Technological design and social innovation
3.5 The contemporary condition of design. A report on Digital Mathema
Giuseppe Ridolfi 374
3.6 The culture of planning and participation
Alessandra Battisti 382
3.7 Social, environmental and functional re-connection of reception spaces at Castel Volturno
Claudia de Biase, Rossella Franchino, Caterina Frettoloso 391 3.8 City and need of city
Francesco Bagnato, Daniela Giusto 398 3.9 Designing knowledge for recovery: between collaborative
approaches and adaptability scenarios
Katia Fabbricatti, Serena Viola 405 3.10 An inclusive approach for recovery strategies
Martina Bosone, Francesca Ciampa 413
Research and the predictive and anticipatory function of the project
3.11 Technologies for urban liminal systems between legacies and
disciplinary evolution
Filippo Angelucci 419
3.12 Valorisation design: from plot to vector of architecture
Elisabetta Ginelli, Gianluca Pozzi 427 3.13 Disciplinary contamination. “Recherche Patiente” in design
technological culture
Serena Baiani 435
3.14 The technological design as cognitive process. Theories, models,
inventions
Marilisa Cellurale, Carola Clemente 444 3.15 New cognitive models in the pre-design phase of complex envelope
systems
Paola Gallo, Rosa Romano 452 3.16 Building performance simulation, BIM and Parametric design:
potentiality for the design processes
Valeria Cecafosso 459
3.17 Shaping the city of tomorrow through “Network Urbanism”
Irina Rotaru 466
What creativity for the architectural project
3.18 Responsibility and the three roles of technology toward the
“collaborative city” design
Rossella Maspoli 473
3.19 Digital technologies and production of inhabited space in the
athropocene
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3.20 Enabling technologies for continuous and interdependent design
Flaviano Celaschi, Daniele Fanzini, Elena Maria Formia 487 3.21 Designing complexity: from uncertainty to knowledge exchange
Daniele Bucci, Ottavia Starace 494 3.22 Towards an epistemology of practice: research and design activism
Renata Valente 499
3.23 Technological Regenerative Design to improve future urban
scenarios
Antonella Violano 506
3.24 Principles of the Green Economy and design strategies for climate
adaptation
Marina Block 515
PERSPECTIVES.REFLECTIONS ABOUT DESIGN
3.1 D
ESIGN RESEARCH:
FROM THE TECHNOLOGICAL CULTURE OF DESIGN FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION TO THE ANTICIPATORY AND CREATIVE FUNCTION OF DESIGNFabrizio Tucci, Laura Daglio
Abstract
The text has the function of providing a critical introduction to the third part of the book, which is focused on the moment of conceiving the design process, and then inves-tigates the potentials of cognitive, experiential, and design models connected to the new forms of collective/cooperative intelligence for providing a response to the main chal-lenges of the future: to design in a time of “crisis” in “emergency” conditions, in a state of “scarce resources” and under conditions of “uncertainty”. The objective is to probe how ability to govern decision-making processes is developing – or may be developed in the near future – in what are now structural conditions shaped by the challenges raised here, by recovering the exploratory and creative aspect of the design activity and the dialogue between the different intelligences involved.
Keywords: Technological culture of design, Social innovation, Technological design, Predictive approach, Anticipatory function
Framework
The reflections collected in the third part of this book start from an assump-tion: the evolving modes of access to information, marked by continued mobili-sation of skills and by the expression of a widespread intelligence coordinated in real time, are leading us to rethink the cognitive statutes and the factors driv-ing design, by valorisdriv-ing the relational dimension of knowledge and its man-agement implications.
This third part focuses on the moment of conception of the design process, to investigate the potentials of cognitive, experiential, and design models con-nected with the new forms of collective/cooperative intelligence in providing a response to the main challenges of the future, which were also discussed in the Introduction: designing in a time of “crisis” in “emergency” conditions, in a state of “scarce resources” and under conditions of “uncertainty”.
Fabrizio Tucci is a Full Professor at the Department of Planning, Design, and Technology of
Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, fabrizio.tucci@uniroma1.it.
Laura Daglio is an Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment
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The objective is to probe how ability to govern decision-making processes is developing – or may be developed in the near future – in what are now struc-tural conditions shaped by the challenges raised here, by recovering the explor-atory and creative aspect of the design activity and the dialogue between the different intelligences involved. The possible topics that we may take as a ref-erence to reread the meaning and reflections contained in the contributions are essentially three in number:
1. design culture and social innovation;
2. research and the predictive and anticipatory function of design; 3. which creativity for architectural design.
The considerations made by Schiaffonati and Ferrara introduce all the issues in a cross-cutting way, on the one hand with a theoretical/guiding contribution, and on the other through the possible articulation and exemplification of these perspectives in the specific dimension of a real case that stands out for the spe-cific nature of the methodological contribution.
The central nature of the role of the architect active within the society in which he or she works, and to whose needs he or she attempts to respond, is achieved through an integrated conception of design that becomes a tool of re-search and knowledge, joining together scientific and humanistic aspects, an analytical and speculative dimension with a synthetic one more of the opera-tional and experimental type – combined with an ability to anticipate problems that also requires innovating the very statutes of the design, in order to act pro-actively in the real world. The experience illustrated by Ferrara represents a possible (successful) road towards this renewal process which, through partici-patory processes among the stakeholders involved in the various phases of de-sign development, introduces a new, shared and strengthened creativity, able to extend the horizons of exploration, thus heralding scenarios, even remote ones, but well rooted in a concrete economic and productive feasibility; it is the inno-vation of the process based upon broadening interrelationships and therefore upon the possibility for design to reinterpret the setting’s demands.
Design culture and social innovation
The topic, on “Design culture and social innovation”, opens with the contri-bution by Ferrante, reaffirming the central importance of the technological de-sign approach, both from the historic point and, even more, from that of a con-temporariness, marked by a new social demand and by the construction sector’s transition to Industry 4.0. This is a design culture centred upon the designer’s responsibility and upon the relationship that the designer establishes with the social context, customers, and business, aimed at satisfying the needs of society at large, also through forms of participation that are now extremely current in the development of programmes and projects for services and infrastructures.
In this sense, it is necessary to overcome national policies that reduce fund-ing to university, research, and innovation, and instead to promote coordinated plans and strategies to relaunch collaborations between industry and university research in strategic sectors, at the service of society at large, in order to bring research and social innovation together.
A strong emphasis on some of the risks and problems characterising the top-ic may be seen in Ridolfi’s contribution, whtop-ich discusses the formation and transmission of design for which Ridolfi identifies certain critical areas particu-lar to the rise of the digital era. Starting from a brief reconstruction of the evo-lution of information technologies in the postmodern condition, until the most recent repercussions on contemporary society, the author casts a light on the risks derived from the spread of computer tools simulating design practice and teaching, thereby signalling how it can in fact be reduced to an automatism where “knowing how to do” can be confused with “knowing” and with “knowledge” until even eclipsing them, losing the centrality of shared human and social feeling, also in spite of the evidence of the data.
Battisti deals with the issue of the complex relationship between “Design Culture and Participation” which provides the title for the contribution and is central to the topic’s critical development. Probing the condition underpinned by issues for which there has been talk of the “end of the social” with reference to forms of relationality in contemporary communities in the age of globalisa-tion, the paper analyses the development of inclusive processes, which during these years has been accompanied by their diversification, identifying their main variations: the inclusive processes inspired by the principles of participa-tory democracy; those inspired by values of deliberative democracy; and hybrid ones, that fuse participatory with deliberative aspects. This combination of leg-islative measures and axes of actions can bring interesting impacts, in the search for innovative processes, thanks to which design can less and less re-semble a preset programme, and more and more multiply the players to be net-worked, in the conviction that only a polyphony of interests can yield appropri-ate solutions.Some contributions underscore methodologies and approaches of design for social innovation by way of research and experimentation projects that explore solutions for the regeneration of degraded settings, through the in-troduction of new public functions, different models for involving the commu-nity in the participation processes, and a rethinking of public space to amplify its role is theatre of social exchanges. In the essay by De Biase, Franchino, and Frettoloso, the relationship between the culture of design and social innovation takes concrete shape in the real case of regeneration of a neighbourhood in Cas-tel Volturno, dealing with the issue of urban quality as an outcome of a system-ic approach to design. The proposals, in fact, attempt to offer a response to the challenges of the multiethnic city through interventions on technological quali-ty that also include endowments of public spaces and services for reception, integration, and intercultural exchange, able to adapt to continuous social
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changes, without neglecting environmental quality through specific attention with regard to green infrastructures, biodiversity, and the protection and con-servation of natural areas.
Bagnato and Giusto recognise a major role of social innovation in a new de-sign culture that concentrates on redede-signing and rethinking the public spaces of the street. The objective of this design commitment is to go beyond a con-struction of the city that impedes relations between the individual and the envi-ronment, denying the socialisation above all of “weak users” and to be oriented towards a cross-cutting approach that considers open space as a place of inte-gration, of exchange, of easy, pleasant pedestrian availability for all users, with a view to Universal Design, aimed not only at residents but at Tourism for All.
Fabbricatti and Viola illustrate the outcomes and methodologies developed in the context of a project to recover the historic urban fabric of Torre Annun-ziata, promoted within a PRIN (2010-2012) research effort. Starting from the adoption of protocols mapping the resilience of the settlement system to define the potential of adaptability/transformability derived from the critical reading of the social, environmental, and productive resources and the resources of the constructed elements, from the scheduling of meetings with stakeholders and facilitators, and from dialogue with good international practices, design can generate social innovation with a shared vision of promotion of the built envi-ronment’s production/business, through which to agree upon scenarios for pro-gressively implementable urban and construction recovery.
Following the principles of the circular economy in a regenerative and sys-temic perspective, the research illustrated by Bosone and Ciampa casts light on the adopted methodology and the results of a recovery project for the city of Ercolano. The proposed degree of innovation resides in defining solutions not only on the physical, social, economic, and cultural level to create circular rela-tionships and dynamics among local resources, but also in the players’ in-volvement and in the interaction among decision-makers, stakeholders, users, and designs in all phases of the information and decision process.
This also makes it possible to strengthen the relationships among users and with the setting in which they live, through a process that raises individuals’ capacity building and their sense of responsibility towards cultural, tangible, and intangible heritage, thus becoming an occasion for social learning and training.
Research and the predictive and anticipatory function of design
Of the various contributions in the subsequent part that may be related to the second topic, Angelucci’s has the explicit objective of providing some pos-sible responses to the complex question of the “predictive and anticipatory function of design” and deals with the theme of technologies for urban liminal
systems between inheritance and disciplinary evolutions, in which the main players in the reflections are in fact the “urban liminal” ones that, in their state of incompleteness, must be interpreted as thresholds of dynamic dialogue be-tween technological and biospheric systems.
In these instances of unresolved spatiality, technological disciplines can contribute towards providing responses, thus determining outcomes important for the project’s practices; tracing reasons and implications to link – through infrastructural, tangible, and intangible technologies – the cities’ socioeconom-ic development with the connectivity and attractiveness of the territory and landscape; and operating for the reactivation of economic circularities, for natu-ral recapitalisation, and for the qualitative reconfiguration of the very parame-ters of beauty.
In the essay by Ginelli and Pozzi, the productive dimension of design is un-derstood as the ability to take on change as an intrinsic characteristic, to include an “adaptive/active” resilience capable of providing adequate responses to change through its own systemic nature of reaction to the transformation phe-nomenon.
The conception of “technological design of architecture”, which by its very nature incorporates a specific attention towards feasibility and management, expands to include the functional transformability of the architectural work for a dynamic reuse. This definition of “design for time”, understood as the design of intrinsic and continuative transformation, is in fact illustrated through nu-merous case studies and research projects.
Baiani deals with the issue of the relationship between speculative and de-sign activity. In fact, given the transformations induced by post-industrial so-cieties in the creative professions, design becomes part of the research activity, as a moment of critical synthesis for the elaboration of physical models, possi-ble visions, and real images, to transition from the analytical/exploratory phase of research to the constructive/intentional one capable of heralding transfor-mations.
It is also the task of training to transmit this notion of design as a multidi-mensional, synergistic setting among different technical knowledges and be-tween theory and practice – a setting that may give rise to a degree of innova-tion capable of providing some responses to society’s pressing new needs.
The contribution by Cellurale and Clemente raises questions on technologi-cal design as an instrument of simulation and of cognitive prefiguration. The reflections start from a question: What cognitive and conceptual abilities will have to be acquired or strengthened by the discipline of technological design, in order to sustain the role of interpreter of the built environment?
To try to provide some answers, the contribution dwells on the aspects con-nected to the modelling of the energy users’ behaviour, in the processes of requalifying the existing heritage, and on assessing the weight of this variable in general structure of design.
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The reasoning will be applied to a study in progress, the results of which will be presented, centred upon innovation in the use of spaces and upon the environment’s impact in the cognitive strengthening of the occupants.
Gallo and Romano investigate the repercussions on design, on its capacity for viewing and rearticulating the problem, as the outcome of the introduction of digital technologies and of the new modes production connected to Industry 4.0, above all in order to grapple with environmental challenges. It is a matter of the possibility, thanks to BIM tools, of simulating and thus of assessing, con-temporarily, geometric/formal characteristics, energy/environmental perfor-mance, and the cost for constructing and operating the building, as early as the preliminary and conception phases of the architectural work.
From an analysis of the possible impacts on the design of adaptive, high-energy-performance envelope systems, the text highlights the need to evolve from “collective” to “connective” intelligence, in which the designer is bearer of the knowledge connected to the operative and decision-making processes of horizontal skills capable of foreseeing, anticipating, and optimising solutions able to respond to scenarios in continuous change.
Cecafosso’s contribution concentrates on expanding the possibilities for foreseeing, projecting, and anticipating the decisions provided by the introduc-tion of the new digital technologies. In fact, the essay analyses both the poten-tials offered by software for building performance simulation, BIM, and para-metric design, and the actual developments in progress in terms of parapara-metric design and simulation of energy behaviour.
These developments are making it possible – and will make it possible with ever more efficiency – to control the technical/morphological variables of build-ings in order to implement their energy performance in relation to the charac-teristics of the context.
It is an interesting and in certain ways fascinating exploration of the select-ed alternatives, basselect-ed on comparisons, in measurable terms, of the respective performance profiles, for which the final choice always lies at any event with the architect.
Given the challenges of contemporary life, Rotaru identifies, as an im-portant setting for expressing design activity particularly similar to the systemic approach of technological culture, “network design” also as an alternative to the traditional way of designing cities, and above all as the possibility of unit-ing theory and practice, individual thought and community action, research and reflection in action. In fact, “Network Urbanism” for the principles of flexibil-ity and combined use of resources that it requires, represents a model to accen-tuate the holistic dimension necessary for designing the city.
Through the experience of a European research project in progress (Civitas
Prosperity), obstacles and opportunities are highlighted, and the systemic and
adaptive dimensions of the technological approach to design are confirmed, to guarantee the effectiveness of the transformations foreseen for the future.
Which creativity for architectural design
The series of contributions that may be related to the 3° topic, revolving around the search for new forum of creativity for the future of architectural de-sign, focuses on the evolutionary dimension of the design activity in light of the environmental, social, economic, and cultural transformations in progress. There are two key concepts for interpretation that appear to emerge from the contributions: an initial one explores the possible future developments of the relationship between design and community, both understood as a collective and shared production, and as a commitment to society; a second one examines the ability/need to intervene on the environment in the future.
An interesting aspect emerging from the standpoint represented by the 1° topic is the one that wonders about the new responsibilities and the new roles and governances of technology in design versus the collaborative city, as inves-tigated in Maspoli’s contribution which stresses that, with a view to a city that is fairer, more resilient and democratic, the culture of technological design must deal with new, transdisciplinary scenarios and new instruments, and that it may play important roles of “qualification for design” with particular reference to the following three roles:
- an initial role, which regards accompanying citizen in realising possible and tangible technical results of his or her doings in the new way of dwelling; - a second role, which concerns interactions with bearers of active citizenship
in the design of public spaces or shared “third spaces”;
- and a third role, which concerns the competences of public management and coordination of associationism and innovationism, in relation to spatial fac-tors and putting into play complex competences and ethical responsibilities in choices involving future generations.
A possible contextual interpretative framework, the Anthropocene, trav-ersed by epoch-making innovations, but still without a shared cultural position-ing, is offered by Rigillo’s essay, which outlines the significant characteristics of the change, as made clear in the contribution, in that they are capable of bringing about some impacts upon the configuration of space and upon life-styles. At the same time, some lines of behaviour are identified, and some pos-sible approaches are outlined, that might reassign centrality to design and to the technological culture that supports it. This is required to reformulate the logical structure of the design process, of the expected performance, and of the parties involved, in addition to new strategic alliances between the world of research and that of production, in order to develop new hardware and software, but also innovative practices of technology transfer.
In the paper by Celaschi, Fanzini, and Formia, design is “ongoing”, interde-pendent, and collective, and represents one of the characteristics, along with enabling technologies, thanks to which the city can change and evolve in
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tion to the setting and to the needs of its inhabitants, and can monitor and ana-lyse itself through the representation and social sharing of the elements of transformation. A widespread, aware, and responsible creativity is therefore possible, a collaboration through the shared design that not only responds to the requirements, but defines the framework of needs in order to overcome the functionalist paradigm of the smart city and top down governance models still based on setting the parties against one another.
Bucci and Starace, in the face of the condition of uncertainty characterising the contemporary world, also refer to a similar paradigm shift in design practice and the role of the architect, a figure no longer isolated, but part of a team ca-pable of interpreting the context in a multidimensional, multisectoral way, with a systemic and dynamic approach, open in this case to collective, shared design as exemplified through the study case of the international CivicWise network.
Similar, but based on a more pessimistic reading of the current misalign-ment between design culture and society, is the position of Valente, who all the same appeals to the reaction through a renewed, active role of the architect, starting from an educational approach for a sensitisation that cuts across the strata of society. This refounding of the professional practice of designer, made possible in an epistemological sense through a theoretical speculation that ac-cepts and cultivates uncertainties, means an ethical and concrete operativity in the real world, that is articulated in research applied to profession and in com-mitted proactivity, both of which accompanied by the academy’s formative and supporting role through the proposition of a strong and assertive cultural line.
Violano, through an assessment of the performance/environmental costs ra-tio of three different construcra-tion systems, highlights the efficiency of the new approach of “generative design”, which goes beyond the notion of sustainabil-ity, proactively intervening in restoring/improving the ecological conditions of the habitat through the use of materials and components in synergy with the natural biological cycle, and with a limited ecological footprint.
In Block’s contribution, environmental design, in dealing with the demands of climate change, is moved, expressed, and developed in the multiscale and multidisciplinary approach of adaptive design, finding solid bases in research and scientific activities in progress in the international setting including, as she cites, the evolutions of the proceedings of the States General of the Green Economy in Architecture, from the production of the “The City of the Future” Manifesto to the recent issuance of Green City Guidelines. Starting from a knowledge of the specific nature of the setting on an optimal scale of the urban district, through simulation of possible scenarios in a perspective of predictive and proactive design, Block’s contribution sets out the possibility of making the delicate identification of the most critical factors that alter the city’s space, and the impacts on the users and their behaviours, providing instruments and adap-tive solutions directed towards responding to these alterations and optimising the cycle of urban metabolism.
Conclusions
Through theoretical explorations and critical reporting of applicative expe-riences in the field, the collected contributions offer a significant wealth of points for reflection relating to the evolution of the statutes of design in light of the rapid developments of the contemporary context. A dilated and strength-ened dimension of the design activity emerges, thanks also to digital technolog-ical innovation that amplifies the architect’s operativity, all round. The possibil-ities of intervening in the real world, of being a militant architect, and of devel-oping social innovation therefore multiply, for example, in the different and new connotations of the participatory dimension, to include all the different phases in the building process, all the stakeholders, from defining demand to executive implementation and to the financing of the works, thanks also to the simplification of the connections of interrelationship and networking intro-duced by computer technology. This availability of means makes it possible to reinterpret creativity as a collaborative and widespread product, as a multisec-toral and multidisciplinary synergy also in dealing with complexity as a trait of contemporary society.
And lastly, its anticipatory capacity is emphasised, both to respond in the most appropriate way to the inclusion of the time variable in design, and for the possibility of simulating and foreseeing the behaviour of buildings, of inhabit-ants, and of the reactions of the environment, in order to correct and refine in-tervention choices.
This expansion of the capacities of design, which finds itself having to gov-ern a systemic dimension of growing complexity, refers directly to the ap-proach of technological culture in its disciplinary assumptions, the functions of providing direction among different sectors and monitoring of feasibility for the real context. However, as clearly underscored in the contributions, it requires above all a concrete commitment, availing us of these capacities for society while overcoming a speculative, abstract dimension or “formalistic drifts” em-phasising a “peripheralisation” of the design in progress. In the second place, reflection is needed on the ends connected to the means, on ethical action, and on the greater responsibilities that this entails, especially in a formative setting affected by the introduction of digital innovation, also as pertains to the evolu-tion of cognitive and learning models.
