www.architettura.unifi.it

The Laboratory of ecological settlements design and the Bioregional Design Unit of the Department of Architecture (DIDA, University of Florence) has developed over the years several bioregion-based projects in Tuscany that focus on managing natural resources by strengthening the relationships between the urban and the rural dimensions.  Among its main achievements is the concept of Urban Bioregion, meant as an area of interaction between cities and agro-forestry systems with respect to which to identify mutuality and exchange relationships between the urban and the rural, in terms of sustainable use of resources and regeneration of the urban environment and landscape.

Role:

The FLORENCE RU mainly focuses on the potentials of local agri-food metabolism as a key factor to enhance the recovery of co-evolutionary relationships between city and countryside and to foster soil and ecosystems protection along with settlements resilience. The research activity aims at identifying and assessing the main drivers of fragility and “metabolic rift” between the urban settlement and the agro-ecosystem; outlining the Local Agri-Food System profile as a complex socio-ecological system based on long lasting and contextual knowledge, feeding sense of belonging and heritage stewardship; highlighting the many ongoing processes for re-building local food chains towards models of circular economies; setting up an approach to better integrate, also drawing on bottom-up and co-design processes, spatial planning and design with innovative rural development tools. The RU deals especially with the mutual enhancement of expert and contextual knowledge as a suitable approach in joint urban and rural resources regeneration processes. Such topics will be tested in contexts of applied research on which the UR is also working through specific agreements with the University of Florence.

Research Unit Members:

Daniela Poli, Full Professor - Principal Investigator (PI)

David Fanfani, Associate Professor

Claudio Saragosa, Associate Professor

Giovanni Belletti, Full Professor

Gaio Cesare Pacini, Associate Professor

Nicolò Bellanca, Associate Professor

Giulia Luciani, Research Fellow

Eni Nurihana, PhD Student

www.web.unica.it

Cagliari Research Unit is part of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture (DICAAR) of the University of Cagliari. It brings together multi-disciplinary expertises, including researchers from the scientific fields of urban and regional planning, representation and drawing, and geography. The RU has extensive experience in the field of planning and project, through an interdisciplinary approach that includes contributions from the humanities and history. The main areas of research include landscape protection and planning, urban and environmental regeneration, and the valorisation of the architectural and historical-archaeological heritage. The research project is the result of a long and fruitful collaboration with the Society of Territorialists, aimed at developing studies and projects based on the bioregionalism approach.

Role:

The role of the CAGLIARI RU focuses on the representation of territorial resources and the interpretation of the sense of place, investigating methods of dialogue between expert and non-expert knowledge. The multidisciplinary composition of the unit makes an important contribution to the research project, providing in-depth knowledge of environmental and cultural values and criticalities in urban and territorial contexts. The team has acquired relevant experience in regional planning and local development, with specific expertise in the analysis and representation of environmental and cultural heritage and spatial, economic and social transformation processes. In the processes of co-knowledge and co-planning of bioregional contexts, it deepens the ways in which communities activate processes of appropriation of the values that constitute the local tangible and intangible heritage. In this direction, it examines the appropriate integration of community and expert knowledge, which is crucial to obtain representations that communicate place-attachment and community participation in territorial planning and policies.

Research Unit Members:

Anna Maria Colavitti, Full Professor  (associated PIs)

Andrea Pirinu, Associate Professor

Fabio Parascandolo, Assistant Professor

Sergio Serra, Assistant Professor 

Alessio Floris, Research Fellow

Virginia Onnis, PhD Student

www.unimol.it

The research unit of the University of Molise (Department of Biosciences and Territory, Section Landscape, Economics and Planning, and LISP, Laboratory for Interactive Spatial Planning) carries out research in the field of interactive spatial planning, understood as a discipline concerning the processes of interaction among people and between people and the environment that produce transformations of physical space in all its manifestations (landscape, territorial, urban, etc.). Based on the recognition of the assimilability of physical space to an evolutionary environment inseparable from biocultural evolution, the activity of LISP focuses on the construction and management of similarly interactive and evolutionary planning environments/processes, including virtual ones, through the use of geographic and especially neo-geographic information and communication technologies (GIS, WebGis, Collaborative Mapping, GeoSpatial Web, Social Web).

Role:

The MOLISE RU focuses on the study and analysis of the requirements of an interactive web environment (GeoSocialWeb) interoperable with GIS and WebGIS systems, and integrating emerging technologies in the field of “neogeography” and social interaction. The conceptual design and pre-alpha development of the interactive web environment is aimed at supporting the continuous definition process of co-planning and agreement tools for the co-management of natural resources, combining top-down and bottom-up/inside-out approaches, as needed for the intrinsic complexity of the issues addressed. The conceptual approach to which the RU refers in the development of the aforementioned agreement tools assumes the dynamic balances of socio-ecological systems as a fundamental matrix of the processes of mutual adaptation between human and other non-human entities (biotic and abiotic) which are expressed in territorial planning activities.

Research Unit Members:

Luciano De Bonis, Associate Professor (associated PIs)

Fausto Fasano, Associate Professor

Rossella Nocera, Associate Professor

Antonella Minelli, Researcher

Giovanni Ottaviano, Research Fellow

www.unige.it/en

University of Genoa and in particular the Dep. of Architecture and Design (dAD) has a wide experience in coordinating and developing activities in the field of scientific research on territorial, technological, urban and architectural subjects. Such studies and works are mainly destined to the analysis of specific problems in balanced territorial and environmentally-sustainable development in specific areas and contexts. 

Role:

The GENOVA RU focus on environmental assessment, considering the management of natural resources in the perspective of bioregionalism. In compliance with the bioregionalist vision, natural resources (water, soils, energy, air, vegetation, fauna) are treated as part of the ecosystem, therefore all actions affecting them must be aimed at circularity, sustainable use, reproducibility, closure of local cycles. This goal can be pursued only starting from the concept of resources as natural heritage, mainly consisting of commons and public goods. The RU concentrate (at the methodological level) on improving some indicators, such as index of biocapacity and local ecological footprint. Following the general theory of project and the bioregionalist approach, the research considers some experiences that occur in territories where initiatives of resource management and transformation control have been launched, and where agreements between local authorities and Universities are in force: the Argentina Valley and the valleys of Albenga in Western Liguria, the Fontanabuona Valley and the interior Tigullio in the Genova area, the Val di Vara in Eastern Liguria.

Research Unit Members:

Giampiero Lombardini, Associate Professor (associated PIs)

Roberto Bobbio, Full Professor

Giorgia Tucci, Assistant Professor

Nicola Canessa, Assistant Professor

Andrea Vergano, Research Fellow

Fabio Palazzo, Adjunct Professor

www.unipa.it

The research and expertise of the Department of Architecture (DARCH) invests the entire field of analysis, investigation and transformation of the physical environment; and ranges from architectural, urban and landscape design to urban and land-use planning; from the design process in terms of requirements and performance, aimed at construction, to diagnostics on architectural assets, in terms of their preservation; from historical investigation to the survey and reconstruction of architectural assets, aimed at their restoration and enhancement.

Role:

The PALERMO RU has an extensive research history aligned with the Scuola dei Territorialisti e delle Territorialiste, which has allowed an in-depth exploration of themes related to the bioregion. Moreover, the unit's research activities are particularly notable for their focus on the management of natural heritage, encompassing both urban and territorial scales. This specialization enables the unit to contribute significantly to innovative approaches to bioregionalism, emphasizing aspects of co-management and co-creation of environmental heritage. A key pillar of the Palermo unit's research agenda is its decade-long investigation into participatory processes within marginal contexts (Southern Italy). This body of work offers a peculiar perspective that stands in contrast to conventional models of participation. The unit's emphasis on inclusivity and engagement in marginalized areas not only enriches the theoretical landscape but also provides practical insights into effective participatory practices.

Research Unit Members:

Filippo Schilleci, Full Professor (associated PIs)

Annalisa Giampino, Assistant Professor 

Stefania Crobe, Assistant Professor 

Simona Barbaro, Research Fellow

Gloria Lisi, Research Fellow

Giovanni Alfano, Doctor in Architecture