Sessions

The conference invites researchers, professionals, and experts to submit their scientific studies, essays, accomplished projects, within the five thematic areas and their sub topics:

1. Innovation | Digital world for real cities

Chairs | Anna Maria Giovenale, Fabrizio Cumo

The digital revolution, heralded and described not only prior to its conclusion, but before it had even been triggered, is the key topic on the agenda of the world of planning and construction. A new paradigm is needed, in order to replace the documentation-based approach with a practical method of quality control able to recognise, in structural evidence and building processes, pivotal factors of development that can be used to measure and monitor the performance of the works to be built and the parties involved.

The initial transition to the digital world, focussed on three-dimensional models, necessarily led to a significant transformation in planning, design, construction and management, in terms of both content and participants, with a focus on the organisation of collaborative information flows and production procedures, optimising instruments crucial to determining when top-quality results have been achieved.

It is precisely this surprising stock of untapped but available potential that makes digitalisation appear to be less a phase of evolutionary adaptation, strictly speaking, than both a major moment of growth and a tremendous opportunity.

The session is designed as an occasion for discussing the features of the driving factors of the imminent digital revolution, with particular attention to innovative methods and instruments for controlling the quality of construction projects and processes.

The subject matter of the session is limited to the following topics:

1a. ICT Innovations in Architecture and Civil Engineering;

1b. Digital Transformation & The Role of Enterprise Architecture;

1c. Advances in Digital Engineering, Computing and Simulation for the AEC Industry;

1d. Innovative Digital Technologies and Engineering Systems (e.g. Digital Twins);

1e. Project Management in design and construction processes;

1f. Advances in digital engineering, computing and simulation;

2. Technology | "Printed" buildings for sustainable habitats

Chair | Eugenio Arbizzani

The ongoing evolution of Industry 4.0 has inevitably made preservation and improvement of the existing ecosystem a key factor in the development of our constructed environment. As a result, processes and systems of production were radically restructured, orienting the technological innovations of the digital era towards decarbonisation while, at the same time, supporting new paradigms of social living.

The green and digital transition has brought forth objectives and solutions that radically interfere with existing methods for planning, developing and producing goods and services, as well as with utilisation of the energy and material resources whose chief consumer is the constructed environment.

The new technologies are meant to transform the system of habitation and the urban context by integrating ICT systems with technical spaces and elements, as well as artificial intelligence and the robotising of connected and collaborative construction processes, both in production facilities and worksites.

These innovations can provide users and civil society with an improved quality of life, both indoors and in urban settings, channelling scientific development to establish an effective culture of sustainability, reuse and safety.

The session promotes discussion of the impact of new technologies of design and manufacturing on the construction of buildings and the urban environment, in addition to examining the potential side-effects of the new models of habitation on the quality of life and people’s perception of the same.

The subject matter of the session is limited to the following topics:

2a. Advanced Construction Technology;

2b. Positive energy buildings, impact on the built environment;

2c. Robotics and innovation in building construction and regeneration;

2d. Architecture and advanced building materials and technologies;

2e. Offsite prefabrication and field factories;

2f. New construction methods and aesthetics of smart buildings and cities;

3. Environment | Technological innovation for low tech environment

Chair | Carola Clemente

Technological innovation has long been the driving force of the material progress of civilisations, improving health, safety and quality of life while creating more closely connected, well integrated communities; advanced technologies have identified more efficient sources of energy, but also led to extreme growth in the consumption of the resources needed for their maintenance.

A new balance between development and the ecosystem calls for a revision of the drivers of innovation, in terms of their efficiency in transforming the anthropogenic environment and narrowing the great divides (of wealth, health and technology). The sustainability and decarbonisation of all production sectors is based on soft skills applied to governing processes and optimising skills and technologies, so as to leave behind an anthropic ecosystem of high technological intensity for a managed environment of low intensity and high efficiency. At the frontier of innovation, technology’s impact is reduced and reformulated, with an emphasis on intangible resources and planning capabilities for transforming the built environment.

The session is designed as a forum for discussing R&D models and planning strategies for a low-tech environment, with advanced integration of carbon-neutral buildings/plants, so to revive the built environment through a low-intensity, high-efficiency approach to energy and environment concerns. Particular attention will be placed on contexts of energy and economic poverty in which the digital and technological divides are barriers to development and inclusion.

The subject matter of the session is limited to the following topics:

3a. Actions and policies to implement sustainable construction;

3b. Circular Economics in Building Design;

3c. Design and technologies for energy efficiency and conservation;

3d. Positive Energy Districts for Sustainable Urban Development;

3e. Environmental Management Systems (EMSs);

3f. Environment, Energy and Technology;

4. Climate Changes | Effective solutions for resilient cities

Chair | Eliana Cangelli

Today’s cities constitute both a problem and a solution to contrasting climate change they continue to grow, consuming more than two-thirds of all energy while producing equal levels of emissions. It follows that rendering the constructed environment adaptive and resilient under the effects of climate change, and climate neutral as well, is a key challenge to be faced, and won, over the next ten years, so as to achieve the goal for greenhouse-gas reduction by 2030. The use of new technologies, the limitation of land consumption and more attentive consideration of the how the ground is covered, and of urban density, along with the reuse and technological retooling, with respect to function, energy and ecosystem factors, of decaying areas and buildings, represents the path taken by planning to arrive at the creation of healthy, resilient urban habitats capable of adjusting to ongoing changes, so as to promote prosperity, inclusiveness and social equity.

The session is meant to encourage discussion of procedural models, strategies and planning solutions, technological and digital, useful to defining new images of resilient cities capable of contributing to reducing the effects of climate change while lowering their own ecological footprint. Particular importance will be placed on understanding and evaluating the impact of the pandemic in the formulation of initiatives that can be of aid in drawing up scenarios for the future evolution of the urban environment.

The subject matter of the session is limited to the following topics:

4a. Design for Climate Change and Climate Neutral Habitats;

4b. Sustainable Urban Development and Land Use;

4c. Urban Density, Energy and Green and Blue Infrastructures;

4d. Resilient Design for the Built Environment;

4e. Technological and Digital Solutions for Architecture and Cities;

4f. Sustainable Reuse and Upcycling of Existing Building Stock;

5. Health | Environment for healthy living

Chair | Francesca Giofrè

The topic of people’s health is relevant to the full range of potential ushered in by technological innovation and processes of ecological and digital transition, touching on all its component factors. In international conventions, the definition of health has evolved to “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing”, and not simply “an absence of illness or infirmity”, so that it is now viewed as “a resource for everyday life”. Health is a proactive concept whose promotion is not relegated exclusively to the medical sector’s ability to meet the population’s needs, but rather represents the measures through which “an individual or group must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change or cope with the environment” (WHO). Health, the result of a complex system that is both adaptive and dynamic, evolves through interaction between the potential of individuals and the social and environmental determinants to which they are subject.

The session is organised as a discussion of how the environmental determinants of health, along with their 'tangible manifestations', can be characterised and examined within the framework of architectural technology, at the various working scales, as well as through an osmotic dialogue with other disciplines. The challenge is to draw up visions of planning, decision-making, design and execution that focus on people, foreseeing the short-, medium- and long-term impacts on their health.

The subject matter of the session is limited to the following topics:

5a. Public and Urban Health;

5b. Designing inclusive, accessible Environments;

5c. Green and open spaces;

5d. Designing for people with fragility;

5e. Healthy Individual buildings and building types;

5f.The Internet of Things in Healthcare and Public Buildings;