The post Interview on the Turin Master Plan, on Rai 3 appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

Specifically, this paper takes Nanjing Xiaoxihu Historic Block as the core case and proposes the Cross-Scale Topological Network Model to construct a multi-level spatial structure covering street nodes, front-door spaces, courtyard nodes and functional room nodes.System.Through historical data analysis and field reconstruction, we recovered six morphological stages of six representative plots (Plots 1-6) of Xiaoxihu from 1930s to 2010s, and accordingly drew cross-scale network topology maps and J-Graph maps to quantify their structural depth, node coupling relationships and link path changes.

Based on this, this paper proposes Structure Evolution Degree (SED), which measures the evolution of the network in time series from three dimensions: node type variation, path depth perturbation and spatial function reorganization.Instead of relying on the field-of-view analysis, SED is based on the graph structural features to capture the “structural tension” of the urban evolution process.Instead of relying on visual field analysis, SED is based on graph structural features to capture the “structural tension” and “systematic rupture” in the urban evolution process.

In order to further explain the social mechanism behind the spatial evolution, this paper introduces the Multi-layered Graph Framework, which constructs a triangular structural model consisting of Urban Morphology Layer, Interaction Layer and Social Behavior Layer, and identifies the social mechanisms behind the spatial evolution.We introduce the Multi-layered Graph Framework to construct a triangular structural model consisting of “Urban Morphology Layer”, “Interaction Layer”, and “Social Behavior Layer”, to identify the “Key Subgraphs” generated by the social forces embedded in the spatial structure, and to systematically develop the analysis of the “Urban Morphology Layer” and the “Social Behavior Layer”. The study identifies the “Key Subgraphs” generated by the embedding of social forces in the spatial structure, and systematically develops a social mapping explanation of “how space changes”.

On the theoretical level, the study integrates Lefebvre’s theory of “spatial production”, Bourdieu’s theory of “Habitus and field” and Foucault’s “spatial mechanism of power” to construct a graph structure to explain the encoding paths of institutional regulation, residents’ habitus and community negotiation in the nodal space.The mechanism analysis of Plot 3 and Plot 5 shows that the spatial reconstruction process of Xiaoxihu presents a hybrid system of mechanisms consisting of Permanence, Variation and Permutation, and its evolution is not linear, but rather consists of multiple social mechanisms focusing on the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door, the space in front of the door and the space in front of the door.social mechanisms focused on nodes such as front-door space, courtyard junction, and functional room paths, forming structural responses in the topological map.

At the methodological level, this study bridges the path break between typological and structuralist approaches, and proposes a graph structural system that can be used for spatial transformation analysis, social mechanism identification and design strategy prediction, which serves both micro-node analysis and has the potential to be translated to machine learning (e.g., graph neural network) models.

At the empirical level, the study reconstructs the topological mapping of Xiaoxihu Block at six stages, and analyzes the SED trend, P/V/P type and key sub-maps of typical plots against each other to reveal the topological responses of residents’ behavior, property rights transfer and institutional intervention in the spatial structure, providing concrete paths to understand how the “Reality” is generated and identified in the spatial hierarchy.This provides a concrete path for understanding how “social reality” is generated and recognized in the spatial hierarchy.

In summary, the methodology system of “cross-scale graph structure + social mechanism modeling” proposed in this paper not only expands the toolbox of urban morphology research, but also provides the theoretical foundation and technical framework for the identification of spatial strategies and expression of negotiation mechanisms in the future scenarios of community governance, urban regeneration, participatory design, and morphology intelligent generation.

The post Mathematics of urban morphology appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

Subsequently, the focus shifted to the Dora district, a residential area to the east of the consolidated city, on which the project explorations conducted allowed the municipality to plan and systemise a series of operations concerning new school services and the redevelopment of some public spaces.

Following the two punctual experiences, the administration then asked the working group, together with FULL, to produce a strategic vision document on the future of the city, to support the PRGC Reconsideration process, which is currently being drafted.

The research work, which is currently in progress, no longer considers only a few transformation areas, but aims to provide the city with a new interpretation of the ongoing urban dynamics, capable of placing the individual transformation operations within a coherent strategic framework, which integrates explorations on a micro-urban scale on some specific places of attention, such as the ‘South Gate’ of the city, the Megalithic Area, and the sports complexes.

The post Strategic visions for the city of Aosta appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

The emergence of urban morphology as a distinct strand within architectural literature, focusing on core components like streets, buildings, and blocks, sets the context for this study. Among these elements, urban blocks hold a pivotal role due to their central position and interactions with other components. This research concentrates on urban blocks, specifically focusing on their detection and classification using machine learning techniques. It delves into the interplay between urban morphology and advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to integrate these fields to gain deeper insights into urban form elements.

In addition to the introductory chapter, this study is organized into three distinct parts, each with a specific focus and set of objectives. The first part is devoted to developing a theoretical framework on the mapping of urban morphology in relation to AI applications, emphasizing the contemporary shift towards quantitative and data-driven approaches in analysing urban form. This part delves into the quantification of urban form, the role of data-driven studies in urban analysis, and the critical impact of AI and remote sensing technologies in this field. It also presents a comprehensive review of various definitions found in the literature and introduces a novel, systematic approach for defining this concept. This part includes chapters 1 and 2.

The second part, representing the core of the thesis, centres on the model application, offering a detailed workflow, analytical framework, and insights into the extraction process, delving into the detailed application of a model incorporating deep learning on exemplifying urban block detection and classification. This part includes chapter 3.

The final part focuses on the practical application of the method developed in this study. It delves into the urban block classification, analysing the results derived from applying the model in different cities. This section examines the use of predefined metrics, conducts comparative analyses of clusters both within and across cities, and extends into the taxonomic comparison of two approaches, the conventional method, where blocks are defined based on their constituent elements (streets, plots, buildings) and classified based on their shape and size and the AI-driven approach. Additionally, it includes a thorough discussion on the feasibility and implications of this approach, thereby offering valuable insights into the future intersection of urban morphology and machine learning. This part includes chapters 4 and 5.

This research leverages high-resolution satellite imagery, capturing an extensive and diverse spectrum of urban forms from cities across Europe, America, and Asia. These images are accurately labelled to create a training dataset, an indispensable element in machine learning applications. In fact, the premise of supervised machine learning lies in training a model on a subset of data for which the variables of interest, those to be predicted, are known. In this study, the training dataset comprises a large collection of urban form images, with the urban block, the primary variable of interest, explicitly identified and marked by the researcher. Once the model ‘learns’ from this set of data, it can be used to make predictions on the presence or absence of urban blocks in previously unseen data, where the variable of interest is initially unknown.

The outcomes of this study delineate a comprehensive path for urban researchers to detect and classify urban forms. The results include the development of a taxonomy and a detailed analysis of its indicators, grounded in relevant literature. Beyond its conceptual contributions, the preliminary findings offer a glimpse into the outcomes of training and the evaluation of the supervised machine learning model utilized for the prediction and classification of urban blocks. This research marks a significant advancement in the integration of AI and machine learning techniques with urban morphology practices, laying the groundwork for a novel trajectory in future studies at this intersection. The study not only contributes to theoretical frameworks but also provides practical insights, exemplifying the potential of advanced technologies in reshaping urban research methodologies.

The post A comprehensive methodology for detecting, classifying and comparing urban blocks with Artificial Intelligence appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

The project was developed in collaboration with the City Council’s Department for Urban Care, Public Green Areas and Riverbanks of the City of Turin and the collaboration between Palazzo Madama and key national partners, who have always been committed to environmental conservation and protection, primarily the Po River Basin Authority (ABDPO) and the Interregional Agency for the Po River (A.I.Po) together with the Po Biosphere Reserves, now united in the UNESCO MaB Po Grande Reserve. Alongside them are Turin-based interpreters, from the Polytechnic University of Turin to the University of Turin and the European Research Institute, who carry out daily research and study of the Po and water in general from different disciplinary perspectives, with the media partnership of Rai Radio3.

Addressing the essential issues of climate change in an exhibition that weaves together a visual narrative developed entirely through the interaction between large-scale painting and photography, illustration, and infographics capable of narrating the Italian landscape in all its complexity and articulation, from the Alps to the sea, the exhibition project focuses on the theme of water and in particular on our Great River, which for millennia has determined the landscape and the life of the population, is a means of communication but also an essential support for agricultural and industrial activities, and explores the consequences and analyzes the potential solutions implemented in the area by the various research and protection agencies of the Po.

652 kilometers long, 141 tributaries, almost 87,000 square kilometers of river basin, 19,850,000 inhabitants, 37% of Italian agricultural production, 55% of the national livestock industry: the Po and the Po Valley, where 40% of the national GDP is produced, constitute one of the areas with the highest concentration of population, industry, and commercial activity in Europe.

This incredible development has been made possible thanks to the historic stability and abundance of Italy’s largest river, which is fed by countless sources and diverse natural processes—mountain springs, snowmelt, glaciers, large lakes, and plains springs—but which have undergone significant change in recent decades, leading to a crisis that is occurring everywhere on a global scale.

Precisely because of its unique characteristics and its wealth of history, historical stratification, and landscapes, the Po—Roman and pagan, Byzantine and Lombard, feudal and ruled by lords, countryside and cities, romantic, agricultural, industrial, touristic, and cinematic—is capable of symbolically and clearly conveying the climate crisis and its effects: the face of the planet is changing more rapidly than it has done in the last millennia, and the role that humans have played in this process has now been proven.

The Change! exhibition aims to describe these changes, offering opportunities to reflect on the crisis and possible scenarios for adapting to it, but also to urge action and awareness: it is time to act.

Change!, curated by Tiziana Caserta, Anna La Ferla, and Giovanni C.F. Villa, is accompanied by a catalog published by Silvana Editoriale, with contributions from scholars at the University of Turin, the University of Bergamo, the Polytechnic University of Turin, the Polytechnic University of Milan, ENEA, Slow Food, Adaptation.it, and Mondoserie.it, among others.

Change! Ieri, oggi, domani. Il Po. (Milano: Silvana Editoriale, 2024), ISBN 978-88-3665-882-4: 170-179, catalog of the exhibition Change! held at Palazzo Madama, Turin.

The post Strategic river planning. Possible approaches and transformative opportunities for the Turin context appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

Starting from the development of an analytical framework for Turin’s river system, the project Turin and its rivers aims to identify transformation scenarios for the city’s river contexts. These scenarios are intended as a tool capable of revealing planning opportunities, translating them into an overview capable of guiding coherent and coordinated development actions.

The research has three macro-goals:

(1) To bring attention back to the city’s natural heritage, also understood as a powerful device to respond to the effects of climate change;

(2) To structure and promote a new narrative for the city, through the systemic description and valorisation of the components that characterise each river;

(3) To provide an interpretative framework useful for the renewal of planning and development practices in the City of Turin.

The research deals with a complex topic, addressing the relationship between built areas and river context, the ecosystem dimension and the definition of transformative scenarios.

The research assumes that Turin’s four rivers, understood as ecological corridors connecting the city to the metropolitan area, can play a crucial role in combating climate change and improving the quality of urban life. The study investigates the potential of the ‘Blue Comb’ with the aim of defining a strategy to strengthen its ecological, social and economic role. Through three interpretative lenses — ecological city, inherited city and city of leisure — the research identifies a sequence of actions to reactivate the untapped potential of the river corridors and renew the relationship between the urban core and the metropolitan area.

The proposed framework of interventions enhances and renews existing areas that have so far played a marginal role in urban policies, assigning each one a function consistent with its characteristics and capable of generating positive effects on the entire city. The research ultimately translates into nine strategic projections, which redefine the narrative of Turin’s four rivers and identify new urban centres, reaffirming the link between natural resources, the built landscape and the development of the city in its relationship with the surrounding area.

Throughout Turin’s urban history, rivers have played multiple and changing roles: a strategic resource for productive and industrial development, a structuring element of the urban form, but also an urban margin progressively marginalised by infrastructure, urbanisation processes and economic transformations. The research therefore proposes to reinterpret these river basins as an integrated system — defined as the ‘Blue Comb’ — which could become one of the main interpretative and design keys for contemporary Turin. The aim is to identify strategies and actions capable of renewing their ecological, social and economic role, enhancing their potential as environmental corridors and spaces for interaction between the city and the surrounding area.

The analysis is developed through the three interpretative perspectives mentioned above — ecological city, inherited city and leisure city — which allow the river system to be observed from different and complementary points of view. The lens of the ecological city highlights the role of rivers as natural infrastructures capable of strengthening urban environmental resilience, improving biodiversity and contributing to climate adaptation processes. The perspective of the inherited city, on the other hand, analyses the relationship between rivers, built heritage and historical processes of urban transformation, highlighting how the river landscape is the result of a stratification of urban practices, infrastructures and morphologies. Finally, the lens of the city of leisure explores the potential of rivers as spaces for public enjoyment, leisure and socialising, highlighting the role that these places can play in the construction of new forms of urban habitability.

Starting from these three perspectives, the research identifies a series of strategic areas along watercourses and proposes a sequence of actions aimed at reactivating the currently untapped potential of the river system. The overall programme of interventions focuses in particular on existing urban contexts which, despite possessing significant environmental, landscape or social characteristics, have so far played a marginal role in urban policies and public investment. The proposed meta-project suggests that each of these areas could take on a specific function consistent with its territorial character and, at the same time, generate positive effects on the entire urban system.

The research ultimately leads to the definition of nine strategic projections, understood as possible trajectories for the transformation of Turin’s river system. These projections derive from a comprehensive rethinking of the urban narrative linked to waterways and the discovery of new potential focal points along their course. The meta-project thus focuses on some of the structural characteristics of the city crossed by rivers, recognising the value of the relationship between natural and ecological resources and the built landscape, which has been established over time through historical processes and urban transformations. From this perspective, the research proposes to reaffirm the historical link between Turin and the surrounding area, reinterpreting in a contemporary light the idea — already present in the Baroque vision of the city — of an urban system in which the form of the city and the natural landscape are deeply interconnected.

The post Turin and its rivers appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

The post Workshop “Our city of the future” with Passoni Art School appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

Lowered shutters, emptied shops, old notices on a closed door, pavements without passers-by and public gardens without children. Why do streets, buildings or places that should be for everyone sometimes seem forgotten to us? Learn how to read city spaces, and discover with us how cities can be transformed to become more beautiful and welcoming.

A European Researchers Night event.

The post Discovering the forgotten city appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

Looking for new activities and attractions to maintain vibrant town centres and develop appealing urban areas

This study provides supporting knowledge and evidence on the state and development of SMSTs in Denmark by using detailed datasets and by conducting an in-depth analysis of the local context . Based on a quantitative data-driven analysis, it describes the main characteristics of SMSTs in Denmark, how they differ from each other and what role various aspects including tourism and services play. Furthermore, it presents a short update of SMST research as well as a recap of recent Danish policies related to SMSTs. Finally, it provides perspectives on Denmark’s SMSTs within a European policy context.

The post Small and medium-sized towns in Denmark. appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.

The development of a digital infrastructure within which to integrate access to the regulatory system, the clear representation of its contents, and the construction of a narrative of the plan’s forecasts that recomposes the projects currently underway are the hypotheses from which this work departs in order to strengthen the role of the regulatory system as an enabling tool for the design of the city of the future. The resulting collection of actions, although not systematic, is constructed in an attempt to touch on key points of the regulatory system, the modification of which can lead to substantial innovations in the uses and forms of the city.

The post #8 – Coding Tur(i)n appeared first on FULL | the Future Urban Legacy Lab.