Alessandra Battisti

By Sandra Giulia Linnea Persiani and Alessandra Battisti

The history of membranes is one of adaptation, from the development in living organisms to man-made versions, with a great variety of uses in temporary design: clothing, building, packaging, etc. Being versatile and simple to integrate, membranes have a strong sustainability potential, through an essential use of material resources and multifunctional design, representing one of the purest cases where “design follows function.” The introduction of new engineered materials and techniques, combined with a growing interest for Nature-inspired technologies are progressively merging man-made artifacts and biological processes with a high potential for innovation. This chapter introduces, through a number of examples, the broad variety of hybrid membranes in the contest of experimental Design, Art and Architecture, categorized following two different stages of biology-inspired approach with the aim of identifying potential developments. Biomimicry, is founded on the adoption of practices from nature in architecture though imitation: solutions are observed on a morphological, structural or procedural level and copied to design everything from nanoscale materials to building technologies. Synthetic biology relies on hybrid procedures mixing natural and synthetic materials and processes.

Part of the book: Energy-Efficient Approaches in Industrial Applications

By Alessandra Battisti, Livia Calcagni and Alberto Calenzo

Given three-quarters of the European population living in urban areas, cities are expected to deliver sustainable growth if they will be able to further thrive and grow, while improving resource use and reducing pollution and poverty, as highlighted also by Sustainable Development Goal 11. In the context of vulnerable and marginal areas within cities, which suffer from multiple deprivations, regeneration processes at the building and district-scale play the most significant role in making cities more inclusive, sustainable and resilient. Reuse and refurbishment strategies, measured building replacement and stratification, redevelopment and enhancement, nature-based solutions and bioclimatic technological devices, are all tools for an integrated regeneration process capable of stimulating the urban metabolism and act as a driving force for the self-regeneration of the city. A comparison of two different building typologies, brought about by a review of existing public housing case studies in the outskirts of Rome, Italy, allowed us to define efficient, sustainable strategies and guidelines, that can be adapted to similar contexts in terms of building typology, social and economic conditions and of relationship to the rest of the city.

Part of the book: Sustainable Development Dimensions and Urban Agglomeration

By Alessandra Battisti, Alberto Calenzo and Livia Calcagni

Population growth and urbanization are progressively leading to an increase in the global food demand within cities resulting in a rise in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, land consumption, resource depletion, and social tensions. The key challenge for future decades is to feed a growing population in an ethical and socially, economically, environmentally sustainable way. Traditional city and housing models are no longer capable of providing a compelling solution. The urgency of providing dynamic responses in terms of integrated urban solutions must coexist with a medium- to long-term perspective in which production is gradually embedded within the urban structure. Since the relationship between places of production and consumption is a critical node in food policy, it is essential to strengthen this link within a more globalized and interconnected economy. This essay investigates two different strategies: on the one hand, agri-cities and communities as an experimental social-business model that places the production once again at the center of housing design, and on the other floating potential for food production in delta and coastal cities, as a zero-land footprint strategy. In both approaches, cities and the way they work must be reimagined with a view to making them locally productive and globally connected.

Part of the book: Future Housing