Honours Programme 2025
Honours Programme 2025
Datascapes. Logistics, Design, Innovation is an advanced research-driven Honours Programme promoted by the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) and the School of Architecture, Urban Planning, Construction Engineering (AUIC) in collaboration with Techbau SpA.
Mission and Goals
The programme investigates the role of data centres as a driver of contemporary territorial transformation and explores how the regeneration of disused or underutilised logistics assets can open new design perspectives.
With the digital economy expanding at a global scale – and with data centre development rapidly accelerating in Italy – these infrastructures pose unprecedented challenges for local territories, governance frameworks, and design practices. Beyond technical expertise, they call for new forms of knowledge production that can integrate architectural, urban, economic, and ecological dimensions.
Datascapes addresses these challenges as a research platform. Through interdisciplinary inquiry, case study analysis, and design-based exploration, the programme will produce a series of replicable prototypes. These prototypes are conceived as operational tools for municipalities, companies, and institutions to govern the territorial transformations induced by data centres in a sustainable and adaptive way.
The programme also emphasises scientific dissemination, sharing results through participatory events with different stakeholders, as well as through dedicated publications and reports.
Key Topics
- Urban regeneration strategies and models (global, European, local) with a focus on logistics assets.
- Processes, projects, and best practices, with attention to economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
- Innovative concepts, prototypes, and demo-projects related to data centres and digital infrastructure.
- Regulatory and operational tools, governance models, and implementation processes.
Gruppo Honours Programme
Info
ECTS credits: 8
Teaching format: Course
Total 200 hours: 80 hours teaching in presence + 120 hours at home (including intensive final workshop/exibition)
Duration: October–December 2025; January 2026 (final delivery/exame)
Grants: Techbau s.p.a. funds and support the activities with a student grant of € 1.500 for 20 students selected from the second year of Master’s Degree programs in the School of Architecture, Urban Planning, Construction Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano (LM4, LM48, LM3).