The Department of Architecture and Urban Studies is a thematic and interdisciplinary research structure of the Politecnico di Milano, established in january 2013.
The Department carries out research, design experimentation and training activities in the field of architectural and urban design, spatial planning and territorial governance, urban policies, preservation and intervention on the built and natural heritage, historical and critical interpretation of architecture and the city.
It is one of the most important research structures in Italy in the field of the discipines of the city and territory, integrated in a strong international network of centres of excellence and open to different forms of co-operation with institutional and social actors at the local, national and international levels.
The Department’s scientific project (2013) can be viewed here (italian).
The regulations regarding the organisation and functioning of the Department (2014) can be viewed here (italian).
Head
Massimo Bricocoli
Deputy head
Orsina Simona Pierini
Department manager
Gloria Paoluzzi
Administrative manager
Costanza Mangione
Department council
Composed of professors and assistant professors of the Department, the Department manager, three representatives of the technical-administrative staff Giulia Vittoria Maria Amadasi, Carmelo Di Rosa, Daniela Maria Giannoccaro, the representative of the Research fellows Mina Akhavan and the representative of the PhD students Marco Peverini.
Department board
- Massimo Bricocoli, Head of Department
- Simona Pierini, Deputy Head of Department
- Francesca Albani, Teaching
- Paolo Beria, Data and Reports
- Gaia Caramellino, Research, Rules and Procedures
- Stefano Guidarini, Spaces and Buildings
- Paolo Pileri, Communication
- Matteo Poli, Communication, Visiting and International Relations
- Gennaro Postiglione, Research, Models Lab
- Stefania Sabatinelli, Teaching, Research
- Paola Savoldi, Postgraduate Programs and Institutional Relations
The Department manager Gloria Paoluzzi.
The representatives of the technical-administrative staff Marina Bonaventura and Fabio Manfredini.
Department sections
The Department is articulated into Sections, corresponding to the disciplinary macro-sectors, which carry out preliminary assessment and proposals for the Department Council about the teaching staff development plan and the allocation of teaching roles.The currently active Sections are as follows:
Section manager, elected by its members:
Pierre Alain Croset
Second elected member:
Immacolata Concezione Forino
Full time professors:
ICAR 14 – Guya Bertelli, Paolo Caputo, Pierre-Alain Croset, Pierfranco Galliani, Orsina Simona Pierini, Alessandro Rocca, Kazuyo Sejima, Ilaria Valente, Zucchi Cino
ICAR 16 – Luca Basso Peressut, Immacolata Forino, Gennaro Postiglione
Associated professors:
ICAR 14 – Marco Bovati, Emilia Corradi, Andrea Di Franco, Simone Giostra, Stefano Guidarini, Marco Lucchini, Maurizio Meriggi, Carles Muro, Filippo Orsini, Luigi Spinelli, Fabrizio Zanni
ICAR 16 – Marco Borsotti, Roberto Rizzi, Pierluigi Salvadeo, Michele Ugolini
University researchers:
ICAR 14 – Eleonora Bersani, Barbara Bogoni, Antonella Contin, Giancarlo Floridi, Andrea Gritti, Fabrizio Leoni, Roberto Ravegnani Morosini
ICAR 15 – Matteo Poli
ICAR 16 – Mariella Brenna, Lola Ottolini
Temporary researchers:
ICAR 14 – Fabrizia Berlingieri, Barbara Coppetti, Cassandra Cozza, Stamatina Kousidi, Camillo Magni, Pasquale Mei, Giulia Setti, Pier Paolo Tamburelli
ICAR 15 – Andrea Oldani
ICAR 16 – Francesca Lanz, Jacopo Leveratto, Elena Montanari
The characteristic work themes of the three sectors can be summarized as follows:
ICAR/14 – Architectural and Urban Composition
The scientific-disciplinary contents refer to the architectural project, in its extension from the detail to the urban dimension, as a process and moment of synthesis. They are articulated in methodological aspects, concerning the theories of contemporary design; analytical-instrumental, for the study of the distributive, typological, morphological, linguistic characteristics of architecture and the city; compositional, concerning the aggregative and formal logic with which the organism defines itself in its elements and parts and relates to its context; design, for the solution of specific issues relating to new or built interventions.
ICAR/15 – Landscape Architecture
The scientific-disciplinary contents have as their object the landscape structure of the territory, of the non-built areas and of the open spaces, as well as the organization of the green, as a system within which the built part of the city and the territory is located. Recognizing as fundamental elements the environmental diversities and the historical, cultural, ecological and aesthetic pre-existing ones and as characterizing the enhancement of the ecology procedures in the design processes, they include activities concerning the planning and landscape management of the territory, the design of green urban systems, the redevelopment and recovery of degraded areas, the design of gardens and parks, the inclusion of infrastructure in the landscape and the control of landscape evolution.
ICAR/16 – Interior Architecture and Exhibition
The scientific-disciplinary contents are distinguished from the central lineage of the themes pertaining to the field of architectural design, as they refer to themes that have a particular autonomy for method and tools, implying interactions with different other sectors. They concern theoretical aspects of architecture focused on the relationships between usable spaces, objects, images, people and application aspects related to the specific design problems of interior architecture and furnishing, as well as those of exhibition design, museography, scenography, of decoration.
The Planning and urban and territorial planning Section gathers teachers and researchers from the disciplinary sectors ICAR 20 – ICAR 21
Section manager, elected by its members:
Paola Pucci
Second elected member:
Francesco Infussi
Full time professors:
ICAR 20 – Alessandro Balducci, Massimo Bricocoli, Giovanna Fossa, Luca Gaeta, Arturo Lanzani, Stefano Moroni, Gabriele Pasqui, Paolo Pileri
ICAR 21 – Stefano Boeri, Bertrando Bonfantini, Patrizia Gabellini, Francesco Infussi, Paola Pucci
Associated professors:
ICAR 20 – Paola Briata, Francesca Cognetti de Martiis, Grazia Concilio, Valeria Fedeli, Elena Granata, Eugenio Morello, Carolina Pacchi, Fulvia Pinto, Davide Ponzini, Paola Savoldi
ICAR 21 – Andrea Arcidiacono, Antonella Bruzzese, Paolo Galuzzi, Fabiano Lemes De Oliveira, Antonio Longo, Chiara Merlini, Laura Montedoro, Carlo Peraboni, Laura Pogliani, Renzo Riboldazzi, Luca Tamini, Piergiorgio Vitillo, Federico Zanfi
University researchers:
ICAR 20 – Gabriele Rabaiotti, Stefano Stabilini
ICAR 21 – Andrea Di Giovanni, Marco Facchinetti, Marialessandra Secchi
Temporary Researcher:
ICAR 20 – Alessandro Coppola, Francesco Curci
ICAR 21 – Paolo Bozzuto, Stefano Di Vita, Giulia Fini, Marco Mareggi, Anna Moro, Maria Chiara Pastore, Cristina Renzoni
The topics covered by the professors and researchers in the section are related to the design, planning and governance of contemporary cities and territories.
Within the section there are working groups that develop research, consultancy and advanced training activities on the following areas: reading and interpretation of the dynamics of urbanization processes, territories and landscapes, both in the Italian and European context, and on a global scale ; urban planning, landscape and open spaces; urban planning and territorial governance tools, with particular attention to the themes of urban re-use and regeneration; urban and territorial policies, governance and governance processes; projects, plans and policies of housing, infrastructure and mobility; of the urban environment.
Section manager, elected by its members:
Rossella Salerno
Second elected member:
Alessandro De Magistris
Full time professors:
ICAR 17 – Andrea Rolando, Rossella Salerno
ICAR 18 – Marco Biraghi, Alessandro De Magistris, Francesco Repisthi
ICAR 19 – Carolina Di Biase, Mariacristina Giambruno, Annunziata Maria Oteri
Associated professors:
ICAR 17 – Alessandro Bianchi, Luigi Cocchiarella
ICAR 18 – Paolo Bossi, Giovanna D’Amia, Maria Enrica Marica Forni, Damiano Iacobone, Daniele Pisani, Paolo Scrivano, Luka Skansi, Fausto Carlo Testa, Ferdinando Zanzottera
ICAR 19 – Francesca Albani, Francesco Augelli, Susanna Bortolotto, Alberta Cazzani, Davide Del Curto, Paolo Maria Farina, Gianfranco Pertot, Serena Pesenti
Permanent researchers:
ICAR 17 – Claudio Umberto Comi
ICAR 18 – Carlo Togliani
ICAR 19 – Lorenzo De Stefani, Rossana Gabaglio
Temporary Researcher:
ICAR 17 – Camilla Casonato, Barbara Ester Maria Piga, Daniele Villa
ICAR 18 – Gaia Caramellino, Federico De Ambrosis
ICAR 19 – Angelo Landi, Sonia Pistidda, Oana Cristina Tiganea
The topics covered in the disciplinary sectors of the Section are:
ICAR 17 – The fields of the sector concern the theories and techniques of representation of formal structures and modifications of architectures and urban landscapes, with references to digital and traditional tools for the analysis of existing values and competences in the processes of e-participation and communication of the project.
ICAR 18 – Professors and researchers deal with themes of history, architecture criticism and theory, urban history, city and territory, focusing on the identification and analysis of sources and their interpretation, within social and intellectual material contexts and critical theories of their own.
ICAR 19 – The protection of the built heritage, the modalities of its transmission to the future are at the center of ongoing research, which are based on material history and the direct analysis of historical buildings, to highlight the resource dimension and direct care and enhancement practices.
Section manager, elected by its members:
Simona Chiodo
Second elected member:
Anna Caterina Delera
Full time professors:
Maria Agostina Cabiddu, Simona Chiodo, Anna Caterina Delera, Carlotta Fontana, Matteo Goldstein Bolocan, Emmanuel Matsaganis, Alessandra Oppio, Costanzo Ranci Ortigosa, Alessandro Rogora
Associated professors:
Paolo Beria, Gian Luca Brunetti, Maria Antonietta Clerici, Giuliana Costa, Valentina Dessì, Luca Maria Fabris, Maria Fianchini, Pierluigi Mantini, Ilaria Mariotti, Giancarlo Paganin, Agostino Petrillo, Angela Poletti, Stefania Sabatinelli
Researchers:
Francesco Basile, Giancarlo Brusa
Temporary Researcher:
Marco Arlotti, Simonetta Armondi, Paolo Carli, Danile Chiffi, Matteo Clementi, Danila Iacovelli, Lara Maestripieri
The topics covered by the scientific disciplinary sector of the Section are:
ICAR/12 – Architecture technology
The theories, tools and methods of architectural design at different scales, as well as the techniques of transformation and maintenance of the built environment; the environmental and social sustainability of the architectural project, understood as a forecast of actions that regulate the flows of matter, energy, information exchanged continuously between eco-techno-environment (buildings/settlement systems) and established people/communities.
ICAR/22 – Estimo
Theoretical principles, methodologies for the estimation of assets, resources and projects, as well as models for the formulation of economic-financial appraisals of investments in the private and public sphere. Disciplinary interests extend to the multidimensional evaluation of projects and plans considered at different scales and their effects on natural and territorial, mercantile and extra-merchant resources, through monetary and quantitative-qualitative approaches, oriented to the enhancement of historical assets architectural and landscape.
IUS 09/10 – Public law institutions, Administrative law
Legal analysis of territorial government, planning and (social) housing; contracts and public works, services and supplies; property, cultural activities and landscape law; legislation concerning the provision of public services (telecommunications, transport infrastructures and networks, “energy and gas”, water services, public rail and road transport services, environmental services; fundamental rights and constitutional justice.
M-FIL/02 – Logic and philosophy of science
Forms of scientific rationality, in particular in conditions of risk and uncertainty with applications in scenario planning. Epistemological, normative and pragmatic issues of science, medicine and technology. The research methods as well as the languages used are both formal and theoretical-foundational.
M-FIL/04 – Aesthetics
The sensible experience and the philosophy of art, with particular attention to architecture. In particular, the relationship between “aisthesis” and “episteme”, the relationship between reality and ideality, representation and the aesthetic category of beauty. The research tools are both historical-philosophical and theoretical.
M-GGR/02 – Geography
The spatial dimension of social and economic phenomena, with particular attention to the new geographies of urban and regional development. New political geographies with particular attention to the relationship between administrative boundaries and spatial dynamics of powers and decision-making relationships in pluralist contexts.
SECS-P/03 – P/06 Finance science, Applied economics
Introduction to the methods and tools of economic analysis of public policies, with particular attention to social programs and income support. Planning, evaluation and regulation of transport projects and policies. Transport modeling. Business localization. Effects of foreign direct investment on countries of origin and destination. Economic evaluation.
SPS/07-09-10 – Sociology, Sociology of Economic Processes, Urban Sociology
Social and local welfare policies, with particular attention to care policies (aimed at children and non self-sufficient individuals), minimum income and activation, housing. The new social inequalities and the new forms of social and economic insecurity, the dynamics of school segregation. The processes of urban exclusion.
Scientific committee
The Scientific Committee is the Department body that drafts the Scientific Project of the Department and takes care of its implementation. The Committee members are: Massimo Bricocoli, Simona Chiodo, Pierre Alain Croset, Alessandro De Magistris, Anna Caterina Delera, Immacolata Concezione Forino, Luca Gaeta, Maria Cristina Giambruno, Francesco Infussi, Paola Pucci, Alessandro Rocca, Rossella Salerno.
SUL TEMA DELLE “FRAGILITÀ TERRITORIALI”
Il DAStU è tra i 180 dipartimenti italiani selezionati e finanziati dal Ministero dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR) per il periodo 2018-2022 nell’ambito dell’iniziativa “Dipartimenti di Eccellenza” (L. 232/2016). Si tratta di un intervento ministeriale innovativo che premia i dipartimenti che spiccano per la qualità della ricerca prodotta e che finanzia specifici progetti sviluppo.
Il DAStU ha sottoposto al MIUR un progetto di sviluppo della ricerca dipartimentale incentrato sul tema delle “fragilità territoriali”, con l’obiettivo di affermarsi come punto di riferimento nazionale e internazionale su questo tema e di produrre conoscenze e proposte su un tema di straordinario valore civile e sociale.