Greenability of historical centres

Course Introduction

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Lectures
1. Course introduction: HUL Recommendation and some definitions
2. Fudamental concepts of Environmental Policies: European and International
environmental policies and regulation conservation and enhancement interventions on
anthropic and natural environment); European Policies on Climate change and building
efficiency; Rural areas and RET (Renewable energy Tachnologies).
3. Greening cultural heritage: methodologies and approaches
4. Greening cultural heritage: technologies and materials
5. Fundamentals of environmental economics: Basic concepts of economic valuation,
environmental goods valuation (direct and indirect valuation)
6. Complex systems data analysis techniques (swot, DSS)
7. The concept of environmental risk; new needs to guide conservation choices considering
limits
8. Workshop: SWOT Analysis

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape
UNESCO-Nov 10, 2011
adoption of the Recommendation on HUL May 27, 2011
The General Conference,
Taking note of the final report on the elaboration of a standard-setting instrument on the historic urban
landscape in the form of a recommendation (report – 36 C/23; recommendation – 36 C/23 Annex),
Recognizing the significance of the historic urban landscape approach as an innovative way to preserve
heritage and manage historic cities,

1. Commends the international partner organizations that have contributed to the review process and
supported UNESCO over the last six years in its task of establishing principles and guidelines for the
conservation of the historic urban landscape in support of Member States and local communities;

2. Recommends that Member States take the appropriate steps to: adapt this new instrument to their
specific contexts, disseminate it widely across their national territories, facilitate its implementation
through the formulation and adoption of supporting policies, and monitor its impact on the
conservation and management of historic cities;

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape
UNESCO-Nov 10, 2011
adoption of the Recommendation on HUL May 27, 2011
3. Also recommends that Member States and relevant local authorities identify within their specific contexts the
critical steps for implementing the historic urban landscape approach, which may include the following:
(a) to undertake comprehensive surveys and mapping of the historic cities’ natural, cultural and human resources;
(b) to reach consensus using participatory planning and stakeholder consultations on what values to protect for
transmission to future generations, and to determine the attributes that bear these values;
(c) to assess the vulnerability of such attributes to socio-economic pressures and the impacts of climate change;
(d) to integrate urban heritage values and their vulnerability status into a wider framework of city development,
which shall provide indications of areas of heritage sensitivity which require careful attention to planning,
design and implementation of development projects;
(e) to prioritize actions for conservation and development;
(f) to establish the appropriate partnerships and local management frameworks for each of the projects identified
for conservation and development, as well as to develop mechanisms for the coordination of the various
activities between different actors, both public and private;

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape
UNESCO-Nov 10, 2011
adoption of the Recommendation on HUL May 27, 2011
5. This Recommendation addresses the need to better integrate and frame urban
heritage conservation strategies within the larger goals of overall sustainable
development, in order to support public and private actions aimed at preserving
and enhancing the quality of the human environment. It suggests a landscape
approach for identifying, conserving and managing historic areas within their
broader urban contexts, by considering the interrelationships of their physical
forms, their spatial organization and connection, their natural features and
settings, and their social, cultural and economic values.
6. This approach addresses the policy, governance and management concerns
involving a variety of stakeholders, including local, national, regional, international,
public and private actors in the urban development process

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Definitions of the main terminology
1. Historic landscape
2. Historic urban areas
3. Urban heritage
4. Environment
5. Eco-efficiency
6. Resilience
7. Greenable & greenability

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Historic landscape

The historic urban landscape is the urban area understood as the result of a
historic layering of cultural and natural values and attributes, extending
beyond the notion of “historic centre” or “ensemble” to include the broader
urban context and its geographical setting. This wider context includes
notably the site’s topography, geomorphology, hydrology and natural
features, its built environment, both historic and contemporary, its
infrastructures above and below ground, its open spaces and gardens, its land
use patterns and spatial organization, perceptions and visual relationships, as
well as all other elements of the urban structure. It also includes social and
cultural practices and values, economic processes and the intangible
dimensions of heritage as related to diversity and identity.

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Historic urban areas
Historic urban areas are among the most abundant and diverse
manifestations of our common cultural heritage, shaped by
generations and constituting a key testimony to humankind’s
endeavours and aspirations through space and time.

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Urban Heritage

Urban heritage is for humanity

a social, cultural and economic
asset, defined by an historic
layering of values that have
been produced by successive
and existing cultures and an
accumulation of traditions and
experiences, recognized as
such in their diversity.
Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015
 Environment

• Ambient from the latin word Ambire (to be around, to

surround)
• The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or
plant lives or operates (Oxford Dictionaries) – everything that surrounds
us + us
• Environment is composed of abiotic and biotic factors and
energy. It can be considered as a continuous and dynamic
interaction between natural and anthropic components.

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Eco-efficiency

The European Environment Agency defines eco-efficiency as

“A concept and strategy enabling sufficient delinking of the
‘use of nature’ from economic activity needed to meet human
needs (welfare) to allow it to remain within carrying capacities;
and to permit equitable access and use of the environment by
current and future generations” – more welfare from less
nature”

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Eco-efficiency

The ISO/DIS 14045 states: “Eco-efficiency is a quantitative management

tool that enables the consideration of life cycle environmental impacts
of a product system alongside its product system value to a
stakeholder”.
WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development) defines
eco-efficiency as: “Eco-efficiency is achieved by the delivery of
competitively priced goods and services that satisfy human needs and
bring quality of life, while progressively reducing ecological impacts and
resource intensity throughout the life-cycle to a level at least in line
with the Earth’s estimated carrying capacity.”
Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015
 Eco-efficiency objectives

The following three objectives are defined by the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development (WBCSD) regarding Eco-efficiency.
• Reduce the consumption of resources. The material and energy consumption should
be reduced through enhancing recyclability. Producing products with higher quality
and longer life times may also lead to improvements within the area.
• Reduce the impact on nature. Improvements can be performed using renewable
resources which are sustainably managed, as well as minimizing emissions, waste
disposal, and toxic substances.
• Provide customers with higher quality products and services. The customer benefit
can be improved through providing the user additional services of the product such
as e.g. functionality or/and increased overall life time. It is however important that
higher customer benefit must not interfere with the two former objectives.
Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015
 Resilience- in physics

«The ability to withstand hardship and disturbance and to regain

one’s original shape after deformation».
(Dosch, Porsche 2011)

The term was first used by physical scientists to describe the stability of
materials and their resistance to external schocks

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Resilience- in ecology and social sciences

«The resilience of a system is defined as the capacity to absorb

disturbance and reorganize while undergoing change so as to
still retain essentially the same function, structure, identity
and feedbacks».
(Walker, Holling et al. 2004)

The study of the potentiality of the term resilience was developed in the
1960s when it entered the field of of ecology. Then ecology recognized
that the ecological system and the social one are inextricably related.
Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015
 Resilience-in urban and regional sciences

« The ability of a socio-economic region to absorb the endogenous and

exogenous disturbances by change processes, so that the main
functions, structures and relationships being essential for the well-being
and sustainability of the region remain intact» .
(Lukesch, Payer, winkler, Rieder 2010)

The increasing urbanization of the planet shifts the focus from the field of
socio-ecological systems to urban ones analyzed as complex adaptive
systems. The city is seen as part of the broader socio-ecological system.

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 The set of interrelated
capacities/properties of
a resilient system
(adapted from ENSURE
2010)
 Resilient system

Robustness
Adaptability 3 main GOALS to pursue to enhance systems’ resilience
Transformability

Robustness: the ability of a system to continue to perform satisfactorily under load

Adaptability: the capacity of a system to adapt in face of the consequences of a given threat or perturbation

Transformability: the capacity of a system to turn a threat, a disaster, into an opportunity, by creating new
conditions, different and sometimes more desirable in respect of the previous ones

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Greenable – some definitions
• Capable of being made green (Merriam-Webster)
• Someones capability to green something (procedures, supply
chain, products, etc.)

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Greenability

a) To examine energetic efficiency and sustainability potentials in

buildings, in historical centres, in products, processes or supply
chains highlighting negative points and on the other hand
potentialities considering different contexts
- Aim: the creation of strategies to prevent climate change and the
definition of methodologies for interventions in vulnerable areas.
b) An approach to sustainability that combines interventions
durability with their capability of being compatible with energy
efficiency and environmental risks control.
c) Increase access to green and sustainable areas for everyone
Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015
 Sustainability is out Greenability is in

The days of sustainability are over. Greenability is the new sustainability.

What happened to sustainability? It died from a media overdose. Too
many books, magazines, blogs, TV shows, and environmental organizations
beating the public to death with the now deceased word.

Then what the heck is greenability? The ability to be green? Webster's

Dictionary defines "green" as "tending to preserve environmental quality
as by being recyclable, biodegradable, or non-polluting". "Ability" is
defined as "a natural aptitude or proficiency." So, greenability would seem
to mean the ability to preserve the environment.

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Greenability and energy – ethics and principles

GREEN
CLEAN
EFFICIENT
COST EFFECTIVE
AFFORDABLE

This is the future of energy generation for the business user or homeowner.

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015

 Sustainable development

The term first appeared in 1987 in a United Nations

Report, the Brundtland Report, that takes its name
from the former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro
Harlem Brundtland, also President of a World
Commission on Environment and Development.

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Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015
 Sustainable development
The Report Our Common Future, expresses a fundamental
concept: humankind’s future can be guaranteed only if
considered on a global scale, “meeting the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.”

To future generations we have to guarantee the same

natural resources assets we have today.

United Nations, “Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development”, 11 December 1987,
http:/www./un.org/documents/ga/res/42/ares42-187.htm (accessed 1 December 2009).
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Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015
 Sustainability
The sustainability parameter implies two points
of view:
• economic costs have to be considered not only
at a local scale but at a global scale, not only
the present ones but also the future costs;
• development has to be considered not only as
economic quantitative growth but also and
especially as a qualitative process in terms of
environmental and human costs.

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Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015
 Sustainable development and urban heritage

The principle of sustainable development provides for the

preservation of existing resources, the active protection of
urban heritage and its sustainable management is a condition
sine qua non of development.

Politecnico di Milano – Scuola di architettura e società – URBAN AND ARCHITECTURAL REGENERATION/2014-2015