Designing Forms of Regeneration. Spatial Implication of Strategies to Face Climate Change at Neighborhood Scale

Abstract

Climate change and the built environment have a double relation, in which the one influence the other. However, if on the one hand the built environment’s impact on climate-altering emissions, is already evident, on the other it still lacks a proper understanding of the design morphological modification undergoing due to the resilience and decarbonization objectives we are facing. Indeed, the climate crisis requires the rethinking of the design action to tackle the increasing environmental fragility. This new condition should address the adaptation of the urban environment and, at the same time, the mitigation of carbon emission, to curb climate-change effects. Thus, the contribution aims to present Nature-Based Solution and Circular Economy as a unitary design approach to display adaptation and mitigation actions to structure a long-term resilience and decarbonization. In this perspective, these two approaches are considered critical drivers for an ecological transition, already fostered by several international design competitions and actions. Starting from a theoretical approach, the argumentation will present the impacts of Nature-Based Solutions and Circular Economy within urban regeneration projects. It will highlight the centrality of the neighborhood scale in implementing adaptation and mitigation toward a method that could enhance a renewed preparedness to climate change events and limit the carbon emission of the project. Finally, the article reflects the morpho typological sphere of the project, where the application of Nature-Based Solution and Circular Economy implies a design discourse bond to the spatial new character of the project.