Enhancing the Historic Public Social Housing through a User-Centered Design-Driven Approach

Abstract

The study presents a didactic experience for the deep refurbishment and the revitalization of the San Siro neighborhood in Milan (Italy). The public housing is a significative example of the 20th-century architecture (also named “Italian Modernism of Architecture”), designed by the Italian architects—Franco Albini, Renato Camus, Giancarlo Palanti, and Laslo Kovacs (1938–1941). Nowadays, it is a multicultural area, characterized by the presence of a fragile population, with strong socio-spatial inequalities, intercultural and intergenerational conflicts. Here, an architectural design project is realized, experimenting with innovative and up-to-date design solutions. This experience develops a sensitive awareness of the multidimensional complexity of the environmentally responsible design, which requires a critical balance among different disciplines and skills. The reusing of existing buildings has sustainable importance for preventing new land-uses and for saving the potential energy consumption related to the construction process. Only a widespread knowledge of the local socio-economic conditions through participatory actions permits the selection of appropriate retrofit solutions, considering also the high cultural, social, and economic values. Functional and social mix, space flexibility, green design, renewable energies, circular economy criteria, and continuative maintenance are the correct strategies for boosting the social revitalization and for improving fairness, safety, architectural quality, human comfort, energy efficiency, and sustainability in this public housing neighborhood.

Beyond Cultural and Historic Values, Sustainability as a New Kind of Value for Historic Buildings

“…Moreover, user behavior is difficult to integrate into any methodology. While a successful pre-intervention experience of a methodology based on the "design-driven approach" in order to make the inhabitants "collaborators" of the retrofitting project exists [14], the post-intervention user behavior is hard to predict. This is probably because the combination of situations is multiple and diverse, especially in residential use [15][16][17].…”

Multiscale Integral Assessment of Habitability in the Case of El Raval in Barcelona

“…To supersede data limitations and better address the complex reality of urban settings, many academic studies have approached housing conditions through extensive fieldwork that provides qualitative and disaggregated data with an increasing focus on residents' perspectives and satisfaction [55]. These generally consist of case studies focused on specific neighborhoods, public housing stock [56,57] or specific groups of residents [8,58,59]. The results these studies provide are much more contrasted and useful for describing the housing situation.…”

Urban Public Service Analysis by GIS-MCDA for Sustainable Redevelopment: A Case Study of a Megacity in Korea

“…Unlike the existing urban redevelopment, which expects many effects within a short time in the process of urban regeneration, the sustainable development of cities takes into account the economic, physical, social, and environmental requirements of the city, leading to the solution of problems through continuous improvement [14]. Lucchi emphasized the importance of a user-centered approach to social architecture in the sustainable development of cities and conducted a study on urban regeneration based on the connection of people, energy, use of resources, and transportation considering socio-ecological factors through the Milan Off-Site Campus [15]. To achieve a successful sustainable urban regeneration, the latter must be centered around people and buildings, which are the most basic elements of a city, and urban regeneration methods that connect humans and buildings are important.…”