Recent epidemiological studies have reinforced the link between short and long-term exposure to air pollutants and adverse effects on public health especially over the weaker part of the population, like children and older adults. The creation of simple tools to locate sensible areas as well as of dedicated Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) to improve the management of pollution risk areas system is strongly advised. The aim of this work is to develop a SDSS methodology, based on easy to find data and usable by decision makers, to assess and reduce the impact of air pollutants in a urban context. To achieve this goals I tested the exploitability of a set of low-cost sensors for outdoor air quality monitoring, I characterized the urban micro-environments and the spatial variability of air pollutants using remote sensing compared to field data and eventually I developed a SDSS to improve the public health designing and comparing different scenarios. The city centre of Edinburgh has been used as study case for the purposed methodology. To test the reliability and applicability of low cost sensors as proxies for remote sensed data, we conducted a measurements campaign to compare the observed data between an official measurements station (OMS) in Trento (Italy) and electrochemical and thick film sensors respectively of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Ozone ($O_3$). Due to data quality and availability we decided to characterize the urban micro-environments of Edinburgh (Scotland, UK) in eight main classes (water, grass, vegetation, road, car, bus, buildings and shadow) combining the Geographic Object-Based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) with Machine Learning algorithms to process the high resolution (0.25m x 0.25m) RGB aerial ortho-rectified images. This land-use characterization combined with other geographical informations, like the classification of the roads and the urban morphology, were compared with 37 Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) concentration data, collected using passive tubes during a six week campaign of measurements conducted by the school of Chemistry of the University of Edinburgh. I developed a new open-source GIS python library (PyGRASS), integrated in the stable release of GRASS GIS, to speed-up the prototyping phase and to create and test new GIS tools and methodologies. Different studies on SDSS were carried out to implement procedures and models. Based on these models and data all the factors (land-use, roads and geo-morphological features) were ranked to identify which are driving forces for urban air quality and to help decision makers to develop new policies. The sensor tested in Trento revealed an evident drift in measurement residues for CO, furthermore the measurements were also quite sensitive to external factors such as temperature and humidity. Since these sensors required frequent recalibration in order to obtain reliable results, their use was not as low-cost as expected. The characterization of urban land-use in Edinburgh with GEOBIA and machine learning provided an overall accuracy of 93.71\% with a Cohen's k of 0.916 using a train/test dataset of 9301 objects. The $NO_2$ data confirm the assumption that air concentration is strongly dependent on geographical position and it is strongly influenced by the position of the pollutant's source. Using the results of the tests and remote sensing analysis, I developed an SDSS. Starting from the current situation, I designed three scenarios to assess the effect that different policies and actions could have on improving air quality at on the local and district level. The outcomes of this work can be used to define and compare different scenarios and develop effective policies to reduce the impact of air pollutants in an urban context using simple and easy to find data. The GIS-based tool can help to identify critical areas before deploying sensors and splitting the study area in homogeneous micro-environments clusters. The model is easy to expand following different procedures.

Architecture of/in marginal spaces propose a reflection on “invisible†spaces, often not well known, that currently occupy a great proportion of territory. One generally attributes to the margin/marginality a negative connotation (what “is placed at the margin of something†or has “emigrated†there, a space of secondary importance which is not essential to the system, seeing as it has no role, a place of poor quality where waste is accumulated, the residual space in a state of abandonment, etc). This research proposes a new way of seeing certain aspects, in which the conceptual space of the margin is thought of in a positive way, from a methodological point of view within an operative design category. The evidence of the margin/marginality for a new contemporary project, is the theory that supports the research, a necessary approach given its consistency, production, accumulation of marginal space both in urban and in suburban territory. The many views, the definitions, the interpretations and the recognition of marginal spaces as a problem for the project are the “background noise†of an investigation that touches upon various disciplinary fields that, before architecture, have investigated the issue of marginality from art to literature, from music to architecture, from sociology to geography. The depth of study on the theme is in proportion to the built context of the territories in the low and medium areas of the mountains, in which, also in terms of the orographic complexity, the marginal spaces are related to the loss of the forests productive role, pastures and agricultural areas, the sites not considered by tourism for the disadvantaged low elevation or in which tourism produces settlements of poor quality such as second houses in fragile places, the areas to the exclusive use of the extraction activities. This research proposes formal strategic and tactic actions for the possible design consolidation/transformation of the coexisting marginal spaces within a geomorphological valley unit. The investigation in the Trentino case study of the Cembra valley unit, makes it possible to finalize the research to support strategic directives (future Community Plans) for the revaluation of marginal spaces, (now difficult to detect through the sectorial approaches), and the used methodological approach - in which the marginal spaces quality of emptiness became an instrument to building architectures and places of/on the transforming landscape - can then be extended to other similar cases.

NewAge-JGrass system for forecasting and modelling of water resources in general at the basin scale. As a modern hydrological modelling, it is composed of two parts: (i) the system for data and results visualization based on the Geographic Information System uDig and (ii) the component based modelling system. All the system is based on Java because of its portability. Java is a modern and mature language aware of the web and has features such as multithreading that are essential to build scalable modelling platform. There are a few open source frameworks available that allow adaptation for our task, such as the GeoTools project by the Open GIS Consortium, representing a solid foundation for spatial analysis. OMS was chosen for facilitating model connectivity because of it low invasiveness in code practice and capability in production of leaner and more descriptive modelling code . uDig as visualization/GIS platform, including GIS services, and its integration with the JGrass GIS, developed by http://udig.refractions.net/, offers a spatial toolbox which contains the features previously offered by JGrass. Compared to traditional hydrological models, which are built upon monolithic code, JGrass-NewAge allows for multiple modelling solutions for the same physical process, provided they share similar input and outputs constraints. Modeling components are connected by means of a concise scripting language NewAge-JGrass components can be grouped in several categories. The geomorphic and DEM analyses which solves the problem of basin delineation; the tools for making spatial extrapolation/interpolation of the meteorological data; the estimation of the radiation forcing; the estimation of evapotranspiration; the estimation of the runoff production; the channel routing and tools for automatic model parameter calibration such as DREAM, Particle Swarm and LUCA. NewAge requires interpolated meteorological variables (such as air temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity) as input data for each hillslope. They can be computed by a deterministic or geostatistic approaches. The energy model includes both, shortwave and longwave radiation calculation components for each hillslope. The first implements algorithms that take into account shade and complex topography and cloud cover. Evapotraspiration can be modelled using two different solutions: the Fao-Evapotraspiration model and the Priestley-Taylor model. A snow melting and snow water equivalent model is also part of the system. Duffy's model and Hymod model are the runoff production models implemented in NewAge. In both cases the model is applied for each hillslope. Finally, the discharge generated at each hillslope is routed to each associated stream link. Modeling solutions (connections of different components) are applied in three different river basin and verifications against measured data (discharge, radiation fluxes, snow water equivalent) are presented by using traditional goodness of fitting indices.

Governments adopt strategies to follow the objective Europe 2020 and focus on the development of Renewable Energy Technologies, RET, to improve the transition of the production of energy from fossil fuels sources to renewable energy sources, RES. More than decades before, the energy transition towards renewable energies emerges as a relevant objective of the European governments. The fluctuating prices of oil and the uncertainty on the future supply of fossil fuels open new challenges for communities to actuate an energy transition towards RES. The RET can afflict deeply the landscape structure and by this point of view the energy transition is one of the most relevant drivers in the landscape change of the last three decades. In several cases energy transition may face opposition from regions and communities because of the change that RET produce in local landscapes and related economic, cultural and ecological functions. This change has been defined as a conflict between the local narrative of the right to the landscape by local communities and the global narrative that aims at a low carbon future. Exploring the relationship between Ecosystem Services (ES) and Renewable Energy (RE), the conflict among a global perspective and a local perspective has been resumed by several authors as a trade-off among provisioning and regulating ES from one side and cultural ES from the other. The overcoming of this conflict can be based on bottom-up processes that enhance the energy transition starting by local organizations of communities that want to reach a self-sufficieny in renewable energy supply. Transition management is possible if we produce innovation at local scale. An ES approach supports the transition management and the envisioning future energy landscapes by offering transparent trade-offs, exposing risks and benefits. If societies produce clean energy it may happen that RET afflict other ES. The main paradigm for the sustainability of a energy landscape is that the introduction of RET should not cause crucial trade-offs among the other ES, this is why this research wants to study this relationship, as several authors have already stressed. By the literature review it is possible to state a general gap of knowledge in integrated approaches in the evaluation of RET, considering diverse RES and ES provided by the landscape and evaluating a trade-off through a participatory process. To fulfill such gap and produce an enhancement of knowledge, this research follows the main objective of introducing a trade-off analysis into a design approach to formulate long-term visions for sustainable energy landscapes. The results we got indicate that it is possible to plan and design with the ES sustainable energy landscape.This process facilitates a sustainable energy transition of communities through a participatory landscape design that reduce the trade-off between the Renewable Energy and the ES supplies.

Fine-grained sediment represents a significant component of the total transport load in most fluvial systems around the world that are not limited to the alluvial rivers with sandy beds. A variety of natural or human actions, such as fire, logging, flow diversion, road construction, and urban or agricultural development can increase the supply of sand to a gravel- and cobble-bedded rivers. From hydrodynamics point of view, if the coarsest part of the sediments mixture composing the bed grain size composition cannot be transported, a coarser immobile layer can develop through vertical sorting of grain size fraction. This layer has influence on the grain size transport rate describes qualitatively as a competition between absolute and relative grain size effects. The absolute size effect causes the inherent mobility of sediment grains to decrease with increasing grain size. The relative size effect tends to increase the transport rate of larger grains and decrease the transport rate of smaller grains, characterizing the supply-limitation conditions for the fine fraction of the bed composition. Two-fraction approximation (i.e. sand and gravel/cobble fraction) of widely sorted sediment might capture mixed-size transport dynamics of practical significance is suggested by a number of observations, because the fines content of the bed fs may often be more variable than that of the coarse fraction (i.e. partial mobility condition), and whose passage, intrusion, or removal may be a specific environmental or engineering objective. The problem of sand transport over gravel bed has been addressed in several recent field and laboratory studies. Bed load transport rate and suspension entrainment rate are related, among other, to the sand elevation hs in the gravel framework, because the parameter hs not only controls the amount of volume of sand available to be transported by the flow, but also affects the relative sand coverage with respect to the gravel rough elements. To this regard, experimental studies showed that the function hs controls the geometrical transition from gravel framework (i.e. fs < 0.1 - 0.2) to sand matrix with interbedded gravel clasts (i.e. fs > 0.3 - 0.4), depending on the diameter ratio of sand and gravel fraction. Moreover, sand elevation hs is also a measure of the sediment supply-limitation that, in its turns, controls the sand bedform development. A limited volume of bedload sediment leads either to smaller dimensions, the sediment starved bedform or fewer isolated bedforms. Bedform types that are typically associated with partial mobility condition are: sand ribbons, barchanoid dunes, isolated dunes and sediment starved dunes, bedload sheets and low-relif bedforms. The state of knowledge suggests that there has been relatively little attention paid to understand physically which are the hydrodynamics mechanisms that control the sand transport in a gravel bed. The relevance of the present work is mainly in offering a mechanistic tool that can be used to better understand which physical phenomena control the development of sand bedforms when sand is transported over an immobile gravel bed, specifically the present research aims to: - understand physically how the local sand surface elevation hs affects the characteristic spatial scales of the bed with sand level-dependent roughness; - understand physically how the local sand surface elevation hs influences the transport phenomenon of the sand fraction when the gavel framework is at rest; - integrate the analysis of already published work often with different specific goal compared to that stated above; - determine the hydraulics conditions that controls the sand dunes formation when the sand bed elevation hs varies in the gravel framework. On the basis of the above main objectives, the present research propose a conceptual morphodynamic model accounting for the key processes of sand transport over a gravel matrix, taking into account near-bed conditions locally adapted to the evolving sand surface patterns relative to the turbulent near-bed characteristics and to the transport characteristics of fines.

Theoretical modelling of challenging multiscale problems arising in complex (and sometimes bioinspired) solids are presented. Such activities are supported by analytical, numerical and experimental studies. For instance, this is the case for studying the response of hierarchical and nano-composites, nanostructured solid/semi-fluid membranes, polymeric nanocomposites, to electromagnetic, mechanical, thermal, and sometimes biological, electrical, and chemical agents. Such actions are notoriously important for sensors, polymeric films, artificial muscles, cell membranes, metamaterials, hierarchical composite interfaces and other novel class of materials. The main purpose of this project is to make significant advancements in the study of such composites, with a focus on the electromagnetic and mechanical performances of the mentioned structures, with particular regards to novel concept devices for sensing. These latter ones have been studied with different configuration, from 3D colloidal to 2D quasi-hemispherical micro voids elastomeric grating as strain sensors. Exhibited time-rate dependent behavior and structural phenomena induced by the nano/micro-structure and their adaptation to the applied actions, have been explored. Such, and similar, ordered submicroscopic systems undergoing thermal and mechanical stimuli often exhibit an anomalous response. Indeed, they neither follow Fourier’s law for heat transport nor their mechanical time-dependent behavior exhibiting classical hereditariness. Such features are known both for natural and artificial materials, such as bone, lipid membranes, metallic and polymeric “spongy” composites (like foams) and many others. Strong efforts have been made in the last years to scale-up the thermal, mechanical and micro-fluidic properties of such solids, to the extent of understanding their effective bulk and interface features. The analysis of the physical grounds highlighted above has led to findings that allow the describing of those materials’ effective characteristics through their fractional-order response. Fractional-order frameworks have also been employed in analyzing heat transfer to the extent of generalizing the classical Fourier and Cattaneo transport equations and also for studying consolidation phenomenon. Overall, the research outcomes have fulfilled all the research objectives of this thesis thanks to the strong interconnection between several disciplines, ranging from mechanics to physics, from structural health monitoring to chemistry, both from an analytical and numerical point of view to the experimental one.

This thesis focuses on the study of the creep deformations exhibited by concrete structures, with a particular attention to long-span prestressed box girders. During their service life, such structures can experience excessive multidecade deflections mainly due to the creep phenomenon and the large difference in shrinkage between the top and bottom slabs, sometimes causing damages of structural elements and huge economic losses. In order to prevent such consequences, the multidecade deflections of this class of structures need to be carefully predicted; therefore, very refined creep constitutive laws are required for relevant creep analyses. The most widely used creep model for the prediction of the time-dependent behavior of highly creep-sensitive structures is Model B3, which was calibrated through a data bank comprising results coming from different laboratories spread throughout the world. In this thesis, an already existing viscoelastic formulation, conceived for any viscous kernel, is integrated with Model B3 and the resulting finite element scheme is successfully applied to study the long-term behavior of a realistic structure, the Colle Isarco viaduct in Italy. Another contribution to this research work concerns the prediction of multidecade deflections exhibited by concrete structures through a novel creep constitutive law based on variable-order fractional calculus, resulting in an excellent feature with respect to classical creep models. Indeed, the creep deformations obtained through the proposed model are very close to the deformations evaluated by means of Model B3. Moreover, the suggested creep law is characterized by less aging terms than Model B3, with the consequent advantage to exactly derive the relevant relaxation function from the fundamental relationship of linear viscoelasticity. In order to perform creep analyses with the suggested fractional-order law, a numerical integration scheme characterized by a fractional-order viscous kernel is also developed and verified on realistic concrete structures subjected to multiple load histories. To the best of the author's knowledge, this research work presents the first creep constitutive lawavailable in literature that, through fractional operators, explores the time-dependent behavior of aging materials. Furthermore, a suitable numerical integration scheme is introduced and successfully applied to representative concrete structures.

This doctoral thesis presents technical strategies for the rational maintenance of the building heritage directed at the integrated retrofit of social housing stocks. The study comprised the analysis of recovered residential buildings in order to develop new sceneries to adopt in critical situations, leading to the definition of a new experimental practice called “adaptive exoskeleton”. This strategy involves the wrapping of the entire original building with a three-dimensional structural envelope, the exoskeleton, using a construction process able to limit interferences on the use of the building and on the life of its inhabitants. The exoskeleton is an independent frame, carefully designed at the joint-scale to achieve awareness of the constructive sequence and of the optimization of the resources. Dry construction technologies resulted to be the most effective, because based on the principles of lightness and reversibility, and because they allow to realize a structural grid able to satisfy different standards in relation to the changing user conditions. The strategy of the adaptive exoskeleton, which exploits optimized and industrialized components, appears convenient in relation to large-scale interventions on the built heritage and, at the same time, it is architectonically versatile, with many possible options adaptable to different cultural contexts. The structural frame can be adjusted to different dimensions, extensions, typologies and technologies, maintaining the same basic characteristics. Passive dissipative devices realized with shape memory alloys, strategically located as connectors with the existing building, are used in order to reduce the lateral displacements during earthquakes. A key idea is the separation between the long lasting elements of the construction, such as the structural systems, and the parts that can be updated progressively in relation to the requirements of the user or to the technological innovations. This principle is convenient in large-scale campaigns, where it is necessary to create a solid base structure without renouncing to the individualization and the variety of the demand, which stimulates the introduction of architectural components with a shorter use-life. The structural characteristics of this construction and its ability to dissipate the seismic input, were analysed during a research period of twelve months undertaken at the Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) at the unit of Innovative Structural Design of the Built environment department. The verification phase considered two building typologies, due to their high diffusion in Europe: the use of the finite element software SAP2000 required the application of a “frame model” for masonry buildings and of a “strut model” for the concrete frame with masonry infill. The seismic behaviour of the buildings was analysed before any intervention and after the introduction of the adaptive exoskeleton implemented with shape memory alloys-based devices. The experimental phase was also undertaken with reference to San Bartolomeo estate in Brescia, Italy. Summarizing, the research underlined the convenience of applying retrofit processes in opposition with demolitions and reconstructions, above all in terms of social and environmental costs. The adaptive exoskeleton, in particular, provides an integrated and synergic solution because while improving the seismic behaviour of the structure, offers additional space for services and functions, increasing the economic value of the building and improving its energy performances and its architectural characteristics.

“...‘Landscape’ means an area, as perceived by people, whose character is theresult of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors; ... Acknowledging that the landscape is an important part of the quality of life for people everywhere: in urban areas and in the countryside, in degraded areas as well as in areas of high quality, in areas recognised as being of outstanding beauty as well as everyday areas ...”. The starting point for this research is the new landscape definition given by the “European Landscape Convention”. Landscape is - as per this definition - the degraded territory and the excavated sites created by the mining activity. This research is focused on the analysis and interpretation of the porphyry territory in Trentino in order to achieve a sustainable transformation. The natural scenery and the cultural features of the territory are deformed by the signs and over development that have unshaped the natural profile and morphology compromising the continuity and identity of the sites. The aim of this research is to find strategies to propose a new methodology for the quarry planning capable to develop at the same time both the excavation typology and the future reuse of the sites. In this perspective, negative topics as “refuse”, “recycling”, “scrap”, “wound” become occasion for rethinking and create landscapes. The general aim is to rethink the extraction landscapes in Trentino in order to obtain their sustainable development based on a balanced relation between social need, economy and environment. This study aims to find the linkage between the quarry activities and the tourist, cultural and social features, so that the degraded territory can be transformed in new “created landscapes”. This would appropriately fits the goals of the “European Landscape Convention”: “‘Landscape planning’ means strong forward-looking action to enhance, restore or create landscapes”.

This PhD thesis provides design strategies to control changes produced in mountains places and landscapes following constructions of roads. Strategies are based on the activation of unexpressed potentialities in places, although compromised, characterized by presence of roads. With the term unexpressed potentialities we refer to functions, attitudes, uses which, during the process of road realization, have not found an appropriate design solution. Topic of the thesis is to demonstrate that these design gaps can be properly addressed by an architecture project, obtaining two results: create a link between places, landscapes and roads and consolidate the participation of architecture discipline in a field (roads production) in which, today in Italy, it is less integrated than others. Changes in mountain landscapes are characterized by morphology and orography of the territory crossed: the factor that most influences in this direction is the verticality of the space. This specificity is discussed in the thesis through the analysis of road segments, infrastructure nodes or other specific situations, divided according to the topography in which there are: high gradients, slope or bottom of valleys. Specific characteristics which correspond to the three different orographic situations are explained by an interpretative study of the cross section, highlighting the potentiality of the space related with its vertical dimension. Most study cases belong to the geographical area of Trentino Alto Adige, an Italian region characterized by mountain landscapes. Some study cases are taken from other Italian regions or known experiences of the international context. The proposed strategies are developed through study of architectural projects, joined by devices that interpret the vertical (overlapping, slope and difference in altitude) of the spaces, reproposable in cases of mountain road. All strategies can be applied at any step of road production, from concept to design to construction. In addition, and we assume that this is the most frequent case, can be applied ex post, when the road is built, intervening to change situations already in place.