Il presente lavoro è dedicato all’analisi semplificata della vulnerabilità sismica delle torri in muratura, in particolare alla definizione della geometria del cinematismo di collasso. Dopo un’analisi preliminare dei danni e dei meccanismi innescati dal sisma sulle torri, e una rassegna dei metodi di analisi presenti in letteratura, si è elaborato un metodo per determinare la geometria del piano di frattura che individua i blocchi di un meccanismo di ribaltamento globale, a partire da semplici considerazioni di equilibrio. Secondo le Norme Tecniche Nazionali, infatti, le torri (campanarie), vengono classificate come uno dei macroelementi in cui vengono schematizzate le chiese, caratterizzato da propri meccanismi di collasso; a differenza tuttavia di altri macroelementi, per le torri, considerate le masse e le altezze in gioco, lievi variazioni nella geometria del meccanismo comportano sensibili modifiche nel moltiplicatore di collasso; è quindi importante una corretta definizione della geometria del cinematismo. Il metodo proposto è stato applicato anche rimuovendo l’ipotesi, tipica nell’analisi limite di strutture murarie, di resistenza a compressione infinita della muratura. Al fine di rendere di immediato utilizzo pratico i risultati, l’andamento della frattura è stato determinato tramite analisi parametriche per diverse configurazioni geometriche a cui facilmente si possono ricondurre le strutture a torre esistenti. Infine, oltre a un confronto con meccanismi reali rilevati a seguito di terremoti avvenuti in passato, si è applicato il metodo proposto alla analisi di vulnerabilità di una torre medievale, la Ghirlandina del Duomo di Modena.

This dissertation examines the concept of sustainable energy within a urban design context. In essence, the research aims to answer the question: “what role does the city’s built environment morphology play, if any, in the sustainability of its energy system?”. To answer this question, I first derive an operational definition of sustainable energy in the post carbon era: maintaining the capability to provide non-declining energy services in time. Providing non-declining energy services, in an urban design context, depends on urban morphologies ability to save and conserve energy, be efficient and produce energy from renewable sources without decrease the level of energy services. In other words we can think of a more sustainable energy urban built environment as one that saves energy, is efficient and produces energy from renewable resources per unit of throughput, with energy sustainability measured by urban morphologies energy performances and throughput measured by land unit. This is a normative framework. It can only indicate relative levels of sustainable energy of urban morphologies. Within a specific urban system this framework can allow us to measure which part of the city produce more sustainable energy urban patterns. To employ this framework I utilize a Spatial Pattern Oriented Modelling approach. The energy performance of an urban morphology metric comes from its basis in the international debate on urban energy sustainability, its ability to account for a specific aspect of sustainable energy and the possibility for its derivation from the spatial pattern analysis. Drawing from the large research based on exploring the role of the urban morphology on urban energy system, I derived several spatial patterns indicators that assess the influence of urban morphology on energy performances of urban settlements. These spatial patterns metrics, combined, enable the exploration of sustainable energy within a given urban morphology configuration. I apply the framework to a case study area located in northern Italy between Alps, the transect Trento-Pergine-Valsugana, utilizing data from different sources and exploring the possibilities given by a high-resolution 3D spatial database, a LiDAR survey, and by a geolocalized human activities database, internet 2.0, for the urban morphology analysis with focus to energy. The Principal Component Analysis is used to estimate the correlation between different spatial patterns indicators while a ranking system, based on arbitrary thresholds and classes, is used to visually compare the scores of different sustainable energy performances of urban morphologies.

Rivers provide to society many important goods and benefits. Some of these ecosystem services depend on the river flow regime, which has been deeply modified by human structures and activities. These alterations have a direct influence on biodiversity, natural habitat and on the supply of river ecosystem services. The release of water from storage hydropower plants generates rapid flow and stage fluctuations (hydropeaking) in the receiving water bodies at a variety of sub-daily time-scales. In this thesis, we describe an approach to quantify such variations, which is easy to apply, requires stream flow data at a readily available resolution, and allows for the comparison of hydropeaking flow alteration amongst several gauged stations. Hydropeaking flow alteration is quantified by adopting a rigorous statistical approach and using two indicators related to flow magnitude and rate of change. We utilised a comprehensive stream-flow dataset of 105 gauging stations from Italy, Switzerland and Norway to develop and test our method. Next, we introduce a modelling approach to evaluate the spatial and temporal variations of a discharge-related ecosystem service, the rafting. The application of hydraulic and habitat models allowed to define spatially thresholds of suitability in each river reach and the application of an hydrological model allowed to assess temporally the suitability for the rafting navigability in different discharge conditions. We applied the method to the Noce River, an Alpine River in Northern Italy affected by hydropeaking. Our analysis showed that in this river, the water releases are fundamental to maintain high flow conditions required for rafting, which can be granted only by hydropower production especially in summer months. Together with present discharge conditions, our approach allows to analyse also the effects of an additional withdrawal which locally has a negative impact on river suitability. Finally, the application of the methodology was extended to include in the analysis the fish habitat and the small hydropower production, along with the rafting. The effects of hydropeaking on these ecosystem services were assessed in space and time. Hydropeaking has a strong influence on rafting navigability and less obvious consequences on the other services. Different management scenarios of the water releases from the hydropower plants were produce, with the aim to evaluate spatially the reciprocal effects of optimizing each ecosystem services. Only the scenario of rafting optimization will significantly increase rafting navigability, while the effects of other scenarios are less evident. Moreover, two additional increasing withdrawals have been simulated to evaluate their impacts on the services. The small hydropower withdrawals will have a negative impact on rafting and fish habitat, while the preservation of requirements for rafting will greatly affect the small hydropower production. This ecosystems-services based approach can be integrated in the decision-making process to evaluate river management alternatives.

Interactive impacts of climate change and human activities (e.g. hydropower production) have posed urgency in examining the patterns of hydrological and thermal response in riverine ecosystems, and the potential ecological implications manifested. Hydro-geomorphic conditions are the major factors in shaping water qualities in river networks, especially under the extreme climatic events. However, when the power of nature is encountered with human regulations, represented by hydropower production, it would be well worth discussing how the pictures of riverine hydro- and thermal regimes would change over the certain range of time and space. Moreover, the possible utility of hydropower regulation as mitigation of extreme climate changes is still open question to be verified. Above-mentioned questions are answered in three aspects specifically: • Governing factors and spatial distribution model for water residence time in river networks across Germany. Based on the machine learning technique of boosted regression trees (BRT), spatial distribution of water residence time is estimated for the long-term annual average hydrological conditions and extreme cases of flood and drought. • Impacts of hydropower over temporal and spatial range are investigated by analyzing the mechanisms of hydropeaking propagation. Hydrologic and geomorphic contribution framework is proposed and applied for the upper Rhone River basin in Switzerland, a typical hydropower exploited river basin in the mountainous area. • River water temperature response as an indication for ecological status is investigated for the alpine rivers across Switzerland, excellent representatives of sensitivity and vulnerability to climate change while under highly exploitation of hydropower activities. Extreme climate change case of heatwaves in 2003 and 2006 are selected and analysed especially. Results of the three research components in correspondents to listed research questions showed that river hydrological regimes have more directly/important influence on the variation of flow availability in comparison with the geomorphologic settings. Nevertheless, geomorphologic and topologic conditions (e.g. river width, slope, and roughness coefficient) that largely control the hydraulic waves diffusion processes in a hydropower-dominated river basin determine the spatial range of hydropeaking impacts. A hierarchy framework of geophysical obstructions, hydrology, and hydraulic waves diffusion process is proposed for analyzing the spatial range of hydropeaking propagation. When the effects of hydropeaking and thermopeaking that induced by hydropower production activities are dominated in the river reach, hydropower regulation offers as great potential to mitigate extreme climate events (i.e. heatwaves). By looking into specific perspective of river hydro- and thermal regimes, hydropower regulation, and climate extremes via different scales, we investigated the interactive effects between riverine ecosystem and human-climatic impacts. We expanded the approach of water residence time estimation into the field of machine learning with spatial predictions. Impacts of hydropower regulation are first elaborated with a framework of hydropeaking propagation mechanisms. Hydropower regulation has been identified to have great potential to mitigate extreme heatwaves through altering thermal regimes in rivers. Results of the study not only contribute to river hydrology and ecology studies, but also to the river management and climate change mitigation practices.

La tesi di dottorato “Il genius loci e l’architettura sostenibile. L’ambiente naturale e costruito della Val di Gresta” attiene alla definizione di una metodologia di studio efficace a descrivere i caratteri ricorrenti in un ambito territoriale omogeneo, analizzando il territorio nelle diverse scale da quella dell’insediamento a quella dell’edificio, a quella della tecnologia. Lo studio non doveva solo comprendere il paesaggio in tutte le sue componenti ma si è voluto definire i principi concettuali di trasformazione passati, attuali e futuri, e soprattutto questi ultimi al fine di riattivare un processo congruente e compatibile con al naturalità del territorio, con l’economia e la cultura del luogo. Nel corso del lavoro è stato analizzato il paesaggio della valle di Gresta, ove si è registrato un forte declino della diversità del paesaggio, con conseguente semplificazione del mosaico paesistico e la riduzione delle caratteristiche identitarie strutturali e culturali. E’ stata rilevata infatti la scomparsa di elementi strutturali caratterizzanti, come i terrazzamenti, la modificazione nella dimensione degli insediamenti e l’alterazione formale e tecnologica degli edifici. Le diverse sollecitazioni esterne che inducono le evoluzioni in un territorio sono continue, quindi è evidente che anche il processo di trasformazione deve proseguire, ma in rapporto simbiotico con l’esistente, come un tempo, dove le varie modificazioni si stratificavano nell’architettura e nel paesaggio. L’ analisi del paesaggio naturale e costruito e delle architetture della valle è quindi servita per comprendere l’evoluzione e la trasformazione nel corso dei secoli del rapporto di equilibrio stabilitosi tra artificio e contesto, analizzando le modificazioni avvenute alle diverse scale. La conservazione e valorizzazione del paesaggio sono il fine del processo di conoscenza intrapreso ma anche l’inizio di una sensibilizzazione alle politiche ambientali e di trasformazioni del costruito in cui assieme alle permanenze più o meno integre del sistema storico che ha caratterizzato i luoghi nel corso del tempo si attuano delle modificazioni congruenti legate ad attribuzioni di significato che contribuiscono a mantenere e ri-definire l’identità culturale del territorio.

La presente tesi di dottorato affronta il tema delle architetture fortificate del Friuli Venezia Giulia colpite dal sisma del 1976 studiando alcuni interventi di restauro realizzati, anche con riferimento alla Circolare N.26 del 2/12/10 relativa alla valutazione del rischio sismico del patrimonio culturale, per comprendere l'importanza del ruolo sempre più rilevante assunto dalla conoscenza dei caratteri costruttivi, morfologici e tecnologici, dei dissesti pregressi, delle modalità di costruzione e stratificazione degli edifici storici nella definizione dei relativi interventi di riparazione e consolidamento, anche alla luce dei recenti eventi sismici che hanno interessato il nostro territorio nazionale. I recenti terremoti che hanno colpito l’aquilano e parte dell’Emilia Romagna, infatti, hanno fatto emergere una volta di più la debolezza e la fragilità del patrimonio architettonico storico, nonché l'importanza di mettere in atto un costante piano di manutenzione ed una corretta attività di prevenzione su manufatti che nel tempo hanno subito numerosi processi di trasformazione e il naturale invecchiamento dei materiali. Alcuni studi relativi all’analisi delle modalità costruttive e del danneggiamento di edifici storici a seguito di terremoti avvenuti in tempi meno recenti, hanno dimostrato l’efficacia degli esiti e della metodologia condotta, suggerendo anche una serie di tecniche di intervento appropriate. Ci si riferisce in particolare ai risultati delle ricerche intraprese agli inizi degli anni ’90 sulle chiese friulane colpite dal sisma del 19761 che hanno consentito di affrontare lo studio della propensione al danneggiamento di una peculiare tipologia edilizia costituita dagli edifici ecclesiastici, nonché agli studi condotti a seguito del terremoto umbro-marchigiano del 1972. Proprio questi ultimi studi hanno portato alla definizione di un repertorio di soluzioni di interventi di restauro finalizzati al miglioramento del comportamento in caso di sisma, contribuendo in modo significativo a definire l’importanza del concetto di vulnerabilità sismica3 e di macroelemento4. Ulteriori studi sul danneggiamento del patrimonio architettonico fortificato del Friuli Venezia Giulia colpito dal sisma del 19765, realizzati ripercorrendo nella metodologia e nell’iter concettuale gli studi intrapresi sulle chiese friulane, hanno consentito di affrontare efficacemente la questione della vulnerabilità e del reale comportamento sotto l'azione sismica, non ipotizzabile a priori mediante il calcolo strutturale. Sebbene sia improprio trasferire a priori dei dati di sintesi validi per le chiese o per gli edifici ordinari a degli organismi strutturali come i castelli (in quanto questi presentano caratteristiche geometriche,dimensionali, tipologiche e costruttive diverse), dalle analisi e dalle ricerche compiute nel corso della presente tesi di dottorato è emerso che alcune dinamiche di danneggiamento osservabili nelle architetture fortificate possono essere ricondotte a quelle già osservate sulle chiese. Si è potuto osservare che numerose interpretazioni e schematizzazioni relative al comportamento delle chiese, con particolare riferimento all’individuazione di cinematismi dei macroelementi sono riconducibili alle dinamiche di danneggiamento proprie dei complessi castellani (ad esempio, il “mastio” di un castello può essere ricondotto al macroelemento “torre campanaria” degli edifici ecclesiastici), fermo restando la peculiarità complessiva del manufatto.

This PhD research focuses on the Italian case and analyses the possibility of integrating energy planning with spatial planning, the effectiveness of plan implementation mechanisms, and the prospect of replacing public-led interventions with market tools. Recent innovations in the legislative framework support the inclusion of energy saving and climate change adaptation and mitigation goals in plan implementation procedures.

Over the past 200 years, rivers in industrialized countries have been significantly altered by human interventions such as channelization, hydropower development, and sediment mining causing observable biogeomorphological changes. In the European Alpine region, many large rivers have been impounded and channelized, yet few studies have conducted in-depth research on the temporal patterns of the causes and trajectories of these biogeomorphological responses, in comparison to rivers that can adjust their planform. Moreover, it is well-known that within channelized rivers alternating bars may appear due to an instability of the riverbed, but the development and influence of vegetation on such bars, its feedbacks on the morphodynamics of the bars and the degree to which these mutual interaction processes responds to anthropic stressors related to alterations in the flow and sediment supply regimes has received little attention. The present research aims to disentangle the mechanisms that may determine dramatically diverging biogeomorphological trajectories in regulated Alpine rivers. It further intends to identify the underlying relations of the triad that connects vegetation – sediment – flow regime and its feedbacks in regulated, channelized, rivers with vegetated bars. The methodology comprises an interdisciplinary approach which combines field and historical investigations with theoretical predictions, and integrates a variety of spatial and temporal scales and different levels of detail in characterising processes. Two case studies in the Alpine region (the Isère river in southeast France and the Noce river in northeast Italy) were selected for a quantitative, historical analysis of the bio-morphological trajectories using remotely sensed data to investigate the apparent responses to human-induced modifications of natural processes. Both rivers have been heavily impacted, with a notable increase of human stressors since the mid-20th century which can be associated with the transition of both systems from an initial, stable dynamic state characterized by bars having only sparse colonizing vegetation with a frequent turnover to a new, apparently stable state characterised by reduced morphodynamics and an increased vegetation cover in recent decades. The Isère river, which underwent a shift from unvegetated, migrating bars to vegetated, stable bars, was further explored with a hydromorphodynamic modelling approach to investigate historical changes in riparian vegetation recruitment and survival related to changes in the flow regime. The Windows of Opportunity model was successful at revealing temporal changes in recruitment conditions in response to flow regime alterations. Further results indicated a reduction in relevant high flow events that might be competent to induce large bar migration in the system. Alterations of the flow regime are assumed to have played a major role in vegetation encroachment directly by affecting vegetation recruitment through reduced flow disturbances and indirectly inducing modifications of bar morphodynamics. Field observations of root development were also made on the Noce and Isère rivers, focusing on two species Salix alba and Phalaris arundinacea, with the aim of improving understanding of the role of roots on the presence and movement of vegetated bars. When comparing results from different sites, more predictable linear relationships between root properties and depth below the ground surface were associated with stronger flow regulation. Bar morphology (surface elevation or depth of sedimentation and sediment calibre) and flow regime were found to be the main drivers of root architecture. Furthermore, roots were found to have an important role in the stabilization of the bars with the ability to stabilise fine sediments trapped by the plant’s canopy during phases of bar aggradation. To understand the current state of channelized Alpine rivers, which often show diverging biogeomorphic features, it is necessary to understand the underlying interactions between flow, sediment, and vegetation dynamics. Only through investigating the historical biomorphological evolution of rivers and the main drivers of that evolution it is possible to design measures that can be effective in rehabilitating desired ecosystem functions that have been markedly modified by those state transitions. In summary, this study has provided novel, quantitative insights about the complexity of flow – vegetation – morphology interactions occurring in channelized river systems in relation to anthropogenic stressors causing alteration in their flow and sediment supply regimes. By integrating different approaches, this study has shown how these river systems can be highly sensitive to even small changes in the anthropogenic stressors, depending on the stage in their evolutionary trajectory, which is crucial to be detected to support the development of sustainable management strategies aimed at restoring or improving target riverine functions and processes.

While ecosystem service knowledge has demonstrated to enhance decision-making at different levels, successfully managing the interface between science and policies is still a challenge. The thesis focuses on cities, and aims to explore the integration of ecosystem services in urban planning processes and tools. A preliminary review of recent urban plans reveals shortcomings in current practices and the potential benefits of a further integration. At the conceptual level, the problem of integration is addressed by building a framework that shows the entry points and pathways through which planning actions affect the supply and demand of urban ecosystem services. The framework is applied to systematise a fragmented scientific evidence, and to select a set of indicators that planners can use to assess the impacts of planning decisions. At the operational level, the integration of ecosystem service knowledge is tested in a real-life planning context dealing with the prioritization of brownfield regeneration scenarios in the city of Trento (Italy). Alternative scenarios are assessed based on the beneficiaries of two key ecosystem services, namely microclimate regulation and nature-based recreation, hence compared through a multi-criteria analysis that allows exploring multiple perspectives and balancing competing interests. The last part of the thesis frames the integration of ecosystem services in urban planning in the wider context of spatial strategies for sustainable urban development. The six main spatial strategies agreed-upon at the European level, including the 'green city' strategy supported by the ecosystem service approach, are compared with the recent development trends of 175 European cities. The results reveal factors that may hinder the implementation of the strategies, as well as potential conflicts and trade-offs that should be carefully considered when aiming at a truly-sustainable urban development.

La tesi indaga il significato del concetto di “preesistenze ambientali” nel pensiero teorico dell’architetto Ernesto Nathan Rogers. Il tema è scelto come punto di vista privilegiato per indagare il contributo di Rogers al dibattito sull’eredità del Movimento Moderno in un momento, il secondo dopoguerra, in cui si intensifica la necessità di soffermare l’attenzione delle riflessioni teoriche sulle relazioni tra ambiente e progetto. Il problema fu inteso come la ricerca di un linguaggio adeguato all’era macchinista e di un ordine formale per lo sviluppo urbano recente da costruire in funzione del suo rapporto con la città consolidata. Esso fu sviluppato, all’interno dell’opera teorica rogersiana, come riflessione sulla dialettica contrapposizione tra intuizione e trasmissione del sapere, contingenza e universalità. La tesi mostra le ricche connessioni culturali tramite cui tale dialettica è capace di animare un discorso unitario che va dall’insegnamento del Movimento Moderno alle ricerche tipologiche e urbane della cultura italiana degli anni Sessanta. Riportando il concetto di preesistenze ambientali alla sua accezione originale, da un lato attraverso la ricostruzione delle relazioni intellettuali instaurate da Rogers con il Movimento Moderno e i CIAM, dall’altro mediante l’approfondimento del progetto editoriale costruito durante la direzione della rivista “Casabella continuità”, la tesi intende conferire alla nozione il valore di un contributo importante alla teoria della progettazione architettonica urbana. Il concetto di preesistenze ambientali diventa così la chiave analitica per indagare, in particolare, l’influenza del dibattito dell’VIII CIAM su Il Cuore della città e della partecipazione di Rogers al lavoro di redazione dell’Estudio del Plan di Buenos Aires nel 1948-1949 nella maturazione del progetto editoriale di “Casabella continuità” (1954-1965) attraverso l’attribuzione di un preciso valore all’archetipo, alla fenomenologia e alla tradizione nella definizione del rapporto architettura e storia. / This dissertation examines the meaning of the concept of ‘environmental pre-existences’ in the theoretical thinking of Ernesto Nathan Rogers. The theme is chosen as a privileged point of view for investigating Rogers’ contribution to the debate on the legacy of the Modern Movement in post-WWII, when the necessity of paying attention to the theoretical reflections on the relationships between environment and project intensified. The problem was intended as the search for an adequate language for the machine era and for a formal order for the recent urban development to be constructed according to its rapport with the existing city. It was developed, within Rogers’ theoretical work, as a reflection on the dialectical contraposition between intuition and the handing down of knowledge, contingency and universality. The thesis shows the cultural connections through which such dialectic was able to animate a unitary discourse, from the teaching of the Modern Movement to the typological and urban researches of the Italian culture of the Sixties. Bringing the concept of environmental pre-existences back to its original acceptation, by retracing the intellectual relationships established by Rogers with the Modern Movement and the CIAM and through the deepening of the editorial project built during the editorship of the review “Casabella continuità”, the thesis aims to establish the notion’s value of an important contribution to the theory of architectural and urban design. Thus, the concept of environmental pre-existences becomes the analytical key for investigating the influence of the VIII CIAM debate on The Heart of the City and of Rogers’ participation to the drafting of the Estudio del Plan de Buenos Aires in 1948-1949 on the maturation of the editorial project for “Casabella continuità” (1954-1965) through the assignment of a precise value to archetype, phenomenology and tradition in the definition of the relationship between architecture and history.