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In recent years, Design has assumed an increasingly significant role in the field of food systems, contributing through the formulation of strategies and approaches as well as the creation of innovative artefacts and solutions. This integration is evident in the most advanced iterations of food culture, such as Molecular Cuisine, nutraceuticals, and Sci-Fi Food, which apply scientific tools and principles of Design to food production and consumption processes. From this perspective, the paper explores the emerging scientific field of Gastrophysics, interpreting it not only as an analytical tool but also as a design methodology to foster sustainable innovations in Food Design. The contribution also provides an overview of the state of the art of sustainable food systems, with a focus on recent experiments and projects that, through the synergies between Gastrophysics and Communication Design, Service Design, Technological Innovation, and Medical Design, can open up new holistic and systemic perspectives for research fields that can develop synergies between the different Sustainable Development Goals. Article info Received: 03/07/2024; Revised: 10/12/2024; Accepted: 11/12/2024

AGATHÓN issue number 16 is a collection of essays, studies, research and projects on ‘Dealing with Complexity | Knowledge, design, and management of the built environment’. Complexity (from the Latin verb ‘plectere’ = to weave, ‘cum’ = together) is a condition in which many elements intertwine together to form a unit. The ‘complexity’ of the Planet’s condition is evident: climate change, according to Amitav Ghosh (2017), is not a danger in itself but rather represents a ‘threat multiplier’ that stresses and amplifies the instability and insecurity already present in some areas of the world, even more so because many industrialised countries have already greatly exceeded their relative ‘biocapacity’, effectively becoming ‘ecological debtors’. In this view, ‘complex’ should be brought back to its etymological meaning of ‘woven’ or ‘held together’, connecting different forms of knowledge in the virtuous circle of a body of knowledge articulated in a systemic view of the real world based on the principle of ‘co-evolution’ of social and ecological systems (of culture and nature) and the awareness that it determines; on the one hand, the interweaving of multiple causal chains (e.g., although the pandemic crisis is a health crisis it has also become a biological, ecological, economic, social, cultural and spiritual crisis) with interdependent effects, and on the other hand, effects that also retroact on causes since causality is circular. According to Ceruti and Bardi (2021), unfortunately, it isn’t easy to translate this vision into the workings of everyday life and to guide both the observation of the world and the project, which is an expression of our being in the world. How we live, regardless of where this happens, has an impact on the biosphere and determines chain reactions in different areas that affect both nature and human beings on a global scale: climate change, health risks, loss of biodiversity, indiscriminate use of non-renewable resources, inequalities, and accessibility contribute to a condition of ‘polycrysis’ that amplifies the state of uncertainty about our future and the vulnerability of the entire ecosystem, especially since the actions put in place do not address the cogent environmental issue in a systemic and holistic key. Therefore, the question is, how do we transform complexity from challenge to opportunity? How do we deal with the complex issues that concern the knowledge, the design, and the management of the built compared to the now essential pragmatic indicators of environmental, social, and economic sustainability? Which strategies, measures, actions, and tools can Architecture disciplines implement in a holistic view and with a systems approach to meet the terms of the Paris Agreement? How do we identify those with the best cost/benefit ratio capable of producing synergies to achieve the largest possible number of the Sustainable Development Goals promoted by the United Nations? How do we rethink extractive (production-based) economic systems and direct them toward regenerative ones (based on the enhancement of that which already exists and of services)? How to put into practice new systemic design approaches capable of addressing today’s complexities from their roots, developing solutions through which entire societies can intentionally transition to a more sustainable, equitable, and desirable long-term future, including through co-created visions capable of informing the solutions of the present and paving the way to a desirable future? How do we place knowledge and learning into a system to better understand the current era’s multidimensional, fundamental, and global issues in their irreducible complexity? The articles published in issue 16 of AGATHÓN offer valuable insights into addressing the complex issues surrounding the knowledge, design, and management of the built environment in light of the increasingly urgent pragmatic indicators of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, demonstrating that the complexity of the built environment, rather than being a challenge, can become an opportunity to advance the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The published contributions certainly do not fully encompass the fields of inquiry, strategies, measures, and actions that the scientific community and the construction sector can implement to contain human activity within planetary boundaries and make both the built environment and biophysical systems more resilient. However, they provide an initial theoretical-practical framework on the topic, which will hopefully contribute to stimulating the scientific debate and inspire new research initiatives based on multiscalar approaches, capable of leveraging the potential of digital technologies to address the pressing challenges of contemporary times, including the global goals of climate and carbon neutrality.

Volume 15 of AGATHÓN follows on from its predecessors on Innovability©® | Digital Transition and Innovability©® | Ecological Transition, aware of its pressing topicality but also of the scope that the proposal of a threefold key of interpretation suggests. We have clarified the meaning of the term ‘innovability’©®, formerly in use in the economic and social sciences, which is attributed to a renewed driving force for a new paradigm of development that expresses one of the most crucial challenges of our time and the need for a ‘solidary’ convergence between the two inescapable instances of ‘innovation’ and ‘sustainability’, as if they were opposites and contrasts: beyond the term used, in a historical moment characterised by environmental, social and economic emergencies, Humanity promotes one of its prerogatives, the use of the ‘things’ that nature makes available to us to do something other than their primary function (innovation), aware that those resources are not inexhaustible (sustainability). In this context, which must always look forward, we must design our best political and systemic actions to promote the need to innovate by using the Planet’s resources well and consciously. The goals of climate neutrality by 2050 and the reduction of CO2 emissions by 55% (compared to the 1990 level) by 2030 (European Commission, 2019, 2021) pose the European Union, and even more so the rest of the world, with several complex issues, including a significant increase in ‘clean’ energy production from alternative and renewable sources, the reduction of energy poverty, greater security of energy supply and a drastic decrease in dependence on energy imports; at the same time, the aim is to foster modern economic growth decoupled from the use of non-renewable resources, the creation of new jobs, and to generate environmental and health benefits, objectives with inevitable cultural, political, economic, production, technological and social implications to be addressed both within one’s borders and in foreign policy. The energy transition is, therefore, complex and challenging to implement because it involves ‘everything’ and is needed ‘everywhere’ but also because globally, primary energy consumption has been steadily increasing for at least half a century. The theoretical and experimental framework presented in Volume 15 of AGATHÓN demonstrates how energy, ecological and digital transitions can contribute synergistically to achieving the goals of decarbonisation and climate neutrality. The contributions published in the form of essays and research papers appear consistent with the 2022 Strategic Foresight Report (European Commission, 2022) based on the JRC report entitled Towards a Green and Digital Future – Key Requirements for Successful Twin Transitions in the European Union (Muench et alii, 2022) and founded on the fundamental concepts of (a) ‘twin’ transitions, as the key to a sustainable, fair and competitive future; (b) ‘just’ transition, for widespread acceptance of green and digital solutions to mitigate consumption and improve efficiency; (c) ‘integrated approach’ to challenges, to maximise the benefits of synergies and better manage risks. From the published contributions, it emerges the need for a paradigm shift that, on the one hand, is characterised by a ‘sufficiency’ approach (regarding new land occupation and new constructions) and a circular economy (to limit the use of non-renewable resources) capable of exploiting the potential of technologies for the new services made possible by digitisation, and on the other hand, relies on new user awareness of the limits of the Planet, pursuable through ‘soft’ urgent actions that are robust, flexible and easy to implement as they require a lower financial commitment. We assume that community energy renewable energy production from hydrogen and production chains can help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. In that case, the vast existing real estate heritage is an area in which it is possible to intervene effectively, even where it has a historical and cultural value, using tools such as digital twins or analysis methodologies capable of assessing ex-ante the impacts on the ecosystem and prefigure scenarios for cities, buildings and production processes aimed at sustainable development and compatible with the urgent objectives set for 2030 and 2050. These are some of the strategies, pathways, measures and actions that can take place by exploiting the availability of the substantial financial resources allocated by governments for transitions, stimulating the sensitivity of local administrators and enhancing the skills and transversal competencies of technicians and operators in the sector, but also and above all by raising users’ awareness of the risks posed by climate change, to activate their ‘behavioural’ response to the consumption of energy and non-renewable natural resources.

Design, understood as a modern discipline in its broadest sense, has always been inextricably linked to energy production, availability and accessibility. Every project resulting from human creativity and ingenuity, whether material or immaterial, analogue or digital, depends on it; it is necessary to break free from this atavistic dependence by finding alternative paths that lead us to the energy transition. An increase in human awareness is required to accomplish this and achieve social and environmental equity. In this perspective, this paper, starting with the concepts of ‘mitigation’, ‘sufficiency’, ‘circular economy’ and ‘innovability’, illustrates a number of highly replicable experiments carried out by the multidisciplinary Dotdotdot Studio by employing storytelling, emotive technology and the value of data to generate awareness in users on the issue of energy conservation. Article info Received: 15/05/2024; Revised: 17/05/2024; Accepted: 20/05/2024

Volume 14 of AGATHÓN collects essays and research that, while not exhaustive of the innumerable declinations that can be taken on by the module to address, discretise and solve the complexity of the built environment, highlight its multiscalar nature and its conceptual and usage flexibility. With their infinite application scales, ‘from the spoon to the city’ (Rogers, 1952), the ‘module’ and ‘modularity’ resurface strongly in the new Millennium and can become a paradigm in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015) if associated with the themes of reversibility and accessibility, in addition, the varied conceptual and instrumental declinations of ‘module’ and ‘modularity’ can provide support throughout the entire life cycle of a system, optimising its ideational, production/implementation and management phases in Landscape, City, Architecture and Industrial Design, enabling the overcoming of a static and linear view of the built environment through ‘open’, ‘flexible’, ‘adaptive’, ‘multi-scalar’ and ‘sustainable’ systems especially when managed through intelligent digital tools.

AGATHÓN Volume 13 follows its predecessor on Innovability©® | Digital Transition and collects essays and research on Innovability©® | Ecological Transition, aware of its pressing relevance, but also of the scope suggested by the proposed dual key of interpretation. The published papers convey several reflections and research trajectories based on the need for a multiscalar nature of interventions, which guarantees effects that are induced to a broader environmental context than the one of reference, and for teams that address critical issues with a holistic and systemic inter- and transdisciplinary collaborative approach, in a sort of speciation of disciplines that modifies their traditional statutes; what emerges then is that the intangible and material tools we can deploy today are numerous also thanks to the possibilities offered by digital technologies in the different design, implementation and management phases of the process.

Climate change is an effect of human action. It affects the balance of the planet mainly because of the ongoing growth of cities and increased consumption, which leads to the indiscriminate use of non-renewable resources. One solution for this problem is often the use of ‘nature-based solutions’. They can offer many advantages and services for humans and the ecosystem, as long as greenery – ecological per se – is not commoditised, effectively reducing biodiversity and increasing pollution levels. This paper questions the ‘unlimited’ growth model and some uses of greenery in the built form in favour of an approach based on ‘sufficiency’. Holistic and illuminating good practices and experiments in biophilic design, supported by frontier technologies, based on vernacular practices and in collaboration with local communities, are capable of looking at the big picture and tackling the climate challenge in a wider context and at different scales.

In the context of environmental emergency of which the construction sector is one of the main causes – since it consumes 40% of the (embodied and operational) energy and produces about a third of the total waste – and due to the ambitious objectives set by the international community and by many countries to reduce the environmental impact of buildings during their whole life cycle, this paper wants to make a contribution to the understanding of the state of the art on cycle-based research activities, sustainable experiments and good practices that the building industry and the academy have implemented in recent years. In particular, it refers to cycle-based theoretical and experimental actions involving process and product innovations at different scales (‘macro’, ‘meso’ and ‘micro’) of the built environment. They are capable of overcoming the traditional linear approach to use an approach aiming, on the one hand, to extend the service life cycle, and on the other, to evaluate new bio-based materials, easily renewable and with a low embodied energy. In the end, the paper highlights the problems that currently hinder its dissemination and identifies possible research actions that can favour, with the contribution of Architectural Technology, the transition to this new paradigm.

The Earth is in a vulnerable state that most scholars attribute to a model of infinite growth on a planet with limited resources. Taking into account this critical environmental context, the paper wants to stimulate new practices for the building industry by suggesting a systemic vision that simultaneously uses multiple sustainable and circular approaches and allows eliminating scraps and waste, by combining traditional and innovative techniques and technologies. In particular, the article shows the potential of off-site in reducing environmental direct and indirect impacts compared to an equivalent conventional construction and recent research on the upcycling of discarded sea containers: they are used as a good practice to enhance an industrial end-of-life product (therefore considered a waste) by re-inserting it into a ‘circular’ economy with a different use than its original one, through non-destructive recycling and, at the same time, improving its value, quality and performance.

Within the cultural debate that considers the environmental issue as a priority and with reference to the studies and researches that over the last years have supported compound materials containing rammed earth, the Authors, aware of the need of giving to the relationship of Project and Matter a key role, supported by the characteristics of Architectural Technology, show the results of an experimentation that aims to improve the performance of rammed earth with the contribution of nanotechnologies, developing a ‘new material’ with a reduced embodied energy and a reduced amount of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

Within the scientific debate on the conservation of Cultural Heritage in general and Archaeological Heritage in particular, due to its twofold nature (material and immaterial) and consistently with the interest taken by Technological Culture in the importance of those aspects in the process crucial for their proper development and broad enjoyment, this paper proposes an evaluation model to understand ‘what’ to preserve and ‘why’ for a sustainable development, even before considering ‘how’ to do so, allowing a clearer reading and an easier interpretation of the complex relationships existing between the archaeological pre-existences, the natural environments and the added anthropic systems. The offered evaluation model can guide operators towards conscious sheltering planning with architectural value, promoting the identification of the morphological, typological and technical-constructive solutions most suitable to return the potential significance of the Asset.

The article describes tools and materials available today for digital manufacturing in architecture, offering a wide overview of 3D printing techniques and how it could revolutionize the construction world with important come backs and not only technical ones. From the concept of mass customization to the creation of the Fab Lab, from Contour Crafting to D-Shape technology and to the WASP project, we are witnessing a radical rethinking of the architectural process, but also a continuous research on the materials.