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The paper shows the results of the first phase of the research project “METROPOLIS - Methodologies and Technologies for integrated and sustainable adaptation and security of urban systems” developed by STRESS Scarl - High Technology District for Sustainable Building of the Campania Region. The project is aimed at the development of innovative strategies for a resilient urban system and design guidelines for appropriate choices of urban regeneration based on the assessment and mitigation of natural and man-made hazards. The paper describes the results concerning the definition of innovative methodologies for the knowledge and mapping of urban vulnerability to climate risks in the East Naples area. The cross-disciplinary and multi-scale approach integrates knowledge and technology from university and industrial partners to develop a decision support tool in the field of urban regeneration. The study of the impacts of extreme weather events, based on the simulation of climate change scenarios in the area of East Naples, includes the data management in a GIS environment from satellite remote sensing, direct surveys and simulation software, focusing on the environmental and technological performance of urban spaces and elements. The research results report risk scenarios for pluvial flood and heat waves hazards according to both climatic variables, both aggravating phenomena arising from the characteristics of urban settlements. The complex reading of the buildings-open spaces system and its response to climate change conditions has allowed to define the vulnerability of elements at risk, as well as adaptation and mitigation solutions to be implemented within urban regeneration interventions, identifying critical issues in relation to comfort and environmental risk conditions, consumption and efficient use of resources, compliance of the technological choices to specific requirements.

The complex interaction between city and climate crisis is converting design-based disciplines from deterministic to flexible approaches. In this regard, Decision-Making Under Deep Uncertainty (DMDU) methods and operational strategies can be valuable support mechanisms to cope with the emerging climate fragilities of urban systems. In light of recent advances in the field of adaptive approaches, this paper discusses key concepts, current limitations and the potential to introduce the DMDU in the method and practices of regenerative design. Our critical discussion aims to restore the designer’s role within the DMDU and to reduce current and future climate fragilities in European cities.

Climate change is increasingly threatening anthropic systems, which are calibrated on climate parameters that have been mostly stable during the last millennium. Reducing its impact on urban centres is one of the most pressing global challenges of our time. This study develops the concept of soft-resilience, the ability of systems to absorb and recover from the impact of disruptive events without fundamental changes in their function or structural characteristics. Starting from this assumption, this paper explores the potential of the urban services field in a perspective of city adaptation to climate change, suggesting that measures based on ICTs applications and information exploitation represent one of the pillars of soft strategies.

The possible effects of climate change in urbanized areas – evidenced by several studies – led the City of Bologna to adopt a Climate Change Adaptation Plan to assess potential risks and vulnerabilities as a basis for adaptation actions prioritizing interventions through a coordinated local strategy. This paper summarizes some measures implemented at local level in collaboration with the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna and, in particular, the pilot actions for urban greening developed within the European project H2020 - ROCK and the proposals for intervention included made during the “Design for Adaptation” project. Resilient Urban Communities” PhD Climate KIC summer school.

Effectively addressing the issue of climate resilience in urban areas requires the development of innovative design methods that can handle the complexity of the information needed to guide sustainable urban regeneration and retrofitting strategies, as well as to manage the technological and environmental solutions in a multi-scale perspective. The paper presents the methodology developed by the ARC3-2 Urban Planning and Design working group of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) and the results of the experimental activities conducted within Studios and Workshops promoted in New York, Paris and Naples by the New York Institute of Technology, the Polytechnic of Milan and the University of Naples Federico II.