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The purpose of the paper is to study the financing models in order to drive the large amount of financial resources, already allocated for energy efficiency, to improve the quality of cities. These resources are being deployed worldwide by both public and private financial institutions. Energy efficiency is usually managed at the scale of the buildings, i.e., consumption reduction (heating, lighting, etc.). The study methodology is to review energy-efficiency finance (EEF) models, and assess them using multiple case studies. At the same time, the ownership of cities&rsquo, spaces is studied across public-private space management, as an effective methodology to bridge the gap between public and investor finance. The comparative analysis of the case studies suggests a paradigm shift in the definition of energy efficiency, not just in terms of the buildings, but instead also the local urban environment with its feedbacks on the quality of urban living. The practical implications are innovative EEF models, such as those being reviewed, which may be: (1) analytical, to assess the environment at the scale of blocks or neighbourhoods, (2) financial, to fund the specific scale, (3) relating to policy, to support and encourage. In recent years, support for urban regeneration is becoming particularly relevant, given the budget constraints of most public administrations and the conjunctural shortening of private partnerships.

The paper presents a methodology for describing in generative terms the structure of urban fabrics: the objective is to transfer conceptually the knowledge about the domain of urban space into a hierarchical and interrelated semantic structure with relevant concepts, elements and their mutual relationships, providing explicit and unambiguous definitions. The conceptual and operational instrument adopted for this purpose is the ontology, a method of knowledge representation and management coming from the Artificial Intelligence. This approach aims to create a customisable digital design tool, to support the designer in the early stages of urban design process, such as street pattern and massing definition, by generating in real time a number of design scenarios, starting from a large number of constraints and requests. This paper focuses on the knowledge formalisation aspects of the research that is the basis for the generative modelling of urban space.

Drawing on the Incubators of Public Spaces project, funded by JPI Urban Europe, this chapter considers the methods and tools used to support individuals’, groups’, organisations’ and enterprises’ self-ability to evolve towards grassroots interventions in urban regeneration processes. In particular, the chapter focuses on the assessment of the rational use and sustainable production of energy in mixed-use urban tissues, especially located in the Mediterranean region.

The paper presents the ongoing experimentation of a Computer Supported Design Studio (CSDS). CSDS is part of our continuing effort to integrate computers and networks in the design studio. We recognise three corner stones to CSDS: memory, process and collaboration. They offer a framework for the interpretation of the pedagogical aspects of the teaching of architectural design in relation to the innovations produced by information and communication technologies. The theme of the 1998 CSDS is a railway station in Turin, Italy, to be incorporated in a reorganised rail transport system. The choice of this theme emphasises the realistic simulation aspects of the studio, where technical problems need to be interpreted from an architectural point of view.

More than two centuries of research and development have produced a vast choice of metallic materials and manufacturing processes, useful in giving form and structure to architecture. This chapter aims to consider the state of manufacturing technologies in the light of possibilities opened up by digital innovation. The analysis of fabrication technologies examines production processes in order to identify unit manufacturing processes within the succession of processes. Two projects are examined thoroughly. Frank Barkow and Regine Leibinger designed the gatehouse of the Trumpf factory near Stuttgart with a wide metal roof, protecting the open space to welcome visitors and employees. The space is not interrupted by the glass parallelepiped of the building, whose vertices are the pillars which support the 65 ft (20 m) of overhang of the roof. The transparency of the body of the building, which houses the reception and waiting room, is not immaterial, but rather emphasises the properties of the glass in the search of a semi-transparent effect. The way the structure is built exploits the possibilities of digital manufacturing and intends to be the visiting card, the demonstration of the expressive and constructive capacity of the machine tools produced by Trumpf itself as applied to creating the building which gives access to the factory. Manufacturing involved intensive mass change NC processes with cutting and punching, deformations with bending as well as the final assembly. Randall Stout won the international design competition for the expansion of the Art Gallery of Alberta, Canada. The exhibition spaces are highlighted by juxtapositions and intersections between two blocks: the grounding of the units of the building, accentuated in the cladding in local stone, and the complete transparency of the atrium, intersected by the sinuous form inspired by the aurora borealis, a characteristic of the latitudes of Alberta. This form has no centre, starting point or point of symmetry on which the eye can rest. The morphology, observed from different angles in crossing the piazza, the approach path or the atrium, appears changeable to the observer. The firm of Randall Stout Architects modelled in three dimensions the design of the complex geometry of the aurora borealis and of the building and the numerous intersections between the two using Rhinoceros (Rhino) software. From the Rhino model, Empire Iron Works created the Building Information Modeling of the aurora borealis in Tekla Structures. Zahner’s Design Assist Group imported and translated the geometric model into a Pro/ENGINEER parametric model. The parametric model of the secondary structure and of the cladding panels integrates the requirements of the manufacturing process and the assembly tolerances, specific to the ZEPPS™ system, and automatically generates the subsystems of the joints and of the panels necessary to make the complete roof.

This chapter begins with the recent history of mass production, looking for a parallel with the contemporary development of prefabrication in construction and comparing developments in the United States with those in Germany. The United States pursued interchangeability of parts and standardisation in manufacturing from the time of its foundation onwards. This promoted and supported the initial stages of development and industrialisation, ultimately including mass production. Consideration is given to the driving role played by automotive manufacturing in developing the methodologies and the technologies of mass production and their role in the construction industry; and to the impetus given by the Second World War, which brought to fruition the process innovations developed by each country in response to the demands of the war and which played an important part in the outcomes of the conflict. While mass production tremendously increases the quantity of products and decreases their cost, the market was not particularly inclined to allow the mass production of housing. In the 1920s, when customers began to value other aspects apart from price, industries began to consider new manufacturing strategies—Ford himself for instance introduced the concept of flexible mass production. The construction industry stressed flexibility in design and manufacturing systems.

This chapter considers the digital continuum between design and manufacture, achieved with the technologies of CAD/CAM, numerical control and prototyping. Although the ‘digitalization’ of architecture is sometimes seen as a threat to the physical aspects of construction, the opportunity to use a digital model directly in the context of production actually strengthens the traditional links between design and practical craftsmanship. The chapter offers an overview of manufacturing processes currently or potentially relevant to construction. Units of manufacturing processes may be described in sufficiently general terms so as not to be restricted to working with a specific material, a given component or a certain producer of machine tools. Key unit manufacturing processes are identified: (1) mass-change, (2) phase-change, (3) structure-change processes, (4) deformations, (5) consolidation, including (6) rapid prototyping. It concludes by considering integrated manufacturing. Two projects are examined in detail because they have been precursors of the principles of design for assembly: Frank Gehry’s “Fish-sculpture” at the Olympic Village, Barcelona (1989–1992), and Norman Foster’s Swiss Re Tower in London (1997–2004). The analysis of these projects confirms the recurring importance of the “craft” factor. Computer-aided design and production systems have shifted the emphasis from skills in craftsmanship to competence in the control of the manufacturing machinery. As manufacturing and construction become increasingly automated, more and more skills are required of the designers.

The Future of Cities and Regions : Simulation, Scenario and Visioning, Governance and Scales is committed to presenting and discussing international best practices in planning and design according to four leading issues in urban and regional development: (1) Simulation, (2) Scenario and Visioning, (3) Government and Governance, and (4) Scale. The case-oriented discussion is a peculiarity of the book, which emerges from the title itself, The Future of Cities and Regions. The aim is to critically explain how urban planning, policy and design issues are faced by each simulation case and their inherent similarities and differences. The book reviews computer models and media, socio-political experiments and professional practices which help in communicating the future effects of different design, policy and planning strategies and schemes with a wide range of aims: from information, through consultation, towards active participation. Our intent is that the four leading issues both advance the understanding of the cases across the chapters, and advance discussion of the experiences theoretically. These issues could offer the reader a framework within which to consider the specific cases, and for interrelation of the narration of the practices from a methodological perspective, in an attempt to provide answers to the four leading issues.

The chapter gives an introduction to the development and testing of an active and dialogue methodology for a participative decision-making process for the development of Turin metropolitan city: GranTorino 2030. The active orientation requires that the metropolis involve the resources from the market and direct them towards the goals. This requires a paradigm shift in plans and policies, from legislation and financial incentives, towards the involvement of private sector and citizens, seeking equilibrium among social, private and personal utilities. GranTorino adopted a dialogue model, that is, “a complex model of interacting processes where the directives coming from the top are informed by the perceptions of problems, possible solutions, and situational constraints coming from below, and where these directives in turn structure perceptions and the search for solutions at the section level” (Mayntz 1976). GranTorino has been structured along five tiers: (1) Define the domain of public participation, (2) empower stakeholders’ knowledge, (3) generate personal foresight, (4) evaluate foresight and (5) map the knowledge. GranTorino, by listening to citizens’ preferences and expectations, has provided to a broad public the opportunity to contribute to the shaping of the metropolitan city, in order to assess what the personal foresights are, and has provided feedback through evaluation and measurement. GranTorino provides evidence that when people are actively involved, they can help to generate a heightened sense of public value.

Computer-Integrated Construction (CIC) is the capability of a computer system to create models of certain aspects of the design and construction processes and consequently to direct them into reality. The premise of CIC is that the clear-cut separation between the competencies, know-how and responsibilities has now been turned upside down by the introduction of information technology in the design and construction processes. The designers can now model the physical, technological, and organisational aspects of a building or infrastructure in a seamless way. And they can do so rather creatively. The model of the physical system provides the designer an intuitive understanding and appreciation of static and dynamic interaction between the building and its environment early during design. The model of the technological system opens the capability to precisely model the building parts "as-constructed" by means of quantitative and qualitative-visual evaluation before any manufacturing process really takes place. The paper briefly introduces CIC in four construction technologies, respectively concrete, stone, wood and steel. The model of the construction organization is the process of configuring an organisational structure to accomplish a given high-level task while attempting to satisfy stated performance objectives. An organization model represents people supported by information-processing and communication tools. The CIC implementation and on-field experimentation is considered in a case project.

The paper presents the implementation of a system of Shared Virtual Reality (SVR) in Internet applied to a large-scale project. The applications of SVR to architectural and urban design are presented in the context of a real project, the new railway junction of Porta Susa and the surrounding urban area in the city centre of Turin, Italy. SVR differs from Virtual Reality (VR) in that the experience of virtual spaces is no longer individual, but rather shared across the Internet with other users simultaneously connected. SVR offers an effective approach to Construction Data Model and Computer Supported Collaborative Work, because it integrates both the communicative tools to improve collaboration and the distributed environment to process information across the networks.

The paper presents the implementation of a system of Shared Virtual Reality (SVR) in Internet applied to a large-scale project. The applications of SVR to architectural and urban design are presented in the context of a real project, the new railway junction of Porta Susa and the surrounding urban area in the city centre of Turin, Italy.

Incubators of Public Spaces is a funded JPI Urban Europe project aiming to support the self-organization of places by enhancing the factors that motivate, encourage, and enable the urban actors to reach common understandings in order to coordinate their actions by reasoned argument, consensus, and cooperation rather than strategic thinking only. By catalyzing citizens’ willingness to ‘do their bit’ for improving spaces, it provides the means to grow and care for places. The paper is organized into three main sections. The first section offers a theoretical underpinning on the roots of self-organization and co-creation in urban interventions. After a brief introduction about the project’s aims, the second section deals with incubators’ co-creative process and system. It describes the running of the scenario workshops and provides an overview of the web platform and its inherent features. The third section presents the results of the application of the incubators method in the regeneration of an Italian neighborhood. It provides some general information about the area, and foresees a set of interventions for both built and open spaces. Conclusions offer early remarks concerning the ongoing experimentation in Incubators.