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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.

Generative computation has the potential to enhance the accuracy, effectiveness, and creativity of spatial layout in design and planning. The paper proposes a methodology to separate the knowledge about objects, spatial relationships, and constraints from the generative process. The separation between the knowledge in a domain and its possible practical uses is an important achievement of semantic technologies, because it grants access to a large body of knowledge, spanning various aspects and processes across buildings and cities, which is being codified into formal ontologies. The present study has reused existing knowledge from two established ontologies. An illustrative case-project demonstrates the suitability of the methodology for a complex layout planning problem, involving a large number of decision-makers, with multiple competing objectives and criteria. The system implements multidimensional visual interactive tools to assist designers, planners, and decision-makers in exploring the layouts and the criteria, to develop their confidence in what qualifies as a good and effective solution.

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.

Zebrafish embryos homozygous for the masterblind(mbl) mutation exhibit a striking phenotype in which the eyes and telencephalon are reduced or absent and diencephalic fates expand to the front of the brain. Here we show that mbl−/−embryos carry an amino-acid change at a conserved site in the Wnt pathway scaffolding protein, Axin1. The amino-acid substitution present in the mbl allele abolishes the binding of Axin to Gsk3 and affects Tcf-dependent transcription. Therefore, Gsk3 activity may be decreased in mbl−/− embryos and in support of this possibility, overexpression of either wild-type Axin1 or Gsk3β can restore eye and telencephalic fates to mbl−/−embryos. Our data reveal a crucial role for Axin1-dependent inhibition of the Wnt pathway in the early regional subdivision of the anterior neural plate into telencephalic, diencephalic, and eye-forming territories.

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.

Dickkopf-1 (Dkk1) is a secreted protein that negatively modulates the Wnt/βcatenin pathway. Lack of Dkk1 function affects head formation in frog and mice, supporting the idea that Dkk1 acts as a “head inducer” during gastrulation. We show here that lack of Dkk1 function accelerates internalization and rostral progression of the mesendoderm and that gain of function slows down both internalization and convergence extension, indicating a novel role for Dkk1 in modulating these movements. The motility phenotype found in the morphants is not observed in embryos in which the Wnt/βcatenin pathway is overactivated, and that dominant-negative Wnt proteins are not able to rescue the gastrulation movement defect induced by absence of Dkk1. These data strongly suggest that Dkk1 is acting in a βcatenin independent fashion when modulating gastrulation movements. We demonstrate that the glypican 4/6 homolog Knypek (Kny) binds to Dkk1 and that they are able to functionally interact in vivo. Moreover, Dkk1 regulation of gastrulation movements is kny dependent. Kny is a component of the Wnt/planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway. We found that indeed Dkk1 is able to activate this pathway in both Xenopus and zebrafish. Furthermore, concomitant alteration of the βcatenin and PCP activities is able to mimic the morphant accelerated cell motility phenotype. Our data therefore indicate that Dkk1 regulates gastrulation movement through interaction with LRP5/6 and Kny and coordinated modulations of Wnt/βcatenin and Wnt/PCP pathways.

This paper introduces a dynamic generative modelling system for urban and regional design. Through dynamic modelling the system evolves in time according to the interactions of the planners, decision-makers and citizens. On the basis of several synchronous and/or asynchronous user interactions, models are dynamically generated at run time. The models are built by defining the data (datasets) and the actions to perform on that data (tasks). The system reads and correlates data at urban and regional scale from various authorities to generate dynamic datasets. Tasks are especially powerful when they integrate generative procedures in a hierarchical structure. This allows us to model urban and regional dynamics through the interaction of tasks at micro- and macro-scale. Tasks can also implement either Cellular Automata or software agents. We examine the system application to a case project: the simulation of micro- and macro-dynamics in an Alpine valley, with specific challenges to fit competitive and sustainable growth in a landscape quality perspective. The simulation in spatial and temporal dimensions of regional data provided us with the elements to study the territorial evolution over the next twenty years. Four strategies gave as many scenarios highlighting the results of specific policies.

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.

Cells at the anterior boundary of the neural plate (ANB) can induce telencephalic gene expression when transplanted to more posterior regions. Here, we identify a secreted Frizzled-related Wnt antagonist, Tlc, that is expressed in ANB cells and can cell nonautonomously promote telencephalic gene expression in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, abrogation of Tlc function compromises telencephalic development. We also identify Wnt8b as a locally acting modulator of regional fate in the anterior neural plate and a likely target for antagonism by Tlc. Finally, we show that tlc expression is regulated by signals that establish early antero-posterior and dorso-ventral ectodermal pattern. From these studies, we propose that local antagonism of Wnt activity within the anterior ectoderm is required to establish the telencephalon.

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 outlines a research project to develop a dynamic simulation of suburbanization processes. The approach to simulating suburban form relies on modelling different interacting processes on various scales. Two layered models are implemented, the Socio-Economic and Zoning model and the Suburban Form model, respectively by means of cellular automata and genetic programming. The Socio-Economic and Zoning model simulates exogenous factors and endogenous processes of large-scale suburban dynamics. The model approximates the area by means of a rectangular grid to the scale of hundred meters. The Suburban Form model uses a smaller grid, to the scale of meters, and is three-dimensional. The resulting dynamic, 3D, fine-scale model will create scenarios of suburban growth, allowing evaluation of their consequences on built environment and landscape.

The PC3 gene is a marker of dividing neuroepithelial (NE) cells. We transduced single cortical precursors of the ventricular zone (VZ) with a PC3-carrying retroviral vector at E16 stage, and analysed the effects of transgene expression on their progeny in 3-week-old animals. Unlike control-transduced cells, all viable PC3-transduced cells remained close to the ventricle and displayed a round-shaped, undifferentiated morphology.

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.