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Malling in the United States was characterized by the construction of large shopping centers in the suburbs of the city, in close connection with urban sprawl. These retail spaces have undergone a severe crisis resulting in their closure since the 1990s. In response to this phenomenon, the so-called “demalling” practice has spread intending to redevelop them with new functions. Although more incipient, in Europe this process is only evolving in the last few. This study illustrates a Best-Worst Scaling (BWS) experiment to rank consumer preferences to identify new functions to be installed in the existing shopping centers. Different items were considered in this study, including both commercial characteristics, such as type and size, and architectural-design aspects, such as internal organization, external areas feature, and services. An online survey was conducted and a total of 600 respondents was collected and analyzed through the Analytical Best-Worst Score (ABWS) algorithm. Starting from a real case related to a shopping mall in Turin (Northern Italy), the experiment results were used for definition of specific guidelines for regeneration projects.

As it is well known, in Western countries cities are experiencing negative effects due to decentralization and deindustrialization, that have brought economic crisis and urban decline. In order to contrast such decline, urban regeneration is getting more and more important in the current political agenda. In fact, urban regeneration means not only building-restoration operations, but also programs aiming at eliminating social decline, increasing the quality of life of the inhabitants, supporting the valorization of cultural resources, protecting the environmental system, bringing economic development, and so on. Urban regeneration looks at urban areas as complex and dynamic systems, in which different processes (physical, social, environmental and economic) drive the transition and the generation of important changes. This paper aims to reflect on urban problems and regeneration operations, focusing in particular on the role of evaluation tools for supporting decision-making in this context. Starting from the analysis of a real case study related to a critical area in the city of Turin, the article will propose different evaluation tools able to produce a complete picture of the problem and to define possible long-term visions for the requalification of the site.

Blood disorders like B-thalassemia or sickle cell anaemia obligate patients to require constant blood transfusions. These, among others, make blood a highly demanded resource in the medical field. Blood has been obtained from in-vitro erythroid differentiation from embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells, but this blood tends to produce embryonic haemoglobin. In this project, we aim to use a CRISPR/Cas9 modified version, combined with an aptamer approach, to alter the expression of the β-globin locus upregulating the gamma globin gene to produce foetal haemoglobin. Guide vectors were created targeting previously known sequences in the gamma haemoglobin gene. HEK cells were transfected with different combinations of CRISPR/Cas9 elements to test the amount of gene activation achieved. Gene expression analysis was performed through RTq/PCR. It was found that HbG activation can be achieved to some extent, however, the levels of gamma haemoglobin attained are very low compared with the normal levels of HbG expressed in other cell lines like K562. From the combinations tested, the combination of dCas9ES + PP7/PCP + VPH presented the best performance.

This paper presents the early results of a study aimed at experimenting an innovative approach to the design and the evaluation of complex urban transformation processes, based on the combined use of different design strategies and tools. The purpose of the paper is to illustrate, by means of a case study, a multi-level decision aiding process, able to support strategic urban design, with specific reference to regeneration processes for abandoned industrial sites in urban areas. The case study presented in the paper concerns different alternative proposals for the requalification of the former Shougang/Er-Tong mechanical factory in Beijing, China. The choice of a Chinese case study as a field test for an experimentation about mixed methods research approaches in the domain of urban transformation is related to the peculiar emerging conditions of that context, in which huge economic potentials are speeding up the transformation but a substantial lack of cultural and methodological instruments to manage a so fast modification exists. During the design process, three methods in particular have been combined according to a multi-phase design: (i) Stakeholders Analysis, (ii) Multicriteria Analysis, and (iii) Discounted Cash Flow Analysis. Each one of them has been applied in parallel to the evolution of the different design scenarios. The results of the performed study show that mixed methods approaches are a promising line of research in the field of environmental evaluation and urban design. Insights and guidelines for the replication of the proposed methodological approach in other territorial contexts are also proposed.

This paper proposes an integrated evaluation approach as a support tool for the design of urban regeneration operations in historic centers, and it highlights the need for innovative assessment and design strategies useful for generating greater involvement and community awareness. In particular, the study proposes an Embedded Mixed-Methods Approach focusing on the case study of Trieste (northern Italy). The evaluation framework is based on the integration of the Multi Attribute Value Theory (MAVT) with various other methods, such as SWOT Analysis, Stakeholder Analysis, the Public Space Quality Protocol and the NAIADE technique. The results illustrate the ability of the proposed methodology to promote a successful network of actions and strategies for the regeneration of historic centers.

The proposed study focuses on the investigation of the role of evaluation approaches in the governance of urban-regeneration operations with particular reference to the Multicriteria Analysis methods (Figueira et al. in Multiple criteria decision analysis: state of the art surveys. Springer, New York, 2005). There is, in fact, a strong need to take into account the various aspects involved in regeneration processes and programs, in order to contrast social decline, increase the inhabitants’ quality of life, enhance the cultural resources, valorize buildings and public spaces, protect the environmental system, stimulate economic development and so on. In particular, this paper considers the case of Cittavecchia, the historic centre of Trieste, where new investments are required due to several past recovery plans that left various problems unsolved, causing identity and trust issues. This study shares the framework with a wider research project where three regeneration scenarios for Cittavecchia have been evaluated and compared through a multicriteria approach (Crescenzo and De Matteis in Ri-centro: valutazione di scenari di riqualificazione urbana per il centro storico di Trieste attraverso l’Analisi Multicriteri. MS thesis, Politecnico di Torino, 2016) based on the Multi-Attribute Value Theory (MAVT) (Keeney and Raiffa in Decisions with multiple objectives: preferences and values trade-offs. Wiley, New York, 1976). MAVT enables the evaluation of the proposed alternatives and the identification of a successful network of planning and design strategies, thanks to its flexible framework that better simplifies, structures and sorts the existing fragmentation. MAVT is useful to support complex development processes because it considers multiple points of view, from the local communities’ needs, to governance and political ones. In particular, this paper is focused on the examination of the influence of socio-political aspects on decision-making processes, illustrating the calculation of the Coalition Index: an indicator that has been developed through the application of the NAIADE technique (Munda in Eur J Oper Res 158:662–677, 2004). This index makes it possible to consider the various actors’ opinions and to investigate the strength of the coalitions among the stakeholders involved in the transformation. Furthermore this method enables, with the contribution of local experts, the identification of the influence of stakeholders on the performance of the results and on the overall procedure, aiding decision makers to properly evaluate consequences and priorities, thus enhancing the transparency of the whole procedure. This study is a starting point for the evaluation of complex urban regeneration processes thanks to the ability of the proposed method to influence governance and urban planning procedures and even to adapt its framework to changes of conditions, objectives, criteria and needs.

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.