Research

The research area promotes critical, creative, and collaborative research focused on innovative and transformative solutions in the field of sustainable urban regeneration. The aim is to develop and disseminate knowledge, methods, and best practices to face complex urban challenges. The research activities are based on cross-disciplinary approaches with the aim to produce collaborative and world-leading research products.

Social value assessment in urban regeneration projects. Urban regeneration interventions aim to convert deteriorated and depressed urban areas into inclusive and sustainable places with higher quality of life, and improved environmental and social conditions. This year the SUR Lab's annual research will focus on how to assess the social value generated by urban regeneration projects, through the reduction of negative externalities (e.g. local pollution and GHG emission reduction) and the creation of positive externalities (e.g. improvement of living conditions, access to services). With increasing demand from institutions to assess social value, this study aims to clarify what social value means in urban regeneration, identify tools and methods to measure it and evaluate how effectively they capture its different aspects. By the end of this research, we’ll provide clear recommendations to help stakeholders maximize the positive impact of urban regeneration projects, ensuring they contribute meaningfully to sustainable and inclusive urban development.

Each year we investigate a different crucial and strategic topic for sustainable urban regeneration.

FIRST YEAR
The COVID-19 pandemic is profoundly changing the perception of living and working spaces. There is a need for rethinking and reshaping urban spaces and services to face the new challenge. The research aimed to study the evolution of shared living and working models (co-living, shared housing services, co-working, smart working, etc.) and the opportunities offered by new technologies. The position paper developed by the SUR Lab research team is available here. 

SECOND YEAR
Investments oriented to ESG criteria (Environmental, Social and Governance) are increasing in all sectors, including real estate. The EU has developed a taxonomy of environmentally sustainable activities. Within this disruptive time the research aimed to investigate financing instruments, looking at the ESG criteria, financial rating systems, EU taxonomy, and evaluation instruments (including GRESB) to assess the performance of investments related to sustainable urban regeneration. The position paper developed by the SUR Lab research team is available here. 

THIRD YEAR
Green spaces in cities play a key role in quality of life and urban sustainability, as they generate several ecosystem services such as improvement in air quality, mitigation of urban heat island effects, provision of recreational opportunities, aesthetic value enhancement, and others. To improve the fruition of urban green spaces, management models should adopt an integrated approach, going beyond issues like maintenance and safety. New management models could foresee the creation of multi-functional and recreational green spaces, suitable for different stakeholders. Several governance, business and financing models can be adopted to support an integrated management of green spaces: these range from fully-public models, to public-private collaborations, to fully-private models. Different types of entities can be set up to manage and animate urban green areas with an integrated approach. This annual position paper of SUR lab will explore different business and management models for urban public green spaces, also considering their relation with urban regeneration projects. The position paper developed by the SUR Lab research team is available here.