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Transforming challenges into opportunities in social housing: a case study from Italy

Pomponi, Luana; Sablone, Eleonora; Rusconi Clerici, Laura; Consalez, Lorenzo; Pomponi, Francesco

Authors

Luana Pomponi

Eleonora Sablone

Laura Rusconi Clerici

Lorenzo Consalez



Contributors

Luisa Brotas
Editor

Susan Roaf
Editor

Fergus Nicol
Editor

Abstract

Social housing often aims to provide sheltering for people on low incomes or with particular needs. This results in a constraints-dominated context where environmental and social sustainability find little room. Neglecting environmental and social issues, however, risks to further impact those already at the margins of our society, and for whom the social housing was meant to be a life upgrade. Yet, challenges can be transformed into opportunities if intelligent and collaborative planning is utilised. Such a holistic approach has characterised the project discussed in this paper, which has met the design aims whilst placing environmental and social sustainability at its core. Passive strategies have minimised the energy consumption whilst maximising the opportunities that the surrounding natural environment had to offer. Social needs have also been included throughout the various design phases. The result is a plan for a neighbourhood where utterly different users are brought together under the same roof, and social interactions are not just possible but in fact encouraged. Local trade is embedded in the social spaces to incorporate principles of economic sustainability. This case study can be adopted in and adapted to different contexts thus handing back to architectural design the honour and the moral responsibility to produce spaces in which humans as well as nature can thrive.

Citation

Pomponi, L., Sablone, E., Rusconi Clerici, L., Consalez, L., & Pomponi, F. (2017, July). Transforming challenges into opportunities in social housing: a case study from Italy. Presented at PLEA 2017 - Passive and Low Energy Architecture

Presentation Conference Type Conference Paper (published)
Conference Name PLEA 2017 - Passive and Low Energy Architecture
Start Date Jul 2, 2017
End Date Jul 5, 2017
Acceptance Date Jun 5, 2017
Publication Date Jul 5, 2017
Deposit Date Jul 11, 2017
Publisher Network for Comfort and Energy Use in Buildings
Book Title PLEA Conference Proceedings Volume III
Keywords Social housing, low energy architecture, passive architecture, social sustainability, local communities,
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/960098