MIT and Politecnico together for the Rocca project

A project to study small Italian towns at risk of depopulation

The project has come to life “Towards the Smart Villages of Italy” finanziato da MIT – Italy Roberto Rocca Project-Politecnico di Milano.

MIT students and professors conducted ten days of fieldwork, travelling to some of the most economically disadvantaged and poorest areas of Europe in  inland Sicily (Favara, Vizzini and Centuripe), exploring the role of cultural heritage, digitization and WFH as tools to promote new forms of sustainable development. From this perspective, the digital transition is an opportunity that cannot be missed. The class also compared similar conditions of marginalisation in the Alps (Valtellina, Tirano and Teglio). Gli studenti stanno ora lavorando ai loro progetti finali, concentrandosi su alcuni temi come: metriche spaziali dell’abbandono in Sicilia, proposta per un piano regionale del lavoro a distanza in Valtellina, sensibilizzazione digitale delle piccole imprese, opportunità della Valtellina in vista delle imminenti Olimpiadi invernali e linee guida di progettazione su turismo e produzione alimentare in Sicilia.

dusp mit
https://dusp.mit.edu/news/smart-villages-italy

The project was developed by Prof. Giovanna Fossa (Department of Architecture, Construction Engineering and Built Environment) together with Prof. Brent Ryan (MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning) who says:

It is the first time that MIT has organised an urban planning course in Italy on the subject of depopulation and widespread historical heritage. The students were exposed to new and unique situations that bear witness to the cultural richness of the Italian hinterland, but also to the fragility of an economically and demographically impoverished territory.

The research group of this MIT-Politecnico collaboration includes Carmelo Ignaccolo, researcher in urban planning at MIT,  Cristina Boniotti , researcher in restoration at the Department of Architecture, Construction Engineering and Built Environment of the Politecnico di Milano, and  Andrea Pimpinella , researcher in telecommunications at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano.

Credits home: https://www.caldana.it/

OTHER ARTICLES FROM THE SECTIONResearch
More space and rooms for the environment: the renewed research laboratories at Politecnico
A number of laboratories of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Politecnico di Milano have been upgraded and relocated all together into in a new building. The heads of the laboratories take us on a guided tour.
01/03/2024
The EU has provided almost €8 million for the numerical simulation of complex phenomena
ne parliamo con la prof. Paola Antonietti, del Dipartimento di Matematica del Poli
28/02/2024
La spettroscopia utraveloce è un capitolo della scienza che si scrive a Milano
In the Poli labs, a new generation of scientists is charting new routes: today we introduce you twelve of them, among the best young researchers in Europe
07/02/2024
New sensors to be mounted on trains to safeguard bridges and railways
In the Poli labs, a new generation of scientists is charting new routes: today we introduce you twelve of them, among the best young researchers in Europe
20/12/2023
Sensors and 'self-healing' materials to protect cultural heritage
In the Poli labs, a new generation of scientists is charting new routes: today we introduce you twelve of them, among the best young researchers in Europe
11/12/2023
Fighting cancer: photonics in the operating room
In the Poli labs, a new generation of scientists is charting new routes: today we introduce you twelve of them, among the best young researchers in Europe
28/11/2023
Nanocarriers delivering drugs drugs into our bodies only where they are needed
In the Poli labs, a new generation of scientists is charting new routes: today we introduce you twelve of them, among the best young researchers in Europe
22/11/2023
The autopilot that takes us to space
In the Poli labs, a new generation of scientists is charting new routes: today we introduce you twelve of them, among the best young researchers in Europe
30/10/2023
SPOTLIGHT
The best espresso there’s ever bean
Smeg's BCC automatic espresso machine has won the DesignEuropa Awards 2023. We had coffee with the alumni who designed it
05/03/2024
Alumni Community
Agreement with SNAM renewed
Collaboration on security and energy transition, innovation and training continues
13/03/2023
University and companies
Gasometers: construction site at the future Bovisa Goccia campus starts
Gastometer 1 will be dedicated to sport, gasometer 2 to innovation
25/09/2023
Campus Life
Excellence Of Politecnico In Qs World University Rankings By Subject
7th Place In The World In Design And Architecture, 23rd In Engineering. Absolute Record In Italy.
10/04/2024
From the Rector's Office
GIRLS@POLIMI 2023: 25 ENGINEERING STUDENTS HONOURED
Scholarships awarded to promote gender equal opportunities
02/10/2023
Studies
Extraordinary Italians! Giuseppe Scionti and Novameat's cultivated meat
L’ingegnere biomedico dal Politecnico di Milano è stato selezionato da StartupItalia come uno degli italiani che si sono distinti nel mondo
27/03/2024
World
Create worksite-schools to redevelop properties confiscated from the mafia
This is the aim of Co-WIN, a Politecnico di Milano research project funded by your 5 per mille donations. Soon this model can be replicated throughout Italy
01/06/2023
Social responsIbility