Regenerative design processes in urban morphology

A city is an organism made of ”fabrics”. Social, economic, cultural, smart and environmental fabrics, on whose interaction depends on the form, the functioning and the very life of a city, its urban fabrics, and its public spaces. Reading and designing the city of the 21st century is therefore a complex process that involves very different needs, interests and disciplines. The aim of this research is to develop an analysis and design methodology capable of acting as a catalyst for all the main players involved in the strategies of Sustainable Urban Design. At the basis of the methodological approach lies the concept of Public Space as the preferential place for reading, designing and living in a city. Operationally, the proposed methodology rests on three main disciplinary areas (and three con-sequents working toolkits): Urban Surveying, Environmental Analysis, and Urban Morphology. Through the first, conducted with graphic rendering software and laser scanner, it is possible to detect the physical forms of the city, and to read its historical and material consistency. The second focuses its attention mainly on the microclimatic analysis of public spaces and outdoor comfort, using sophisticated environmental software such as Envi-met, LadyBug etc. Finally, the third area is particularly important. Due to its multilayer character, Urban Morphology is the discipline capable of keeping all the others together, allowing them to interact. The tools adopted for this purpose are the Morphological Map, the Geographic Information System_QGIS, and the Global Positioning System_GPS. The synergistic union of these three areas allows the development of a dynamic, multilayer and transdisciplinary methodology for urban analysis, very useful for guiding the regeneration and transformation processes of the contemporary city.