During the design experience of the Design Unit 2, the student will continue to enhance his own skills, already trained during the design experience of Design Unit 1, in managing independently a complex architectural project, in particular as regards the constructive aspects. The topics of Design Unit 2 will be focused on a complex urban project and takes into account both the settlement components and the economic ones. It also includes the design of an architectural object, developed through techniques, methodologies and the specific abilities of the European architect.
Through the knowledge and the in-depth analysis of the specific design theme, the student will acquire an understanding and interpretation of the complex phenomena that characterize the contemporary processes of urbanization and urban regeneration, both on the local scale and on the global one.
The overall educational goal of the “Architecture and Urban Economics” Design Unit is to elaborate a complex urban project, starting from the knowledge and the specific skills provided by two specific and complementary subjects: the Architectural Design and the Economic Evaluation of the projects. The latter is the second characterizing discipline, focused on the economic dimension of Architecture in the urban context.
To these two subjects are associated in the Design Unit the specific knowledge and skills provided by one or more related and integrative disciplines, selected in relation with the specific design topics of every Design Unit.
The Design Unit dedicated to the topics Creative City & Urban Regeneration will adopt the knowledge and the expertise coming from the fields of urban management and digital sociology.
Through the Design Unit experience the student will acquire not only the general design skills, but also the specific knowledge and skills in Economic Evaluation, mandatory in the Master’s degree, as alternative to the attendance of the 2nd Year Course in “Economic evaluation of projects”.

The Design Unit 2 deepens and develops the advanced knowledge and the design skills learned during the Design Unit 1: such a knowledge is acquired within the Design Unit and through a series of mono-disciplinary or multi-disciplinary lectures, and through studies and in-depth modules on theories, relevant to the design themes and issues. The advanced progresses in knowledge and understanding will be assessed through mid-term and final evaluations during the Design Unit, especially aimed at assessing the students’ capability to synthesise and to integrate the different disciplines contributing to the Unit.
In the design experience of the Design Unit “Architecture and urban economics”, the understanding of the complex phenomena that govern urban and territorial transformations, both in its architectural and urban components, occurs through the knowledge and the in-depth analysis of the specific design theme. The instructors provide multi-disciplinary knowledge of all the aspects of the complex context within which the design has to be developed. The ability to understand and interpret the complex phenomena that characterize the practices of urbanization and urban regeneration, at both local and global levels, also occurs in the ability to work in un international context, understanding cultures and traditions not only national, also through the choice of topics and design sites in international context, in the capacity of a design and narrative synthesis, and in the ability to carry out individual research, aimed to connect architectural design, urban culture and economic evaluation.
In the Design Unit experience the capability to apply knowledge and skills is primarily defined by the ability to independently manage a complex urban project in a given time, through the mastery of techniques, methods and skills specific to the job of the Architect. The capability to independently manage a project of urban and territorial transformation is expressed in the ability to analyze complex and non-univocal information, to interpret them into a shared decision-making process, but also in the ability to exert leadership in a necessarily multi-disciplinary design team, even toward languages and social and public practices. The experience of the Design Unit, characterized by an intense experimentation, is configured as a partial simulation of effective design practices in the real-world. As such, it ensures the acquisition of the ability of applying knowledge and understanding. This ability is assessed through intermediate and final evaluations within the Design Unit, with the contributions of guest experts from practice, with especial attention to the capability to integrate and synthetize the various disciplines involved in the Unit, as well as to meet the timetable of the activities, which requires the students to complete the project at the end of the semester. The ability to process a complex architectural project in a given time represents a specific ability of the work of the architect: this will be verified at the exam that will take place during the first week of exams, in the first examination session consecutive to the Design Unit.

Critical and design skills, along with the concepts and introductory tools in Economic Evaluation are considered already acquired during the Disciplinary Courses and the Design Ateliers of the Bachelor Degree in “Sciences of Architecture”. Knowledge and skills trained during the Design Unit 1, especially the ability to process autonomously a complex architectural project in a given time, are also required. A further prerequisite is represented by the knowledge and skills acquired during the Courses of First Semester “Digital parametric modeling” and “Energy systems in building design”.

This Design Unit will elaborate a smart high-quality design and sustainable urban development project, starting from specific knowledge and competence in four complementary fields: the architectural composition, the economic evaluation of development projects, the management of urban processes and the social awareness.
A major objective of the Design Unit is the critical reflection on the idea of ‘heritage’ as a key component of a “smart city” strategy: once a monument, then a cultural assets to pass down to future generations, in recent years more and more a result of invented traditions and memories if not just a simple consumer good, but nowadays one of the most important element of the so called “creative city”.
Another specific objective is to provide a toolkit of methods for supporting decisions of managers and policymakers toward smart urban strategies economy in the face of conflicting demands of economic development, social progress, and environmental sustainability, also using new digital technologies and understanding their multiple impacts on society.
The designer, dealing with heritage assets, has to undertake a relevant task, which is correlated to design, valuation, management and social sciences. By designing, a process of revaluating the objects is undertaken and every aspect of the design process (formal, material, constructive etc.) supports the social importance of the heritage asset itself.
Such as the design is complex activity that requires multidisciplinary capacities and the cooperation of various policy-makers, the topic of the design process concerns various objectives and purposes: the choice of alternative propositions, the definition of priorities when dealing with conflicts among stakeholders or in situation with limited resources, the determination of appropriate use of cultural and environmental assets that should be preserved, taxonomy of total economic values, considering monetary together with cultural values, the analysis of major impacts and effects of the urban transformation project.
The core of interest is the morphological, environmental, social and economical asset of the north part of Marseille, where it has been implemented a great regeneration project, which is recognized by the French State as EcoCité.
There are plans to build a residential neighborhood based upon the idea of sustainable living like living in the tradition of the Mediterranean basin.

The work in the Design Unit will be organized by weekly collective discussions about design development and DU topics.
The design process will be defined as an incremental step-based process which involved different stages, such as: diagnosis of the context, envisioning exercise and development of a number of design options, selection of a design alternative and implementation.
Through exchange and collaboration with Euroméditerranée (Arch. Franck Geiling) the DU will give to the students the possibility to access studies, analyses and projects regarding the present and the future of Marseille. A workshop on the envisioning future scenarios will be organized in the French City.

Marseille:
BAROSIO M., TRISCIUOGLIO M., Marsiglia capitale del Mediterraneo. Inchiesta, in “ Il Giornale dell’Architettura”, n.14, estate 2013
BERTONCELLO B., DUBOIS J., Marseille Euroméditerranée. Accélérateur de métropole, Parenthéses, Marseille 2010
BONILLO J.-L., BORRUEY R., Espinas J.-D., PICON A., Marseille Ville & Port, Parenthéses, Marseille 1991
LECLERC F. avec Agence TER, MARCIANO R., SBRIGLIO J., SETEC, Marseille, le temps de la métropole. Euromediterranée 2, Euromediterranée, Marseille 2010
RONCAYOLO M., Les Grammaires d’une ville. Essai sur la genèse urbaines à Marseille, Éditions de l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris 1996
RONCAYOLO M., Marseille. Les territoires du temps, Éditions locales de France, Paris 1996
Design:
BAROSIO M., TRISCIUOGLIO M. (eds.), I paesaggi culturali. Costruzione, valorizzazione, gestione, Egea Bocconi, Milano 2013, part. the eassays by Lombardi and Trisciuoglio
BAROSIO M., L’impronta industriale. Analisi della forma urbana e progetto di trasformazione delle aree produttive dismesse, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2008
TRISCIUOGLIO M., Scatola di montaggio. L’architettura, gli elementi della Composizione e le ragioni costruttive della forma, Carocci, Roma 2008
TRISCIUOGLIO M., La Bioedilizia, in Niles Eldredge e Telmo Pievani (ed.), Il Futuro della Terra. Dallo sviluppo sostenibile all’indipendenza planetaria Atlante 4. Le opportunità e le interdipendenze, Utet, Torino 2010
TRISCIUOGLIO M., The Necessity for Images. Progetto di architettura e cultura dell'immagine nel confronto con il patrimonio industriale, in “PATRIMONIO INDUSTRIALE”, luglio 2011
Project Evaluation:
BRANDON P., LOMBARDI P., Evaluating Sustainable Development: in the Built Environment, II edition, Wiley, London, 2011.
BOTTERO M., LAMI I.M., LOMBARDI P., Analytic Network Process. La valutazione di scenari di trasformazione urbana e territoriale. Alinea,, Alinea, Firenze 2008
GABRIELLI L., LAMI I. M., LOMBARDI P., Il valore di mercato: note di lavoro per la stima di un immobile urbano, Celid (ITA), pp. 224, 2011, 2011
LOMBARDI P., GIORDANO S., FAROUH H., YOUSEF W., Modelling the smart city performance, Innovation – The European Journal of Social Science Research, 25 (2),137-149, 2012
MITSCHE N., VOGT F., KNOX D., COOPER I., LOMBARDI P., CIAFFI D., Intangibles: enhancing access to cities' cultural heritage through interpretation, in “International journal of culture, tourism and hospitality research”, vol. 7 n. 1, pp. 68-77, 2013
S. Salat, Cities and Forms: On Sustainable Urbanism, Editions Hermann, Paris, 2011.

1. Fully attendance to and engagement in the lectures, seminars, and further activities of the Design Unit is a required precondition for the positive participation in the planned activities.
2. The design documents (drawings, models, documents, diagrams, tables, etc.) will be discussed and reviewed by the instructors throughout all the Design Unit. The ability to communicate designs in a clear and effective way is relevant to evaluation.
3. Though the design assignments can be partially carried out in teams of two-three students, the final grading is individual and takes into account the reviews and argumentations, the mid-term evaluations, and of individual’s participation throughout the Design Unit.
4. The final grade will be awarded based on the presentation and public discussion of the final design documents.
5. The student’s ability to develop a complex architectural design in a given time will be evaluated in the final exam that will take place in the first week of exams, during the first examination session consecutive to the Design Unit. In the case that the final design work is not completed on time or is judged inadequate or incomplete, the student may resubmit the final project work in the second examination session consecutive to the Design Unit. Because of the student’s inability to meet the deadline, it will result in a grade penalty.