Innovative Design Solutions for Resilient Regeneration of the Mediterranean Urban Districts

The relationship between microclimate and built environment has been explored for almost forty years, with reference not only to architecture but also to urban and to landscape design as instruments to increase the outdoor comfort and reduce the rainfall risk. Recently, scientific studies on urban climate pay attention to Urban Heat Island (UHI) and heavy rainfall (HR) related mitigation strategies as the main focus theme, also developing new sustainable urban design assessment methods. Moving from these considerations, this paper aims to describe some results of the research “Adaptive design and innovative technology for resilient regeneration of urban district depending on climate change”, focused on the study of technological solutions able to improve the resilience of the built environment, also reducing the effects of the UHI and HR. Furthermore, attention is given to the issue of urban space design, implemented as an instrument able to promote the regeneration of urban districts. In detail, this article presents one design proposals developed for Piazza Togliatti in Scandicci (Florence), analysing the results achieved (in terms of atmospheric temperature, Predicted Mean Vote and Virtual runoff coefficient) by means of the ENVI-Met software and of the Moccia and Sgobbo simplified calculation model.