The Maieutics of the City – Neb Goes South

Fabrizio Ivan Apollonio, PhD, is Full Professor of Architectural Representation and Director of the Department of Architecture of the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna. His main research topics lie in virtual reconstruction, semantic modeling and applications in the field of ICT to cultural heritage, and development of information/cognitive systems focused on the access and study of documentary resources of CH. Since 2014 is Partner of AG Digitale Rekonstruktion working group. He has published essays, reports, papers and books about urban surveying for the protection of architectural heritage and also about architectural drawing. He has been a promoter and a member of the scientific board for the nomination of Mantua and Sabbioneta (2008) and of Bologna’s Porticoes (2021) for the UNESCO-WHL.

João Pedro Xavier is an architect and full professor at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto (FAUP), where he received his degree in 1985, and his Ph.D. in Architecture in 2005. He worked in Álvaro Siza’s office from 1986 to 1999. At the same time, he established his own practice as an architect. Xavier is a member of CEAU’s research teams – Architecture: Theory, Project, History (ATPH) – and – Digital Fabrication Laboratory (DFL). The relationship between architecture and mathematics, especially perspective, is his main research interest. He is the author of the books Perspectiva, perspectiva acelerada econtraperspectiva (Perspective, accelerated perspective and retarded perspective) and Sobre as origens da perspectiva em Portugal (About the origins of perspective in Portugal). He is correspondent editor of the “Nexus Network Journal”, and member of the “European Association for Architectural Education” (EAAE) Council.

Elena Mucelli is Associate Professor of Architectural and Urban Design and Director of Single Cycle Master Degree in Architecture at the University of Bologna. The main core of her research activity concerns the design for the contemporary city, with particular reference to the living spaces and the relationship between architecture and landscape.
She carried out research on the modulations of living space and its physical and symbolic values, on the architectures and spaces for leisure in the coastal city, on the workplace, and their modifications related to the development of production technologies and cultural transformations. She has participated in research projects, conventions, and some national and international design competitions. Member of the Ph.D. Academic board in Health, Safety, and Green Systems, she has published many contributions and curated several exhibitions.

Francesco Saverio Fera (Genoa 1962), Master Degree in Architecture at the Politecnico di Milano. As a student, worked in Ignazio Gardella’s office at the architectural competition of the reconstruction of the Opera House Carlo Felice in Genoa (1st prize), project by I. Gardella, A. Rossi and F. Reinhart. From 1987 until 1991 worked in Aldo Rossi’s office in Milano being involved in different projects.
Adjunct Professor (2002) at the Charles E. Daniel Center in Genoa, Clemson University S.C. PhD (2000) at the Architectural School of the University of Genoa. Full professor (2020) in Architectural Composition at the School of Architecture of the University of Bologna – Cesena Campus. Actually he is Coordinator of the Master Degree in Architecture (five years course) of the University of Bologna – Cesena Campus.

Roberto Collovà (1943), architect, designer, photographer, practice in Palermo. He works on architectural, urban and landscape, interior and design projects. He taught Architectural Design Studio at the School of Palermo and at the Academy of Mendrisio USI (2001/2006). He founded and directed the Randazzo/Focus Photography Gallery. He has held conferences, courses and workshops, in various European schools and institutions.
His works, exhibited at the Venice Biennale, the Milan Triennale, the Danese Foundation in Milan, the MART in Rovereto, the Gulbenkian Foundation, the French Academy, the Accademia di S. Luca, … Main awards: 1991 IN-ARCH Award for Design, 1996 Gubbio Award for architecture in historic centers, 1st prize of the Diagonal International Competition, Barcelona 1989, 1st prize of the One street, three squares competition, Gela 1993, Arredare la città prize, Lucca 2001, 1st prize of the Competition for the Master Plan of a holiday city, S. Cesarea Terme 2007.
Finalist of the Mies van der Rohe Award 1990, and of the Gold Medal of Italian Architecture, 2003, Commissioner of the Jury of the Mies van der Rohe Award 2005, Advisor of the BSI Swiss Architectural Award 2008 and of the editions from 2011 to 2015, of the Young Architects Program MAXXI / MoMa PS1.
His works and his essays are published in several architectural magazines. Recent books: Small figures that pass (2012), The coast road… hidden parks (2015 ), Giardino di giardini (2018). For Manifesta12 (Palermo 2018) he set up an exhibition in C.S. and some installations on the south coast of Palermo.

Hans van der Heijden (The Hague, NL, 1963) has a portfolio of housing, urban design, re-use, cultural buildings and research. His award-winning designs include the renewal of Bluecoat Chambers in Liverpool and the urban renewal at Hessenberg and in Lakerlopen. His investigative professional attitude resulted in the publication of books and essays on architecture. He also holds the chair in Contemporary Architectural Practice at the University of Liverpool.
His practice made its name by approaching renovation and new build as equivalent tasks. In 1996, this was confirmed by the win of the international Europan Prize with a design for the restructuring of a post-war residential ensemble in Liverpool. Since then, HvdH has worked on various architecture and art commissions and teaching projects, in addition to his work on Dutch projects. In 2008 the restoration and extension of the art building Bluecoat Chambers in Liverpool was completed.
HvdH published the books Tuindorp Kethel Schiedam, noddy, noddier, noddiest (2004), Architecture in the Broken City (2008) and Post Piraeus (2017). He has contributed to four editions of the Yearbook of Dutch Architecture. For the Rotterdam-based architecture platform AIR he programmed the debate series ArchitectuurCases. HvdH was a professor at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Antoine Fily graduated in 2014 from the Marseille School of Architecture under the direction of Jean-Marc Huygen, specialist in reuse materials and self-sustainable territory issues.
To complete a regular practice of construction sites, he completed a craft apprenticeship in stone cutting in 2015.
His interest in organic architecture led him to meet many architects of this movement and to write a thesis on the personal house of architect Edmond Lay, Grand Prix d’Architecture 1984 in 2019. This work was supported by the French Ministry of Culture.
Through the ALADAR association, he was able to work with André Ravéreau, author of numerous books on traditional Mediterranean architecture. In particular, he has carried out workshops in Ravéreau’s house in Greece from 2014 to 2019.
Since January 2020, he’s enrolled in a doctoral program in the Environmental Technological Design at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Rome – La Sapienza and ENSA Toulouse, under the direction of Pr. Tucci and Pr. Papillault.
He is working on the distinction between ecological construction and ecological architecture with a particular attention to the project process including experimental constructive acts.

Débora Domingo-Calabuig graduated in architecture after studies in the School of Architecture of Valencia (Spain) and l’École d’Architecture de Paris-La Défense (France). With a specialized degree in Building Construction, she has practised architecture for many years, as an assistant architect, first and then founding her own office. In 2005 she obtained her doctorate at Universitat Politècnica de València.
She has been a professor at the Department of Architectural Design since 2000. She held the position of Assistant Director for Research from 2012 to 2016 and was Editor in Chief of the “VLC arquitectura” Research Journal its launch to 2018. She is also a Research Academy member of the EAAE.
Her research focuses on the social consideration in architecture and urban design, particularly in the European post-war contexts of the 60s and 70s and with regard to changes in higher education and new campus planning.

Riva Lava is an Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture of the National Technical University of Athens teaching Architectural Design and Heritage. She is a licensed architect and engineer (National Technical University of Athens / Cooper Union, New York) and holds a Ph.D. in architecture (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki). She has lived and worked in Athens and New York City. She taught design and heritage courses at the Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, (2017), the MA course “Art and Architecture in the Black Sea” at the International Hellenic University (2011–13), architectural design at the University of Thessaly (2009–13), architectural and urban design at Pratt Institute New York (1997–98), and communication at the Nafplion Fine Arts School of the University of the Peloponnese (2005–09). She published the book “Santorini Mindscapes” featuring her teaching at NTUA. Riva Lava participated in EU heritage research programs for the preservation of Greek art and architecture (BYZEIS), edited the university textbook “Issues of Cultural Heritage” (2010/2020), and participated at the “Architecture as Icon” project of Princeton University. She has published numerous articles on architecture and has produced a series of shows featuring urban aspects of Athens for Greek Public Television (ERT). She has worked as head of the technical department for the Organisation against Drugs (OKANA) and has been special advisor to the public order ministry on the problems caused in the historical center of Athens due to heavy migrant inflows (2010).

Antonio Esposito (Rome, 1961) distributes his commitment between design, teaching and research. He has produced and published several studies on Portuguese contemporary architecture, a reality with which he has forged a relationship of cultural confrontation for more than thirty years. His other research and studies on cities and on the state of contemporary architecture have produced numerous writings and essays. Several of his projects have been exhibited in collective exhibitions or published in Italian and foreign magazines and collections. These include the Caramanna house, the De Nigris house, the Bicentenary square in Mexico City and two competitions in Bari, both winners of the second prize. He has lectured on his work and on various topics of modern and contemporary architecture. Since 2011 he is a professor of architectural and urban composition in Cesena and Bologna where he coordinates a Degree Laboratory by orienting design theses concerning various Italian and foreign cities. Previously he taught at several Italian faculties as a contract professor.

Antonis Papangelopoulos holds a Diploma in Architecture and a Post Masters Degree in Research in Architecture Spatial Design from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He has served as a Teaching Assistant in Architectural Design studios and is currently engaged in research on questions of spatial justice focusing on the intersections between aesthetic practices, urban design and the commons. He has collaborated with multiple architectural practices in Greece and abroad, participating in projects of wide programmatic diversity, ranging from housing to public use complexes. Together with Yannis Mantzaris and Marianthi Papangelopoulou he is a co-founder of Studio Enyo.

Camillo Orfeo, Architect, PhD in Urban Design UNINA, former research fellow at DiARC_UNINA. He taught theory, composition and architectural design at the Faculties of Naples and Matera. RTDB researcher at the DiARC_Department of Architecture, University of Naples, Federico II. He carried out theoretical and design research on issues concerning theoretical and methodological aspects of the city’s architecture (Abruzzo territory of L’Aquila, Coast of Vesuvius, Abruzzo coast in the province of Chieti). Among the design competitions: Piazza of Grammichele (1997, 2nd prize); Housing construction in Pianura, Naples (2002, 2nd prize); Via dei Fori Imperiali (2016), Grande Villa Adriana (2018), Project for the Archaeological Area and Antiquarium of Tindari (ME) (2020). Among his publications, The architecture of the territory – The small towns of L’Aquila (Rome, 2012), Djemila and Timgad – The exception and the rule (Florence, 2018).

Fabrizio Foti (Architect, Rome 09.02.1973), PhD in Urban and Architectural design, from 2010 he teaches in the Siracusa Faculty of Architecture (Unict). From 2017 he is a researcher in Urban and Architectural design for the ICAR Department – Unict. In 2019 he was a visiting professor and visiting researcher at the Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Lima). He has held lectures in several Italian and foreign universities and participated, as scientific committee and professor, to international workshops and conferences and to university research teams. He has been professor into the 2nd degree level’s Master Forme dell’abitare contemporaneo (SSD-ICAR/14, UNICT-UNIPD), and author of numerous monographic essays, all published by LetteraVentidue.

Federica Visconti (Naples, 1971), degree with honours in Architecture in 1995, PhD in Urban Design and Architecture in 2002 in the University of Naples Federico II, there specialized in Urban Design in 2003. Currently Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Composition in the Department of Architecture_DiARC of the University of Naples Federico II; coordinator of the Bachelor Degree in Architecture and member of the board of the PhD programme in Architecture and Construction_DRACo at Sapienza University of Rome.
Principal research themes are: “Rational architecture and new realism” referred to the Italian theoretical debate in the field of architecture in the Sixties and Seventies of the Twentieth century; “the renewal of the social housing districts of the Twentieth century in Italy” considering not only a technological but also formal sustainability; “the relationship archaeology/architecture in the stratified Mediterranean city” developed both in theoretical and applied research.

Francesco Collotti (Milano, 1960) is full professor at DIDA of the Florence University, promoting not only the research on architectural identities, but also being involved in international cultural and scientific programmes. His activity is a link between research, professional work and teaching (all together: learning). Builds at the moment in Italy, Jordan, Oman, Turkey and Germany. The research and the pilot-projects are particularly focusing on the Mediterranean area (case-studies Balkans, Northern Africa, Alps, Middle and Near East). Recently took part in rebuilding Frankfurt a.M. city center (HausM34 and monumental pergola c/o DomRömer). Articles/essays are published in important international architectural reviews (Phalaris, Werk bauen+wohnen, Domus, Casabella, Rivista Tecnica, Archi, Firenze Architettura). Visiting ETH Zürich (1994-1996) and TU Dortmund (2000). Professor SSEAU Neaples and Politecnico di Milano-Facoltà di Architettura Civile. Visiting Professor in China at Jinan University 2012/2014. Scientific board of 2nd level master promoted by Università Federico II / DOMUS focused on the design for the mediterranean town (Naples). Full professor at EMADU Ecole Euromed d’Architecture, de Design et d’Urbanisme – Université Euroméditerranéenne Fès. Coordinator of the PhD Programme / Doctorate Architecture and design cultures, knowledge and safeguarding of cultural heritage

Francesco Defilippis is an Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Design at Polytechnic University of Bari. He is a member of the Academic Board of the PhD Program “Design for Heritage. Knowledge and Innovation” and the scientific coordinator of the research group “Design for Heritage”. He gave lectures and conferences, as invited lecturer, at Italian and foreign universities. As a member of the scientific committee he organized and took part in several architectural exhibitions, workshops and summer schools, both in Italy and abroad.
His activities of scientific research, carried out within the framework of departmental, national and international researches, as well as his activities of design research, developed through the organization and participation in design workshops, summer schools and competitions, are well illustrated in his several publications and disseminated through his participation in national and international architectural conferences and exhibitions. Among his scientific publications, the monographs City and Nature (Firenze 2017) and Il progetto come trasformazione (Firenze 2020) are noteworthy.

Gino Malacarne was born in Portomaggiore (nr Ferrara), in 1955. He is currently Full Professor in Architectural and Urban Composition. He graduated in architecture from the IUAV University of Venice in 1981 where he also taught until 2004-05. Since 2005, he has been teaching at the University of Bologna: from 2005 to 2012 at the “Aldo Rossi” Faculty of Architecture where in those same years he held the position of Dean, and since 2013 at the Department of Architecture.
He has carried out intense design work (competitions, assignments and research projects) whose results have been presented at architecture exhibitions and published in various books and magazines.

Ildebrando Clemente was born in Foggia in 1972. He graduated in Architecture (2001) at the IUAV, Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia. PhD – IUAV 2005. Associate professor in architecture and urban design at the Department of Architecture, University of Bologna. His research deals with the connections between meaning and project in contemporary architecture in their implications with theory, composition and representation. He is interested in the relationships between the collective and civic dimension of architecture and his subjective expression.

Karin Templin is a practitioner, writer, editor, lecturer, and researcher, based in Florence and London, specialising in the relationship between urban housing typologies and urban development. She studied architecture and urbanism at Kent State University in Ohio and Florence, Italy and has worked on several major urban regeneration projects in Italy, the UK, and the Middle-East, focusing on the interrelationship between architecture, public space, and urban structure. She has lectured for universities throughout Europe and has held teaching positions with several universities in the US, UK, and Italy most notably as a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Kingston University and a Design Fellow in Architecture at the University of Cambridge where she led an urban housing design studio entitled ‘Housing as City Making’. Karin is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Bologna (Cesena) and Lecturer in Architecture at the Florence Institute of Design International in Italy. She is the author of ‘Street Architecture: Work by Hans van der Heijden’ and the upcoming ‘The Mansion Blocks of London’ book commissioned by the Architecture Foundation in London, and she has served as an editor of The Plan Journal. She is currently completing an AHRC-funded PhD, entitled ‘The Middle-Class London Mansion Block as a Model for Metropolitan Improvements in the Development of Victoria Street, Westminster 1845-1906’, at the University of Cambridge.

Martina Landsberger is Associate Professor at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (ABC) of Politecnico di Milano. She received her degree from Politecnico di Milano in 1989 (advisor: Prof. Antonio Monestiroli). She was awarded the Ph.D. title at Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia in 2001. From 2006 to 2018 she was Assistant researcher at the DABC of Politecnico di Milano.
She has lectured and participated in critiques at Italian and foreign Universities and Institutions. She has been a member of Bachelor’s and Master’s degree examining committees and from 2018 she is member of the board of DABC Ph.d. She has participated in research projects of national importance (PRIN and MURST). She collaborated with Antonio Monestiroli’s office in Milan between 1990 and 2002. She taught at School of Civil Architecture and now she teaches at School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering of Politecnico di Milano.

Massimo Ferrari (Piacenza, 1965), architect, PhD in Architectural and Urban Composition at IUAV in Venice, is associate professor at Politecnico Milano. From 2010 to 2017 he was editor of the architecture magazine «Casabella». Curator of publications on architecture and art, he mainly focuses his research on the architectural project. In 2006, he was invited (with Tomaso Monestiroli) to the 10th Venice Architecture Biennale for the design of a theatre in VEMA, in 1997 he won first prize for the Restoration of Palazzo Tentorio and the construction of the new municipal headquarters in Canzo, Como (realized in 2003), in 2008 he won first prize in the competition for the “Redevelopment of the Syracuse waterfront” (in coll), in 2009 first prize in the competition for the redevelopment of Piazza Santa Croce in Parma. In 2014 he designed the Cluster Fruits and Legumes Pavilion built for Milan Expo 2015. Among the several exhibitions he has curated, in July 2015, as part of the Triennale Xtra project for Expo 2015, he curated “Di ogni ordine e Grado. L’architettura della Scuola” set up at Palazzo Natta in Como and then rearranged in numerous prestigious places throughout Italy.

Michele Caja, Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Composition at Politecnico di Milano, AUIC School-ABC Department. Doctorate in Architectural Composition at IUAV in Venice (2005). Among other universities where he did teaching activities: ETH Zürich, Facòltà “Aldo Rossi” Cesena; FHP Potsdam.
He has collaborated with several architectural firms in Italy and abroad, including Dortmund (J.P. Kleihues, 1990), Vienna and Milan (G. Grassi, 1994-96) and since 1993 he has been working as a free architect in Milan.
His research focuses on the relationship between theory and contemporary design, referring in particular to the Italian and German debate. He is author and editor of several publications, among them: Berlino Anni Venti, 2012; Cities in Transformation (ed.), 2014; Ricostruzione critica come progetto urbano, 2017; Il primo Mies. Dalla casa alla grande città, 2018; Neue Projekte in historischen Deutschen Städten, 2019; Urban Projects. I. Berlin, 2020.

Ninou Katerina graduated from the NTUA School of Architecture (2014-2020) with a degree score of 8,90. She has attended classes of one Master’s semester of the Escuela Técnica Superior Universidad de Sevilla Facultad de Arquitectura (2017). During her studies she has participated in several Student Workshops among them the “RE-Fact Workshop International of Industrial Heritage , Nancy, France, Reuse of the Factory of Le Corbusier” (2018), and the Urban Resilience, Governance and Climate Change. Coping with the consequences of climate change in Hanover, Germany.” Her interest for research began with participating at the course and later at the exhibition of the project “Santorini Mindscapes”. Her diploma thesis was about a sustainable network of thermal springs in Milos, and tried through this work to approach the methodology of designing through the genius loci of the nature of the place. Later she undertook and accomplished an architectural exhibition in Milos Island, named “Milos: Alternative Architectural Landscapes”. Since then, she has been working with a couple of design studios in Athens and Milos, and participated in Greek Public Competitions. Her research interests focus on ecological landscape design, sustainability and cultural identity resilience.

Nuno Travasso (Porto, 1980) is an architect and researcher at the Centre for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism, University of Porto (CEAU-FAUP). His research focuses mainly on contemporary urbanization processes and actors, ways of reading, imagining and intervening in the contexts of diffused cities, planning practices, and housing policies. In these domains, he took part in several projects of both theoretical and applied research, namely the projects “Territory: a common home” and “Local Development Project in Riba d’Ave”, which he co-coordinated.
He has worked as a planning consultant and as a practicing architect. He has been a Guest Assistant, in the areas of urban design, story of urbanism and contemporary urban theory at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (FAUP) and at the School of Architecture, Art and Design of the University of Minho (EAAD-UM).

Raffaella Neri is full professor in Architectural and Urban Composition at the Politecnico di Milano, where she graduated. She is a member of the Collegio Docenti of the PhD program at the University IUAV in Venice, where received her doctoral degree in 1993.
Her research mainly focuses on architectural theory, particularly on the problem of urban projects in the modern city and on the role of construction in architectural design. She published essays on these topics in books and magazines in Italy and internationally.
In 1994-95 she cooperated with Antonio Monestiroli to the organization of the exhibition Il centro altrove. Periferie e nuove centralità nell’area metropolitana at the Triennale di Milano.
She has been working in many national researches, studying the problem of the new settlements in the dismissed areas with regard to the problem of housing and quality in architecture and to the settlements’ urban principles.
She entered several architectural design competitions. In 1996 she won the National Architectural Prize Luigi Cosenza.

Renato Capozzi (Naples, 1971), architect, graduated with honours from the Faculty of Architecture of Naples with Alberto Ferlenga, assistant and student of Salvatore Bisogni, with whom he carried out teaching and research activities for many years. PhD in Architectural and Urban Composition at the IUAV of Venice (2004). He is currently Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Composition at the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples “Federico II”, member of the teaching board of the PhD in Architecture.
He is currently part of the teaching staff of the PhD in Architecture and builds “La Sapienza” University of Rome. He is a member of numerous scientific and editorial committees of the series.
Among his publications: Lo spazio universale di Mies (2020); (with F. Visconti) Kahn e Mies. Te modi dell’abitare (2019); Egon Eieremnn. Il futuro della modernità (2018); L’esattezza di Arne Jacobsen (2017); L’architettura dell’Ipostilo (2016); L’idea di riparo (2012); Arne Jacobsen. La ricerca dell’astrazione (2012); Le architetture ad Aula: il paradigma Mies van der Rohe (2011).

Saša Begović is a partner and principal architect of 3LHD architects. Since 1994 his practice 3LHD focuses its activities on the integration of different disciplines; architecture, urban and landscape, design, art, and exploring new possibilities for interaction between architecture, society and individuals. During his career, he has led many award-winning projects of various typologies: public, cultural, residential, sports and mixed-use. 3LHD’s work has been presented at universities, exhibitions and institutions around the world, Biennales in Venezia and Rotterdam, Expo in Japan and Spain. Studio has won many international and domestic awards. He’s been active in the academic field for the last 20 years and has been lecturer and visiting critic at many schools of architecture in Europe and US such as ETH Zurich, Harvard, TU in Vienna, Munich, Stuttgart etc. He held a visiting professorship at TU Graz, AF Ljubljana and Zagreb, from 2010 to 2020 at the FGAG in Split, from 2017 to 2019 at Cornell University, USA. Since 2021 he has been an associate professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Architecture.