Category: Events at Politecnico

Politecnico di Milano
9 September, 2025 – 15:00

PhD Candidate Huilei Cao presents her ongoing research on transnational projects developed in relation to heritage sites. Internationally recognized architects are often mobilized as global brands and personified symbols of design excellence. However, their design ambitions are consistently reshaped through complex negotiations with institutional, economic, and cultural conditions, especially in projects situated in historic contexts. The research by Huilei explores how transnational architecture production in heritage-related urban projects is shaped by global ambitions and local strategies and actors. The findings suggest that transnational architecture evolves not as a simple circulation of global projects, but as a dynamic process in which global ambitions are anchored and transformed within diverse local urban strategies.

Introduction: Professor Davide Ponzini (Politecnico di Milano)

Discussants: 
Professor Kan LIU (Tongji University)
Professor Jiang WU (Tongji University)
Professor Minghao ZHOU (Tongji University)

Politecnico di Milano 
May 13, 2025 – 10:00

Speakers:

Johanna Lilius and Viola Schulman (Aalto University)
Markus Laine (Tampere University)
Salla Jokela and Mikko Kyrönviita (Tampere University)
Sampo Ruoppila and Jani Vuolteenaho (University of Helsinki)

The seminar will present part of an ongoing research project (funded by the Research Council of Finland) that investigates the outcomes of prevailing policy ideals of social inclusion in spatial development. These ideals encounter variations of increasingly financialized urban growth machines. The research project focuses on recently implemented, ongoing, and envisioned waterfront developments in six European cities: Helsinki, Tampere, and Turku (Finland); Stockholm; Copenhagen; and Brussels. Waterfront (re)developments are particularly interesting and contested terrains, as land values are high, the conversions are highly public in character, and ideals of inclusion are at play.

Discussants:
Carolina Pacchi (Politecnico di Milano)
Laura Pogliani (Politecnico di Milano)
Davide Ponzini (Politecnico di Milano)

The TUPACH seminar series explores the intersection of cultural heritage and urban development, focusing on how transnational projects engage with UNESCO sites in cities like Naples, Rome, and Venice. Drawing on a set of case studies, the series examines the roles of technical expertise, urban policies, and local communities in heritage preservation, transformation, and valorization. The challenges and frictions of such processes of urban transformation will be discussed.

Program

“Manufacturing heritage and authenticity in Naples’s Piazza Garibaldi. Histories, processes, potentials”

April 30, 2025, 17:30, Room 16.C 02 (Building 16.C)  
Capucine Tournilhac (Federico II University of Naples)

“Between global design aspirations and local heritage preservation. OMA’s intervention on the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice”

May 05, 2025, 17:30, Room Z.1 D.I. (Building 11)  
Matteo Basso and Marco Antonio Minozzo Gabriel (IUAV University of Venice)

“Negotiating infrastructure and cultural heritage: A transnational urban project. The case of Municipio square and metro station in Naples”

May 07, 2025, 17:30, Room 16.C 02 (Building 16.C)  
Anita Martinelli (Politecnico di Milano) and Sveva Ventre (Federico II University of Naples)

Organized by

Davide Ponzini, Anita Martinelli, Paolo Scrivano, Zachary M. Jones

TAU-Lab Meets are colloquium-style sessions where the members of the Transnational Architecture and Urbanism Lab research unit and other invited speakers present their recent and ongoing work as well as workshop their research ideas, projects, methods, and publications with the others. It involves PhD students and Post-Doc researchers not only during the sessions as presenters and discussants, but also as active organizing members.

The sessions are both in person, at Politecnico di Milano DAStU, and online. This facilitates the participation of scholars and allows for a wider set of meetings during the year. The sessions are free of charge and open to scholars and experts who request to join, by sending an email to zachary.jones@polimi.it

Calendar:

• Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Sampo Ruoppila (University of Helsinki) 10:00 – 12:30
• Thursday, May 8, 2025. Heyday Alibaily and Anita Martinelli (Politecnico di Milano) 9:30 – 12:00
• Tuesday, April 29, 2025. Capucine Tournilhac (Federico II University of Naples) 14:00 – 16:00.
• Tuesday, February 11, 2025. Randy Mason (University of Pennsylvania) 10:00 – 12:30
• Monday, June 17, 2024. Federico Cugurullo (Trinity College Dublin) 14:30-16:30
• Monday, May 13, 2024. Sampo Ruoppila (University of Turku) 14:30-16:00 
• Tuesday, February 27, 2024. (Research centre update). 11:00-12:30
• Tuesday, November 14, 2023. Xiaoxuan Du (Harbi Institute of Technology). 11:00-12:30
• Tuesday, June 6, 2023, from 12:00 to 13:30 CET (Xiahong Hua, Tongji University Shanghai)
• Thursday, May 4, 2023, from 14:30 to 16:00 CET (Jonathan Metzger, KTH – Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan)
• Thursday, April 27, 2023, from 11:30 to 13:00 CET (Federico Cugurullo, Trinity College Dublin)
• Thursday, April 20, 2023, from 11:00 to 12:30 CET (Bipashyee Ghosh, University of Sussex)
• Thursday, March 30, 2023, from 11:30 to 13 CET (Sven Daniel Wolfe, ETH Zurich)
• Friday, December 2, 2022, from 14 to 16 CET (presentations by PhD students)
• Tuesday, April 26, 2022, from 17 to 19 CET (Giulio Verdini, Westminster University)
• Tuesday, April 12, 2022, from 17 to 19 CET (presentations by PhD students)
• Tuesday, March 29, 2022, from 17 to 19 CET (Nadia Alaily-Mattar, TU Munich)
• Friday, March 25, 2022, from 10 to 13 CET (David Gogishvili and Martin Müller, University of Lausanne)
• Tuesday, March 8, 2022, from 17 to 19 CET (Francesco Chiodelli, University of Turin)
• Monday, February 14, 2022, from 15 to 17 CET (research project presentations by PhD students)
• Monday, January 31, 2022, from 15 to 17 CET (research project presentations by PhD students)
• Thursday, January 13, 2022, from 17 to 19 CET (Stefano Di Vita, Politecnico di Milano)
• Thursday, December 16, 2021, from 17 to 19 CET (Zachary M. Jones, Politecnico di Milano)
• Thursday, December 2, 2021, from 13 to 15 CET (Yiqing Zhao, Xi’an Jiaotong University)
• Thursday, November 18, 2021, from 17 to 19 CET (Davide Ponzini, Politecnico di Milano)

The event will highlight the complex macro-regional system, from the metropolitan area of Milan to the Alpine areas of Lombardy, Veneto, and Trentino-Alto Adige, focusing on the legacy of the event. Drawing on insights from two recently published books by Politecnico di Milano’s Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, the discussion will cover planning, sustainability, and the future of the region.

Keynote Speaker:
Sven Daniel Wolfe (ETH Zurich) will present on the challenges and opportunities of “sustainable” mega-event planning.

Round Table:
Moderated by Francesca Vigotti (Politecnico di Milano), the panel will feature local administrators, experts, and scholars, including:
Samanta Antonioli, Deputy Mayor for the Olympics and Sport Mega-events, Comune di Bormio; Matteo Basso, IUAVl Marcello Rossi, CNAPPC; Giancarlo Tancredi, Deputy Mayor for Urban Regeneration, Comune di Milano; Gloria Zavatta, Sustainability & Legacy Director, Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation

Speakers:
Andrea Arcidiacono, Massimo Bricocoli, Stefano Di Vita, Luca Gaeta, Abdallah Jreij, Pierangelo Metrangolo, Davide Ponzini.

For more information, see the poster or contact abdallah.jreij@polimi.it