Category: Events at Politecnico

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Transforming Heritage: Transnational Projects and Agents

by Zachary Mark Jones November 13, 2025

28 November, 2025 14:30 – 18:00 CET
Aula Rogers, Politecnico di Milano, Via Ampère 2, Milan
Online Live Streaming LINK

How do transnational architectural and urban projects affect urban heritage? In this seminar, international experts and researchers will draw on examples from Europe and the United States, as well as on the findings of in-depth case studies in Rome, Venice, and Naples. They will discuss the varying roles of planners, designers, preservationists, and local communities. The event will highlight the challenges and frictions associated with such processes and their impact on the future development of historic cities.

Welcome and Opening Address
Massimo Bricocoli (Head of Department, DAStU, Politecnico di Milano)
Davide Ponzini (Professor, Politecnico di Milano)

Keynote Speech
Transnational actors and heritage: A new spatial lexicon in historic areas?
Sandra Guinand (Senior Researcher, Austrian Academy of Sciences and Associate Researcher, EIREST Paris 1 Sorbonne Pantheon University)

Traditionally, preservation interventions have been the subject of investment by public authorities, supported by guidelines from international governmental organisations. Yet, in recent decades, new actors have emerged, including real estate funds, developers, global elites, and foundations. These actors are involved in redevelopment projects, interventions in defined historic areas, and individual objects. This phenomenon has been accompanied by an internationalisation of markets and can lead to the homogenization of landscapes with iconic architectural objects operating as standardised commodities inserted into historic centres and waterfronts across Europe and beyond. Through case studies in the United States and Europe, this presentation examines the interventions, practices, and outcomes of private actors and transnational firms operating in historic areas. It aims to shed light on the attributes, values, and expressions associated with these interventions and to identify whether a common lexicon emerges from their practices.


Moderated by Davide Ponzini (Professor, Politecnico di Milano) and Carla Tedesco (Associate Professor, IUAV University of Venice)

Discussants
Filippo De Pieri (Professor, Politecnico di Torino)
Martin Müller (Professor, University of Lausanne)
Francesca Vigotti (Assistant Professor, Politecnico di Milano)


Presentation of case studies in Rome, Venice, and Naples
Moderated by Paolo Scrivano (Associate Professor, Politecnico di Milano)

Zachary M. Jones (Postdoc Researcher, Politecnico di Milano)
Marco Antonio Minozzo Gabriel (Postdoc Researcher, IUAV University of Venice)
Capucine Tournilhac (Postdoc Researcher, Federico II University of Naples)
Anita Martinelli (PhD Candidate, Politecnico di Milano) and Sveva Ventre (PhD Candidate, Federico II University of Naples)


Urban Policy and Design Practice in Dialogue
Moderated by Anna Marson (Professor, IUAV University of Venice)

Laura Lieto (Vice Mayor of Naples and Professor, Federico II University of Naples)
Marcello Rossi (National Council Member, CNAPPC)


Closing Remarks
Matteo Basso (Associate Professor, IUAV University of Venice)

Finanziato dall’Unione Europea – Next Generation EU, visto il D.D. n. 1409 del 14/09/2022 (Bando PRIN 2022 PNRR), nell’ambito del Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza,
Missione 4 Istruzione e ricerca – Componente 2 Dalla ricerca all’impresa – Investimento 1.1. CUP: D53D23020140001. Nr. di protocollo di progetto: P2022FXFZ5.
La ricerca di Anita Martinelli è sostenuta da una Borsa di Dottorato PNRR (finanziata dal Decreto Ministeriale n. 118 del 02/03/2023, PNRR, Missione 4, Componente 1,
Investimenti 3.4 e 4.1).

Events Archive, Events at Politecnico

The Role of Governments in the Circulation of Urban Models and Knowledge: The Case of China-Singapore Collaboration Projects

by Zachary Mark Jones September 25, 2025

Politecnico di Milano, Building 12, 2nd floor, Sala Riunioni
25 September – 11:00

PhD Candidate Siyuan Li presents her ongoing research. This seminar explores how the “Singapore Model” of urban planning, characterized by its modular and state-led structure, has been selectively transferred and adapted through China–Singapore government-to-government collaborations. Focusing on the Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-City case studies, the presentation examines how planning knowledge is mobilized, reinterpreted, and reshaped within different institutional settings. It highlights how different components of the “Singapore Model” are selectively adopted or contested locally. The seminar also reflects on Asia’s emerging role not only as a recipient, but as a generator and circulator of urban planning knowledge.

Introduction: Davide Ponzini (Politecnico di Milano)

Discussants:
Chye Kiang Heng (DoA, National University of Singapore)
Paolo Scrivano (Politecnico di Milano)

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From Global Ambitions to Local Actors: Transnational Architecture Production in Heritage-Related Urban Projects in Shanghai, Milan, and Paris

by Zachary Mark Jones September 9, 2025

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)

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The Contested Waterfront Developments in the Nordics

by Zachary Mark Jones May 13, 2025

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)

Events Archive, Events at Politecnico

TUPACH Seminar Series: Exploring Transnational Urban Projects in Heritage-rich Cities

by Zachary Mark Jones April 29, 2025

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

Image credit: Sveva Ventre