Category: Events at Politecnico

The “Exploring the urban dimension of AI” Seed Seminar Series will focus on the uses of AI and related tools in the city, going beyond the discussion of mere technical matters and unfolding the political, social, and cultural issues that are implied. The series brings together international experts to critically discuss case studies, the complexities and controversies of the uses of AI from the perspective of cities, their public administrators, and planning actors.

Seminar Series organized by Grazia Concilio, Davide Ponzini, Valeria Fedeli, Zachary Jones, and Michelangelo Secchi  

Date

Series Program

AI and Big Data for urban governance: The Single Platform for Urban Management in Shanghai 

Diego Todaro (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) 

08/05/2024; 17:00 – 18:30 

Discussants: Ilaria Mariani (Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano) and Gerardo Semprebon (Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano) 

How AI is transforming public participation in urban planning  

Sampo Ruoppila (University of Turku & UrbanistAI) 

13/05/2024; 17:00 – 18:30 

Discussants: Barbara Piga (Politecnico di Milano) and Aubrey Toldi (Politecnico di Milano) 

Intelligence of complex systems in urban and regional science: Dilemmas in AI supported planning and spatial agentivity

Dino Borri (Politecnico di Bari) 

15/05/2024; 17:00-18:30 

Discussants: Carolina Pacchi (Politecnico di Milano) and Stefano Moroni ( Politecnico di Milano) 

Presentation of the student work from 051513 – URBAN DESIGN STUDIO | School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano | aa. 2023-24.

Monday, February 5th, 2024 | p.m. 2.30- 4.30. Room B.6.3 (Building 14) | Via Bonardi, 9 – 20133 – Milano

Participants

• Isabella Inti (Politecnico di Milano)
• Zachary M. Jones (Politecnico di Milano)
• Valeria Fedeli (Politecnico di Milano)
• Mattia Carlo Cherubini (Line Culture)
• Elena Mocchetti (photographer, HC association)

In the last decades, cities and societies have been undergoing an unprecedented process of digitalization. This process impacts multiple dimensions of urban life: from high-level planning to service provision, from city-scale political discourses to day-to-day urban life. The implementation of “smart city” strategies has too often relied on ICT operators, confating this concept into a mere technical and digital matter that typically underestimates the implied political issues regarding democracy, justice, sustainability, and the way we understand human co-existence. The Critical Urban Digitalization seminar series brings together international experts to critically discuss the complexities and controversies of the digitalization/ smartness interplay and provide an overview of ongoing critical research and perspectives animating the current debate. 

Program

“Deep Transition Futures and Smart Urbanism: Challenging contradictions through Global South experiences”

April 19, 2023, 17:00, Room Castigliano (Building 5) 
Bipashyee Ghosh (University of Sussex)

“AI in the City: Incarnations and Challenges”

April 26, 2023, 17:00, Room Castigliano (Building 5) 
Federico Cugurullo (Trinity College Dublin)

“Deliberation Technologies: State of the Art, Current Limitations, and Future Research to Enable Participatory Policy and Decision Making”

April 27, 2023, 17:00, Room B (Building 12) 
Annalisa Deliddo (KMI The Open University)

“Bugs in the smart city: Going upstream in human-mosquito co-becoming”

May 3, 2023,17:00, Room Castigliano (Building 5) 
Jonathan Metzger (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)

Organised by

• Davide Ponzini
• Grazia Concilio
• Zachary Jones
• Abdallah Jreij
• Maryam Karimi 

How can cities rich in culture host mega-events without putting their own heritage at risk? How can mega-events become effective ways to promote and protect tangible and intangible heritage in Europe and beyond? Drawing on the HOMEE Research Project – winner of one of the European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Awards 2022 in research – the seminar discusses these questions and their practical implications. 

October 24, 2022, Politecnico di Milano

The full event can be viewed online

Participants

• Laura Ambrosino (European Commission)
• Stefano Baia Curioni (Bocconi University)
• Massimo Bricocoli (Politecnico di Milano)
• Mariachiara Esposito (European Commission), Maciej Hofman (Europa Nostra)
• Zachary Jones (Politecnico di Milano)
• Pascal Lievaux (JPI Cultural Heritage)
• Cristina Loglio, Chryssa Martini (Eleusis 2023 European Capital of Culture)
• Iacopo Mazzetti (Milano-Cortina 2026 Foundation)
• Davide Ponzini (Politecnico di Milano)
• Joanna Sanetra-Szeliga (Cracow University of Economics)

Cultural heritage has become increasingly connected to globalisation flows – from mass tourism to the involvement of transnational actors and networks such as UNESCO, international experts, policy knowledge-sharing networks and the growing calls for heritage-based narratives, projects, and solutions. The COVID-19 pandemic illuminated many of these trends by ultimately slowing down or halting them. This situation provides an opportunity to reflect on critically, and perhaps even improve, the local/global links of heritage sites, their tangible and intangible cultural heritage, in urban contexts and beyond. Within this framework, the track welcomes a variety of research approaches and methods.  
 
The multiple issues addressed by the contributors include actors, policies and projects connecting local cultures and identities to global flows through processes of recognising and appreciating heritage sites and practices. Moreover, some contributors reflect on governance issues and regulation of heritage policy and cultural offerings responding to internationalisation goals or standards or city branding, including potential side effects in terms of Disneyfication, touristification, gentrification and more. The track is further concerned with the role of international players and initiatives (UNESCO WHS, cultural and other types of mega-events such as the European Capital of Culture) for the preservation/transformation of historical cities and landscapes. 
 
Within the context of transnational cooperation networks focusing on heritage experts and policy knowledge, the track will promote a reflection on the nexus between global experts and local heritage knowledge, as well as on how international actors collect and use information and meanings regarding local places and their customs.  
 
Eventually, the track promotes a multiscalar understanding of landscape heritage, focusing on transborder and transnational aspects (e.g. Alpine region, Balkan region) and aims to investigate the welfare policies needed today to reduce old and new socio-economic status inequalities. 
 
The track welcomes contributions, including theoretical discussions and reflections based on case studies or other methods of investigation, from all quadrants of Europe or other situations relevant to the topic. 

Track co-chairs:

• Davide del Curto
• Zachary M. Jones
• Davide Ponzini
• Nicole de Togni
• Paula Russel