Design Public Space with Water for an Ecological City: Two International Design Summer Schools

Since 2023, the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture at the University of Pavia has secured funding as a Department of Excellence in Italy with the DORIAN project. The project aims to create the Digital Twin of the city of Pavia, Italy, to develop a safe, sustainable, and resilient city. Within the project, the AUDe (Architecture and Urban Design) laboratory at the University of Pavia, within the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, aims to integrate the project with developing design ideas for Pavia to mitigate climate change. The research is based on two workshops organized by the AUDe laboratory in 2021 and 2022 titled “Towards an ecological city: Water & Public Space” and “Towards an ecological city: Water & Public Space_Design along Naviglio Pavese” as well as a doctoral thesis titled “Public Space Water Space. Designing collective space with water: adaptive strategies for the ecological city.” The addressed theme is the development of ecological cities through the design of public spaces with water to mitigate the effects of climate change in Pavia and enhance water resources. Analyzed topics include climate change and its effects on urban contexts, which can be mitigated by adopting nature-based solutions. Public space is the most suitable space identified for adopting such strategies, precisely due to its flexible nature and as a place where working with the soil is possible. During the Summer Schools, students were tasked with developing architectural projects for public spaces in Pavia using water as a resource. The aim was to introduce environmental mitigation systems, already extensively studied in metropolitan contexts, to a medium-sized city like Pavia, characterized by a strong historical character and a consolidated urban and architectural structure. The paper explores the research themes addressed and analyzes the projects realized by students during the workshop as the outcome of a design process that begins with a strong theoretical foundation at the drawing stage, serving as the starting point for developing the DORIAN project.