Sustainable Urban Regeneration (Coursera)

Offered by Università Bocconi,
Sustainable Urban Regeneration (Coursera)

The transformation of land use, functions, and services in cities represents an opportunity to foster sustainable development, contributing to local and global challenges. Urban regeneration is a key area to govern change, attract investments, engage stakeholders, and generate multiple benefits in both developed and developing countries.

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The course explores sustainable urban regeneration considering its contribution to sustainability through an integrated and multidisciplinary approach. This allows for planning, assessing, and evaluating urban regeneration processes and projects considering different stakeholders’ perspectives.
Students will acquire knowledge to identify and assess the values generated by urban regeneration at the urban scale. Specific worldwide case studies will be analyzed to individuate policy and business models for successful urban regeneration. The course will be delivered by both Bocconi faculty and international experts.
The course has been realized by the Sustainable Urban Regeneration Lab (SUR Lab) of Bocconi University powered by Hines, Intesa Sanpaolo, Prelios, and Milanosesto.

What You Will Learn

  • Understand the role of cities in global dynamics and the main drivers of sustainable urban development.
  • Identify and assess the main elements of sustainable urban regeneration projects, considering their impact on the environment and society.
  • Evaluate key phases, actors, and mechanisms that operate in urban regeneration projects to create value.
  • Appraise the main funding and financial instruments to support urban regeneration projects.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Week 1 - Urban Regeneration: Context and Approaches
The week aims to frame the main challenges and opportunities linked to urban development. In this context, the concept of sustainable urban regeneration and its impacts will be described also through the use of worldwide urban regeneration case studies. Guest speakers: Javier Torner, UN-Habitat; Lamia Kamal-Chaoui, OECD; David Miller, C40; Ricky Burdett, LSE Cities

WEEK 2
Week 2 - Towards Climate Neutral and Resilient Cities
The week is focused on one of the main challenges cities are facing nowadays climate change. After the description of the main impacts of climate change at the urban scale, policies and measures to improve urban resilience will be presented with a particular focus on the role of regeneration processes. Guest speakers: Federica Ranghieri, The World Bank; Eero Ailio, European Commission; Wolfgang Teubner, ICLEI

WEEK 3
Week 3 - Impacts of Urban Regeneration
Urban regeneration can improve quality of life in cities generating impacts on economic, environmental, and social domains. The week is dedicated to the analysis of the impacts of urban regeneration processes and their capacity to create private and social value.
Guest speakers: Andy Bow, Foster and Partners; Mario Abbadessa, Hines Italy; Nicolas Buchoud, Grand Paris Alliance for Metropolitan Development

WEEK 4
Week 4 - Assessing Urban Regeneration
Several standards and protocols have been developed to assess impacts of policies and measures implemented in cities. The week aims to highlight the main potential of those standards focusing on their scale of application, factors, criteria, scores, etc. A specific focus is dedicated on how ESG investment criteria are applied in urban regeneration projects. Guest speakers: Alejandro Gutierrez, Arup; Giuliano Dall’O’, Politecnico of Milan and GBC Italy; Erica Abisso, Intesa Sanpaolo.

WEEK 5
Week 5 - Institutional Framework and Business Models for Urban Regeneration
Cities can adopt different governance models to support urban regeneration processes, capture the value created, and to engage stakeholders. At this purpose, the policies, instruments and business models for urban regeneration will be presented and analyzed during the week. Guest speakers: Rogier van den Berg, WRI Ross Center; Riccardo Serrini, Prelios; Daniela Rizzi, ICLEI Europe

WEEK 6
Week 6 - Final assessment
This week is dedicated to the final assessment of the course.

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