NBSouth brings together a strong team of researchers across Polytechnic of Milan.
Prof. Fabiano Lemes de Oliveira (Principal Investigator)
Fabiano is an Associate Professor in Urbanism at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies at Politecnico di Milano. Prof. Lemes joined Politecnico di Milano in 2019 after over 10 years working at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. His research lies at the intersection of urban and environmental planning, with a focus on the relationships between city and nature, and the roles of green space systems and planning models in city and regional planning. Recent research areas include green urbanism, planning history, nature-based solutions, urban design theory and practice, urban sustainability, planning models aimed at balancing urbanisation with nature – in particular related to the green wedge idea and green infrastructure. He is the author of the book Green Wedge Urbanism: History, Theory and Contemporary Practice, published by Bloomsbury (London/ New York) and co-edited the book Planning Cities with Nature: Theories, Strategies and Methods, published by Springer (Amsterdam).
Dr. Masoumeh Mirsafa (Project Manager)
Masoumeh is an urban planner and researcher. She holds a PhD in Urban Planning from Polytechnic of Milan and a master’s degree in Sustainable Architecture from Lund University, Sweden. Throughout her career, Masoumeh has worked in academia and practice. Prior to joining NBSouth at Polytechnic of Milan, she was an assistant professor of architecture and urban design at the Faculty of Art and Architecture at the University of Guilan in Iran (2019–2022). She has also collaborated with UN-Habitat on various projects. Her main areas of interest are resilient cities, climate-responsive design, and water-smart cities, as well as inclusive cities with an emphasis on gender-sensitive design. She is the (co-)author of a number of journal articles and book chapters, as well as policy documents and urban planning guidelines, including the National Urban Policy and Smart City Strategy (UN-Habitat, 2022) and Guidelines for Improving the Multi-Hazard Resilience of Health Facilities in Iran (UN-Habitat, 2019). In addition to her professional activities, Masoumeh is also an advocate for early career scientists and has participated in various initiatives aimed at promoting diversity and inclusion in the field.
Dr. Anna Giulia Castaldo (Communication Manager)
Anna Giulia holds a PhD in Urban Planning, Design and Policy at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) of Politecnico di Milano. She obtained her master’s degree in Urban and Territorial Planning at University of Naples Federico II, Italy. Prior to the start of her doctoral research, she attended a one-year specialization course in GIScience and Drones at the University of Padua, where she started to lay the foundation for her academic interests in Green Infrastructures and ecological urban indexes. Her research focuses on natural resources conservation through Nature-based Solutions interventions (NBS) in urban and peri-urban context beyond climate and natural hazards.
Prof. Israa Mahmoud
Israa, Ph.D., is an Architect and Urban Planner. She is an Assistant professor of Urban and Regional planning at the Laboratorio di Simulazione Urbana Fausto Curti, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), at Politecnico di Milano, and Adjunct professor at Alleanza Italiana dello Sviluppo Sostenibile (Asvis). With more than 35 publications, her research is focused on Biodiversity, Nature-based Solutions, social Inclusivity, co-creation processes and urban governance. Lately, she led the “Greening Cities, Shaping Cities” research stream, as well as leading a co-edited book on Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable Urban Planning. She is also the author of the Monograph “Placemaking for Green Urban Regeneration” in 2022, both published by Springer books and indexed in Scopus.
Prof. Monica Riva
Monica is a Full Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, PoliMI (Italy), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Adjunct Professor at the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources of the University of Arizona (USA). She received her Ph.D. in Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering from PoliMI in 2000. She has been a visiting Professor in several Universities and Research Centers, including the University of Arizona, the University of Strasbourg and the CNRS (France). Her research activities have been focused mainly on subsurface flow and transport dynamics, stochastic groundwater hydrology, probabilistic well protection zones, scaling in hydrology and model parameter estimation, uncertainty quantification, multiphase flows and groundwater management. I developed and applied innovative stochastic and upscaling techniques to study flow features of immiscible and miscible fluids. I have developed a theory based on the concept sub-Gaussian mixtures able to capture the (typically non-Gaussian) scaling behavior exhibited by many hydrological-hydrogeological-environmental variables. She works on introducing novel metrics to perform global sensitivity analysis and ensuing uncertainty quantification across multiple interpretive models with uncertain parameters. I serve as Elected Member of the Council of InterPore (International Society for Porous Media). She is the Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering at PoliMI and Rector Delegate for International Networks at PoliMI.
Prof. Massimo Tadi
Massimo is an Associate professor at Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, ABC, Politecnico di Milano. He teaches Sustainable Multisciplinary Design Process (SMDP) and Integrated Modification Methodology (IMM) for built environment, based on the theory and methodology developed by his research team, at the MSC program in Building Engineering and Architecture for Smart City at MSC program in Sustainable Architecture and Landscape Design and Data Modelling for Urban Performance at the join program between ABC Department and Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering (DEIB). He also teaches “Digital Mapping and Spatial Data Analysis” at the PHD program in Built Environment and Construction Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. Massimo is director of the IMMdesignlab (www.immdesignlab.com), a multidisciplinary research and design laboratory that leads various international projects aiming to transform, through an innovative methodology, existing urban contexts seen as Complex Adaptive Systems into more sustainable, energy efficient forms. He is deputy member of ABC Department in DATACLOUD, the interdepartmental research laboratory for data analysis e machine learning applied to problem solving solution to transdisciplinary complex problems. https://www.deib.polimi.it/eng/news/details/850 . He is a principal investigator of many international research networks. In addition to his scientific work, Massimo regularly provides advice to municipalities and regional organizations, for Sustainable Development and Strategic urban development. He is the author of many articles and books on Sustainable urban and architectural design and energy efficiency, visiting professor in many worldwide universities and coordinating international research programs.
Prof. Andrea Arcidiacono
Andrea is an Associate Professor in Urban Planning, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU), AUIC School, Politecnico of Milano. He is the Coordinator of the Bachelor of Science programme in ‘Urban Planning: Cities, Environment & Landscapes’, AUIC School. Since 2013, he is a member of the Board of Professors of the PhD Programme in Urban Planning, Design and Policy UPDP. He is director of the LabPPTE (Landscape Plans Territories Ecosystems Lab), and scientific director of the Land Take Research Centre, CRCS (Centro di Ricerca sui Consumi di Suolo). From 2016 to 2023 he has been vice-President of the National Institute of Urban Planning, INU. He is a member of the Editorial board of the journal Urbanistica. The main research interests include Urban planning and design; Landscape and environmental planning; Open spaces and green Infrastructure design; Ecosystem Services analysis and nature-based solutions for spatial planning; policies and planning strategies for land take limitation. Currently, he is involved in European and national research programmes. He has authored over 140 scientific publications.
Prof. Silvia Ronchi
Silvia is an Associate Professor, graduated with a B.Sc in Environment, Landscape and Territory (Università degli studi di Milano, Italy) and a M.Sc. in Urban Planning (Politecnico di Milano). She obtained a PhD in Urban Planning, Design and Policy at the Politecnico di Milano with a thesis concerning the integration of Ecosystem services in Spatial planning. She is specialised in Geographic Information Systems for Spatial planning. From 2017 to 2020 she was a post-doc research fellow in the same Department on the definition of a green infrastructures project for the Lombardy Regional Landscape Plan. She teaches “Methods and techniques of environmental assessment” at the Bachelor’s degree in Urban Planning: Cities, Environment & Landscapes, and “Urban planning studio” at the Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Design and History. She was a member of the scientific committee of the European project Soil4LIFE financed under LIFE programme (LIFE17 GIE/IT/000477). She is a member of the scientific editorial board of the journal Territorio (FrancoAngeli). From 2015 to 2018, she collaborated with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (Territorial Development Unit – B3). In January 2017, she was visiting scientist at the University of Salzburg, Research Group Urban and Landscape Ecology, Department of Geography and Geology. She is a member of the Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP), the International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) and the Italian National Institute of Urban Planning (INU). Her research focuses on ecosystem services mapping, landscape and urban planning, environmental assessment, and green and blue infrastructure design. She is (co)author of over 80 scientific publications.
Margherita Gori Nocentini
Margherita holds a MSc in Sociology from the University of Florence and is currently a PhD candidate in Urban planning, design and policy at the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies of the Politecnico di Milano. Her work focuses on urban climate adaptation policies, governance, and socio-environmental justice issues.
Tao Dong
Tao is a PhD candidate at the Politecnico di Milano, ABC Department, with the collaboration of the China Scholarship Council. He also works as a research fellow at the IMMdesignLab, Politecnico di Milano. His research focuses on using Nature-based Solutions to improve urban performance, in terms of sustainability, environmental protection, and energy conservation. He has received his MSc. from Politecnico di Milano for Architectural Engineering. He published articles on various urban planning and environmental topics.