At the crossroads of Architecture and Landscape: Preservation Strategies of Historic Military Systems: a Comparison between Italy and the Netherlands

In the context of rapid urban transformations, this thesis explores the possible preservation strategies for historic military systems that used to be embedded in extra-urban settings, but that now are absorbed in the development dynamics of complex metropolitan areas. The research stems from the main peculiarity of these heritage systems:...

Monitoring deformations of infrastructure networks: A fully automated GIS integration and analysis of InSAR time-series

Ageing stock and extreme weather events pose a threat to the safety of infrastructure networks. In most countries, funding allocated to infrastructure management is insufficient to perform systematic inspections over large transport networks. As a result, early signs of distress can develop unnoticed, potentially leading to catastrophic...

Scraping hide in the early Upper Paleolithic: Insights into the life and function of the Protoaurignacian endscrapers at Fumane Cave

Endscrapers are specialized tools that are usually recovered in great quantities in every Upper Paleolithic site in Europe. Although they make their first ephemeral appearance in the Middle–late Middle Paleolithic transitional technocomplexes, endscrapers commonly appear in toolkits from initial and early Upper Paleolithic traditions onwards....

Homeownership out of reach? Intergenerational transfers and homeownership reproduction in middle class families in Rome, Italy

Access to homeownership for young adults is becoming more and more difficult. Italy – where homeownership rates for young adults are steadily decreasing – is a case in point. In the recent past, becoming homeowner was an obvious housing pathway for Italian young adults, even from lower-middle class families. If your parents were homeowner,...

Dry port network model: Best practices in the EU with notes from the USA

The modern distribution of goods is highly complex, as it supports a closely linked globalized world. In the development of port terminals, competition is no longer only at the level of services. The increase in maritime transport and demand/supply in the hinterlands, with ensuing problems of capacity, distribution and movement, have called for...

Preliminary attempt to predict risk of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with influenza: Decision trees may help?

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is typically considered a disease of immunocompromised patients, but, recently, many cases have been reported in patients without typical risk factors. The aim of our study is to develop a risk predictive model for IPA through machine learning techniques (decision trees) in patients with influenza. We...

How to Ruin a Country in Three Decades

Reframing social mix in affordable housing initiatives in Italy and in the Netherlands: Closing the gap between discourses and practices?

European countries are facing rising demand for affordable housing by a widespread and differentiated audience. Both in Italy and in the Netherlands policy-makers and practitioners address this emerging need by implementing new social housing projects targeting diverse social groups – such as students, young households, welfare dependents, and...

Houses without people and people without houses: a cultural and institutional exploration of an Italian paradox

According to basic economics, when vacancy rates rise, house prices should decrease and vice versa, responding to supply and demand mechanisms. However, previous studies have observed that, before the economic crisis, this was not the case in Spain and Malta. It has been questioned whether this paradox is a Mediterranean phenomenon or simply the...

An exploration of concepts and polices on ‘affordable housing’ in England, Italy, Poland and The Netherlands

The term ‘affordable housing’ has been rapidly gaining currency over the last decade across Europe, both in policy and research circles. While it is often used as a synonym or close relative of the term ‘social housing’, more recently it is finding its own definition and policy instruments in specific cities and countries. However, boundaries...

Protection of coastal areas in Italy: Where do national landscape and urban planning legislation fail?

Italian coastal areas have been subject to strong anthropogenic pressure and urbanization processes over the past 60 years. Urbanization of the protected 300-m strip from shoreline has reached levels of over fifty per cent in some parts of the country. This article, by building on previous quantitative analyses and by providing some more...

Water and chemical budgets of gravel pit lakes: Case studies of fluvial gravel pit lakes along the Meuse River (The Netherlands) and coastal gravel pit lakes along the Adriatic Sea (Ravenna, Italy)

Gravel pit lakes form when gravel is excavated from below the water table of a phreatic or shallow confined aquifer. Typically many of these lakes are concentrated along naturally occurring sedimentary gravel deposits in areas where gravel is needed for construction. Most gravel pit lakes are relatively young features: most are less than 50...

Social housing provision in the Italian region of Lombardy: Between market, state and community

This paper describes social housing developments in Lombardy, one of the most affluent regions in the Italy. Housing policy in Italy is mainly the responsibility of the Regions. We discuss the challenges of social housing provision and the interplay between market, state, community and third sector actors to provide affordable homes. However,...

Numerical simulation of hydrodynamics and bank erosion in a river bend

We present an integrated analysis of bank erosion in a high-curvature bend of the gravel bed Cecina River (central Italy). Our analysis combines a model of fluvial bank erosion with groundwater flow and bank stability analyses to account for the influence of hydraulic erosion on mass failure processes, the key novel aspect being that the fluvial...

Three-dimensional finite element analysis of tunnels and foundations. (Analyse tridimensionnelle aux elements finis de tunnels et de fondations)