**The Environmental Dimension of Urban Design: A Point of View**

Ilaria Giovagnorio and Giovanni M. Chiri

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/62883

#### **Abstract**

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36 Sustainable Urbanization

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International research on sustainable architecture ascertained the responsibilities of urban forms for buildings' energy‐environmental performances, highlighting the necessity to broaden the field of intervention in urban design. Furthermore, goals concerning the sustainable city increased design complexity, due to the involvement of different interrelated disciplines, which modified design processes by incorporat‐ ing external contributions. In particular, environmental analyses are growing in importance and need to be reintegrated into the urban project at the conceptual stage. This 'environmental awareness' accompanies the history of the city, and numerous pieces of evidence clearly show the mutual and in‐depth relationship between urban form and local microclimates. Lessons from the ancients constituted the fundamen‐ tals in urban design until the Modern Movement, during which knowledge of the past also influenced the work of G. Vinaccia, an Italian pioneer in microclimatic urban design. After the World War II, most of the lessons had been forgotten in favour of technology systems that have since revealed their failures. The current design condition requires a discovery of past abilities, coupling them with contemporary scientific advances. This work introduces a methodology through which to integrate current urban design processes with environmental data and analyses. It is illustrated through a case study and is supported by software.

**Keywords:** urban design, environmental design, sustainability, sustainable architec‐ ture, Gaetano Vinaccia
