HOT – Healing Our Towns (Politecnico di Milano / RWTH Aachen Summer School)

Friday, 25 April 2025 at 14:00 (CET)

8 – 13 September 2025

8 – 13 September 2025

2024 has been the hottest year on record globally (for now). In the Lombardy region, the annual average temperature anomaly for 2024 is +1.5°C compared to the 1991-2020 reference period. The hottest month was August, with +3°C compared to the climatological average, making it the second hottest August since 1991, only surpassed by August 2003 (ARPA Lombardia, 06/09/2024). The climatic conditions in Italy are changing. Northern Italy, from the Po Valley to the Alps, is one of the key regions where climate change can have a serious and detrimental impact, with severe consequences for water, agricultural yields, and human health, especially for vulnerable social groups. Some research is beginning to imagine future scenarios of internal vertical migration, with temporary or stable groups of people moving from the hot, polluted, and dry plains to the mountains (Membretti et al. 2024). The signs of these processes are currently weak but present, while the needs of the 20 million people who live and will continue to live here are more visible and urgent. How can we ensure these places’ future liveability and quality of life? How can natural resources and agricultural land be preserved? How can cities adapt to this permanent new condition and be more equal? These issues are particularly challenging for intermediate territories, such as small and medium-sized towns in rural areas, where buildings in historical centres are losing value, the public welfare system is under pressure, mobility is essentially dependent on the car, old abandoned spaces coexist with new productive and logistical expansions, and agriculture is highly mechanized and industrialized. This workshop invites students to reflect on different visions of the future and imagine how adaptation strategies will change our cities, starting from their public and open spaces. Looking at the specific local situation of Crema, a town of 30,000 inhabitants in the centre of the Lombardy region, 50 km from Milan, we will explore radical approaches and solutions for healing cities by using existing spaces and resources differently. We will meet experts, practitioners, and local administrations dealing with heat, water scarcity, and climate change. We will explore places and talk to people. We will engage with different themes, urban conditions, and materials. We will experience the fatigue of hot summer days.

2024 has been the hottest year on record globally (for now). In the Lombardy region, the annual average temperature anomaly for 2024 is +1.5°C compared to the 1991-2020 reference period. The hottest month was August, with +3°C compared to the climatological average, making it the second hottest August since 1991, only surpassed by August 2003 (ARPA Lombardia, 06/09/2024). The climatic conditions in Italy are changing. Northern Italy, from the Po Valley to the Alps, is one of the key regions where climate change can have a serious and detrimental impact, with severe consequences for water, agricultural yields, and human health, especially for vulnerable social groups. Some research is beginning to imagine future scenarios of internal vertical migration, with temporary or stable groups of people moving from the hot, polluted, and dry plains to the mountains (Membretti et al. 2024). The signs of these processes are currently weak but present, while the needs of the 20 million people who live and will continue to live here are more visible and urgent. How can we ensure these places’ future liveability and quality of life? How can natural resources and agricultural land be preserved? How can cities adapt to this permanent new condition and be more equal? These issues are particularly challenging for intermediate territories, such as small and medium-sized towns in rural areas, where buildings in historical centres are losing value, the public welfare system is under pressure, mobility is essentially dependent on the car, old abandoned spaces coexist with new productive and logistical expansions, and agriculture is highly mechanized and industrialized. This workshop invites students to reflect on different visions of the future and imagine how adaptation strategies will change our cities, starting from their public and open spaces. Looking at the specific local situation of Crema, a town of 30,000 inhabitants in the centre of the Lombardy region, 50 km from Milan, we will explore radical approaches and solutions for healing cities by using existing spaces and resources differently. We will meet experts, practitioners, and local administrations dealing with heat, water scarcity, and climate change. We will explore places and talk to people. We will engage with different themes, urban conditions, and materials. We will experience the fatigue of hot summer days.

More information: https://idealeague.org/healingourtowns_2025/

More information: https://idealeague.org/healingourtowns_2025/

Crema, Italy

Crema, Italy

tbd

tbd

There are no registration and accommodation fees. Students from IDEA League member universities selected to participate in a summer school only have to pay for their own travel costs where applicable.

There are no registration and accommodation fees. Students from IDEA League member universities selected to participate in a summer school only have to pay for their own travel costs where applicable.

Application is open to Master and PhD Students of the member universities of the IDEA League Alliance http://idealeague.org : - Chalmers University of Technology - ETH Zürich - Politecnico di Milano - RWTH Aachen - TU Delft

Application is open to Master and PhD Students of the member universities of the IDEA League Alliance http://idealeague.org :

- Chalmers University of Technology
- ETH Zürich
- Politecnico di Milano
- RWTH Aachen
- TU Delft

In order to apply you need to **login to SiROP with your university account**. When your email belongs to a partner university the affiliation is created automatically. After successful affiliation you can return to this event and you will find a **button "Apply" right at the top**. If you need to affiliate manually please see: http://bit.ly/sirop-affiliate

In order to apply you need to **login to SiROP with your university account**. When your email belongs to a partner university the affiliation is created automatically.

After successful affiliation you can return to this event and you will find a **button "Apply" right at the top**.

If you need to affiliate manually please see: http://bit.ly/sirop-affiliate

More information: https://idealeague.org/healingourtowns_2025/

More information: https://idealeague.org/healingourtowns_2025/

For more information please read the FAQ: https://idealeague.org/students/summerschools/ If you have any further questions regarding the application process, please contact the organizer office@idealeague.org.

For more information please read the FAQ:

https://idealeague.org/students/summerschools/

If you have any further questions regarding the application process, please contact the organizer office@idealeague.org.