Resilience and green economies for the future of architecture and the built environment

Abstract

Over the past decade, the concept of resilience has been strategically and inextricably linked to the main aims of the Green Economy and ‘process circularity’ as applied to the field of the built environment and buildings, starting with the international policy documents published by UNEP in 2008 and by the OECD in 2010. This debate has only just been outlined and there is still plenty of research to be done, but the potential contribution of Technological Design in Architecture seems key. This paper critically analyses the principles, the method- and design-based approaches and the structural strategic measures that can improve the resilience of the built environment, as requested by the European Commission, and considers the prospects for its development in this country, both at a national institutional level and at a local level, primarily gravitating around the strategic working axes that have been outlined – and continue to be pursued – by the States General of the Green Economy.