Federica Romagnoli

Museums are active agents shaping cultural experience by influencing perception, orientation, and interpretation. Wayfinding is therefore essential for visitors with diverse cognitive, sensory, linguistic, and cultural needs. This paper presents a teaching experiment that combines Cognitive Ergonomics, Universal Design (UD), Human-Centred Design (HCD), and Project-Based Learning (PBL) in a real-world context to guide the design of inclusive museum wayfinding systems capable of reducing cognitive load and improving visitors’ autonomy. The experiment was conducted in 2025 within the Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics course of the Program in Design at Sapienza University of Rome and involved 200 students. The case study was the Archaeological Museum of the Italic Peoples “Amedeo Maiuri” in Veroli during an exhibition rearrangement process. The methodology included analysis of the context of use, on-site surveys, configurational analysis of spatial layouts, identification of user profiles and engagement with stakeholder associations through qualitative interviews, task analysis to identify critical decision points, definition of performance requirements, and development of prototype solutions. The task required the development of a reversible wayfinding system using eco-sticker signage to meet conservation and sustainability constraints. Based on the identified critical points, students defined key design requirements (visibility, comprehensibility, recognisability, and multisensory accessibility) and developed concepts by simulating user scenarios. Accessibility was addressed according to UD principles by integrating cognitive, perceptual, and social factors. The resulting concepts proposed systems based on colour coding, horizontal and vertical signs, pictograms, concise texts, and perceptual contrasts. Within this educational framework, the experiment provides a transferable teaching model for promoting active learning, raising awareness of UD and HCD principles among future designers, and linking research, design education, and cultural heritage management.

The growing demand for home care among older adults calls for a rethinking of design strategies to make the home suitable as the “primary place of care.” This contribution presents the initial results of a research project conducted within the Age-It program, focused on the adaptability of domestic environments to home care activities and the potential integration of assistive technologies. Based on a person-centered and bio-psycho-social model, the study analyzes the interaction between frail users, caregivers, and the living space, with the aim of identifying the spatial and technological requirements necessary to support care activities in an integrated manner. The research methodology began with an analysis of user needs, with the goal of identifying environmental and technological requirements that characterize spaces used for home care. The outcomes of this process led to the definition of operational guidelines to support the design of adaptations in the areas most involved in care activities. These include recommendations for ensuring safety, comfort, usability, maintainability, and the integrability of assistive technologies, as well as the proposal of alternative design solutions for adaptation, which are qualitatively assessed based on their construction impact and compatibility with existing constraints. Such solutions aim to address the needs of both care recipients and caregivers in an integrated way, while promoting ageing-in-place even in conditions of reduced self-sufficiency. The study highlights the importance of a proactive and multidisciplinary approach to designing “care-ready” environments capable of responding to the evolving housing and health needs of the population.

Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) represent an innovative approach to thinking and designing cities sustainably, in compliance with the European Union energy strategy. This strategy integrates sectors such as urban planning, energy, and construction to synergistically address energy and environmental challenges. Studies on sustainability assessment systems applied in PEDs evidenced that they focus mostly on energy aspects, while few include a comprehensive life cycle assessment of equivalent CO₂ emissions, considering the building component and the impacts of the materials used. Additionally, most assessments are conducted on the urban and district scale, such as Neighborhood Sustainability Assessments (NSA), which begin to correlate PEDs with the dynamics of selecting sustainable materials for green-certified projects, analyzed throughout the entire life cycle, relying on the adoption of Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) at the building scale. To explore the impact of environmentally friendly (i.e., ‘green’) GBRS certifications in the selection of building materials and products according to sustainability criteria, and to encourage their use in projects explicitly referring to PEDs, this study analyzes the technical solutions implemented in two significant residential building renovation projects in Italy from a PED perspective. It proposes a classification system based on the required targets of energy efficiency, energy production, and energy flexibility. The results include the definition of an expandable portfolio of technical solutions, an analytical comparison between the materials used in the energy renovation projects of the case studies examined, and the sustainability criteria provided by voluntary ’green’ certification tools (GBRS). The collected evidence offers an operational framework that confirms the positive impact of GBRS certifications and the related selection of materials on sustainable urban development, contributing to the scientific debate on PEDs. Furthermore, the use of voluntary ’green’ certifications at the building scale can be encouraged in the context of the transition towards PEDs, aiming to identify specific criteria and indicators for the selection of building materials to be integrated into future PED certifications. This aims to contribute to creating energy self-sufficient urban areas, focusing on sustainability, efficiency, and innovation, in line with global emission reduction and climate change mitigation goals.

The paper illustrates the definition of a home adaptation design support tool for selecting interior finishes and partition systems based on multicriteria evaluations. In line with Universal Design principles, the selection criteria promote the creation of homes that respond to the changing needs of people over their life course, allowing for aging in place. Based on a literature review on the design of age-friendly living spaces, optimal requirements for safety, comfort, usability, management, environmental protection and integrability related to partitioning elements and interior finishes were identified. Then, through the multicriteria analysis technique of the Analytic Hierarchy Process, selection criteria were established, and weights were assigned to classify market-available products according to performance, thereby informing the choices of designers and end users.

The positive energy district (PED) is a rather recent concept that aims to contribute to the main objectives of the Energy Union strategy. It is based on an integrated multi-sectoral approach in response to Europe’s most complex challenges. But to what extent have its development and implementation been supported by research and innovation programs? And what is the state of the art of its implementation and effective penetration into the current energy systems of European cities, according to the evidence provided by the scientific literature? This study aims to investigate these issues, providing a critical overview of the PED situation by means of a systematic literature review based on the use of open-access bibliometric software supplemented with content analysis. The results show that less than half of the documents analyzed refer to actual case studies, 80% of which were funded as part of research projects. This seems to lead to the conclusion that although PEDs have been strongly encouraged by the scientific community and policy initiatives at the European level, their implementation in cities is still limited. Moreover, an uneven distribution among countries can be observed. To overcome the existing barriers to PED diffusion and implementation, it would be useful to provide more ad hoc funding and, above all, facilitate its accessibility also by municipalities not yet well integrated into European projects, initiatives, and networks.

The increasingly pervasive use of artificial intelligence within the complexity of the world around us continues to fuel the scientific, philosophical, and political debate. Even within the construction sector (although still in an embryonic phase), it is possible to observe the first concrete results of the application of new digital processes, which are increasingly autonomous and support the design, definition, and validation of the project. The new frontiers of expansion of artificial intelligence systems, encouraged by the digital transition, require a careful reflection on the impact of new technologies in redefining the designer’s role in the decision-making process.