In recent years several European cities (such as London, Stockholm and Milan) have introduced pricing policies as a tool for managing transport demand, especially to yield a temporal, spatial and modal redistribution of travel, and particularly rebalance the modal split between private vehicles and mass-transit systems. Indeed, the interaction between user behaviours (whose choices are affected by transportation network performances) and transportation networks (whose performances are depending on the number of travelling users/vehicles) brings the system about a condition, defined in the literature as User Equilibrium, which does not correspond to overall utility maximisation and fails to take account of external costs. The discrepancy between the User Equilibrium condition and the efficient use of transportation systems (condition indicated in the literature as System Equilibrium) comes from user behaviour in making mobility choices: an additional user, entering a traffic flow, considers a travel cost that does not include the cost increase imposed on the other travellers in the network. In other words, travellers try to maximise their own utility or private benefits instead of considering social welfare. It is shown that efficient transportation system use can be achieved by charging 'efficient tolls' on network links. The optimal situation can be reached by the imposition of a tax (or toll) that will reconcile the private cost and the social cost. These tolls, called Marginal Social Cost Pricing (MSCP) tolls, are equal to negative externalities (such as congestion cost, travel delays, air pollution, accidents) imposed on other travellers by an additional user and are one of the most popular tools for pricing applications. For several reasons (theoretical, political, social acceptability) it is impossible to charge "efficient tolls" (first-best solutions) proposed in the literature; therefore in real networks sub-optimal tolls (second-best solutions) are applied. Moreover, one of the main problems related to pricing policy application is their acceptability among community and/or social categories (such as shopkeepers, residents, commuters, etc.) leading to conflicts and oppositions. In this paper we analyse the effects on optimal fare design when pricing revenues are wholly or partly used for improving public transport. In particular, we formulate a toll computation model through a multidimensional constrained optimisation problem according to economic theory in a multimodal and multiuser context, where multimodal features are calculated explicitly on the network for each fare configuration. The model is then applied on a trial network (built with heterogeneous values of relative accessibility among different traffic zones) and several secondbest strategies are analysed with particular attention to possible effects of road pricing revenue use on social welfare and fare levels.
open ; Arti, Design e Nuove Tecnologie - Dipartimento di Design, Tecnologia dell'Architettura, Territorio e Ambiente - DATA ; In this work we aim at investigating categories of product design in terms of cultural communication by exploring artefacts conceived with the intent of encouraging users' reflection upon "conflict" issues. Under this light, we have chosen case studies referred to those conflicts in which walls and fences are still separating populations one from another, as for Palestine, Mexico, etc. The conflict is here read as an event that is able to encode expectations of emancipation, and because of that it becomes central for articulating significant transitions. Such artefacts, rather than for their functionality or utility, might be interpreted through the Stephanie and Bruce Tharp theory of discursive design, where objects are treated like transmitters of ideas and messages. We believe that discursive design can be a good starting point for better understanding the value of the semantic content spread by objects within time and space, and that artefacts can be considered as specific agents of communication. Therefore, if we consider objects as communicative facts, then we can use tools taken from the field of logics and linguistics in order to analyse the semantic and the cultural length of the objects themselves. As a consequence, politically engaged design tends to broaden the role of designers into an intellectual one, being able to boost debates around the issues designers trigger. ; Altro Corso di Dottorato ; Degree in Philosophy of Language (La Sapienza) with an Advanced Studies Master in Artificial Intelligence, Option Cognitive Science, hold in Leuven, Belgium (KUL), PHD in Industrial Design, Arts and New Technologies with a thesis on activism design that put togehter her interests shown along the years:language, object meaning and political committement. In the last six years she also worked for a cultural foundation as Project Manager for activities related to the valorisation of the ...
The recent Nobel Prize assigned to Paul Krugman "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity" witnesses the important role that the scienti�c community gives to the insights of the so-called New Economic Geography (NEG) literature. This field of economic analysis has always been particularly appealing to policy makers, given the direct link between its results and regional policy rules. For the same reason it is useful to deepen the analysis of its most important outputs by testing the theoretical robustness of some of its more relevant statements. This thesis tries to o¤er a contribution in this direction by focusing on a particular sub-field of NEG literature, the so-called New Economic Geography and Growth (NEGG) literature, having in Baldwin and Martin (2004) and Baldwin et. al (2004) the most important theoretical syntheses. These two surveys collect and present in an uni�ed framework the works by Baldwin, Martin and Ottaviano (2001), where capital is immobile and spillovers are localized, Martin and Ottaviano (1999) where spillovers are global and capital is mobile. Other related papers are Baldwin (1999) which introduces forward looking expectations in the so-called Footloose capital model developed by Martin and Rogers (1995); Baldwin and Forslid (1999) which introduces endogenous growth by means of a q-theory approach; Baldwin and Forslid (2000) where spillovers are localized, capital is immobile and migration is allowed. Some more recent developments in the NEGG literature can be distinguished in two main strands. One takes into consideration factor price differences in order to discuss the possibility of a monotonic relation between agglomeration and integration (Bellone and Maupertuis (2003) and Andres (2007)). The other one assumes firms heterogeneity in productivity (first introduced by Eaton and Kortum (2002) and Melitz (2003)) in order to analyse the relationship between growth and the spatial selection e¤ect leading the most productive firms to move to larger markets (see Baldwin and Okubo (2006) and Baldwin and Robert-Nicoud (2008). These recent developments are related to our work in introducing some relevant departures from the standard model. Indeed this thesis develops and extends the theoretical framework of New Economic Geography theory along several routes. In the third chapter of the thesis we develop a New Economic Geography and Growth model which, by using a CES utility function in the second-stage optimization problem, allows for expenditure shares in industrial goods to be endogenously determined. The implications of our generalization are quite rel-evant. In particular, we obtain the following novel results: 1) catastrophic agglomeration may always take place, whatever the degree of market integration, provided that the traditional and the industrial goods are su¢ ciently good substitutes; 2) the regional rate of growth is affected by the interregional allocation of economic activities even in the absence of localized spillovers, so that geography always matters for growth and 3) the regional rate of growth is af- fected by the degree of market openness: in particular, depending on whether the traditional and the industrial goods are good or poor substitutes, economic integration may be respectively growth-enhancing or growth-detrimental. In the fourth chapter of the thesis we build a New Economic Geography and Growth model based on Baldwin, Martin and Ottaviano (2001) with an additional sector producing Non-tradable goods (services). By assuming intersectoral and localized knowledge spillovers from the innovation sector to the service sector, we show that firms'allocation affects regional real growth. More precisely we assume that the unit labour requirements (and thereby the prices) in the service production are a negative function of the output of innovation, i.e. the stock of knowledge capital. Due to this new specification, real growth rates in the two regions always diverge when the firms allocation pattern differs from the symmetric one. This result is a novelty in the standard theoretical NEGG literature where regional gap in real growth rate is always zero. Moreover, this result has strong policy implications because it suggests that concentrating in- dustries in only one region may also bring a dynamic loss for the periphery. By analyzing the trade-o¤ between the dynamic gains of agglomeration (due to localized intertemporal spillovers) and the dynamic loss of agglomeration (due to localized intersectoral spillovers), we also discuss different notions of optimal level of agglomeration. The thesis will proceed as follows: in the chapters one and two we describe the state of the art in New Economic Geography and its further developments such as the New Economic Geography and Growth, the possibility of a monotonic relation between agglomeration and integration, and finally the firms heterogeneity in New Economic Geography models. Instead in chapters three and four we present our original contribution to the theory, i.e. the analysis of endogenous expenditure shares and intersectoral knowledge spillovers on the agglomeration patterns and economic growth.
Negli ultimi anni molte città europee hanno introdotto politiche di tariffazione come strumento di gestione della domanda di trasporto, in particolare per ridurre la congestione e riequilibrare la ripartizione modale tra trasporto individuale e collettivo. Infatti, il comportamento degli utenti conduce il sistema ad una condizione di Equilibrio dell'Utente (User Equilibrium) che non corrisponde alla massimizzazione dell'utilità globale e non prende in considerazione i costi esterni. Pertanto, al fine di raggiungere una configurazione efficiente nell'utilizzo dei sistemi di trasporto (indicata in letteratura come Equilibrio del Sistema – System Equilibrium), è necessario imporre una tariffazione sulle strade urbane in modo da massimizzare il surplus sociale. Per numerose ragioni (teoriche, politiche, sociali) è impossibile applicare "tariffe efficienti" (indicate in letteratura come first-best solutions); perciò sulle reti reali bisogna applicare tariffe sub-ottimali (second-best solutions). Inoltre, una delle problematiche principali dell'applicazione delle politiche di pricing è la loro "accettazione" da parte della comunità e/o di sue componenti (commercianti, residenti, pendolari, ecc.) che conduce a conflitti ed opposizioni.In questa nota, si analizza il problema del progetto delle tariffe ottimali nel caso in cui i ricavi siano investiti totalmente o parzialmente per migliorare il trasporto collettivo. In particolare, si formula un modello che sia multimodale e multiutente, in cui gli aspetti relativi alla scelta modale siano calcolati in maniera esplicita su rete in corrispondenza di ciascuna configurazione tariffaria. Il modello è applicato ad una rete test (costruita con differenti valori di accessibilità relativa tra le differenti zone), analizzando alcune strategie "second-best" con particolare riferimento al reinvestimento dei ricavi. ; In recent years several European cities have introduced pricing policies as a tool for managing transport demand, especially to reduce traffic congestion and rebalance the modal split between private vehicles and mass-transit systems. Indeed, user behaviour brings about a User Equilibrium condition which does not correspond to overall utility maximisation and fails to take account of external costs. Hence, in order to achieve the efficient use of transportation systems (System Equilibrium), tolls can be charged on urban roads so that the social surplus is maximised. For several reasons (theoretical, political, social acceptability) it is impossible to charge "efficient tolls" (first-best solutions) proposed in the literature; therefore in real networks sub-optimal tolls (second-best solutions) are applied. Moreover, one of the main problems related to pricing policy application is their acceptability among community and/or social categories (such as shopkeepers, residents, commuters, etc.) leading to conflicts and oppositions.In this paper we analyse the effects on optimal fare design when pricing revenues are wholly or partly used for improving public transport. In particular, we formulate a model according to economic theory in a multimodal and multiuser context, where multimodal features are calculated explicitly on the network for each fare configuration. The model is applied on a trial network (built with heterogeneous values of relative accessibility among different traffic zones) and several second-best strategies are analysed with particular attention to the use of pricing revenue.
Negli ultimi anni molte città europee hanno introdotto politiche di tariffazione come strumento di gestione della domanda di trasporto, in particolare per ridurre la congestione e riequilibrare la ripartizione modale tra trasporto individuale e collettivo. Infatti, il comportamento degli utenti conduce il sistema ad una condizione di Equilibrio dell'Utente (User Equilibrium) che non corrisponde alla massimizzazione dell'utilità globale e non prende in considerazione i costi esterni. Pertanto, al fine di raggiungere una configurazione efficiente nell'utilizzo dei sistemi di trasporto (indicata in letteratura come Equilibrio del Sistema – System Equilibrium), è necessario imporre una tariffazione sulle strade urbane in modo da massimizzare il surplus sociale. Per numerose ragioni (teoriche, politiche, sociali) è impossibile applicare "tariffe efficienti" (indicate in letteratura come first-best solutions); perciò sulle reti reali bisogna applicare tariffe sub-ottimali (second-best solutions). Inoltre, una delle problematiche principali dell'applicazione delle politiche di pricing è la loro "accettazione" da parte della comunità e/o di sue componenti (commercianti, residenti, pendolari, ecc.) che conduce a conflitti ed opposizioni.In questa nota, si analizza il problema del progetto delle tariffe ottimali nel caso in cui i ricavi siano investiti totalmente o parzialmente per migliorare il trasporto collettivo. In particolare, si formula un modello che sia multimodale e multiutente, in cui gli aspetti relativi alla scelta modale siano calcolati in maniera esplicita su rete in corrispondenza di ciascuna configurazione tariffaria. Il modello è applicato ad una rete test (costruita con differenti valori di accessibilità relativa tra le differenti zone), analizzando alcune strategie "second-best" con particolare riferimento al reinvestimento dei ricavi. ; In recent years several European cities have introduced pricing policies as a tool for managing transport demand, especially to reduce traffic congestion and rebalance the modal split between private vehicles and mass-transit systems. Indeed, user behaviour brings about a User Equilibrium condition which does not correspond to overall utility maximisation and fails to take account of external costs. Hence, in order to achieve the efficient use of transportation systems (System Equilibrium), tolls can be charged on urban roads so that the social surplus is maximised. For several reasons (theoretical, political, social acceptability) it is impossible to charge "efficient tolls" (first-best solutions) proposed in the literature; therefore in real networks sub-optimal tolls (second-best solutions) are applied. Moreover, one of the main problems related to pricing policy application is their acceptability among community and/or social categories (such as shopkeepers, residents, commuters, etc.) leading to conflicts and oppositions.In this paper we analyse the effects on optimal fare design when pricing revenues are wholly or partly used for improving public transport. In particular, we formulate a model according to economic theory in a multimodal and multiuser context, where multimodal features are calculated explicitly on the network for each fare configuration. The model is applied on a trial network (built with heterogeneous values of relative accessibility among different traffic zones) and several second-best strategies are analysed with particular attention to the use of pricing revenue.
Power systems have been undergoing radical changes in recent years, and their planning and operation will be surely undertaken according to the Smart Grid (SG) vision in the near future. The SG initiatives aim at introducing new technologies and services in power systems, to make the electrical networks more reliable, efficient, secure and environmentally-friendly. In particular, it is expected that communication technologies, computational intelligence and distributed energy sources will be widely used for the whole power system in an integrated fashion. In particular, nowadays, unprecedented challenges like as stringent regulations, environmental concerns, growing demand for high quality, reliable electricity and rising customer expectations are forcing utilities to rethink about electricity generation and delivery from the bottom up. Moreover, the availability of low cost computing and telecommunications technologies, new generation options, and scalable, modular automation systems push utilities to be dynamic, innovative and ambitious enough to take advantage of them. Driven by the dynamics of the new energy environment, leading utilities, technology vendors and government organizations have created a vision of the next generation of energy delivery systems: the Smart Grid. Operational changes of the grid, caused by restructuring of the electric utility industry and electricity storage technology advancements, have created an opportunity for storage systems to provide unique services to the evolving grid. Especially Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs), thanks to the large number and variety of services they can provide, are powerful tools for the solution of some challenges that future grids will face. This consideration makes BESSs critical components of the future grids. The BESS can be applied for different services into the different levels of power system chain to satisfy technical challenges and provide financial benefits. In the context of the application of BESSs in SGs, there are two main problems that need to be addressed in a way that exploits the BESS potential, that are linked to their operation and sizing. This thesis focuses on both these aspects, proposing new strategies that allow optimizing the BESS adoption. When dealing with BESSs, sizing and operation are strictly linked. The correct sizing of a BESS, in fact, needs to take into account its operation which in turn will be effected with the aim of optimizing the whole system where it is included. In the first part of this research study, advanced optimal operating strategies were proposed for BESSs by considering both the distribution system operator perspective and the end user. Thus, the proposed operating strategies were performed with the aim of (i) leveling the active power requested by the loads connected to a distribution system (distribution system operator service), (ii) reducing the electricity costs sustained by an end-use costumer that provides demand response (DR) (end user service) and (iii) scheduling a microgrid (µG) with DR resources such as Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs) and Data Centers (DCs) (both the two section service). The proposed strategies also satisfied technical constraints of BESSs and other components of the µG. The second part of the thesis presented the optimal sizing of BESSs aimed at maximizing the benefits related to their use. In the thesis, the sizing, which is performed by considering the end user point of view with reference to both the industrial and residential customers, is effected by adopting both deterministic and probabilistic approaches. With reference to the deterministic approach, a simple and quick closed form procedure for the sizing of BESSs in residential and industrial applications was proposed. In case of probabilistic approach, the case of a BESS installed in an industrial facility was considered and the sizing was performed based on the decision theory. Technical improvements and economic benefits of optimal operation and optimal sizing of BESSs in SG are demonstrated by the obtained results which are reported in the numerical applications. More specifically, it was clearly determined that BESSs can offer technical supports into the distribution operator section of the grid in terms of load management and security challenges. Moreover optimal integration of BESSs into the grid was also appealing for end users thanks to valuable amounts of electricity bill cost reduction. Regarding the original contribution of the thesis, the following considerations can be done. With reference to the load leveling service, an innovative two-step procedure (day-ahead scheduling and very short time predictive control) was proposed which optimally controls a BESS connected to a distribution substation in order to perform load leveling. In case of DR, a proper control of the BESS was proposed in order to perform DR under different price schemes, such as Real Time Pricing (RTP) and Time of Use (TOU) without modifying the daily work cycle of the industrial loads. The control procedure allows achieving contemporaneously two important goals that are the reduction of the bill costs and the prolonging the battery's lifetime so further reducing the costs sustained by the customer. With reference to the scheduling of microgrids, the original contribution of the thesis is focused on the proposal of optimization strategies aimed at managing and coordinating, simultaneously, batteries on board of vehicles or equipping data centers' Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) and Distributed Generation (DG) units. Also comparisons among different single-objective based strategies are made in order to highlight the most convenient. With reference to the sizing based on deterministic approach, unlike the other relating literature, the innovative contribution is that the closed form procedure takes into account both the technical constraints of the battery and contractual agreements between the customer and the utility. Moreover, in the economical analysis performed for the sizing, which is applied with reference to both residential and small industrial customers and is based on actual TOU tariffs, a wide sensitivity analysis to consider different perspectives in terms of life span and future costs was performed. Some aspects that affect the profitability of the battery, such as technological limitations (e.g. the battery and converter efficiency), economic barriers (e.g. capital cost and the rate of change of the cost) and variation of the load profile along the years were deeply analyzed. In case of sizing based on probabilistic approach, the original contributions of the thesis are mainly referred to the proposal of a new method that uses a decision theory-based process to obtain the best sizing alternative considering the various uncertainties affecting the sizing procedure. The thesis is organized in three chapters which are dealing with integration of BESSs in SGs. The first chapter reports basic concepts and characteristics of BESSs, fundamental components and features of SGs and different services that BESSs can provide. The optimal operation strategies of BESS are considered in second chapter which includes their problem formulation, solving procedures and results. The third chapter deals with the optimal sizing problem of BESSs for which the problem formulation, solving procedures and results are reported. Finally, the conclusions are presented in the last part of thesis.
The rational construction of the house. The writings and projects of Giuseppe Pagano Description, themes and research objectives The research aims at analysing the architecture of Giuseppe Pagano, which focuses on the theme of dwelling, through the reading of 3 of his house projects. On the one hand, these projects represent "minor" works not thoroughly known by Pagano's contemporary critics; on the other they emphasise a particular methodological approach, which serves the author to explore a theme closely linked to his theoretical thought. The house project is a key to Pagano's research, given its ties to the socio-cultural and political conditions in which the architect was working, so that it becomes a mirror of one of his specific and theoretical path, always in a state of becoming. Pagano understands architecture as a "servant of the human being", subject to a "utilitarian slavery" since it is a clear, essential and "modest" answer to specific human needs, free from aprioristic aesthetic and formal choices. It is a rational architecture in sensu stricto; it constitutes a perfect synthesis between cause and effect and between function and form. The house needs to accommodate these principles because it is closely intertwined with human needs and intimately linked to a specific place, climatic conditions and technical and economical possibilities. Besides, differently from his public and common masterpieces such as the Palazzo Gualino, the Istituto di Fisica and the Università Commerciale Bocconi, the house projects are representative of a precise project will, which is expressed in a more authentic way, partially freed from political influences and dogmatic preoccupations and, therefore, far from the attempt to research a specific expressive language. I believe that the house project better represents that "ingenuity", freshness and "sincerity" that Pagano identifies with the minor architecture, thereby revealing a more authentic expression of his understanding of a project. Therefore, the thesis, by tracing the theoretical research of Pagano through the analysis of some of his designed and built works, attempts to identify a specific methodological approach to Pagano's project, which, developed through time, achieves a certain clarity in the 1930s. In fact, this methodological approach becomes more evident in his last projects, mainly regarding the house and the urban space. These reflect the attempt to respond to the new social needs and, at the same time, they also are an expression of a freer idea of built architecture, closely linked with the place and with the human being who dwells it. The three chosen projects (Villa Colli, La Casa a struttura d'acciaio and Villa Caraccio) make Pagano facing different places, different customers and different economic and technical conditions, which, given the author's biography, correspond to important historical and political conditions. This is the reason why the projects become apparently distant works, both linguistically and conceptually, to the point that one can define them as "eclectic". However, I argue that this eclecticism is actually an added value to the architectural work of Pagano, steaming from the use of a method which, having as a basis the postulate of a rational architecture as essence and logic of building, finds specific variations depending on the multiple variables to be addressed by the project. This is the methodological heritage that Pagano learns from the tradition, especially that of the rural residential architecture, defined by Pagano as a "dictionary of the building logic of man", as an "a-stylistic background". For Pagano this traditional architecture is a clear expression of the relationships between a theme and its development, an architectural "fact" that is resolved with purely technical and utilitarian aims and with a spontaneous development far from any aprioristic theoretical principle. Architecture, therefore, cannot be an invention for Pagano and the personal contribution of each architect has to consider his/her close relationship with the specific historical context, place and new building methods. These are basic principles in the methodological approach that drives a great deal of his research and that also permits his thought to be modern. I argue that both ongoing and new collaborations with younger protagonists of the culture and architecture of the period are significant for the development of his methodology. These encounters represent the will to spread his own understanding of the "new architecture" as well as a way of self-renewal by confronting the self with new themes and realities and by learning from his collaborators. Thesis' outline The thesis is divided in two principal parts, each articulated in four chapters attempting to offer a new reading of the theory and work of Pagano by emphasising the central themes of the research. The first chapter is an introduction to the thesis and to the theme of the rational house, as understood and developed in its typological and technical aspects by Pagano and by other protagonists of the Italian rationalism of the 1930s. Here the attention is on two different aspects defining, according to Pagano, the house project: on the one hand, the typological renewal, aimed at defining a "standard form" as a clear and essential answer to certain needs and variables of the project leading to different formal expressions. On the other, it focuses on the building, understood as a technique to "produce" architecture, where new technologies and new materials are not merely tools but also essential elements of the architectural work. In this way the villa becomes different from the theme of the common house or from that of the minimalist house, by using rules in the choice of material and in the techniques that are every time different depending on the theme under exploration and on the contingency of place. It is also visible the rigorous rationalism that distinguishes the author's appropriation of certain themes of rural architecture. The pages of "Casabella" and the events of the contemporary Triennali form the preliminary material for the writing of this chapter given that they are primary sources to individuate projects and writings produced by Pagano and contemporary architects on this theme. These writings and projects, when compared, reconstruct the evolution of the idea of the rational house and, specifically, of the personal research of Pagano. The second part regards the reading of three of Pagano's projects of houses as a built verification of his theories. This section constitutes the central part of the thesis since it is aimed at detecting a specific methodological approach showing a theoretical and ideological evolution expressed in the vast edited literature. The three projects that have been chosen explore the theme of the house, looking at various research themes that the author proposes and that find continuity in the affirmation of a specific rationalism, focussed on concepts such as essentiality, utility, functionality and building honesty. These concepts guide the thought and the activities of Pagano, also reflecting a social and cultural period. The projects span from the theme of the villa moderna, Villa Colli, which, inspired by the architecture of North Europe, anticipates a specific rationalism of Pagano based on rigour, simplicity and essentiality, to the theme of the common house, Casa a struttura d'acciaio, la casa del domani, which ponders on the definition of new living spaces and, moreover, on new concepts of standardisation, economical efficiency and new materials responding to the changing needs of the modern society. Finally, the third project returns to the theme of the, Villa Caraccio, revisiting it with new perspectives. These perspectives find in the solution of the open plant, in the openness to nature and landscape and in the revisiting of materials and local building systems that idea of the freed house, which express clearly a new theoretical thought. Methodology It needs to be noted that due to the lack of an official Archive of Pagano's work, the analysis of his work has been difficult and this explains the necessity to read the articles and the drawings published in the pages of «Casabella» and «Domus». As for the projects of Villa Colli and Casa a struttura d'acciaio, parts of the original drawings have been consulted. These drawings are not published and are kept in private archives of the collaborators of Pagano. The consultation of these documents has permitted the analysis of the cited works, which have been subject to a more complete reading following the different proposed solutions, which have permitted to understand the project path. The projects are analysed thought the method of comparison and critical reading which, specifically, means graphical elaborations and analytical schemes, mostly reconstructed on the basis of original projects but, where possible, also on a photographic investigation. The focus is on the project theme which, beginning with a specific living (dwelling) typology, finds variations because of the historico-political context in which Pagano is embedded and which partially shapes his research and theoretical thought, then translated in the built work. The analysis of the work follows, beginning, where possible, from a reconstruction of the evolution of the project as elaborated on the basis of the original documents and ending on an analysis of the constructive principles and composition. This second phase employs a methodology proposed by Pagano in his article Piante di ville, which, as expected, focuses on the plant as essential tool to identify the "true practical and poetic qualities of the construction"(Pagano, «Costruzioni-Casabella», 1940, p. 2). The reading of the project is integrated with the constructive analyses related to the technical aspects of the house which, in the case of Casa a struttura d'acciaio, play an important role in the project, while in Villa Colli and in Villa Caraccio are principally linked to the choice of materials for the construction of the different architectural elements. These are nonetheless key factors in the composition of the work. Future work could extend this reading to other house projects to deepen the research that could be completed with the consultation of Archival materials, which are missing at present. Finally, in the appendix I present a critical selection of the Pagano's writings, which recall the themes discussed and embodied by the three projects. The texts have been selected among the articles published in Casabella and in other journals, completing the reading of the project work which cannot be detached from his theoretical thought. Moving from theory to project, we follow a path that brings us to define and deepen the central theme of the thesis: rational building as the principal feature of the architectural research of Pagano, which is paraphrased in multiple ways in his designed and built works.
