Hosted by the University of Pavia, the initiative – in its third edition – involved 33 master’s and doctoral students from the EC2U Alliance universities.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal “Sustainable Cities and Communities” (SDG #11) was the central subject of this highly multidisciplinary program, which aimed to illustrate innovative technologies for the documentation, functional adaptation, and enhancement of heritage through the use of digital tools.

Organised by Professor Marco Morandotti (Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture – DICAr) and researcher Elisabetta Doria, the EC2U summer school B.SuRe was designed to foster ideas for new uses and interdisciplinary analyses on the theme of reusing spaces that are no longer in use.

Enhancing Cultural Heritage

From 23 to 27 September, at the Bellisomi Vistarino Palace in Pavia, participants learnt about conservation, documentation, and reuse, guided by international professors and researchers. In addition to lessons, the workshop offered the opportunity to work in the field, testing tools and techniques for heritage documentation, and designing the adaptive reuse of a historic and protected building in the heart of Pavia.

“The 2024 edition of the EC2U summer school B.SuRe, the third in a row, was perhaps the most successful, both in terms of participation and outcomes,” says Morandotti. “We received 72 applications, with a total of 33 students attending from eight EC2U universities. This edition also had the widest variety of curricular and disciplinary backgrounds, with participants from 14 different faculties, including engineering, architecture, hard sciences, social sciences, and humanities. This cultural wealth, resulting from diverse and complementary backgrounds, was one of the key features of this year’s edition, and it was crucial to achieving the overall educational goals of this significative didactical challenge”.