Thursday, November 6, 2025 | 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering - Politecnico di Milano
Aula Alfa (Building 24)
Contacts: phd-step@polimi.it
Sommario
Thursday, November 6, 2025, from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, in Aula Alfa at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering of the Politecnico di Milano (Building 24), the third meeting of the seminar series Meet the STEP-CHANGErs – A Series of Voices Shaping Sustainable Change will take place.
The seminar series provides a platform to explore cutting-edge research in sustainability through the work of PhD students in the Science, Technology, and Policy for Sustainable Change program. Each session highlights how emerging research addresses real-world sustainability challenges, offering insights into innovative solutions and fostering a broader conversation on pathways toward systemic change. The events also provide an important opportunity for networking among PhD students and the academic community, with an aperitif following each session.
Lucia Ludovici will present “Informal Leftover Ecosystems. Recognizing and re-signifying the informal urban nature.” Her doctoral research investigates how informal ecosystems emerging in urban leftover spaces gain recognition within planning processes, with a particular focus on the role of civic activism. Combining urban planning and ecological perspectives, her work draws on Urban Political Ecology, post-anthropocentric urbanism, novel ecosystems theory, and multispecies justice. Through comparative case studies across Italy and Europe, and with an in-depth focus on Milan, the research highlights how these informal urban natures can contribute to rethinking and reshaping contemporary cities.
Stefania Renna will present “Is mitigation enough? When air pollution requires adaptation to protect health.” Her research examines the challenges posed by air pollution in light of the 2021 update to the World Health Organization Global Air Quality Guidelines for Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5), which set ambitious targets that may be difficult to achieve by 2030, especially in certain regions. Drawing on a comprehensive review of the literature and analysis of recent data, the study highlights how natural sources and background PM2.5 levels contribute significantly to overall concentrations, creating inequalities in exposure. Using reanalysis data, high-resolution empirical estimates, and measurements from ground-level monitoring stations worldwide, the research emphasizes the need for strategies that go beyond mitigation, incorporating adaptation measures to better protect public health.
Please register here to attend the seminar.