PolimiparaRocinha: Environmental Performances and Social …
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to enhance their socioeconomic and environmental performances. It was developed
by the IMM Design Lab based in the ABC Department of Politecnico di Milano.
Based on system thinking, the main purpose of IMM is to introduce modification
scenarios in order to morphologically transform the built environment—in different
scales—into ecologically better-performing systems.
2 Integrated Modification Methodology (IMM)
Integrated modification methodology (IMM) is a procedure encompassing an open
set of scientific techniques for morphologically analyzing the built environment in a
multiscale manner and evaluating its performance in current states or under specific
design scenarios (Vahabzadeh Manesh et al. 2011).
In IMM, the built environment is considered a complex adaptive system (CAS)
in which the relationships between the parts are highly complicated in a way that
a mere local modification starts a chain reaction and ultimately changes the entire
system.
According to system theory, the functioning manner of any system is fundamentally directed mostly by the relationship between the parts and depends less on the
quality of its individual components (Wächter 2011).
IMM recognizes the built environment as a complex adaptive system (CAS) comprised of numerous subsets and many variables interacting on various levels, various
scales, and a diverse set of subcategories. Rendering the CAS’s nature, a mere local
action accrued in an individual subset will produce a chain reaction within the network of its parts and trigger a process which consequently leads to the global change
of the entire system. In other words, system agents adapt themselves in response
to the complex network of reactions arisen from individual changes (Vahabzadeh
Manesh and Tadi 2013).
The generic morphological subsystems recognized by IMM are namely: urban
built-up, urban void, types of uses, and links (Tadi et al. 2015). In the first phase, they
are being investigated individually, and the structural attributes resulting from their
fusion is studied. The former distinctively gives an understanding of the component,
and the latter quantifies the relational attributes that as previously explained shapes
the functioning manner of the context. These steps are called horizontal investigation
and vertical investigation, respectively, and unveil the weakest elements and mechanisms mostly responsible for the current performance. The next phase is to assess
this analysis and formulate strategies to modify the system based on design ordering
principles (DOP). The phase after that is to test the design scenarios through the same
procedures that evaluate the existing situation in order to reach the optimum modification plan. The outcome is locally retrofitted in the last phase, and the achievements
in performance improvement are reported.
In PolimiparaRocinha, four main categories of challenges are defined: 1. People
engagement, 2. Managing the unbalanced density, 3. Proposing waste management
strategies, and 4. Proposing water management. For addressing these issues, five
113
to enhance their socioeconomic and environmental performances. It was developed
by the IMM Design Lab based in the ABC Department of Politecnico di Milano.
Based on system thinking, the main purpose of IMM is to introduce modification
scenarios in order to morphologically transform the built environment—in different
scales—into ecologically better-performing systems.
2 Integrated Modification Methodology (IMM)
Integrated modification methodology (IMM) is a procedure encompassing an open
set of scientific techniques for morphologically analyzing the built environment in a
multiscale manner and evaluating its performance in current states or under specific
design scenarios (Vahabzadeh Manesh et al. 2011).
In IMM, the built environment is considered a complex adaptive system (CAS)
in which the relationships between the parts are highly complicated in a way that
a mere local modification starts a chain reaction and ultimately changes the entire
system.
According to system theory, the functioning manner of any system is fundamentally directed mostly by the relationship between the parts and depends less on the
quality of its individual components (Wächter 2011).
IMM recognizes the built environment as a complex adaptive system (CAS) comprised of numerous subsets and many variables interacting on various levels, various
scales, and a diverse set of subcategories. Rendering the CAS’s nature, a mere local
action accrued in an individual subset will produce a chain reaction within the network of its parts and trigger a process which consequently leads to the global change
of the entire system. In other words, system agents adapt themselves in response
to the complex network of reactions arisen from individual changes (Vahabzadeh
Manesh and Tadi 2013).
The generic morphological subsystems recognized by IMM are namely: urban
built-up, urban void, types of uses, and links (Tadi et al. 2015). In the first phase, they
are being investigated individually, and the structural attributes resulting from their
fusion is studied. The former distinctively gives an understanding of the component,
and the latter quantifies the relational attributes that as previously explained shapes
the functioning manner of the context. These steps are called horizontal investigation
and vertical investigation, respectively, and unveil the weakest elements and mechanisms mostly responsible for the current performance. The next phase is to assess
this analysis and formulate strategies to modify the system based on design ordering
principles (DOP). The phase after that is to test the design scenarios through the same
procedures that evaluate the existing situation in order to reach the optimum modification plan. The outcome is locally retrofitted in the last phase, and the achievements
in performance improvement are reported.
In PolimiparaRocinha, four main categories of challenges are defined: 1. People
engagement, 2. Managing the unbalanced density, 3. Proposing waste management
strategies, and 4. Proposing water management. For addressing these issues, five