Michela Benente

Confirmed Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture and Design (DAD)

  • Professore Aggregato

Profile

Research interests

Accessibility
Conservation
Cultural heritage
Enhancement
Resilience
Restoration
Social inclusion

Scientific branch

ICAR/19 - CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION OF ARCHITECTURE
(Area 0008 - Civil engineering and architecture)

Research topics

  • Resilience and cultural heritage. The proposed research project develops reflections on the theme of Resilience in relation to cultural heritage. The concept of resilience has recently been applied to numerous areas including cultural heritage. The debate in this area is particularly interesting with respect to the specific and sometimes contradictory actions that can be attributed to the term resilience. The application to cultural heritage and the confrontation with the complexity that it inverts is in fact generating divergent positions. The state of the art shows, in fact, how studies on the subject move from the assessment of the danger and risk to which assets are subjected by defining preventive actions or actions aimed at overcoming a moment of crisis. The very concept of heritage conservation and its transmission to future generations must be declined according to the events that historicise the object of protection. Every asset represents a process of evolution and sometimes of transformation necessarily conditioned by the succession of actions or events, natural or anthropic, that condition its value with a view to material and immaterial transmission to future generations. If events and consequent reactions become the characterising feature of every process of transformation, reconstruction or valorisation, resilience becomes an interpretative paradigm of the outcomes connected to every form of intervention on heritage. Emblematic are the reflections on the theme linked to natural catastrophes such as floods or earthquakes or others connected to health needs such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Starting from an analysis of the reference literature, the project aims to identify a series of significant and homogeneous case studies which, when compared, will allow us to understand their individual resilience to the processes of historicization. The analysis of the recurring elements will make it possible to identify essential aspects for the protection and enhancement of the heritage in its material and immaterial consistency according to the peculiarities of the elements characterising it.

Skills

ERC sectors

SH5_7 - Museums, exhibitions, conservation and restoration

SDG

Goal 4: Quality education
Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities

Teaching

Collegi of the PhD programmes

  • PATRIMONIO ARCHITETTONICO /ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE, 2022/2023 (39. ciclo)
    Politecnico di TORINO

Collegi of the degree programmes

Teachings

PhD

MostraNascondi A.A. passati

Master of Science

MostraNascondi A.A. passati

Research

Research fields

Research projects

Projects funded by competitive calls

Projects funded by commercial contracts

Supervised PhD students

  • Gianluca D'Agostino. Programme in Beni Architettonici E Paesaggistici (37th cycle, 2021-in progress)

Publications

Latest publications View all publications in Porto@Iris