Energy retrofit to nearly zero and socio-oriented urban environmentsin the Mediterranean climate.

The paper aims at presenting alternative ways of investigating, planning and managing sustainableurban environments, by exploring the possibility to use energy retrofitting options as a socio-economicalleverage towards nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEBs).The connecting theme of the proposed research path is that the crises of energy supply and globalwarming need to be tackled with an interdisciplinary, both socio-technical and engineering approach.In particular, the design study and the performed technical–economical evaluation demonstrate thatenergy efficiency in residential urban complex can be considered as an extraordinary opportunity torestore environmental, social and urban quality.The techno-economical feasibility assessment, the proper identification of the types of interventionand their combination in possible scenarios must be investigated and estimated on a case-by-case basis,with an effective and interdisciplinary design approach integrating in a whole system the socio-technicalaspects into the feasibility study of economical and architectural issues.In this context, a renewed role of architects and planners is what is need for a real shift in the buildingpractice. In fact, instead of trying to structure the informal through the architectural production based onauthorship, architects should consider the users’ perspective and their need as self-organised processesof negotiation. This strategy can help in engaging a real shift from the current practice towards a socialsustainable process where inhabitants and designers work together to find effective and real solutionsto social and technical questions.The urban and technological strategies here presented suggest a multi-fold approach that could stim-ulate the process of energy renewal according to a socio-oriented use of architectural tools in urbanenvironments.