AMSHI: Advanced solutions for mitigating the impact of heat islands on urban roads through an inter-academic and multidisciplinary international honour program

The essay presents the research, methodology, and process employed in the AMSHI (an acronym for Advanced Solutions for Mitigating the impact of Heat Islands on urban roads) project, a collaborative effort involving the Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi), Design Department, as principal investigator and the Politecnico di Torino (PoliTo) with the Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering as PoliTO department leader, with the collaboration also of Department of Energy - Department of Applied Science and Technology - Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning, in a “Multidisciplinary International Honour Program.” The initiative tackled a contemporary and highly relevant theme, extending the principles of circular economy and environmental sustainability to the urban product scale. Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, the project focused on traditional road pavement blocks, a modular product with broad applicability but rarely subject to innovative design approaches. The project adopted a synergistic and multidisciplinary perspective, engaging the Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, distributed in distinct departments combined their specific expertise, and two corporate partners (Ferrari BK, specialized in the production of traditional out-door paving blocks, and R3direct specialized in 3D printing). Both collaborated with students from diverse academic backgrounds to undertake an annual research and field experimentation project. Methodologically, the process involved workshops, seminars, interim milestones, site visits, on-site measurements, and company visits. The overarching research aimed to determine the microclimatic effects induced by new pavement materials to counteract Urban Heat Islands (UHI) and enhance thermal comfort in historical centres. Specifically, AMSHI sought to explore innovative urban pavement solutions, outline a new block production process incorporating locally sourced secondary raw materials, and monitor applications to assess the environmental performance of the proposed solution. The project’s innovative aspect lies in addressing a gap in established pavement block production. No widely available, economically, and environmentally sustainable product with technical and aesthetic features suitable for prestigious urban contexts (such as city centres and historical streets) exists. The product should also be potentially customizable and available at accessible costs for public administrations. The research outcome involved prototyping a solution proposed by the project team, created using 3D printers and Plasmix. The solution underwent testing for small-scale production intended for experimental applications in the pilot site (in the Municipality of Savona, Italy). The 3D moulds were made from recycled plastic that met vibration resistance tests. Future project prospects, supported by secured funding, include optimizing the product and production process, installation in the designated municipal area, additional field tests, and new measurements to corroborate the solution’s effectiveness.