Systemic, transversal, dynamic. An integrated approach to achieve sustainability in a complex landscape.

As researchers interested to territorial studies, the future of our cities is one of our most important concerns. Considering the strong transformative process in which the different accelerations are accompanied by the climate crisis, we should ask ourselves a question: how can we ensure that design truly acts with a sustainable approach and strives for a sustainable future? The experience intends to fit into the framework of those proposals that try to ground sustainability, in addition to debate about it. More precisely, the idea is to materialize a transition from a design attitude that researches connections with the Agenda 2030 to an approach that integrates the sustainable development goals to the different design phases, from the analytical-interpretative to the strategic-prefigurative one.To achieve this idea, the research proposes to explore sustainability by searching a systemic vision, to experiment sustainability by assuming a transversal behavior and to interact with sustainability by working with a dynamic attitude. The city of Mantua has been identified as a field of application where the idea can be linked to a transition process. Since 2023, the city has been involved in the European project HyMantoValley, an initiative of a broader program aimed at creating a hydrogen valley within the limits of the province. This context becomes an opportunity to reflect on new forms of energy production and distribution and to investigate the effects on the city and the landscape caused by these new relations. The case study intends to present a possible attempt to ground the different principles proposed by United Nations in a complex landscape.