PhD Candidates’ Research Topics

Marina Volpe . Excellence Scholarship
This research explores the intersection between the right to housing and the integration pathways of migrants in Italy. Access to housing serves as a lens to analyze social and spatial injustices, as well as a fertile ground for the emergence of solidarity practices and social alliances. Drawing on critical, urban, and geographical studies, the research aims to define a feminist, intersectional, and postcolonial theoretical-methodological framework to support a new perspective of observation and action in urban contexts.

Sveva Ventre . Excellence Scholarship
This research investigates urban cultural policies through a transdisciplinary approach. It focuses on the concept of urban cultural infrastructure, paying particular attention to geographic power dynamics and the central role of culture and artistic production in mitigating social and economic disadvantage. Adopting a socio-material and ecological perspective, the study promotes culture—both in its infrastructural and immaterial dimensions—as a key driver for urban transition and the enhancement of local urban well-being.

Enzo Carannante . Excellence Scholarship
The research addresses the complex issue of migration through a transdisciplinary lens, aiming to understand migration not as an emergency but as a structural phenomenon and to explore its impacts on architecture and the built environment. In particular, the study focuses on the concept of borders—in their various meanings—as sites of socio-urban innovation where new ways of inhabiting emerge in response to the increasing complexity of migration trends.

Angela Girardo . Excellence Scholarship
This research investigates the relationship between architectural form and symbolic and sociocultural meanings, framing the topic within the contemporary crisis of architectural language. Through a transdisciplinary approach, the study focuses on the phenomenon of the destruction of cultural heritage, including iconoclastic actions targeting the iconic and figurative value of architectural works during armed conflicts.

Chiara Castellano . DM 117 Scholarship – Industrial Partner: Stellantis
This research explores mobility transition within the broader context of socio-technical transformation. It aims to recognize the ontological role of mobility systems in shaping cities and human settlements by analyzing their territorial impacts and their potential to foster more desirable and just urban futures. Within a mobility justice framework, the study focuses on balancing ecological, individual, and collective mobility needs while addressing risks such as social exclusion, gentrification, and car dependency.