Galli Barbara

Barbara Galli is Associate Professor of Architectural History (ICAR/18) at Politecnico di Milano – DABC. Her work focuses on architectural culture from the 19th to the 21st century, with particular attention to heritage protection and the transformation of the built environment; she has carried out research and teaching activities in Japan and China (University of Tsukuba; Tongji University). She served within the Italian Ministry of Culture as an architect officer at the Regional Directorate for Museums of Lombardy, holding museum directorships and technical responsibilities.

Career

Barbara Galli graduated in Architecture in 1995 from Politecnico di Milano, with a focus on history, heritage protection and conservation. From 2000 to 2002 she held a Monbusho scholarship at the University of Tsukuba (Japan); in 2003–2005 she was awarded the JSPS Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan, again at Tsukuba. In 2006 she earned a PhD at Politecnico di Torino in History and Criticism of Architectural and Environmental Heritage. She has taught at Politecnico di Milano (2004-2018) and contributed to teaching in Architectural History at the University of Brescia (2008–2010). She was Visiting Professor at Tongji University, Shanghai (2012–2017). From 2018 to 2021 she served as an architect officer within the Italian Ministry of Culture (MiBACT/MiC), at the Regional Directorate for Museums of Lombardy, with technical and procedural responsibilities for heritage protection and valorisation. Since 2021 she has been Associate Professor of Architectural History at Politecnico di Milano.

Research

Barbara Galli’s research focuses on architectural history and culture from the 19th to the 21st century, with attention to the relationship between heritage protection, transformations of the built environment, and conservation policies. Her work addresses productive landscapes and infrastructural architectures (industrial areas, grain silos and urban devices), with case studies in Italy, Japan and China, and forms of collective housing.

Selected Publications

Le piscine di Milano durante il Ventennio, Nomos, Busto Arsizio, 2025.

With M. Vaquero Piñeiro. A shared Heritage: The “Grain Silos” between the countryside and the city. In Urban Future - Cultural Pasts. The Heritage of People &Place, G. Cairns (ed.), Nielsen Book, London, pp 372-385.

With A. Castellano, A. Mazza, LODI NUOVA. Storie di architetture nel Terzo Millennio, Azzano San Paolo: Bolis 2018.

AT&T Headquarter, Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli Ed. 2011.Nihonjanai. Protezione dei beni architettonici e ambientali in Giappone,Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli Ed. 2008.

Grants, awards and Honours

Over the course of her career, Barbara Galli has been awarded competitive fellowships and appointments supporting international research, including the Monbusho Scholarship at the University of Tsukuba (2000–2002) and the JSPS Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan (2003–2005). She also carried out research under an Italian ministerial research fellowship (2010–2012) on methods for investigating architectural cultural heritage at Politecnico di Milano. Since 2025, she has been involved as a Foreign Expert in a scientific cooperation programme with Xi’an Jiaotong University (1 January 2025 – 31 December 2026), within an official research grant from the Chinese Ministry dedicated to academic exchanges and collaborative research.

Community Service

She contributes to the academic community as a peer reviewer for international and national journals (including Buildings, Territorio, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications)). She is project manager of the Sino-Italian Joint Lab for the Conservation and Regeneration of Sustainable Urban and Rural Heritage (Politecnico di Milano – Xi’an Jiaotong University). She serves on scientific and editorial boards, including OS. Opificio della storia and the “Paesaggi della produzione” book series (Rubbettino). She also participates in the scientific committees of international conferences (CHNT, Vienna; IC2UHI).