Riva Raffaella

Raffaella Riva is an assistant professor in Technological and Environmental Design of Architecture (CEAR-08/C) at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano since 2011. She teaches at the School of Architecture, Urban Planning and Construction Engineering conducts research in the Envi-Reg Observatory on Environmental Regeneration group. At the Politecnico di Milano, she held a research grant entitled ‘Policies, projects and techniques for the rehabilitation and transformation of urban suburbs’ from 2001 to 2006 and was employed in category D, technical, technical-scientific and data processing area from 2006 to 2011.Since 2014, she has been responsible for the editorial committee of the ‘Politecnica-Studi e Progetti’ series published by Maggioli, and since 2025, she has been the editorial director of the ‘Tecnologia Architettura Territorio’ series published by Biblion.Since 2015, she has been a member of the coordination committee of the Italian Ecomuseums Network.

Career

Bachelor's degree in Architecture, obtained on 31 March 1999 from the Politecnico di Milano.

PhD in ‘Design and technologies for the enhancement of cultural heritage’, obtained with honours on 24 June 2008 from the Politecnico di Milano.

Research

In the field of Environmental design, she conducts research on:

• Urban regeneration;
• Resilience, climate adaptation and the improvement of settlement systems;
• Enhancement of the landscape and cultural heritage in terms of districts and eco-museums;
• Strategic planning;
• Participation and empowerment of local communities.

Selected Publications

Riva R., Castaldo G.; Banfi F. (2025), "Community engagement and co-design processes for sustainable urban regeneration. The Utopize Horizon Europe project”, in Etyemez Çiplak L., Ozkan Oztùrk H.N., Ye$Ilbag D., Tùnger Ç. (eds), Beyond All Limit Conference 2025, Çankaya University, Ankara, pp. 673-682.

Riva R., Castaldo G. (eds) (2025), PGT 2025. Strategie e progetti per il sud-est milanese, Biblion edizioni, Milano.

Riva R., Aldovini G., Dal Santo R. (2022), “Managing the eco-social transition: communities in action to build possible futures / Gestire la transizione eco-sociale: comunità in azione per costruire futuri possibili”, Techne, vol. 23, pp. 62-68.

Dal Santo R., Almeida N.H.O., Riva R. (2021), “Distant but United: A Cooperation Charter between Ecomuseums of Italy and Brazil”, Museum International, vol. 73, nn. 3-4, pp. 54-67.

Riva R. (ed) (2017), Ecomuseums and cultural landscapes. State of the art and future prospects, Maggioli, Santarcangelo di Romagna.

Schiaffonati F., Mussinelli E., Majocchi A., Tartaglia A., Riva R., Gambaro M. (2015), Tecnologia Architettura Territorio. Studi ricerche progetti, Maggioli, Santarcangelo di Romagna.

Riva R. (2008), Il metaprogetto dell’ecomuseo, Maggioli, Santarcangelo di Romagna.