PhD candidate Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Ferrara (Italy)
Elena Verzella is a licensed architect and, since 2020, a Ph.D. candidate in Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Ferrara (Italy). She graduated cum laude in 2017 at the Department of Architecture of the same university, with her thesis Urban reflections. The redevelopment of the abandoned Sacci concrete factory as a trigger for the regeneration of the river Pescara. Since this research project, she has developed a strong interest in the relationship between water and human settlements and, in particular, in how the latter can influence urban development patterns and generate large scale transformation processes.
At the moment, her doctoral research focuses on urban waterfronts and investigates possible design principles and strategies which aim to address the upcoming challenges of climate change but also, through the reformulation of the traditional relationship between water and built-up, to combine flood protection needs with current and future urban development ambitions.
In recent years, she has also been collaborating with ArcDes, a Research Lab based at the University of Ferrara and involved in applied research targeting the development of integrated architectural design programs for cities, environment and landscape.
Besides her research activity, starting from 2017, she has been working as a professional in an international Dutch firm operating worldwide and providing services in architecture, landscape and urban planning.
Last publications:
Verzella, Elena. 2021. “The Case of the Port of Pescara. A Narrative of Unexpressed Potentials and Missed Opportunities”. PORTUSplus 11 (December). https://portusplus.org/index.php/pp/article
Verzella, Elena. 2021. “Water Resilience. Operative Key Concepts for Climate-resilient Urban Waterfronts” in the Book of Abstracts of the CA²RE / CA²RE+ LJUBLJANA: REFORMULATION Conference. Link: https://ca2re.fa.uni-lj.si/submissions/verzella-water-resilience.
Ferrari, Marco, Guidetti, Elena, Tessari, Alessandro, Verzella, Elena, 2021. “Prospettive diverse per obiettivi comuni”, in Design Research Languages. Architectural design as research product and possible communication tools, ProArch, Roma, Italy. ISBN:9791280379009.
