Leonardo Ramondetti

Leonardo Ramondetti's picture

Research Assistant
Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST)

Profile

Research interests

Chinese urbanisation
Counter mapping
Critical cartography
Infrastructure-led urbanisation
Landscape design
Urban design
Urban theory
Urbanism
Visual methods

Biography

Leonardo Ramondetti, PhD in Urban and Regional Development. My field is contemporary urban design and planning, with attention to infrastructure-led urbanisations. My empirical research has been carried out in China and Europe. During my PhD (2016-2020), I was a researcher for the 'Chinese New Towns: Negotiating Citizenship and Physical Form', including a five-month visiting period at Tsinghua University. In parallel, I also developed my own research The Enriched Field: Urbanising the Central Plains of China, published by Birkha¨user in 2022. Thereafter, I was appointed coordinator of the China Room research group at Politecnico di Torino. I have further developed my knowledge of infrastructural projects and sustainable planning over the course of my post-doctoral research 'Rescaling the Belt and Road Initiative: Urbanisation processes, innovation patterns and global investments' (2020-2024). This study, currently in publication, focuses on infrastructure-led urbanisations in Europe, allowing me to gain insights into the energy and logistics transformations underway. These topics were also at the centre of the research 'Infrastructures and Cities: Research Perspectives and Forms of Inquiry' (2020-2024), including a five-month visiting period an invited scholar at Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Socie´te´s, funded by Universite´ Gustave Eiffel.

Skills

ERC sectors

SH7_7 - Cities; urban, regional and rural studies
SH7_6 - Environmental and climate change, societal impact and policy
SH7_8 - Land use and planning
SH3_12 - Social studies of science and technology
SH7_5 - Sustainability sciences, environment and resources, ecosystem services

SDG

Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities

Awards and Honors

  • Premio Qualità conferred by Politecnico di Torino, Italy (2020)
  • Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions Seal of Excellence conferred by European Commission. Horizon Europe (2023)
  • TRAPEZIO - Paving the way to research excellence and talent attraction conferred by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Italy (2024)

Fellowships

Other research or teaching roles outside Politecnico

  • Professore Incaricato Esterno, presso Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris (1/4/2024-30/6/2024)
  • Professore Incaricato Esterno, presso Université Gustave Eiffel (1/2/2024-31/3/2024)
  • Visiting Researcher, presso University of Utrecht (13/12/2023-20/12/2023)
  • Visiting Researcher, presso Université Gustave Eiffel (1/3/2023-31/7/2023)
  • Professore a contratto, presso Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di BOLOGNA

Teaching

Teachings

Master of Science

MostraNascondi A.A. passati

Bachelor of Science

MostraNascondi A.A. passati

Other activities and projects related to teaching

Adjunct Professor in Urban and Regional Planning at Università di Bologna
Period: AYs 2022/2023 to 2024/2025
Course: Structuring the City by Design Lab, MS in Architecture and Creative Practices for the City and Landscape (95843) Module: Sustainable Features of the Urban System (50h)

Invited Lecturer in Urbanism at the École d'Urbanisme de Paris (UGE + UPEC)
Period: AY 2023/2024
Course: Cities: Emerging Issues and Challenges, International MS in Urban Planning (10h)
Course co-convened by: Profs Martine Drozdz and Jonathan Rutherford (Université Gustave Eiffel)

Invited Lecturer in Urbanism at the École Nationale Supérieure des Mines (ISIGE)
Period: AY 2023/2024
Course: Post-master International Environmental Management (EnvIM) (20h)
Course co-convened by: Profs Daniel Florentin (École Nationale Supérieure des Mines)

Research

Other activities and projects related to research

HyperSCAPES: Extreme infrastructure projects and new forms of urbanity in the Anthropocene (2025-2028)
Project Grant: Fondo Italiano per la Scienza 2/2023 (Italian ERC) grant - Italian Ministry of Education
Principal investigator: Dr Leonardo Ramondetti
Institution: Politecnico di Torino (DIST)
Short Description: The research provides an understanding of the spatialisation of large-scale infrastructure projects to propose novel methods to ensure more sustainable and just development. Focusing on prominent infrastructure-led developments in Asia, Europe, and South America, the research firstly analyses the economic and political processes that drive regional infrastructure initiatives, and their plans and policies. Secondly, the project investigates the spatialisation of large-scale infrastructure projects ‘on the ground’ by deploying a mixed methodology that combines quantitative GIS studies and qualitative ethnographic research. It then brings interdisciplinary experts together to foster the exchange of knowledge to produce a propositional approach for the planning of large-scale infrastructure developments, which will lead to agenda-setting publications and academic scholarship

Integrating Energy and Logistics Hubs: Sustainable Infrastructure Development in Second-tier Mediterranean Ports (2025-2027)
Project Grant: Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo - SoE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action/Bando Trapezio 2024
Principal investigator: Dr Leonardo Ramondetti
Institutions: Politecnico di Torino (DIST), and IUAV University of Venice (Department of Design Culture)
Short Description: This research investigates the spatialisation of energy and logistics infrastructures, and its environmental effects at regional and local levels. The research focuses on the sustainable development of infrastructures in second-tier Mediterranean ports. Taking the North Adriatic Port Association as a case study, it will establish novel, in-depth understandings on models and solutions for a better environmental integration of energy and logistics spaces.

Territorial and Spatial Transformations for the Digital and Ecological Transition in the Alpine Region (2024-2025)
Project Grant: Lombardy Region
Principal investigator: Prof Andrea Arcidiacono
Institutions: Politecnico di Milano (DAStU + CRAFT - Competence Center Anti-Fragile Territories)
Non-academic Partner: Lombardy Region and EUSALP members
Short Description: This research investigates the urban and landscape transformations brought about by new digital and physical infrastructures in the Alpine Region. The study focuses on the valleys in Lombardy, with the objective of
- Investigating how the infrastructural restructuring is impacting the mountainous areas, with attention to the change in hydro-power system and new logistics activities.
- Understanding how urban planning can addressed the challenges of contemporary infrastructural projects.

Rescaling the Belt and Road Initiative: Urbanization Processes, Innovation Patterns and Global Investments (2020-2024)
Project Grant: Research Project of National Relevance (PRIN) grant - Italian Ministry of Education
Principal investigators: Profs Francesca Governa and Francesca Spigarelli
Institutions: Politecnico di Torino (DIST + DAD + China Room research group), and Università di Macerata (Department of Law + China Center)
Short Description: This interdisciplinary research investigates the spatial dimensions of the Belt and Road Initiative, exploring how Chinese investment in infrastructures defines novel urbanisations. While the first phase of research focuses on China, due to the pandemic the second addresses the infrastructural and logistics transformations along the Adriatic Sea. The research goals are:
- Contributing to the debate on infrastructural projects in urban studies, focusing on how infrastructure-led developments shape new urbanities and promote new economies.
- Investigating the features of built-up spaces and urbanisation processes along the Belt and Road Initiative.

Infrastructures and Cities: Research Perspectives and Forms of Inquiry (2021-2024)
Principal investigators: Profs Olivier Coutard and Daniel Florentin
Institutions: Laboratoire Techniques, Territoires et Sociétés (CNRS + EGU + ENP), École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris (ISIGE), and Politecnico di Torino (DIST)
Short Description: The research involved urban planners, architects, economists, engineers, ethnographers, and geographers from more than thirty universities worldwide to discuss their ongoing research, and nourish academic debates on the relationship between infrastructures and cities. The study focused on:
- The ambivalent social properties of infrastructure, and the consequent tensions in infrastructure development.
- New infrastructure imaginaries, organisations, and infrastructure-related practices.
- The inherently political processes of infrastructuring.
The research revolved around two conferences, the first at the Ecole de Mines ParisTech, the second at Politecnico di Torino, involving 38 universities and research institutions worldwide.

CeNTO - Chinese New Towns: Negotiating Citizenship and Physical Form (2016-2019)
Project Grant: Politecnico di Torino, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Torino, and Horizon 2020
Principal investigators: Profs Michele Bonino, Francesca Governa and Angelo Sampieri
Institutions: Politecnico di Torino (DIST + DAD + China Room research group), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (College of Humanities), and Tsinghua University of Beijing (School of Architecture)
Short Description: This interdisciplinary research explored the construction of Chinese new towns. Drawing upon the cases of Tongzhou (Hebei Province), Zhaoqing (Guangdong Province) and Zhengdong (Henan Province), this project aimed to open new vistas on urban narratives and to explore global trends in urbanisation processes. The research adopted the lenses of urban design and architecture to reveal the spatial features and daily practices in Chinese new towns. It also explored how these developments have appropriated urban models from different contexts, in turn, reinventing them.

Publications

Publications by type

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