Paola Pellegrini PhD

Associate Professor

Paola Pellegrini holds a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in Architecture and a PhD in Urbanism from the University of Architecture in Venice, Italy. In 2018 - 2021 she was Visiting Professor at the Master in Urbanism at the Universidade Estadual Paulista, Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes e Comunicação, Bauru, Brazil. She was Visiting Associate in Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge MA.
Before joining XJTLU Paola was adjunct Associate Professor at the European postgraduate Master in Urbanism, Consortium of TU Delft, KU Leuven, UPC Barcelona, and IUAV; at the School of Architecture and Society of the Polytechnic in Milan; at University of Architecture in Venice - and at Udine University, Engineering and Architecture Department, Italy.
Paola is a registered Architect in Italy, and has always combined academic research and professional practice in City Planning and Urban Design. In 2016 and 2017 she was Member of the Operating Board for European Projects and Urban Policies of the Italian National Chamber of Architects.
Among other design and planning activities she was involved in the “Strategisch Ruimtelijk Structuurplan Antwerpen”, Belgium, in the “Le grand pari de l’agglomération parisienne, marché de recherche et développement pour l'avenir du Paris métropolitain“, France, in several projects on mobility infrastructures financed by the European Union Programmes on Sustainability, in several projects of urban heritage regeneration in Italy.


  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Visiting Professor of Urbanism at the Master program in Urbanism at the Universidade Estadual Paulista UNESP, FAAC - Faculdade de Arquitetura, Artes e Comunicação, Bauru, BRAZIL
  • Guest Professor at the Summer School of the ShanghaiTech University and the University of Padova, Italy
  • Post-doc Research Associate at Università IUAV di Venezia, Italy, Dept. of Urbanistica.
  • Visiting Associate in Urban Planning and Design, Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), Cambridge MA
  • PhD in Urbanism, University of Venice IUAV, Italy
  • Laurea (Bachelor + Master Degree) in Architecture, University of Venice IUAV, Italy


  • High qualification Expert for assessing the proposals related to the European Funding Programme: Programma di Cooperazione INTERREG V-A Italia-Slovenia 2014-2020, year 2017 and 2018
  • Senior expert for the definition and management of several European Union Projects regarding wide areas comprehensive planning, TEN-T projects, and local mobility.
  • Practitioner in Urban Design for several projects such as: Master Plan for the regeneration of the historic center of the village of Codroipo, IT; Masterplan of Kodrina Complex, Komuna e Prishtinës, Kosovo Short-listed team (with Tekne + Basement 15); Design and program for the widening of the Shopping Mall “Città Fiera”, IT; Analysis and regulations for conservation and regeneration of the XIX century urban heritage in the city of Udine, IT.
  • Practitioner in Urban Planning for several projects in Italy such as: Environment Management Plan of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Aquileia, pilot project; Strategic development plan of the mountain community "Comunità Collinare del Friuli"; Chart of Values of the mountain community "Comunità Montana della Carnia"; Requalification of the dismissed barrack "Radaelli" and methodological guide for the regeneration; Expert for the technical activities of the Horizon 2020 project PORTIS - PORT-Cities: integrating sustainability.; General and comprehensive city plan of Udine town and territory.
  • Urban Designer at the "Studio Associato Secchi – Viganò", Milano (IT).


  • The on-going researches deal with 2 topics related to the Chinese and Italian contexts: sustainable regeneration of urban China, focusing on the issues of density and proximity; wasted urban heritage, the abandonment processes of historic city centers in Italy and the requalification projects.
  • In the past the research activity explored: conservation and regeneration of the urban heritage; design for low density scattered territories; the integrated project of infrastructures for mobility; the scenario and vision as tools for the complexity of contemporary urban phenomena.
  • Key words: Urbanization, High-density, urban heritage, sprawl, densification and sustainability


  • Jinliu Chen, Paola Pellegrini*, Geng Ma Identifying Resettlement Communities' Urban Regeneration Opportunity Through GIS-based Spatial Analysis in Suzhou Metropolitan Area in Urban and Regional Planning, November 2021, 6:146-157 DOI: 10.11648/j.urp.20210604.15 Indexed on CNKI SCHOLAR (DOAJ √), Open Access
  • Vidal Gómez Martínez, Geng Ma, Paola Pellegrini, Miguel Reimão Costa Vernacular architecture and cultural identity in shrinking rural settlements in ACE Architecture, City and Environment, accepted June 2022 scimago H-INDEX 9, Q1
  • Jinliu Chen, Paola Pellegrini*, Haoqi Wang Comparative Residents' Satisfaction Evaluation for socially sustainable regeneration. The case of two high-density communities in Suzhou in Land 2022, 11(9), 1483; open access: https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091483 Impact factor 3.9, Citescore 3.2 2021, scimago H-INDEX 32, Q2
  • Jinliu Chen, Paola Pellegrini*, Yunqing Xu, Geng Ma Evaluating Residents' satisfaction before and after regeneration. The case of a high-density resettlement neighbourhood in Suzhou, China in Cogent Social Sciences 8, 1, DOI: 10.1080/23311886.2022.2144137 Citescore 2 2021, SJR H-INDEX 15, Q2, Taylor & Francis Group Open Acces
  • co-author with Ezio Micelli, Dinamiche dei centri storici italiani e nuove gerarchie territoriali, In Territorio 94 2020, pp.5-15.
  • co-author with Ezio Micelli, Paradoxes of the Italian Historic Centres between Underutilisation and Planning Policies for Sustainability, In Sustainability Volume 11 2019, issue 9, Special Issue: Enhancement of Public Real-estate Assets and Cultural Heritage: Management Plans and Models, Innovative Practices and Tools in Supporting the Local Sustainable Development. DOI: 10.3390/su11092614, open access article.
  • co-author with Ezio Micelli, Wasting heritage. The slow abandonment of the Italian Historic Centers, In Journal of Cultural Heritage Volume 31, May–June 2018, Pages 180-188, Elsevier, DOI: 10.1016/j.culher.2017.11.011.
  • On distance and Bernardo Secchi, Paola Pellegrini interviewed by Giovanna Astolfo and Camillo Boano, In Society and Space, Dec. 2014, The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College of London, ISSN 0263-7758 (print) 1472-3433 (electronic), http://societyandspace.org/2014/12/16/on-21/
  • co-author with Christina Conti, La valorizzazione delle caserme dismesse, un metodo per affrontarne la restituzione all’uso. Il caso del Friuli Venezia Giulia e la ex caserma Patussi, In TECHNE Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, n.3/12 Valorizzazione del patrimonio edilizio pubblico p. 224 – 236, Firenze University Press.
  • In the reviewer board of IJERPH - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, IF 2.62 (declared 2.849, for benchmarking: Town Planning Review of the LUP has an IF 1.6).


  • Enrico Corvi, Birgit Hausleiter, Marcin Darbowski, Paola Pellegrini Restoring the Porosity of Naples. A community-based design approach In the Proceedings of the 58th ISOCARP WORLD PLANNING CONGRESS “From Wealthy to Healthy Cities - Urbanism and Planning for the Well-Being of Citizens” ISOCARP - International Society of City and Regional Planners, https://brussels2022.isocarp.org/
  • Paola Pellegrini*, Jinliu Chen, Hypothesis of densification for a sustainable urbanization in a wealthy Chinese city in the Conference Proceedings of Beyond 2020 - World Sustainable Built Environment Conference, IOP Proceedings on the Earth and Environmental Science Journal, Volume 588, 1.15 – 1.19, Nov. 2020 open access: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/588/5/052029
  • Paradoxes of the Italian Historic Centres between Underutilisation and Planning Policies for Sustainability. In Conference Proceedings of AESOP 2019 Planning for Transition, 9-13 July Venice, pp.132–146.
  • Wasted heritage. Between policies on urban heritage and land consumption, In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Heritage and Sustainable Development, 12-15 June 2018, Granada, SP, published by the Editorial Universidad de Granada and the Green Lines Institute.
  • Waiting for the car-age. Walkability in Suzhou industrial park, China, In AMPS Proceedings Series 11 2018, series editor: Dr. Graham Cairns, Health: The Design, Planning and Politics of How and Where We Live, pp.288-297, ISSN 2398-9467. Conference held at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK, 25—26 January, 2018.
  • Hyper-local versus traditional. Development strategies in marginal territories, In AA.VV., Atti della XVIII Conferenza Nazionale SIU. Italia '45-'45. Radici, Condizioni, Prospettive, Venezia, 11-13 giugno 2015, Planum Publisher, Roma-Milano 2015, pp.296-303, ISBN 9788899237042.
  • Governing welfare space, In Aux frontières de l'urbain. Petites villes du monde: émergence, croissance, rôle économique et social, intégration territoriale, gouvernance, p. 730-740, Actes Avignon, Conference proceedings, UMR ESPACE, Avignon 2014.
  • Rethinking informality for common ground, In Conference proceedings of CUI '14, II Contemporary Urban Issues Conference, Istanbul, Nov. 2014, DAKAM Publishing, pp. 201 – 208, ISBN 9786055120917


  • Prossimità. Declinazioni di una questione urbana Mimesis Editore, Milano 2012
  • co-author with Lodovico Tramontin, Giovanna Astolfo Patussi, premesse per l’uso di una ex caserma, FORUM, Udine 2011
  • La periferia interiore, racconti della periferia nord di Mantova, Quodlibet, Macerata 2009
  • co-author with Paolo Bozzuto, Andrea Costa, Lorenzo Fabian Storie del futuro, scenari e progetto urbanistico, Quaderno del dottorato in Urbanistica n.4, Officina Edizioni, Roma 2008
  • with Lorenzo Fabian On mobility 2. Riconcettualizzazioni della mobilità nella città diffusa, Marsilio Editore, Venezia 2012
  • with Paola Viganò Comment vivre ensemble, prototypes of idiorrhythmic conglomerates and shared spaces, Quaderno del dottorato in Urbanistica n.3, Officina Edizioni, Roma 2006


  • Paola Pellegrini Networking of small communities for heritagization in: Luďa Klusáková and Blanca Del Espino Hidalgo (editors), Small Town Resilience and Heritage Commodification, P.I.E. PETER LANG s.a. Éditions scientifiques internationals, Bruxelles, December 2021, pp. 217-234, ISBN 978-2-8076-1743-8, DOI 10.3726/b18527
  • Christian Nolf, Alvise Pagnacco, Paola Pellegrini, Paola Vigano’, Luuk Zhang Suzhou Garden: The design of a water city 苏州园林:设计一个水上城市 in: YANG Yifan et al. (editors), Waterfront Analysis and Design. Comparative Report of Beijing, Suzhou and Yinchuan, BK BOOKS - Delft University of Technology, Amsterdam, April 2021, pp. 175-282, ISBN 9789463663663, open access: https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid%3A61a3d06c-79b0-43bd-8e4d-3e6efe445e81
  • -Making future Suzhou a sustainable home for more people. Exploring densification, with Jinliu Chen (Chapter in Chinese), pp.109-135; -Evidence from the green-blue system: a strategic element for developing an attractive urban environment in Future Suzhou, with Qiantao Zhang and Yuan Xu (Chapter in Chinese), pp.29-51 In 未来苏州——国际视角下的苏州城市规划与运营 中国建筑工业出 版社, Yunqing Xu, Li Chen editors, China Architecture and Building Press, 2021.
  • Dynamics of North Italian historic centres and their meaning for the urban structure. in Smart Innovation, System and Technologies, “NEW METROPOLITAN PERSPECTIVES” 4th edition Proceedings, vol. 178 SPRINGER, Pages 1776- 1785, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48279-4_168.
  • Parallelismi in Bernardo Secchi. Libri e piani. Roma: Officina Edizioni. Renzoni, C. Tosi, M.C. (eds), pp. 134-143. 2017
  • Citta’ metropolitana di Venezia. co-author with Fabian L., Munarin S., Pellegrini P., Tosi M.C., Vigano’ P. In Pianificare le citta’ metropolitane in Italia. Interpretazioni, approcci, prospettive. De Luca G., Moccia F. editors, Roma: INU Edizioni 2017, pp.123–158.
  • Implicit projects in the diffuse city. In Water and Asphalt. The project of isotropy, P. Viganò, L. Fabian editors, UFO Exploration Of Urbanism, Park Books, Zurich 2016, pp.44–57.


  • Member of the Italian Chamber of Architects (Professional License as full Architect).
  • 2016-2017 Member of the Operating Board for European Projects and Urban Policies of the Italian National Chamber of Architects.


  • SUZHOU DESIGN WEEK 2019 Project Leader of ‘REINVENTING SUZHOU’ exhibition of recent projects combining research and educational outcomes from the XJTLU Department of Urban Planning and Design and the Design Research Center. The exhibition received the “Heritage and Innovation” award.
Paola Pellegrini