DomusAir: Cities in transition

Cities today face contrasting challenges: regenerating and optimising existing structures or rapidly expanding into untouched lands. Experts advocate halting new land consumption, prioritising reuse and citizen-focused planning. DomusAir’s latest issue (no.15) highlights infrastructure that balances performance, environmental responsibility, and human experience, through both new construction and the careful regeneration of urban fabric. 

Overview: A New time for cities by Leonardo Cavalli

Cities today stand at a crossroads: are they simply containers of buildings and infrastructure, or living expressions of the people who inhabit them? This question reveals two different futures. In Europe, where populations are stable or shrinking, cities evolve from within, focusing on quality, balance, and the optimisation of services rather than expansion. Elsewhere in the world, rapid demographic and economic growth demands new cities built out of necessity. This opens space for long-term visions and experimentation, ranging from traditional urban forms to more utopian model like The Line. Ultimately, future cities may be defined not only by their physical space but also by time, relationships, and layers that allow them to grow.

Ports in transition by Michele Pugliese, Francesca Pintus and Chiara Nifosi

Italian port clusters have become key testing grounds for sustainable development as European policies push for more integrated, efficient transport systems. Despite their importance, ports across EU Member States remain governed by different national rules, which in Italy has created longstanding tensions between ports and cities. Italian ports have historically grown inside urban areas, limiting space for relocation and complicating regeneration of waterfronts and interface zones. Environmental pressures, socio-cultural conflicts, and regulatory rigidity have further slowed progress. The latest legislative framework encourages co-planning between port authorities and municipalities, especially in sensitive port-city transition areas. As a result, Italian ports are becoming interesting laboratories for social and ecological transition.

Infrastructure Case Studies

1. Harmony Circle

Cakra Selaras Wahana (CSW) is an elevated transport hub that reconnects Jakarta’s two main public transit systems: the elevated bus rapid transit network and the underground metro rail. Inspired by the district’s original 1948 roundabout and the nearby ASEAN Secretariat, the design reinterprets circular geometry as a pedestrian plaza. Designed by Studio Lawang, this 4400 sqm hub integrates structural, mechanical, and lighting systems without disrupting transit operations. CSW enhances wayfinding, accessibility, and user experience, while providing social and cultural space. Though highly site-specific, its approach offers a transferable model for heritage-sensitive, climate-responsive, and socially inclusive transit-oriented urban interventions.

2. Welcoming the world with a flower

The new Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, is conceived as a welcoming symbol for India and Mumbai. Mumbai’s long aviation history and its strategic position between India’s regions and major global routes have driven the need for a modern hub. The airport is designed to support future growth and strengthen Mumbai’s role as a key global interchange. Inspired by the lotus flower, the terminals unfold like petals to create a fluid, intuitive journey that reflects the city’s energy, diversity, and cinematic spirit. NMIA is planned as a multimodal, investment-attracting hub that blends world-class performance with strong environmental standards. 

3. Raise the Chalices

Stuttgart’s new mainstation is reshaping the heart of the city. 28 concrete “chalices” rise through the hall and support a luminous, flowing roof. The design, conceived by Christoph Ingenhoven and developed by ingenhoven associates, blends structural mastery, light and geometry to create a monumental yet serene space. Each chalice brings daylight and natural ventilation, and the roof operates as a passive climate system, complemented by geothermal exchange. What began as a transport initiative has evolved into a European model for sustainable mobility, merging technical discipline with cultural meaning.

4. Reconnecting with the ocean

The Wilmington Waterfront Promenade reconnects Los Angeles’ Wilmington community to the Pacific Ocean after decades of separation caused by the expansion of the Port of Los Angeles. Through an interdisciplinary planning effort, Sasaki and the Port Authority worked with residents and local agencies to create a masterplan that balanced industrial activity with access to natural spaces for the neighbourhood’s primarily Hispanic community. The Wilmington revitalisation plan launched with the Waterfront Park in 2011 and has expanded with the newly completed Waterfront Promenade. The final phase, the land bridge, will create a major gateway to the waterfront, transforming the former industrial area into an inviting public landscape.  

Interview: Without consuming soil

Currently, uncontrolled development consumes soil at a rate of 2.7 sqm per second, worsening flooding and ecological instability. Paolo Pileri, reminds us in his book, Dalla parte del suolo: L’ecosistema invisibile, soil isn’t just an inert surface but a living ecosystem, and fundamental to biodiversity, yet too often overlooked in public and political debate. He argues that preventing new land consumption would require a radical transformation of urban planning: focusing on densification, regeneration, and reuse of existing structures, rather than speculative expansion.

A 7 trillion dollar deal

Artificial intelligence is driving an unprecedented surge in data creation and computing demand. Each new generation of AI model requires exponentially more power, space and cooling capacity, creating a mismatch between what data centres can provide and what AI systems need. To keep pace, the global investment may reach 7 trillion dollars by 2030. Energy scarcity is already affecting major markets, and the traditional air-cooling is no longer sufficient, pushing the industry toward liquid-cooling systems and entirely new infrastructure models. At the same time, long construction timelines and regional energy constraints are already reshaping the global geography of data centres. As AI adoption accelerates across industries and science, the future of data centres depends on rapid, sustainable expansion and new approaches to location, power supply, cooling, and electrical systems. 

Last but not least, take-off by Giulio De Carli

Infrastructure has been shaping cities and regions for centuries, affecting not only functionality and service levels but also quality of life, environmental balance, and social equity. Infrastructure should be designed not only to serve immediate needs but to enhance regional development, economic competitiveness, and human well-being. The projects featured in DomusAir pay increasingly close attention to these mentioned aspects, whether concerning the construction of new infrastructure and urban elements or the regeneration and upgrading of existing ones.

Pick up your copy of the latest edition of Domus Magazine or follow some of the key stories at DomusWeb.