Books in the PoliMI SpringerBriefs series

This book examines the various ways in which co-production can contribute to the creation, design, and delivery of public services, namely by engaging the expertise of users and their networks, by promoting public services that are better targeted and more responsive to users, by cutting costs against the background of austerity in public finance, by creating a synergy between government and civil society that will impact positively on social capital, and by addressing the challenges resulting from growing democratic and citizenship deficits. Particular attention is paid to local government and the health and social care sector. After definition of the concept of co-production, the critical issues which arise when public services are co-produced are discussed. Various experiences of co-production are presented and analyzed with a view to highlighting why, how, and with what effect public service co-production may be implemented. Individual chapters focus on the impact of co-productionin making cities smarter and the use of ICT in supporting co-production of public services. The book will be of relevance to a wide readership, from students to academics and professionals interested or engaged in public service management.

This book describes a collaborative Design Pilot Project held in Brazil (called MODU.Lares) involving micro and small enterprises and other actors in the furniture sector.

This book first presents different approaches to modeling of the cold spray process with the aim of extending current understanding of its fundamental principles and then describes emerging applications of cold spray.

Three conceptual models that offer different perspectives on public and civic participation in complex urban planning processes are presented and reviewed: the consensual model, which conceives of planning as a collective decision-making practice geared toward consensus building and conflict resolution;

This open access book presents nine outstanding doctoral dissertations in Information Technology from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, Italy.

Two in-depth case studies on institutional change in metropolitan transport (in London and Barcelona) are presented with a view to testing the aforementioned hypotheses and providing insights into the ways in which the two transport institutions were reformed.

This books is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book summarizes work being undertaken within the collaborative MODAClouds research project, which aims to facilitate interoperability between heterogeneous Cloud platforms and remove the constraints of deployment, portability, and reversibility for end users of Cloud services.

This book discusses the issues relevant to the evaluation of the thermal energy balance of buildings in southern Europe and equips readers to carry out optimal building energy-performance assessments taking into account the peculiarities of the climatic context.

This book reports onthe results of an extended survey conducted across Europe within the frameworkof the APPRAISAL FP7 projectto determine the extent to which an integrated assessment approach toair quality is being adopted, on the one hand, by regional and local authorities to develop airquality plans and, on the other, by researchers. Followinga detailed analysis of the role and structure of the components of anintegrated assessment study, the results of the survey are considered from avariety of perspectives. Aboveall, the book discusses the new light the survey sheds on emissionabatement policies and measures planned at regional and local scales, and on their synergies/trade-offs with measures implementedat the national scale. Detailed consideration is given to the currently available modelingmethodologies foridentifying emissionsources, assessing theeffectiveness of emission reduction measures, and evaluating the impacts of emissionabatement measures on human health. Current strengths and weaknesses revealedby the survey are explored, and the application of an integrated assessment tool in two case studies (in Brussels and Porto) is discussed. The book will appeal to all those interested in the use of integratedassessment in connection withthe sources, effects and control of air pollution. 

This book describes the Exergy-based Input - Output (ExIO) framework, a comprehensive methodology for assessing the primary fossil fuels requirements for the production of goods and services within a given economy from a lifecycle perspective.

Based on these experiences it extensively discusses evaluation, with a particular focus on service evaluation, and explains its importance in supporting service design and fostering innovation throughout the service design process.

This book presents an original methodology for analyzing urban retail systems, addressing the strong retail meltdown (increase in closed corner-shops and dead malls) that is severely affecting cities and suburban areas in Europe and the USA.

This multidisciplinary book brings together medical, management, and architectural disciplines in order to formulate new approaches to the programming, planning, and design of healthcare facilities that will improve the quality of healthcare systems in rapidly developing countries, respecting local culture.

This book offers a fascinating exploration of the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and spatial planning, expanding the concept of "urban smartness" from the usual scale of buildings or urban projects to the regional dimension.

This book presents a design-driven investigation into smart materials developed by chemists, physicists, materials and chemical engineers, and applied by designers to consumer products, buildings, interfaces, or textiles.

This book examines the problem of relevant query answering over the Web and provides a comprehensive overview of relevant query answering over streaming and distributed data.

This book presents the findings of a detailed study to explore the behavior of architectural glazing systems during and after an earthquake and to develop design proposals that will mitigate or even eliminate the damage inflicted on these systems.

This book offers a well-structured, critical review of current design practice for tensioned membrane structures, including a detailed analysis of the experimental data required and critical issues relating to the lack of a set of design codes and testing procedures.

This book offers a state-of-the-art overview of controlled drug delivery systems, covering the most important innovative applications.

This book explains the potential value of using mobile phone data to monitor urban practices and identify rhythms of use in today's cities.

This book explores the value of the musical concept of "agogics" - the modification of regular rhythm to enhance expressive potential - in understanding urban spatial configurations within the current technological context and in developing urban maps that exploit sonic signals to create an open learning framework.

This book aims to cast light on all aspects of tunnel fires, based on experimental activities and theoretical and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses.

This book explains how lightweight materials and structures can be deployed in buildings to meet high environmental and aesthetic standards and emphasizes how the concept of lightness in building technology and design dovetails with the desire to enhance landscape.

This book describes the latest efforts to develop aluminumnanocomposites with enhanced damping and mechanical properties and goodworkability.

This volume presents both methodologies and numerical applications for the design of non-conventional unit operations in chemical processes and plants, which are rarely studied in depth at an academic level but have wide applications in the industrial sector.

During the past two decades incredible progress has been achieved in the instruments and devices used in the biomedical field.

This book investigates novel methods and technologies for the collection, analysis and representation of real-time user-generated data at the urban scale in order to explore potential scenarios for more participatory design, planning and management processes.