Giulia Celentano


Last Name

Celentano

First Name

Giulia

ORCID

0000-0003-2403-2982

Organisational unit

03972 - Habert, Guillaume / Habert, Guillaume

Filters

2016 - 201932020 - 202515
Reset filters

Search Results

Publications 1 - 10 of 18
  • Supply chain mapping and stakeholders' assessment towards the sustainable development goals: The case of the construction sector in the informal settlement of Mathare, Nairobi
    Item type: Conference Paper
    Celentano, Giulia; Salcedo Villanueva, Jesús; Habert, Guillaume (2020)
    IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
    The UN Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a more sustainable future for all. One of these targets to be tackled by their implementation is the improvement of the livelihood of 1/6 of the global population, housed in unsafe informal settlements. This paper explores the correlation between GOAL11 – Sustainable cities for all - and other aspects of the societies relevant for the achievement of the SDGs –Responsible consumption and production, No poverty, Gender inclusion, Decent work and economic growth- in a mutual and potentially virtuous relationship. The work is based on months of fieldwork conducted in 2018 in the informal settlement of Mathare and in the city of Nairobi, through observation and semi-structured interviews, with the objective of understanding the current productive and economic flows of the construction sector supplying the informal city. From the study, the following statement emerged: a) different final building users (clients) operating in Mathare have access to different building materials b) the diffusion of materials inside the settlement is strictly related to the access to the shop and to the potential client sites c) the diffusion of materials inside the settlement is highly impacted by the availability of space both by the supplier store and on the building site d) tribal division plays a significant role in the distribution of roles in the construction sector. The study shows the relevance of applying a metabolic approach to the city throughout its supply chain in order to understand its ongoing logic prior to a construction intervention. This allows to understand ongoing construction practices, identify gaps and bottlenecks and propose improvement solutions fitting with the ongoing dynamics. The local economy would benefit from such an approach, tailored on its needs and potentials.
  • The informal city as a socio-technical system: Construction management and money distribution in the informal and upgraded communities of Bangkok
    Item type: Journal Article
    Celentano, Giulia; Göswein, Verena; Magyar, Jeffrey; et al. (2020)
    Journal of Cleaner Production
  • Development of a Decision-support Tool for Climate-adaptive Construction in Humanitarian Contexts
    Item type: Other Conference Item
    Al Laham, Hager; Mirabian, Pedram; Celentano, Giulia; et al. (2025)
    SBE Conference Series ~ Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2025 Zurich - Extended Abstracts
  • Decoding humanitarian programs complexity via systems thinking: unveiling critical infrastructure-to-system causal loops
    Item type: Other Conference Item
    Celentano, Giulia; Marmo, Rossella; Blagojević, Nikola; et al. (2025)
    SBE Conference Series ~ Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2025 Zurich - Extended Abstracts
  • Dignity in Displacement: feasible shelter Thermal Comfort optimization strategies for North-West Syria
    Item type: Other Conference Item
    Celentano, Giulia; Trottmann, Marvin; Posani, Magda; et al. (2025)
    SBE Conference Series ~ Sustainable Built Environment Conference 2025 Zurich - Extended Abstracts
  • A matter of speed: The impact of material choice in post-disaster reconstruction
    Item type: Journal Article
    Celentano, Giulia; Zea Escamilla, Edwin; Göswein, Verena; et al. (2019)
    International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • Stay safe: Health and safety on reconstruction sites
    Item type: Report
    Celentano, Giulia; Sieger, Carolin; Vitale, Antonella; et al. (2020)
  • Sustainable Construction in Conflict-affected Context: a design assistance tool to enhance humanitarian impact assessment and performance
    Item type: Conference Paper
    Celentano, Giulia; Al Laham, Hager; Ullal, André; et al. (2022)
    Proceedings of 18th International Conference on Non-conventional Materials and Technologies (NOCMAT 2022)
    The humanitarian sector is committing towards a green transition of their operations, in order to contribute to the global fight to climate change. To implement such change a scale within construction operations, a sustainable construction and design-assistance tool has been developed to support humanitarian staff and local actors in adopting appropriate solutions all along the project life cycle. Tailored onto complex construction projects as, for instance, healthcare facilities, the tool pilot has been organized around five project phases. There are: 1) site analysis; 2) concept design; 3) developed design; 4) verification of design, procurement and implementation; 5) handover and operational phase, With a first rolled out planned within the ICRC, the tool is intended to reach the broader humanitarian audience.
  • The regenerative development potential of the construction sector in the informal city: the cases of Bangkok, Nairobi and Cape Town
    Item type: Doctoral Thesis
    Celentano, Giulia (2021)
    Our society is facing the urge of resolving two primary challenges. On the one hand CLIMATE CHANGE, triggered by unsustainable production and consumption patterns, results in the imminent threat of environmental collapse. On the other hand, a severe RAISING HOUSING GAP IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH induces the sprawling of inadequate undignified INFORMAL URBANIZATION. These challenges are intertwined since the housing construction sector significantly contributes to the societY environmental impact, adding to the burden of the climate change emergency. Given this context, the current dissertation aims to unfold and operationalize the regenerative potential of the housing sector within the informal city, therefore conceiving the housing construction as a trigger for HOLISTIC SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. To achieve the stated objective, this work is articulated around three case studies utilized to assess the impact of housing construction-related actions on the project societal dimension within a specific project scale. These are: shelters within the POST-DISASTER RECONSTRUCTION context, assessed at the MATERIAL LEVEL; the informal city of BANGKOK, assessed at the BUILDING UNIT LEVEL; and the informal city of NAIROBI, assessed at the TERRITORIAL LEVEL. A fourth case study is then introduced to combine the three scales within an INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT: the informal city of CAPE TOWN. This is also utilized to identify specific construction-related actions capable of impacting the societal project outcome and sustainability as intended within the regenerative approach. The METHODS utilized to assess the case studies are mixed and include data collection on the field through semi-structured interviews, mapping, stakeholder assessment as well as supply chain mapping, technical assessments, and social network analysis. A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK is then proposed to assess the housing construction regenerative potential, expressed as contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. The framework is based on the learning from the case studies and their stakeholders’ based multilevel approach, and is proposed as the basis for an OPERATIVE TOOL for project management and post-evaluation, serving the humanitarian actors active within the construction sector. The present dissertation demonstrates the relevance of looking at the housing construction sector in the informal city as an opportunity to restore local economies, wellbeing and ecosystems through tailored strategies, varying from material production to management schemes. It shows the validity of adopting a regenerative approach within the informal settlements upgrading and affordable housing delivery to target at once the achievement of social and environmental justice.
  • Beyond materials: The construction process in space, time and culture in the informal settlement of Mathare, Nairobi
    Item type: Journal Article
    Celentano, Giulia; Habert, Guillaume (2021)
    Development Engineering
    The informal settlements in the Global South, mostly comprising of inadequate building solutions, are growing rapidly, therefore calling for more sustainable construction interventions and upgrading strategies. Within this context, this study considers that appropriate construction strategies are capable of engaging with the local economy, affected by endemic poverty, therefore contributing to the improvement of the settlement's socio-economic and physical conditions at once. A deeper understanding of the settlements construction process, actors, and key factors influencing material use, acceptance, and distribution, is therefore needed, and is here presented for the case of Mathare, in Nairobi. The study is based on field-based qualitative and quantitative data collection through semi-structured interviews and mapping, and through the adoption of methods as stakeholders analysis and supply chain mapping. The following insights have emerged from the study: 1) different client groups have access to different building materials; 2) the distribution of materials inside the settlement is strictly related to stores and building sites accessibility; 3) the local adoption of materials is highly impacted by the availability of space both at the supplier store and on the building site; 4) contextual cultural factors can have a major role in the construction organization. as for the case of ethnicity influencing roles distributions in the construction sector. The study insights are of relevance for the practice, specifically to inform project managers and policymakers involved in construction projects in the informal settlements about local material supply and demand constraints. Specifically, the study highlights the need to consider the availability of stocking space alongside the supply as well as on-site. Finally, it shows the validity of adopting a mixed-methods approach, looking at the settlements through a socio-technical approach.
Publications 1 - 10 of 18