Through specific contributions resulting from teaching experiences gained within the framework of the Environmental Design course of the fifth year of the Master degree course in Architecture of the Department of Architecture and Industrial Design (University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”), the paper proposes a critical reflection on the didactic approach related to the capacity of open spaces, and related infrastructures, to play a strategic role as a dynamic element in urban regeneration processes.

Considering the various methodological and applicative aspects, and sharing the concept of resilience applied to man-made contexts, the teaching of environmental design focuses on innovative strategies aimed at improving both technological and environmental performance, as well as responsiveness in the delicate relationship between natural and built environments.

The paper, through the didactic tools of Technological Design, explores aspects mainly related to the project fields of eco-oriented urban regeneration. The students were invited to think about the aspects of the project concerning a systemic approach that, from the improvement of environmental conditions to sustainable mobility strategies, also allows for working in terms of networks, therefore, of relations between strategic points in the urban context.

The topics addressed during the teaching experience, both through lectures and in the workshop phase, concerned, on the one hand, accessibility and soft mobility issues, and the other hand, the increase of ecological environmental quality (reduction of urban heat island impact, noise and environmental pollution impact, water balance regulation).

During the course, a design intervention hypothesis of eco-oriented redevelopment is also tackled, deepening, in particular, the study of environmental systems for the reconversion of open spaces in anthropised contexts that allow these areas to be configured as nodal elements capable of performing the delicate function of connection between the urbanised area and the surrounding natural system. All this to delineate reconversion as a true re-naturalisation through the activation of processes that use the principles of nature as a sustainable management model and stimulate the intrinsic potential of natural resources that have not been developed due to anthropisation.

In conclusion, the paper emphasises the didactic approach that is strongly oriented towards providing students with the knowledge and tools to deal with design from concept definition to applicability. The possibility to carry out a design that can be developed both in “compatibility” (intended as consistent with the overall attention to environmental preservation problems) and “acceptability” (intended as the acceptance of design solutions by those who will be affected by the consequences, or using the results) is proposed.

Keywords: Built environment, environmental design, re-naturalisation processes, urban open spaces.