Integrated modification methodology (IMM) is a procedure encompassing an open set of scientific techniques for morphologically analyzing the built environment in a multiscale manner and evaluating its performance in actual states or under specific design scenarios.
The methodology is structured around a nonlinear phasing process aiming for delivering a systemic understanding of any given urban settlement, formulating the modification set-ups for improving its performance, and examining the modification strategies to transform that system. The basic assumption in IMM is the recognition of the built environment as a Complex Adaptive System.
IMM has been developed by IMMdesignlab, a research lab based at Politecnico di Milano at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC).
History
IMM began in 2010 as an academic research at Politecnico di Milano. That research criticized the analytical approach frequently used to study and evaluate the built environment by most of the sustainable development methods. By Recognizing the built environment as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS), IMM is urged towards a holistic simulation rather than simplifying the complex mechanisms within the cities with reductionism.
In 2013, Massimo Tadi established the IMMdesignlab at the Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC) of the Politecnico di Milano. The purpose of the mentioned laboratory is to develop IMM through research and education.
IN 2015, Integrated Modification Methodology for the Sustainable Built Environment has been approved as an academic course in the curriculum of the Architectural Engineering, an International Master Program in Politecnico di Milano.
Background
At its theoretical background, Integrated Modification Methodology refers to the contemporary urban development as a highly paradoxical context arisen from the social and economic significance of the cities on the one hand and their arguably negative environmental impacts on the other. Asserting the inevitably of urbanization, IMM declares that the only way to overcome that paradox for the cities is to develop in a profound integration with the ecology. According to IMM, the fundamental prerequisite of ecologically sustainable development is to have a comprehensive systemic understanding of the built environment.
IMM suggests that the advancement in construction techniques, building materials quality and transportation technologies alone have not solved the complex problems of the urban life simply because such improvements are not necessarily dealing with the systemic integration. The core argument of IMM is that the performance of the city is being chiefly driven by the complex relationships subsystems rather than the independent qualities of the urban elements. Thus, it aims at portraying the systemic structure of the built environment by introducing a logical framework for modeling the linkage between the city's static and dynamic elements.