Regeneration processes activate stable regimes of interaction and interdependence among the architectural, economic, cultural and social sub-systems in settlements. The thesis of this paper is that in order to progress towards sustainable and inclusive cities, urban governance should widen the decision-making arena, promoting virtuous circular dynamics based on knowledge transfer, strategic decision making and stakeholders’ engagement. The historic urban landscape is a privileged la b for this purpose. The paper adapts the Triple-Helix model of knowledge-industry-government relationships to interpret the unexpected regimes of interaction between Local Authority and Cultural Heritage Assets triggered in the late 90es by the establishment of a knowledge provider such as a Faculty of Architecture in the highly degraded heritage context of the city of Syracuse, Italy. Following this approach, the authors explain the urban regeneration happened over the last 20 years in the port city of Syracuse, based on knowledge sharing and resources’ protection that promoted processes of social engagement and institutional empowerment for both new residents and entrepreneurs.
In this period of increasing urbanization, cultural heritage can play a key role to achieve sustainable development, as widely recognized by international institutions (i.e., United Nations (UN), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)). In this perspective, it is necessary to operationalize the principles stated at international level and thus new approaches and tools are required. The paper aims to understand the relationships between the implementation of adaptive reuse projects and their success (or not) in terms of impacts on the buildings themselves and on the urban context. The assessment framework for evaluating the impacts of heritage conservation and rehabilitation projects is described through the analysis and comparison of two Italian case studies: the Ancient Market and the Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle, in Siracusa (Italy). Although realized both in the same place (Ortigia, the historic centre of Siracusa), during the same period and by the same architect, these two interventions have produced different results in terms of urban development. A set of indicators, deduced from recent scientific studies, has been used to analyse the different impacts on physical, cultural, social, environmental and economic systems. To understand in depth the causes of these two different results, a survey has been carried out involving experts. The proposed indicators used for the ex-post evaluation can be also adopted in other contexts and for ex ante evaluation, in order to orient the strategic design choices in cultural heritage adaptive reuse projects.
Rehabilitation and management of pre-industrial architectural heritage over time has played a central role in the international scientific debate since the 1970s. In light of the experience gained in this field, the challenge of a controlled and consistent integration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) requires a careful reflection on the compatibility criteria between new technologies and traditional building’s identity. Several of these technologies, such as photovoltaic (PV) systems, need to be placed on the building envelope or in appropriate outdoor areas, altering the architectural image and the landscape. Therefore, the characteristics of each building and its context should lead designers to choose solutions able to balance the need for increased energy production from RES with the need for preserving the identity of architectural heritage and landscape. A preliminary evaluation of rehabilitation projects allows to improve building sustainability and, in the meanwhile, to prevent any irreversible alteration of the cultural heritage. With reference to Italian case studies and guidelines for improving sustainability in energy production, the paper leads to identify evaluation criteria for the introduction of PV systems in pre-industrial buildings. Such criteria, which are based on architectural heritage values, allow for assessing the consistency of the building envelope alteration with conservation issues, in projects involving PV and, generally, solar technologies that need to be integrated with the building envelope.
The article addresses the contemporary debate on urban and environmental regeneration, investigating the need to establish new criteria to implement the defence of coastal ecosystems by climate problems. The research looks at coastal vulnerabilities, starting with the environmental fragility of flooding, as an opportunity to regenerate waterfront ecosystems. The research aim concerns the analysis of US advanced regeneration practices to learn and transfer the principles derived from them to the European context. This transferability takes place through the construction of regeneration criteria for the coastal ecosystems rebalancing. The regeneration criteria are resulted from an ecosystem reading of the winning projects of the Rebuild by Design competition. These practices represent in the scientific literature an exceptional example of a holistic response to the problem of post-disaster intervention. These cases offer an integrated response in terms of processes, investments, the duration of the design and realization. In addition, these cases simultaneously address multiple vulnerabilities, making it possible to extrapolate from their analysis specific directions to replicate in contexts where even just one of the critical issues exist. The methodological analyses exploit the focus emerged from the scientific literature on environmental vulnerabilities, technological innovation, and stakeholder involvement. The results are regeneration criteria able to verify the appropriateness of ecosystem anti-flooding strategies. Comparing the results with the most recent US and the EU strategic documents, the regeneration criteria demonstrate their relevance and coherence with the international priorities as well as their potential transferability to the European context.
Building reuse is a strategy for built heritage enhancement. The establishment of new activities in an existing building can have positive effects on the urban and territorial context and modify the dynamics of socio-economic development. If the reuse is considered as a cultural development strategy and not limited to a single building but to both buildings and infrastructures, these effects are amplified. This is the case of railway heritage, affected by an increasingly vast process of abandonment. The Italian policies for encouraging road transport and the communication models of the digital era have contributed to the gradual desertion of railway lines. This requires effective reuse models, to avoid that the Ferrovie dello Stato (State Railways) continue to carry the heavy burden of managing assets no longer able to generate income. The analysis of numerous station reuse cases, at an international level, lead to the selection of the case of the Postal Museum and Mail Ride in London as an example of good practice. The proposed methodology identifies a set of evaluation criteria and indicators to assess the effectiveness of adaptive reuse projects both in terms of their ability to protect built heritage identity and to modify the orientation of the territorial context’s development towards socio-economic sustainability guidelines.
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