A Sustainable Adaptive Reuse Management Model for Disused Railway Cultural Heritage to Boost Local and Regional Competitiveness

Abstract

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.

Aesthetic Design and Evaluation of Public Facilities in Railway Stations under the Background of Sustainable Development: A Case of an Information Counter at Xiong’an Railway Station

“…Vilotijevic, Milica et al analyzed the problems with sustainable railway infrastructure and the specific environment in the Republic of Serbia and pointed out that the railway infrastructure needs to meet the requirements of society, economy, protection, and improvement of the environment [6]. Alessandra Bianchi et al, by evaluating the discussed railway cultural heritage and analyzing its adaptive transformation methods on the basis of cases, provided a reference standard for the sustainable adaptive reuse of railway cultural heritage [7]. Agnes Wanjiku Wangai et al studied the foresight method applicable to railways' sustainable development in developing countries [8].…”

Transformation of Abandoned Railways into Tourist Itineraries/Routes: Model of Revitalization of Marginal Rural Areas

“…Humanity is urged to develop new practices adapted to address evolving social, economic, and environmental demands [36]. Globally, numerous studies identify and analyze the issue of abandoned railways from various perspectives: (a) the necessity to preserve railways as industrial heritage [37][38][39][40], (b) repurposing for the creation of greenways [41][42][43][44][45], (c) impact on the landscape [46][47][48][49], and (d) the construction of bicycle paths [50][51][52][53]. The mentioned research indicates that the concept of transforming abandoned railroads for the needs of sustainable development has gained prominence in recent years on a global scale, forming the subject of investigation in this paper.…”