Indicators for Ex-Post Evaluation of Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse Impacts in the Perspective of the Circular Economy

Abstract

Cultural heritage (CH) is considered a key element of cities and regions’ identity anduniqueness, contributing to people's wellbeing and health, as well as jobs creation, environmentalregeneration and place attractiveness. The adaptive reuse of abandoned and underused CH can be asustainable strategy for heritage conservation, stimulating local development processes. However,heritage conservation needs large investments, while the resources available are scarce, and invest-ment projects are subject to high uncertainties. Therefore, a careful assessment of impacts is neededto orient and direct CH adaptive reuse projects towards sustainability. Recent studies approach theadaptive reuse of abandoned buildings and sites as an effective circular economy strategy, potentiallycontributing to climate objectives through environmental regeneration and the reduction of naturalresources consumption. However, evaluation tools to assess the impacts and orient adaptive reuseinterventions in the perspective of circularity are lacking. Through the analysis of 76 literature sourceson CH impacts, this article explores how indicators are currently used in CH research and practice asimpact assessment tools. More than 3500 indicators were retrieved and classified. Finally, this articleproposes a comprehensive evaluation framework to assess the impacts of cultural heritage adaptivereuse in the perspective of the circular economy. The results show that, while some indicators areavailable, many circularity aspects are not considered in the current studies on CH impacts.

Criteria of “Effectiveness” and Related Aspects in Adaptive Reuse Projects of Heritage Buildings

“…The aspects mentioned in the jury reports have then been clustered into several groups. The names of these groups and their definitions are based on the evaluation framework of AR projects by Bosone et al [17]. However, not all the criteria used by these authors have been mentioned in the jury reports of NRP and Europa Nostra awards.…”

“…1 "•" indicates that the award includes the aspect. 2 The groups of aspects which are based on [17] have been marked with an asterisk ("*"). 3 Two asterisks ("**") indicate that this aspect has been mentioned in other criterion/criteria as well.…”

“…Despite the existence of several scientific publications on the criteria of effectiveness in AR projects, these do not provide a comprehensive overview of the criteria (and of the specific aspects of each criterion) based on which an AR can be described as effective. For example, Bosone et al [17] proposed valuable criteria for the ex-post evaluation of AR of heritage buildings; however, these are assessed only from the perspective of the circular economy, whereas criteria related to architectural qualities are mostly missing.…”

“…In the groups of Bosone et al [17], no specific attention to the "wider community" has been paid. As both the NRP and Europa Nostra awards have considered many aspects related to the wider community, this term has been used to group these aspects.…”

What Advantages Do Adaptive Industrial Heritage Reuse Processes Provide? An Econometric Model for Estimating the Impact on the Surrounding Residential Housing Market

“…Their proximity to infrastructure and city centers is another consideration for their potential redevelopment. Moreover, because of the numerous benefits that an industrial building can provide, an awareness of its positive characteristics allows for a better understanding and improvement of the key role it plays in urban regeneration processes, such as: a reduction in land consumption and a reduction in the resources required for new constructions, as opposed to the rapid and disorderly processes of metropolization; an ecological regeneration of the urbanized territory through the re-use of areas previously freed from industrial buildings; the social re-appropriation of urban spaces and the preservation of the collective memory of the industrial past and, thus, of the city's history; the ability to introduce new and different technologies [11].…”