In keeping with the EU2020 objectives, the research addresses regeneration of the existing public residential housing stock built in central-southern Italy in the 1960's-80's with industrialised procedures that produced, contrary to the underlying aims, new pockets of disadvantaged housing. This housing constitutes an area of intervention with common characteristics, badly lacking in terms of performance and quality, with its upgrading constituting one of the country's most critical emergencies. The research is meant to determine planning strategies of `overall sustainability' (technical, economic and operational) and elevated housing quality, while also establishing a new definition of the demand for change (problem setting) through an in-depth survey of the housing stock and the practical needs of the beneficiaries, plus a review of the most innovative strategies of regeneration implemented in similar EU contexts. With this background knowledge, real-life case studies can be analysed using planning strategies based on innovative, `light', up-to-date technologies for projects of expansion, stratification, reuse and micro-demolition involving spaces (indoor and outdoor) outside of the residential units, and thus more easily `tackled', with a greater potential for functional, technological and environmental regeneration.
The results, produced under a systemic methodology suitable for reiteration in terms of factors of space-function, technology-construction and energy-environment on a building/neighbourhood scale, shall be presented in a catalogue of initiatives suitable for immediate application, contributing to the drafting of a project with international partners in response to one of the H2020 Work Programme 2018-2020 calls concerning energy efficiency in buildings. On the national level, the results shall provide support materials for the development of strategic and project planning by public and private entities undertaking housing renovation initiatives.
The research shall identify key strategies for project protocols applicable to the physical, environmental and functional restoration of residential structures, entailing the planning and technological decisions needed to activate processes of social and economic regeneration with far-reaching positive fallout on the urban level. Practices and procedures more effective than those currently in use, in terms of time and technical and economic feasibility, shall be identified. The results of the research shall provide an operating framework to which both public and private operators can make reference, in order to plan, design and successfully perform housing regeneration projects that prove rapid, limiting costs and invasiveness, but that also make possible a more in-depth, quality renovation. To ensure a noteworthy impact in the social, economic and environmental fields, the results of the research shall be highly suited to replication of the process of renovation outlined, whose vast potential on the market shall also be addressed. For, as shown by the best practices in the sector, operations of social, spatial and technological reconfiguration of housing that satisfy the new standards of residential life, together with the latest environmental demands, can create noteworthy economic opportunities. Furthermore, in the interests of replication, but above all else application, of the results, the figure of the `beneficiary' shall be defined more clearly during the research, so as to guarantee the feasibility of the restoration efforts.
The expected impact involves the formulation of innovative project scenarios for public housing, allowing us to radically transform our interpretation of the latter from an environmental, social and technological crisis to a precious resource for improving the quality of life in our cities, in accordance with the objectives of nearly zero energy consumption and nearly zero impact of materials used formulated by the European Union. The impact will take the practical form of a precise, detailed, interdisciplinary methodology specifically designed to restore the public housing examined, with an elevated potential for application in the national context, as part of the processes of regeneration underway in many cities, thanks to an in-depth survey of the public-housing complexes of central-southern Italy deemed to be representative of such constructions on the whole. The methodology and the tools employed shall be directly applicable, capable of offering practical answers to the social problem of housing quality with solutions that improve the environmental performance of buildings, reviving relations and opportunities in the micro-sectors involved. An additional impact of the research, occasioned by the reformulation of the demand for housing, is the possibility of increasing the supply of housing by increasing the density of the units through the transformation of unused or under-used spaces in existing buildings.
On the national level, the results shall serve as support for the development of strategic and project planning for the radical renovation of residential housing, based on criteria of cost reduction, high quality, a holistic approach and rapid transformation with minimum disturbance for the residents. At the same time, thanks to the involvement of international experts as early as the formulation of the State of the Art, it is held that the output of the research can also be applied on the international level, and in the rest of Europe in particular, with one reason being the recurring nature of the distinguishing features and technological characteristics of industrialised residential constructions from the period in question.
The write-ups, results and products of the research, having been subject to experimentation in Italy, shall then contribute to the organisation of a more extensive research project with international partners, some of whom have already been identified, based on existing ties and experiences, in response to one of the forthcoming H2020 calls concerning the strengthening of energy efficiency in buildings, which are going to be issued as part of the Work Programme 2018-2020. With this in mind, the products of the research shall be designed paying particular attention to their eventual transfer to the international context: the working methodologies shall be structured in accordance with the EU targets identified as specific research objectives, making possible their experimentation with the international case studies as well. In keeping with the H2020 guidelines, outreach activities shall be carried out to make known the objectives and results of the research not only in scientific circles (publications, conferences), but to a broader, non-expert public as well (an event of public presentation), through forms of communication accessible to all, thanks to which an open discussion of the ongoing results of the scientific activities can be held.