The overall aim of this research is to investigate urban reuse as a strategy for the renewal of city spaces. Rethinking the city, reusing what exists regarding artefacts and green areas, rehabilitating industrial heritage and urban voids, represent contemporary answers to the requests of more sustainable cities. Temporary uses, in particular, develop new meanings and increases attention to these sites, promoting cultural, social and economic activities, encouraging small practices able to produce positive changes in the short period. Also, they can have long-lasting results if they succeed in achieving consensus by citizens and institutions. The research follows an interdisciplinary approach that aims at integrating sociological, political and economic competences. It explores through the analysis of specific case studies at an international level in the urban context of Rome and Berlin how these reuse practices, based on the involvement of different actors and the implementation of small-scale interventions, can be successful in transforming public spaces into catalysts of new processes of urban regeneration. To this end, it will consider in a comparative perspective, benefits and barriers of heritage reuse, ranging from tangible economic and environmental benefits to less tangible benefits, such as place identity and social cohesion.
In short, the project aims to: 1. analyze potentials and challenges of temporary reuse and governance; 2. explore the socio-cultural, economic and physical aspects of the selected urban reuse projects; 3. evaluate the costs and benefits of the different experiences; 4. verify the broader impacts of these processes on a number of possible outcomes, including the relationship between citizens and institutions. The final goal of the research is to give a contribution to the political debate about the role of temporary uses in urban regeneration processes, extending the inclusion of these practices within urban policies and planning.
This research project addresses a challenging topic by looking on the way temporary use has become part of urban transformation. It provides an insight into the debate and brings in the empirical cases of Rome and Berlin in a way. The main claim is that many current practices of re-use in Europe can play a strategic role in promoting an integrated approach as a starting point of urban regeneration.
This research will propose a contribution to the state of the art of the literature depicted above, both in terms of the methods of analysis and the research content. As for the methods, the project is characterized by an interdisciplinary approach gathering together key competencies in different domains: sociology, economics, law, politics. This allows us to tackle the same issues with different perspectives thus providing an original analysis and a more comprehensive interpretation of the phenomena under investigation. We propose to demonstrate that urban reuse is more than just the conversion of buildings: It is¿ a method and strategy that can be used to contribute to community revitalization. It is a strategy which can be used to safeguard our cultural heritage. It can simultaneously be considered as a catalyst to improve modern planning).
Specifically, the research project will focus on a set of case studies in which the involvement of population Characterizes the processes of urban reuse, a higher degree of informality, i.e., those presenting evolving paths that are outside the standard urban planning and management tools. The case of the municipality of Rome is the most appropriate to identify and investigate these informal and temporary processes as well as to assess the potential impacts of possible new strategies, instruments and methods which are consistent with the most recent theoretical evolution on urban management.
This research aims at: a) identifying the contemporary practices of re-use of urban spaces in a comparative perspective. b) Analyzing the local norms and legislative tools put in place to foster the regeneration processes of urban spaces. c) Providing general rules and common practices. d) Assessing the socio-economic impacts of the different options for the enhancement of common-pool resources in urban contexts. e) Observing the role of the local authorities and their relationships with the residents.
This research will focus on identifying specific criteria for assessing the success of and challenges facing the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage buildings. Some influential factors are based on the findings from the literature reviews will be tested across two case studies in Rome and in Berlin.
Adopting the Sugden (2017) scheme they are: cultural, economic, environmental, legislative, locational, new use, social factors.
The findings from this research will contribute to the following competencies:
1. Contribute to the emerging trend of reuse and its issues related to interdisciplinary fields such as urban design, revitalization,
2. Indicate how planning legislation/policies impact those applications.
3. Contribute to the knowledge surrounding the principles and practices regarding social innovation and economic development in cities.
4. investigating the influences that these adaptive reuse projects have on their communities,
5. Demonstrate how the right leadership can produce a collaborative climate to support urban reuse and generation processes. These research activities have strong policy implications since they provide an assessment of the effective implementation of concrete experiences of regeneration and management of urban spaces in the municipality of Rome and Berlin. This fosters also the mission of Sapienza University as an incubator for new thinking and practices for the benefit of, private and public, local stakeholders. In this perspective, this research project also promotes the activities - carried out by Sapienza with the laboratory ComCon (Political Sciences Faculty), Mediterrapolis Lab in collaboration with Marseille University and the research activities with the Technical University of Berlin aimed at fostering the exchange of best practices among stakeholders (formal and informal) as well as awareness among local authorities and citizens. The final question will be: how can these criteria become tools which can be applied in various contexts with modifications to suit new contexts?
Therefore, additional further research is needed.