PROCESSI DI RIGENERAZIONE URBANA IN EDIFICI PUBBLICI. IL CASO DEI CIVIC ACTORS IN ITALIA

Abstract

In Italy, throughout the last forty years, different regulations and norms have been adopted to cope and solve the problem of unused and abandoned publicly owned buildings. These attempts to revitalise and valorise this huge public portfolio were frequently oneshot solutions, rather than strategic long-term guidelines. The economic crisis has highlight that (i) traditional ways of planning may encounter some limitations and (ii) the supply-oriented policies for public real estate markets are no longer working. In this situation of uncertainty and post-crisis context, a new spontaneous and bottom-up process have emerged as a potential answer to figure out what to do with abandoned and unused public buildings. This new trend is based on hybrid actions and temporary uses, and these experiences are pursued by the so called “civic actors”. With this kind of interventions, the role of civic actors become more and more important and, in some cases it is used as the only way to handle abandonment. The paper aims to discuss with a sample of activities the potentiality of this new trend as well as their limitations. The paper is presenting the general debate about public buildings and their management (Section 4) and these new activities (Section 5). It will try to underscore some general features about civic actors to organise and frame this new category and its importance in public buildings’ revitalisation processes.