GREEN REVOLUTION AND BUILT HERITAGE: CONCEPTS AND PERSPECTIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL REGENERATION

Abstract

Urban and environmental regeneration is now a priority on a planetary level, and the climate neutrality objectives set by Brussels inevitably require a new green and sustainable design of cities and a total revision of human behaviour in relation to nature. Environmental regeneration requires an inclusive practice of architecture capable of metabolising the adaptations and contradictions of the built environment. With this in mind, and with no claim to being exhaustive, we will examine some of the "enabling" conditions and "indispensable" reasons for leading a process of environmental regeneration of the built heritage, analysing the critical points relating to public responsibilities, the coherence of objectives and the protection of pre-existing structures. There is now a need to regenerate urban areas both by transforming the physical parts relating to particular contexts of the existing heritage while respecting historical memory, "and by proposing 'renewed' neighbourhoods with smartness, according to the use of decentralised energy sources, eco-building, smart mobility and connection networks. Today "we are witnessing the transition from the sustainable city to the regenerated city with smart approaches supporting local development". (Lo Sasso, 2015). A regeneration process contains an articulated and complex relational system made up of material and immaterial social, environmental and energy resources, and aims to use them intelligently, efficiently and appropriately to contemporary needs according to multidisciplinary and multi- scalar correlations. The regeneration project interacting with the evolving actions and tools of strategic planning and social inclusion, must also contribute to the strengthening of resilience, in close connection with the identity signs that characterize a community and the sense of belonging to places. Citizen participation as "the involvement of community members in formal organisations (...)" (Norris, 2008) thus becomes an essential tool for the success of the project.[2] The paper shows the results of the Research Project on University Research Funding 2018/2021 University of Palermo entitled RDB & Inclusive design - Tools and sustainable strategies for resilient regeneration/RDB & Inclusive design -Tools and sustainable strategies for resilient regeneration.