Heritage, urbanity and transition: methods and tools for a possible future.

Abstract

It has taken millennia to provide our world with works of art that are sometimes comparable in magnificence and character to natural creation. Some civilizations of the past, without having any of our means, have created a historical heritage of infinite beauty. The literature on heritage and memory reports that heritage exists because society attests that an artifact, event, or place is so valuable that it is handed down to the next generation. Heritage is our anchor and beauty will save us. Architects, historians and geographers have argued that the concepts of heritage and memory are socially constructed, they shape cities and influence their identity. In the current metamorphosis, how to imagine our tangible and intangible heritage in a possible future? How can we heal its wounds in order to regenerate it? Cities, by integrating urban ecology solutions, are able to face some of the environmental challenges that threaten heritage by involving today’s citizens in the construction of their own history. The problems of heritage and the built environment increase when the imbalances of natural settings and urbanization grow (Glassberg 2001). The aim of this study is to investigate the links between this ongoing metamorphosis and the opportunities and benefits that the inclusion of green spaces and lungs brings to urban landscapes from an eco-sustainable perspective. The research methodology is analytical and comparative and will be based on the critical analysis of innovative case studies of built heritage regeneration. The results will concern the formulation of guidelines for the regeneration and environmental transition of built heritage with a particular identity and community value. Conclusions will illustrate the design solutions, the critical supporting analyses and the benefits brought to the heritage in terms of environmental, social, and economic comfort.