Reusing Built Heritage. Design
for the Sharing Economy
Roberto Bolici, Giusi Leali and Silvia Mirandola
Abstract In the last years, the construction sector has seen a greater number of building interventions on existing assets rather than the realization of new buildings. The
enhancement of urban property assets can become an opportunity both for efficient
and effective building management and for the offer of innovative public and private
services on the territory. With this approach, based on sustainable urban regeneration, the enhancement could be intended in many different ways such as recovery,
maintenance, and reuse of abandoned or underutilized buildings. This phenomenon,
present in general in building assets as a whole, is more evident in the management
of the public ones. The reuse of these buildings acts as an answer to a change in
the needs of the community regarding welfare, culture, and work, generating a new
economic, social, and environmental value. In relation to their innovative features,
the new functions related to the real dimensions of sharing are emerging, and with
them a new approach to the project. The increase in these new kinds of sharing
and the insufficient knowledge about design and management of the relative “box”
have allowed for the development of the study entitled “Enhancement of abandoned
or underutilized assets. Design for coworking.” The main goal of the study was to
define, within the logic of environmental technology design, the key points of this
framework. This was possible thanks to the collection of data which was useful to
increase the knowledge regarding the design of these places within abandoned or
underutilized buildings and their management.
Keywords Coworking · Urban regeneration · Sharing economy
R. Bolici (B)
Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering—ABC Department, Politecnico di
Milano, Milan, Italy
e-mail: roberto.bolici@polimi.it
G. Leali · S. Mirandola
Milan, Italy
© The Author(s) 2020
S. Della Torre et al. (eds.), Regeneration of the Built Environment
from a Circular Economy Perspective, Research for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33256-3_29
315
for the Sharing Economy
Roberto Bolici, Giusi Leali and Silvia Mirandola
Abstract In the last years, the construction sector has seen a greater number of building interventions on existing assets rather than the realization of new buildings. The
enhancement of urban property assets can become an opportunity both for efficient
and effective building management and for the offer of innovative public and private
services on the territory. With this approach, based on sustainable urban regeneration, the enhancement could be intended in many different ways such as recovery,
maintenance, and reuse of abandoned or underutilized buildings. This phenomenon,
present in general in building assets as a whole, is more evident in the management
of the public ones. The reuse of these buildings acts as an answer to a change in
the needs of the community regarding welfare, culture, and work, generating a new
economic, social, and environmental value. In relation to their innovative features,
the new functions related to the real dimensions of sharing are emerging, and with
them a new approach to the project. The increase in these new kinds of sharing
and the insufficient knowledge about design and management of the relative “box”
have allowed for the development of the study entitled “Enhancement of abandoned
or underutilized assets. Design for coworking.” The main goal of the study was to
define, within the logic of environmental technology design, the key points of this
framework. This was possible thanks to the collection of data which was useful to
increase the knowledge regarding the design of these places within abandoned or
underutilized buildings and their management.
Keywords Coworking · Urban regeneration · Sharing economy
R. Bolici (B)
Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering—ABC Department, Politecnico di
Milano, Milan, Italy
e-mail: roberto.bolici@polimi.it
G. Leali · S. Mirandola
Milan, Italy
© The Author(s) 2020
S. Della Torre et al. (eds.), Regeneration of the Built Environment
from a Circular Economy Perspective, Research for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33256-3_29
315