Introduction
The regeneration of the built environment represents a prominent research field for
all scholars and professionals interested in the creation, evolution and transformation
of the urban environment and the relationships between urban, peri-urban and rural
spaces. In spite of its well-established and long tradition, this field of enquiry has not
yet become depleted but rather is receiving renewed attention and has become
compelling in the scientific community for the co-occurrence of multiple trends and
phenomena. First, recent times are characterised by an impressive rate of urbanisation, and projections forecast increased urbanisation for the future, especially in
less developed and developing countries. Second, the increasing constraints on the
widespread availability of economic, social and environmental resources push
towards the ideation, prototyping and application of new solutions as to accommodate this quest for urbanisation. Third, the need to continue to take care of, adapt
and maintain the heritage of historic cities, especially in advanced countries, and in
the light of these constraints, require the experimentation of new approaches to the
requalification and renewal, both material and functional, as well as new methodologies of intervention, more error-friendly and based on the reversibility of the
current actions, in order to guarantee future generations the possibility of revising the
approaches in view of more advanced tools and procedures.
This volume then aims to take on this challenge and proposes a reflection on the
strategic importance and advantages of adopting multidisciplinary and multi-scalar
approaches of enquiry and intervention on the built environment which are based
on the principles of sustainability and on circular economy strategies. In fact, the
regeneration of the built environment can represent an important cornerstone in the
transition from a linear to a circular economy model through multiple actions that
can take place at different scales, i.e. the recycling and reuse of building artefacts,
products and components, the improvement of the quality and functionality of
existing buildings, the valorisation of cultural heritage, the re-infrastructure and
implementation of sustainable transport systems and the efficient use of local
economic resources.
In order to address the abovementioned overarching research challenge, this
volume identifies specific challenges according to a macro-to-micro unit of analysis
vii
The regeneration of the built environment represents a prominent research field for
all scholars and professionals interested in the creation, evolution and transformation
of the urban environment and the relationships between urban, peri-urban and rural
spaces. In spite of its well-established and long tradition, this field of enquiry has not
yet become depleted but rather is receiving renewed attention and has become
compelling in the scientific community for the co-occurrence of multiple trends and
phenomena. First, recent times are characterised by an impressive rate of urbanisation, and projections forecast increased urbanisation for the future, especially in
less developed and developing countries. Second, the increasing constraints on the
widespread availability of economic, social and environmental resources push
towards the ideation, prototyping and application of new solutions as to accommodate this quest for urbanisation. Third, the need to continue to take care of, adapt
and maintain the heritage of historic cities, especially in advanced countries, and in
the light of these constraints, require the experimentation of new approaches to the
requalification and renewal, both material and functional, as well as new methodologies of intervention, more error-friendly and based on the reversibility of the
current actions, in order to guarantee future generations the possibility of revising the
approaches in view of more advanced tools and procedures.
This volume then aims to take on this challenge and proposes a reflection on the
strategic importance and advantages of adopting multidisciplinary and multi-scalar
approaches of enquiry and intervention on the built environment which are based
on the principles of sustainability and on circular economy strategies. In fact, the
regeneration of the built environment can represent an important cornerstone in the
transition from a linear to a circular economy model through multiple actions that
can take place at different scales, i.e. the recycling and reuse of building artefacts,
products and components, the improvement of the quality and functionality of
existing buildings, the valorisation of cultural heritage, the re-infrastructure and
implementation of sustainable transport systems and the efficient use of local
economic resources.
In order to address the abovementioned overarching research challenge, this
volume identifies specific challenges according to a macro-to-micro unit of analysis
vii