From disuse to the caring-use for the built environment : a further key strategy to enhance the inner areas

Abstract

Abandonment characterizes the inner areas: in fields, infrastructures, public spaces, productive and residential buildings, the use which constitutes an indispensable reference in analytical, evaluation and design approaches concerning the built environment has now almost completely ceased. The restitution of a use is often indicated as the goal of strategies for revitalization; however, use is not enough as a tool in itself, if it does not meet the multifaceted requirements of sustainability, acting as a ‘caring-use’, in which users are custodians and not carefree profiteers. After having extended some considerations on sustainable use from the architectural heritage to the common built environment, the contribution refers to an applied research experience that exemplifies the application of a holistic approach to different forms of the built environment, which concerned Montalbano Elicona, a place that summarizes many of the typical characteristics of inner areas.