The rehabilitation building yard as a tool for enhancing the architectural historical heritage in the Madonie inner area

Abstract

This article represents an initial report for a broader doctoral research project in "Sustainable Architectural Design: A Human-Centered Approach," which will be conducted in the mountain Madonie internal area of Sicily. The primary objective is to introduce best practices and identify strategies for repopulating the 26 municipalities of this region, focusing on the recovery and enhancement of architectural heritage. Specifically, the research emphasizes basic construction techniques with the aim of innovatively reinterpreting traditional building methods and materials, working at the building scale. It also seeks to stimulate local production chains and identify strategies to create the conditions for re-urbanization in the area. Within the “state of the art” analysis, the research identifies best practices from the Euro-Mediterranean context that show similarities to the Madonie region and investigates their replicability in the internal area. It presents cases where rehabilitation building yard not only enhance and enable the reuse of existing heritage, but also serve as opportunities for training, dissemination, and experimentation with traditional architectural techniques and materials. These practices play a key role in achieving the sustainability goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda.