Cultural heritage and landscape represent a strategic resource for sustainable development, recognized in the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the UN New Urban Agenda. Cultural heritage conveys collective memory and values, contributing to build and strengthen relational values as “common good”. However, a large part of the European cultural heritage, particularly minor and diffused heritage both tangible and intangible, is currently in state of abandonment or underuse, due to the lack of interest and/or financial resources for its recovery and maintenance. Public and private resources and capacities should be mobilized for cultural heritage “active” conservation, identifying new functional uses for the abandoned assets, thus turning heritage from a “cost” to an “investment” for the society.
New contemporary uses for “old” buildings and sites should be identified in a systemic perspective, compatible with its cultural significance, authenticity, integrity and “complex” social value.
The strategy of “reusing” abandoned / underused historic buildings, sites and landscapes represents also a fundamental contribution to the implementation of the Circular Economy (CE) development model in cities and regions. The CE can be considered as “the new paradigm for sustainability”. The adaptive reuse of cultural heritage can generate many positive impacts in the perspective of the CE: avoidance of wastes and greenhouse gas emissions from demolitions and new constructions, aesthetic, environmental and functional / economic revitalization of urban areas, stimulation of micro-communities and new forms of collaborative / synergic /symbiotic management of heritage as “common good”, enhancement of people’s wellbeing and health.
The CLIC project aims to identify new evaluation methods to support informed choices of conservation vs. transformation/adaptation of cultural heritage / landscape, developing innovative circular business, financing and governance models for the adaptive reuse of cultural heritage as a way in which the CE can be practically implemented in the territorial dimension.
The integration of sectorial knowledge, tools and methods will be achieved through a trans-disciplinary approach promoting partners and stakeholders’ cooperation, co-creation of knowledge and co-delivery of outcomes.
