Our built heritage has gone through and goes through processes of decommissioning, abandonment and functional obsolescence generated over time by economic, social and demographic transition dynamics. This condition is also found with different intensity and characteristics in many other European and non-European urban contexts where different approaches to processes of functional transition and adaptive reuse (permanent or temporary) of large and small built heritage have been consolidated over time.
Whether in the case of entire parts of cities, buildings or complexes of buildings, individual units that are being emptied, or portions of open spaces and urban voids, there emerges, often earlier in urban practices than in urban planning and policies, the capacity (of public and private, profit and non-profit actors) to imagine disused/available urban heritage as an asset for the definition (and redefinition) of the strategic development horizons of urban systems.
The objective of this research work is to investigate the potential offered by combined urban regulations for incentives to use the private units available on the ground floors of the city of Turin as support for welfare policies. The research is carried out in collaboration with Urban Lab and the City of Turin.
