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Social housing is the outcome of policymaking aimed at guaranteeing adequate living conditions for disadvantaged social groups. In Italy, in the post-war reconstruction period, buildings designed by internationally renowned architects, led to results of such high design quality that it is essential to preserve them. Nevertheless, their advanced degradation and functional obsolescence are due to being built with construction systems focused on quick completion and cost-effectiveness, as well as a lack of maintenance. Such conditions now impose performance upgrades and reuse for services and collective spaces. The paper addresses the issue of the recovery of this housing stock in the Italian context, analyzing the case of Librino (Catania). The research question is based on evidence that the lack of services and collective spaces in the suburbs leads people to move to other areas of the city for work, health, education, culture, and leisure. The proposed approach investigates the overall organization of the neighborhood, up to reuse pilots, as for the Moncada Theater, to improve the overall quality and attractiveness of the area, even with minor renovations. The theatre, which was abandoned before completion, is an example of how only housing was built or completed in residential areas designed to provide a wide range of services for citizens as a result of a funding shortfall. Reuse decisions are the result of user involvement with a view to social and cultural sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive reuse has progressively become a useful approach for generating new values concerning abandoned or underused buildings, sites, and areas to the extent that the topic is no longer conceived and perceived merely as a "bricks-and-mortar" issue. Instead, it has a dual nature: (i) one that is technical, linked to the difficult balance between low costs and fostering sustainable building solutions, and (ii) one that is social, which refers to social equity, well-being, and quality of life. Within this context, urban and architectural transformations are among those human activities that play a key role in shaping the territory in an increasingly invasive acceleration of urbanization processes. However, it is precisely here that adaptive reuse can counteract such alterations. This paper proposes a sustainable, economically feasible, and replicable valorisation model for the evaluation of adaptive reuse possibilities of a particular historical–architectural heritage, which is vast and widespread in Italy and an important example of Rationalist architecture. Such a model incorporates flexible and easily replicable spatial implications precisely because it is specifically related to the characteristics of an open-plan structure. In doing so, it aims to redefine the valorisation model based on a constant dialogue between the project and market analysis; the replicability of project strategies for "families" of historic buildings; and the need for the project's ability to change and adapt according to emerging requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on urban regeneration practices based on adaptive reuse projects in culture and the arts, where new forms of social entrepreneurship emerge. Through in-depth qualitative research, we develop three case studies in three different urban contexts in Italy: Turin, a large and highly industrialised city in one of the country's north-west regions; Terni, a medium-sized city in central Italy; and Favara, a small town in the province of Agrigento on the island of Sicily. Building on the case studies, we outline a possible taxonomy of urban remains, entrepreneurship, and adaptive reuse models, reflecting on the role of social entrepreneurship and its peculiar governance and business models, the specific features of adaptive reuse and urban regeneration processes, and the relationship between art and urban regeneration. Some closing remarks focus on how social entrepreneurship in the cultural field challenges both scholars and decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Often in the past, the great disasters (environmental calamities, earthquakes, epidemics) activated unexpressed energies, triggering transformations of the built environment, able to give rise to unexpected conditions of economic, cultural and social development. The fragility of settlement systems in the face of unexpected threats brings out the need for a new planning, changing our gaze on the city. The new framework of needs drawn by the pandemic and the renewed sensitivity towards the combination of health - sustainability rekindle the spotlight on inner areas. These emerged as "reservoirs of resilience", areas to look at, in order to reach an eco-systemic balance. The aim of the paper is to return an experience of adaptive reuse of the Historical Urban Landscape in an inner area of Southern Italy, where the needs of health and safety of the community are integrated with the transmission of the built heritage to future generations. The goal is the promotion of inclusive prosperity scenarios, towards the so-called "new normality". Starting from an in-depth literature review on the cases of pandemics in history and the strategies implemented, the research identifies health security requirements at the scale of the Historic Urban Landscape and design solutions aimed at reactivating lost synergies between communities and places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]