Rigenerazione urbana ed economia circolare: le potenzialità del recupero del patrimonio di archeologia industriale

The transition from a linear economy to a circular economy is a necessity and, at the same time, an opportunity because it offers long-term economic, environmental and social advantages, involving multiple actors in cooperative processes and promoting the re-investments of economic resources locally. Urban regeneration is an essential node in the circular economy implementation because it provides renovation and enhancement of urban infrastructures (including mobility improvement) and urban livability through public spaces and public life design and Cultural Heritage enhancement. The paper investigates the potentialities and the benefits from the industrial heritage restoration in territorial contexts characterized by process of de-industrialization due to the economic-productive transformations and to the market globalization processes. In these contexts the circular economy is a unique occasion and a strategic concept in strengthening the implementation process (providing economic, social and environmental sustainability). The urban regeneration of these areas requires a global strategic vision able to systematize the interventions on the single areas focusing on the interrelations between buildings and the whole urban components especially in cases where urban contexts are characterized by the presence of a relevant but minor industrial heritage. The identification of all industrial archaeology resources (both related to open spaces and built environment), is fundamental not only in order to use these resources as cultural evidence in today's social dynamics, but mostly in developing integrated strategies (for environment and society) as well. This renovated approach imposes to designers new awareness and design methodologies for managing modification processes. Therefore, on a construction scale, new scenarios of building process integrated planning and intervention actions associated to the reuse theme are opened. The paper describes this methodology applied to a case study related to the industrial city of Lecco (IT).