Adaptive reuse of Built Heritage for public uses. A creative and constantly evolving design practice

The extraordinary amount of disused, abandoned or ruined built heritage - both monumental and ordinary, listed or not - can be traced as one of the characteristics of contemporary urban culture in Europe, especially in mediterranean contexts. The emergence and development of the so-called ‘knowledge economies’ in the creative field, the promotion of recycling practices, sustainability issues, environmental and resource conservation policies, and a renewed sensitivity towards existing heritage by the academic and professional community, make adaptive reuse practice increasingly important in both project practice and academic discourse, especially in the European continental context.The paper aims to investigate and analyse the main characteristics and concepts underlying the adaptive reuse of built heritage as a distinctive contemporary design practice, starting with a theoretical examination of its evolution from spontaneous practice to aesthetic one, to moves then to a critical reading of the “design attitudes” of contemporary projects towards the existing, with particular focus on recent interventions characterized by innovative and resource-saving approaches to the heritage, and on public-related uses and functions, in order to draw a critical-theoretical background for further researches on the field.