Concession and lease or sale? A model for the enhancement of public properties in disuse or underutilized

Although in many European countries the enhancement of public properties constitutes a theme of primary importance in the current economic situation, almost never Public Administrations have appropriate skills to rationally evaluate the best modality of valorization. This paper develops and test an evaluation model to support decisions of Public Administrations involved in the identification of the best modality of enhancement (concession and lease or sale) of public properties in disuse and/or underutilized. The model can be applied to any type of public property, but this research is focused on religious cultural buildings in disuse, common in Italy both in big cities and in smaller towns. The assumption underlying the model is that, since the properties considered are complex buildings, generally characterized by large dimensions, the form of bilateral monopoly market is always verified. The application of the model to three concrete cases, concerning religious buildings in disuse located in different areas of Southern Italy, shows that the model is a tool of simple use, exportable in any territorial context.