Innovazione sociale e patrimonio culturale motori di rigenerazione urbana

Contemporary settlement systems mirror and host radical changes, amid recent events like the pandemic, leading to socially heterogeneous and fragmented structures. Addressing the effects of such structures requires an integrated, layered process, leveraging social energies and actions by highlighting identity peculiarities, akin to a “return to the territory”, as a comprehensive strategy for territorial rebalancing, merging the “space of flows” and the “space of places”. In this view, territory, shaped by diverse co-evolutionary processes, becomes a collective heritage, a “common good”, informing projects and policies for sustainable, resilient arrangements centred on public spaces and strategies for constructing the public city. The concept of cultural heritage plays a central role in this context, serving as a lever to reconnect communities and public spaces, counteracting social and cultural marginalization. Social innovation in the field of cultural heritage entails a shift in perspective: no longer just preservation but active involvement of citizens in meaning-making and common asset management. Furthermore, the valorisation of cultural heritage can represent an opportunity for development and renewal, reducing territorial inequalities and promoting social inclusion. Responses to emergencies, such as the pandemic, call for new models of urban regeneration that prioritize the valorisation of cultural heritage and the strengthening of local identity.