Sustainable regeneration of public built heritage for climate neutrality, resilience and social value. A comparative assessment of four good practices

Cities, responsible for a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions and pressure on urban ecosystems, provide a strategic field for implementing climate mitigation and adaptation policies. The sustainable regeneration of dismissed public built heritage represents an opportunity for climate neutrality, resilience and social value creation. This contribution compares four European good practices of sustainable regeneration in compact cities (Bordeaux, Paris, Oslo, Ghent), focusing on three Green City axes: ‘energy transition’, ‘functional mixite and proximity’, and ‘urban greening, green and grey CO₂ subtraction’. A set of qualitative and quantitative indicators, derived from international protocols and guidelines, has been defined to compare the effectiveness of the strategies adopted in terms of emissions reduction, improvement of energy efficiency, accessibility and environmental quality. The results highlight how the adaptive reuse of brownfield sites can be a replicable practice, while recognising the need to refine the framework of indicators towards a more quantitative approach and to integrate social aspects more strongly into the assessment.