Cultural heritage led urban regeneration: plans and projects

The processes of metropolization that have affected Italian and European cities in recent decades have led to significant changes in the territorial structure, as well as altering the meaning of issues related to urban planning, the environment, and the landscape. The debate on the new “urban issue” (Secchi 2011; Ricci 2021a) has shifted the focus from the mere construction dimension to the overall quality of urban space, addressing a territorial dimension characterized by settlement fragmentation, heterogeneity of the fabric and a lack of structural public spaces, elements that accentuate conditions of social, economic, and cultural marginalization and the fragility of the bonds of identity between communities and the territory (Ricci, 2019). From this perspective, cultural heritage can represent a strategic resource for triggering heritage-led regeneration processes characterized by an interdisciplinary dimension that integrates the conservation of heritage values with contemporary socio-economic development (Fouseki, Nicolau 2018). This contribution offers a reflection on the experience of heritage-led regeneration in Rome, both in terms of urban planning and design, where historical and cultural heritage becomes a driver of sustainable urban transformation, aimed at building a new urban welfare system. Through the contextualization of a system of networks that are interactive and integrated, the historical and cultural identity of communities and the very meaning of the collective use of spaces in the contemporary city are reaffirmed (Ricci 2021b).