Dialogical tools for Modern heritage transformation. Research experiences across public housing and Modern neighbourhoods

In contexts increasingly shaped by environmental pressure, climate-related concerns, economic scarcity, and the growing fragility of territories, the transformation of modern heritage demands methodological approaches capable of operating across technical, historical, social, and institutional domains. This necessity is especially apparent in ordinary and inhabited environments, such as post-war public housing and modern neighbourhoods. In these locations, value is neither fixed nor solely material, but rather continuously redefined through use, maintenance, governance, and collective recognition. In this context, the issue at hand transcends the mere preservation of existing fabric, instead encompassing the structured development and mobilisation of understanding to facilitate progressive, situated, and socially responsive forms of change. This perspective is closely aligned with current debates on digital futures, climate sensitivity, and the humanistic redefinition of design practice. This contribution is informed by two Italian research trajectories developed through distinct yet complementary settings: a long-term investigation into post-war public housing in Rome, emerging from workshop activity, teaching support, and doctoral research; and an applied study of modern neighbourhoods in Matera developed within an academic context at Sapienza University of Rome. Despite differences in scale, setting and profile, the two trajectories address a methodological question: how to build tools that connect in-depth inquiry, comparative reading, project-oriented interpretation and community-related forms of understanding with limited resources. The built environment is approached not as a static object, but as a field in which material consistency, historical depth, social use and local recognition continuously interact. Digital and computer-based tools are therefore operative and critical devices for organising evidence, comparing scenarios and guiding action. In the Roman case, this approach is articulated through digital atlases, system-based readings and incremental strategies focused on adaptable and replaceable building components. In Matera, it takes the form of interpretative and governance-oriented devices aimed at recognising modern neighbourhoods as proximity heritage, while linking spatial analysis, civic value, local knowledge and community-based practices of care. This proposal argues that the methodological relevance of these investigations lies in their capacity to reposition innovation as a mediating rather than deterministic force. The contribution outlines a transferable approach to heritage transformation that is more dialogical, less authorial and more responsive to the cultural and social complexity of contemporary territories.