Circular economy strategies for adaptive reuse of residential building

Abstract

[EN] The paper deals with the issue of the regeneration of the existing building heritage by framing the problems that characterize the relationships between users-buildings-neighbourhoods in a circular vision. Circular Economy concepts are well suited to the building and construction sector in cities. For example, refurbishing and adaptively reusing underutilized or abandoned buildings can revitalize neighborhoods whilst achieving environmental benefits. A systematic review of the literature and case studies has led to the identification of three areas of action of the CE in the regeneration of the built environment: a Macro-level (the public space), a Micro-level (the single component), a Meso-level (the building). However, the traditional approach of carrying out timely interventions aimed at responding to individual problems, be they of a structural, energetic, functional nature, relating to the building, the context or the single component is not entirely effective in terms of reformulation of the building characteristics. In this perspective, the paper suggests strategies of circular regeneration of residential buildings through adaptive solutions at room level, home level and urban in pursuit of human wellbeing.