Adaptive reuse in fragile contexts. Combining affordable housing solutions, new job opportunities and regeneration of urban peripheries

The proposed contribution considers living spaces in relation to the themes of affordable housing, work accessibility, adaptive reuse of existing heritage, and regeneration of peripheral areas. It presents the first results of ongoing research by design experience, undertaken at Politecnico di Milano’s Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, within the “Territorial Fragilities” Project, and bringing together two lines of research dedicated to contemporary housing solutions and to town and city peripheries. The research is also developed through teaching activities as part of the “Affordable Housing” Final Thesis Studio (MSc in Architecture – Built Environment – Interiors). The aim is to define innovative housing solutions obtained from adaptive reuse of non-residential, underused or abandoned public assets (offices, schools, hospitals, depots, barracks). The architectural solutions will seek answers to profound socio-economic-demographic changes (transformation of family structure, labour market insecurity, migration) and the criticalities they trigger (inadequate space, functional rigidity, lack of targeted services, poor affordability). Housing access is often conditioned by unemployment, therefore the research challenge consists in producing scenarios where a building can become not only a home but also contribute to reactivating the finances of people who are in need of a life experience that goes beyond just a roof over their heads. In this perspective, housing is seen as a tool for starting empowerment processes – of people and buildings – that define new space and type solutions able to produce effects, especially in fragile contexts when supported by special policies. The contexts touched upon by the research are fragile areas: buildings and neighbourhoods found in town and city peripheries. The intervention aims to reinforce economic and relational networks already present within the context, impacting the surrounding public spaces and encouraging an alternative way of living.