Catalysts for Change: Processes and Methodologies for the Reuse of 20th-Century Heritage for Urban Regeneration and Social Inclusion

The presence of abandoned built heritage in contemporary cities raises significant questions within urbanism and architecture. Twentieth-century heritage, with its unique characteristics and varying degrees of constraint (heritage-related, affective, or cultural), calls for suitable tools, processes, and methodologies for requalification and reintegration within urban communities. In particular, public heritage requires systemic relationships with local communities to produce positive outcomes for urban and social contexts, reinstating identity fragments of memory for the contemporary city. The Italian city is scattered with disused "containers", often associated with obsolete functions (industrial buildings, large thermal establishments, colonies, properties linked to railway infrastructures, disused production facilities, and many others). By introducing new functions to meet contemporary needs, such assets can become engines for urban regeneration and social inclusion, aligning with principles of land non-consumption, sustainability, and urban resilience. This paper reflects on some research experiences as best practice models at the Politecnico di Milano, focusing on twentieth-century heritage in Italy, providing a methodological and procedural vision for their physical adaptation and re-functionalization. The ultimate aim is to make some qualitative considerations about how recovering memorial architectures for social and collective purposes (education, reception, hospitality, social interaction, combating vulnerabilities) can become foundational to a new culture of reuse, where regenerating existing assets becomes a social and ethical act.