The stadium as a cultural asset between memory and contemporaneity. Tools and strategies for enhancement of sport infrastructures as opportunities for urban and social regeneration

The document introduces an interpretation on sports heritage with particular reference to stadiums intended for the game of football, aimed at valorization and innovation of its system spread over the entire Italian territory involved today in a phase of redevelopment due to the changing cultural and social needs expressed by contemporary society. The work aims to promote an interesting, complex and delicate picture of the Italian context, where the relationship between city and stadium is closely linked. The objective is to outline tools and strategies that can not only support interventions for the development of built heritage but, in a prospective logic, accompany change management processes, innovation and strategic development of existing sport architectures. The result of the research consists, firstly, of the systematisation of the contribution of the different disciplines on the specific theme; secondly, in the preparation of an analytical study on the Italian context through a mapping of the Italian stadiums and, in conclusion, in the study of a reading tool of the opportunities able to indicate the predisposition of an existing stadium to host a development project and following which directions. On the basis of the reflections and analyses that emerged, some guidelines have also been developed for the planning and design of the redevelopment interventions of existing stadiums through the identification of some interpretative keys that attempt to synthesise the different thematic areas that a contemporary stadium must deal with today if interpreted as the nodal infrastructure of urban and social regeneration processes.