Innovative Approaches for Cultural Heritage Renovation in the Mediterranean Area

Tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage (CH) represents the cradle of our communities; therefore, it is our duty to preserve CH and historical buildings as much as possible. Especially small aggregates and settlements indeed, constitute fragile environments, often located in marginal areas isolated from main urban centers and exposed to high environmental risks. These features, which “shaped” throughout history their urban landscape, led them to progressively face abandonment or depopulation phenomena, that, in turn, led to the technological degradation of buildings and infrastructure. This trend is particularly evident in the Mediterranean area, and especially in Italy, which has 4,7% of the world’s architectural heritage. Therefore, there is the need to recognize and systematize efficient and effective actions for CH valorization, improving its energy efficiency towards the decarbonization of the built environment. However, energy improvement in historical buildings is complicated by the need to preserve the aesthetic and architectural value, including the in-between spaces among edifices, their connective fabric, and their typological and stylistic identity coupled with buildings’ construction techniques proper of a specific age. However, methodologies based on individual buildings or stand-alone solutions are not sufficient to overmatch the transition barriers, because, among other issues, they don’t consider the whole urban energy system and the synergies that can be created at a community level. Instead, large-scale renovation strategies are crucial to avoid depopulation and gentrification, assuring the unique identity of each site while achieving the goals of energy sustainability on larger urban scales, considering the whole built environment, also including its characteristic influences on energy demand and on-site energy generation potential of an area. Therefore, this contribute will explore innovative solutions and strategies for the redevelopment of CH within the Mediterranean area, addressing – besides the transformation of the territory – also social dynamics and new energy landscape potential. The objective is to showcase sustainable and replicable solutions for the heritage towards decarbonization, keeping in mind the overall aim of the energy transition.