Preservation and re-cycle between reality and imagination, Proceedings: Cultural heritage, possibilities for spatial and economic development

The progressive dissemination of strategies for reusing and recycling abandoned buildings is shedding light on changes to the very definition of heritage, currently being rewritten. The primary factors of this change include an exponential increase in empty, abandoned, incomplete or never-used containers; wounds in contemporary land- scapes seeking responses from governing bodies and entities responsible for territorial management. Italy is exemplary: official numbers speak of some 5 million abandoned buildings (ISTAT, 2011).1 All the same, the true problem is not to be found in quantitative data, despite further aggravations introduced by the economic crisis, as much as in the consistency of this mass of void: more than “junk space”, these ambiguous works form a complex inherit- ance that is not comprised solely of warehouses or “ordinary” constructions, but of a highly variegated series of buildings, of quality architecture, of testimonials, of infra- structures. The possibility to distinguish and separate this collection of remains, examples of ex- cellence and ordinary buildings, grows increasingly remote, and the relative methods of intervention are called into question. The recovery of the existing, above all in Italy, has consistently favoured restoration or refurbishment, operations “conceded” only in the case of structures deemed worthy of interest. In this sense, the judgements imparted by the superintendence have guaranteed the survival of listed structures by permitting structural consolidation, restoration or refurbishment works, in other words, operations focused on restoring their original condition. This desire to return to a ground zero is substantially tied to the attribution of historic and testimonial value, on critical fortunes, on artistic qualities, authorship and conditions of authenticity. All categories founded on immaterial meanings, captured by retroactive attention focused on reconstructing virtual memories and histories that never existed, are constructed artificially and lie far from reality.