The Italian response to sustainability in built environment: The match between law and technical assessment

Abstract

During these last years, increasing consideration has been given to the concept of sustainability seen in a broad perspective, including several fields of the human activity. The construction industry represents one of the most important sectors to focus on in terms of sustainability; therefore, its main challenge nowadays has shifted from a quantitative to a qualitative aspect of the production. This happens at both international and national levels; still sustainability is an issue that has a relative weight, depending on the specific needs of the area, the political choices of the country and its socio-economic background. The paper analyses the Italian framework both in terms of law and technical assessment of built environment sustainability. Section 1 shows how nowadays the inner political line and membership in the European Union lead Italy to focus on improving the quality of the buildings: such quality concept could be called “sustainability”, since this word includes various dimensions. Section 2 technically explains the environmental, social and economical dimensions of sustainability and the attempt to balance them in a holistic perspective. Section 3 depicts the legislative approach to enhance sustainability. Section 4 focuses on the Italian background with its recent regulatory changes, which have introduced the mandatory application of the Minimum Environmental Criteria (MEC) in public building’s construction.