Unused real estate and enhancement of historic centers: Legislative instruments and procedural ideas

Abstract

Private real estate in historic centers plays a key role in development dynamics as their efficient use is functional in the competitiveness of the territories they belong to. This estate is often neglected and with complicated ownership circumstances hardly compromising the implementation of evaluation plans. Generally, this paper aims to contribute to the debate on historic centers and has the specific goal to suggest those tools and preliminary procedures to help Administrations on the issue of private unused buildings within an integrated process of evaluation. We brought to light two approaches: one related to regulatory issues that define the available legislative instruments; the other one related to evaluative issues, which show the role of evaluation in finding out those preparatory instruments able to create integrated plans in terms of feasibility and sustainability of investment recovery. This should be realized with the help of private funds, so it is essential a benefit estimation.