The Sustainable Reclaiming of Historical Neighbourhood: an Economic and Organizational Approach for the Italian Context

the reclaiming of ancient neighbourhood is a world-wide problem with different cultural, technological, economic and organisational connotations in the different countries. In ’80 and ’90 an interesting “soft” approach to the problem (by an organisational point of view) was developed for the Italian context by the famous Architect Renzo Piano and Professor Gianfranco Dioguardi. The approach could be usefully applied also in other countries with similar situations: the “Neighbourhood Laboratory”. The aim of the Neighbourhood Laboratory is to allow the owners of the (little) private single properties to get incremental (and not “traumatic”) reclaiming of their houses through the work of little, local craftsmen, but also through the professional contribution (for diagnosis, design and control of the work) that only more important engineering and construction corporations can provide. The Neighbourhood Laboratory can be promoted by public or private firms. The paper describes the organisational structure and the aim of the laboratory and the most important applications developed in Italy.