Chapter 18 Urban Regeneration of Sensitive Brownfeld Sites and Areas for Sustainable Future Scenarios: Models and Strategies

The regeneration of sensitive disused areas, and in particular military areas, is a topic that has been the subject of several studies due to the topicality and relevance of the issues involved: the presence of abandoned and contaminated areas is widespread and represents a problem due to the risk to which territories and communities are exposed. The objective of the research is to identify the best solutions for the recovery of abandoned military areas; to this end, a careful examination of some case studies (seven Italian and two Spanish) and an analysis of the emerging problems was carried out in order to defne the fundamental phases of the regenerative process involving decontamination, environmental rebalancing and re-functionalisation. According to the proposal, decontaminated sites will have to be part of a single environmental and social infrastructure and be in line with certain qualitative, quantitative and performance parameters set in compliance with EU guidelines. In order to hypothesise a strategic intervention model, nine case studies were analysed, selected to capture the different functional characteristics, size and current conditions of the area. It is important to understand whether the regeneration processes implemented or underway depend on certain geographic, location, size, site contamination, market conveniences or the presence of particular constraints that may inhibit transformation. The strategies defned in this essay can be duplicated in different contexts as the proposed road-map of actions is fexible and adaptable to different context variables.