ABSTRACT
Cultural heritage is today a key driver for urban regeneration in many historic towns and regions all over the world. Urban regeneration occurs through the functional use and reuse of historical buildings and sites but also as a means to create or strengthen a sense of local identity and enhance public well-being and social inclusion. However, exploiting the local heritage’s potentials as a planning policy is a rather recent practice. In this chapter, we first sketch the evolving position of heritage within planning principles throughout the twentieth century. Secondly, we elaborate on three ways in which adaptive reuse is employed as a driver for urban regeneration:
Development of new housing typologies through the adaptive reuse of existing buildings.
Transformation of heritage sites into urban parks.
User-led, or ‘vernacular’, adaptive reuse.
To conclude, we describe the risk of gentrification related to heritage and urban regeneration.