Theoretical basis and Design of Analysis

The chapter highlights the research methodology, which was developed on five different steps. The first stage involved a literature review and focused on three connected key themes (urban regeneration, adaptive reuse, the Italian context). A second stage concerned a reconnaissance of national experiences of recovery and re-functionalisation of under-used or abandoned spaces and the definition of basic criteria to select a limited number of cases to be further investigated. On the basis of the criteria, six cases were selected, which have been studied according to a specific analytical framework developed in phase three. The analytical framework allowed us to identify six different areas of analysis which also reflected the different disciplinary areas of the members of the research group. In phase four, field research has been conducted on the six case studies, collecting data and evidences and through observations, documents and interviews. Phase six consisted in the analysis and interpretative summary with operational indications for decision-makers