Uso, disuso, riuso. Valutazione di compatibilità funzionale del patrimonio portuale

The port areas, characterised by different historical and geographical backgrounds, reflect the progressive transformation due to evolving economic and logistical demands, frequently culminating in partial disuse of the port heritage. In this evolving context, a functional evaluation framework of port heritage constitutes a pivotal starting point to define its enhancement strategies. The proposed methodology consists of two main phases. Starting from systematic data collection about all types of assets, the state of use, state of conservation and original/ current function of port heritage were analysed to outline its conditions of use, disuse and reuse. Subsequently, three specific qualitative indicators were adapted from literature to evaluate the compatibility of used/ reused assets with the surrounding context, the original function and the physical characteristics of the heritage. The original aspect concerns the application to the port context and the definition of the descriptions associated with the rating scale of each indicator, validated through the Delphi Method. The results from four Italian ports managed by Port Authority Systems – Trieste, Ancona, Bari and Catania – highlight the current trends in recovery and reuse interventions, as a support for the future identification of adaptive reuse strategies for the port heritage.