Meta design strategies for the adaptive reuse of port industrial heritage

Port areas, as strategic infrastructures, are characterised by the presence of industrial heritage, expression of the tangible and intangible stratification of values connected to maritime practices. Factories, warehouses, shipyards and silos constitute a legacy of the original productive vocation of the area. Many of these structures are currently underused, disused or decayed, despite their potential for reuse. In response to this condition, the research proposes a methodology aimed at identifying meta-design strategies for the reuse and requalification of industrial port heritage, according to success factors in adaptive reuse. The methodological approach consists of the identification of 28 meta-design strategies related to 10 dimensions, such as architectural, structural, socio-cultural, economic, environmental, energy, historical, regulatory, managerial/decision-making and functional. The resulting framework is validated through the analysis of paradigmatic interventions in 12 real port assets in Italian and European contexts, in order to identify technical solutions toward the development of a decision-making support atlas of effective and compatible measures. This contribution offers a critical reflection on the role of adaptive reuse for the conservation, enhancement and reintegration of industrial heritage in contemporary contexts.