Rigenerazione urbana e siti UNESCO. Un nuovo sistema di welfare space per Caltagirone

Although sixty years have passed since the drafting of the Gubbio Charter, a document that placed the historic centres of our cities at the base of urban policies, the theme of historic centres still remains an extremely topical issue. Nevertheless, if the social acknowledgement of their historical and cultural value is a well-established fact, urban policies on historical centres have produced asymmetrical results. In fact, alongside those historic centres that have developed an intense process of social and economic recovery, often associated with tourist and recreational activities, there are others, especially those located in the inner areas, that have remained extraneous to these practices and show evident symptoms of demographic, economic and housing slump, with consequent degradation phenomena. On the bases of these findings, the 15 municipal administrations of the Calatino area, belonging to the metropolitan city of Catania, have decided to use the resources, made available by the PNRR as part of the implementation of the project Integrated plans – M5C2 – Investment 2.2 in order to realize an urban recovery and regeneration process of the degraded Calatino area so as to promote greater social inclusion and reduce social exclusion and degradation; improve urban regeneration, through buildings and public spaces recovery and renovation and their eco-sustainable re-functionalization and also support smart cities projects with particular attention to transport and energy efficiency. The municipality of Caltagirone, as an attraction pole and centre of reference of the Calatino Inner Area, has identified as a primary target to be pursued, within the project Integrated plans – M5C2 – Investment 2.2, the urban regeneration of the Matrice and Sant’Agostino districts, which have been included, since 2002, in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The paper aims to illustrate the above-mentioned urban regeneration process in order to better protect the UNESCO core zone and buffer zone, rationalize tourist flows and encourage non-seasonal housing returns within the historic centre.