Management tools for the sustainable reclaiming of historical neighbourhoods

The sustainable reclaiming of historical neighbourhoods can be achieved only by projects able to allow to all the public and private involved subjects to receive benefits (not necessarily only the economic ones) larger than the related (financial, but also social and cultural) costs. In the case (really very common) of significantly deteriorate urban areas, such projects can be developed if it’s possible to overcome a minimum “critical” dimension, in order to register a real estate enhancement that offers values of the restored buildings greater than the project’s cost. The paper presents two management tools instrumental in reaching the critical dimension and in guarantying an adequate project quality: Public Private Partnership, via Project financing, can be an effective instrument to collect private financial resources for the reclaiming of public owned buildings; while the Neighbourhood laboratory is a strategic tool to support the single private owners (often families with only a flat in an apartment building) to reclaim their estate respecting all the necessary architectural and technical obligations.