Circular economy and cultural heritage conservation: a proposal for integrating Level(s) evaluation tool

Abstract

The paradigm shift towards a more humanistic and ecological paradigm evoked by United Nations and the Green Deal is increasingly required in this period of growing unsustainability, especially during ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The challenge today is to reduce poverty and inequalities, while preserving the vitality of natural ecosystems and ensuring inclusive economic growth and wellbeing, both now and in the future, thus including future generations. To this end, new models for city development and new tools for operationalizing them are necessary. This paper is focused on the circular economy model and, in particular, on the functional reuse of cultural heritage as the entry point for triggering circular processes in the cities. The attention is focused on the evaluation tools and a methodological proposal is presented starting from the Level(s) tool (developed by European Commission) for assessing the multidimensional impacts of cultural heritage functional reuse projects in the circular economy perspective.