*6.1. An Adaptive Reuse Project of "Rifugio Diffuso" in Sila National Park*

The illustrated methodological framework was applied to a case study relating to a "Rifugio Diffuso" project in Sila National Park (Italy) (Figure 3). The SNP, a national park in Calabria, Italy, was founded in 1997, spanning approximately 74,000 hectares. It safeguards a remarkable biodiverse landscape and scenic beauty, earning recognition as the 10th Italian biosphere reserve in UNESCO's prestigious network of outstanding sites in 2014 [7].

**Figure 3.** The study area. Source: elaboration by the author.

Despite the centuries-old interactions between men and nature, the landscape has maintained a harmonious relationship between human activities, the natural environment, and urban settlements. Approximately 386,000 inhabitants live in the territory of the reserve, mainly dedicated to agriculture, forestry, and breeding (transhumance of livestock is still practiced, from the mountains to the coastal plains in winter and vice versa). Calabria is the fourth Italian region in terms of the number of protected products, with 36 denominations, especially in the wine and cured meats sectors [7].

The settlement system is structured on the network of historic centers, inserted in the landscape and often well preserved. In addition to the system of historic centers, the numerous small rural villages have landscape value, functional to the maintenance of rural activities and secular rites and traditions and functional to the pursuit of enhancement strategies centered on visitors.

In the context of the study, the distribution of the population was influenced over time by both natural and historical factors. The population that currently lives in the park's territories is rather scarce. The most densely populated areas were found at the confluence of the valleys, while the towns/hamlets that, due to their position, had difficulty accessing them, have undergone a progressive depopulation in the last sixty years. To preserve the local cultural identity and stop this phenomenon, numerous regional and community projects have been launched in recent years, bearing witness to the importance of safeguarding and enhancing this common heritage through the promotion of sustainable and integrated intervention policies with respect to different cultural, historical, social, and economic contexts. To date, the territory of the park is undergoing a demographic collapse that began in the last century. The causes of depopulation can be identified in changes in the standard of living, as well as in the increasingly limited availability of primary services. In fact, it is no longer possible to lead a life in the mountains except for short holiday periods.

If the infrastructural network is lacking from a purely functional point of view, it should be pointed out that the presence of a secondary road network, which often offers extraordinary perspective opportunities, would deserve a detailed analysis aimed at identifying the most panoramic stretches for designing viewpoints and explanatory signs of the observable landscape peculiarities.

The historic–cultural system is made up of sets of punctual assets within four main categories: industrial archeology (spinning mills, kilns, production plants); historical and cultural assets (archaeological areas, castles, fortified settlements, museums, necropolises); religious properties (abbeys, chapels, churches, convents, monasteries, sanctuaries); and rural assets (farms, mills).

#### *6.2. Decision Context Analysis*

The initial phase of the methodological path explores the decision-making context of the study for the project of 'Rifugio Diffuso' in the SNP. All relevant information on the project area, collected through the integration of Hard System Analysis, Soft System Analysis, and Institutional Analysis, was structured in a SWOT matrix (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats): a valid reference for planning adaptive reuse strategies [59]. The Hard System Analysis enabled the development of a comprehensive cognitive framework encompassing the physical, morphological, social, and economic aspects of the study area. This framework served as a valuable reference for constructing the SWOT matrix. Additionally, the Institutional Analysis technique [19] was employed to identify and map the relevant stakeholders in the local community. Their interests were explored through online questionnaires and interviews with key individuals. The outcome was a placespecific SWOT matrix that incorporated both expert perspectives and insights from the local communities. This matrix effectively captured the factors that were best-recognized by those who resided in the area.

#### Strengths and Weaknesses of the Socio–Economic Context

The current state of affairs was analyzed and the intervention needs were identified for the purpose of reaching the definition of the strong points of the territory and its criticalities, dynamics and evolutionary prospects, and threats to which it is subjected. According to the criteria of the SWOT analysis, the following points were identified:



On the one hand, the comparative analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses of the territory made it possible to identify the areas, objectives, and actions on which to "leverage" to promote the triggering of sustainable development models and remove/mitigate the processes/elements of degradation. On the other hand, the examination of the Opportunities and Threats made it possible to define strategic hypotheses with which to orient the objectives, axes, and actions. In general, from a demographic point of view, the park presented an overall situation characterized by a significant decline in the resident population, as well as an evident aging trend. This was accompanied by a low level of per capita income, below the national average, and poor endowments of social structures. This socio–demographic situation was accompanied by an economic and entrepreneurial context that was not oriented towards the agricultural sector, which represents a vital sector for the protection and control of the territory. In particular, the problems and criticalities within the socio–economic context of the park could be traced back to the following factors: depopulation in the municipalities, population aging, fragility of the social and economic context, low endowment of structures and infrastructures serving the production system, high fragmentation of supply and production, difficulties related to logistics and freight transport, poor training of economic operators, low propensity of economic operators to associate and collaborate, and little consideration of the park authority as an interlocutor, both at an institutional level and as private operators. Alongside the weaknesses, the following strengths were highlighted: good institutional organization of the park authority, a variety of typical products and a good quality of most of the dairy and agricultural products, and the availability of cultural resources and "ancient trades" linked to ancient production techniques. Table 1 schematically outlines the results of the SWOT analysis.

**Table 1.** SWOT analysis of the socio–economic context.


**Table 1.** *Cont.*


Based on the analyses carried out, three fundamental strategic axes emerged to pursue the conservation, enhancement, and promotion of the SNP territory:


#### *6.3. Definition and Study of Adaptive Reuse Hypotheses*

The results of the analysis of the decision-making context systematized in the SWOT matrix (Table 1), together with the process of recognizing cultural heritage values, allowed the project to become compatible with the value system of the project area and to design development and alternative reuse development. In more detail, as mentioned above, the SWOT analysis highlighted three fundamental strategic axes, which were useful references for developing a project aimed at seeking the conservation, enhancement, and promotion of the park territory, leveraging local potential and addressing existing critical issues.

The SNP falls within a rather complex socio–cultural system. In fact, it includes areas in which opposite and contradictory characters coexist: an endowment of environmental, natural, anthropic, and historical resources that is underexploited in the sense of valorization and overexploited with respect to its carrying capacity.

A fundamental role of the pilot project was to favor the integration of the plurality of policies, to respect and enhance the complex local reality, and seize the set of economic, social, and cultural opportunities that the dynamics of the context can trigger. For this reason, the method of "concerted programming" assumed particular importance, which was launched with the subjects involved: the local administration, park authority, state forestry corps, and private owners.

The bottom-up logic requires consensus and sharing within the limits and in compliance with current legislation, seeking the support of the institutional subjects and local actors involved to enhance the synergies between the various interest groups (stakeholders) and the complementation of skills, reducing the reasons for conflict. The moments of dialogue put in place by the research group ensured an effective comparison based on the explicit evaluation of the expected results and the risks of the design hypotheses.

Engaging the local community through questionnaires and interviews helped in identifying sustainable adaptive reuse strategies aligned with their expectations. It also revealed the community's social perception of cultural values, highlighting key elements for preserving and enhancing a collectively supported adaptive reuse project. The alternative scenarios of the adaptive reuse project are defined by applying the scenario building methodology [26], exploiting the potential and development drivers of the areas through sustainable tourism and the promotion of traditional cultures [5,25,31].

Through an in-depth analysis with the stakeholders allowed us to analyze and verify a series of aspects necessary to move from the generic identification of possible lines of development to the definition of the local development plan. The details of the path subsequently followed in the context of the analysis phase are described below:


As mentioned, once the project guidelines were defined, they were shared with the local partners to define the actions to be undertaken in a participatory manner and clarify the methods and actors for implementation (Table 2). An important moment in defining the preferred intervention alternative was represented by the continuous exchanges with the local actors who actively participated in the planning of the idea. In fact, after the analyses conducted on the existing structure, their participation in all the verification phases contained in the prefeasibility study was considered essential for sharing the analyses and intervention hypotheses. Thus, one of the development possibilities was clarified, which was identified in the connection between the tourist and agricultural sectors; more precisely in the creation of activities aimed at linking tourism with the agro–forestry–pastoral and artisanal activities connected with or attributable to it.

**Table 2.** Analysis of intervention and adaptive reuse alternatives.


A fundamental prerequisite for implementing the hypothesized actions, in line with the analyses carried out, is the involvement of all local actors (public and private). The advanced hypotheses were then shared with the local actors through the scenario building technique [26]: a technique developed by the U.E. for involvement in a perspective of governance and democratic deliberative participation [21,24,26–28]. The participants were calle upon to engage in structured discussions to reach a consensus on the path forward, including planning and defining the tasks and actions to be undertaken.

The scenario building, in addition to providing the basis for consensus on the actions to be undertaken (and on the methods for implementing them), should lead to the definition of the premises for the establishment of a collaboration network, which will subsequently have to be institutionalized and publicly supported. The development of new type of offer, accommodation or otherwise, is a problem that concerns private entrepreneurs, the local socio-economic conditions, and the understanding and collaboration of tourist entrepreneurs with local public administrators. By planning resources and interventions together, the public and private actors will be able to move towards an advanced tourism which has the fundamental and innovative objective of providing the means and equipment, in harmony with the development of local peculiarities. It is evident that it is not enough to prepare "positive" interventions top-down. The objective must be pursued in a participatory process which, by identifying specific organizational references, is able to combine the equipment, services, and methods of use with real needs so that they can be managed over time using valid methods and criteria.

Table 2 summarizes the two operational development alternatives that emerged from the re-elaboration of the analyses conducted and from the comparison with local actors.
