Impact of Brownfield Sites on Local Energy Production as Resilient Response to Land Contamination: A Case Study in Italy

Umberto Mecca, Paolo Piantanida, Francesco Prizzon and Manuela Rebaudengo
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Umberto Mecca: DISEG Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Paolo Piantanida: DISEG Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Francesco Prizzon: R3C Interdepartmental Centre Responsible Risk Resilience Centre, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy
Manuela Rebaudengo: R3C Interdepartmental Centre Responsible Risk Resilience Centre, Politecnico di Torino, 10125 Torino, Italy

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: The decentralization of the production sector crisis following industries in the suburbs have generated a multitude of empty containers in the medium-large Italian cities, which are abandoned, unsafe, and often dangerous for the community. From this arises the need to recover them and transform them into something else. This is not always possible or interesting for the subjects involved in the transformation. When the abandoned space is (even if only partially) polluted, then any hypothesis of transformation is stopped due to the high impact of decontamination costs, which greatly compromise the profitability of the investment. This paper deals with this issue focusing on a complex case study involving the abandoned area and the buildings of a former paint mill in the center of a typical city in the Turin metropolitan area. The suggested hypothesis is to act only on building components and external areas without any ground modification because of its contamination. Moreover, the new planned use (energy production from renewable sources to supply part of the public administration’s needs) does not foresee neither a stable presence of people nor a further consumption of land. The technical analysis of community energy needs and the subsequent economic and financial study lead to a financial sustainability over a period of about 25 years.

Keywords: brownfield; economic sustainability; land contamination; energy production; regeneration; city resilience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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