Transfer of Development Rights as Incentives for Regeneration of Illegal Settlements

Southern Italian cities are often characterized by widespread phenomena of illegal settlements, that have resulted – among other things – in a worsening of the quality of life in the urban-rural interface, and the weakening of the considerable architectural interest of the entire city. The goal of this paper is to propose an approach that would help rehabilitate what is already built, and in so doing improving on the quality and liveability of those cities. This approach is based on a particular methodology based on the promotion of Urban Complex Programs (PUC), which provide a system of development rights resulting from the demolition of unfinished illegal settlements. The benefits of this approach are many, including improvements in efficiencies and safety, meeting demands of environmental protection and reducing consumption of energy, seismic risk prevention and improving the liveability and attractiveness of the areas with illegal settlements. These benefits can be obtained only on one condition: that they are based on a system of collective and public amenities in accordance with the principle of sustainability in multiple dimensions (environmental, cultural, technological, political, institutional, social and economic). But for this approach to be viable it needs also to be convenient for the private actors as well. With this paper we hope to provide first an original approach that can improve the conditions of cities burdened with the problems of illegal settlements that is both sustainable and convenient and, second, an instrument that can provide information for both the public and private sectors on the fairness of the procedure and their mutual interest in pursuing this approach.