In Italy, the management of built assets confiscated from organized crime groups is particularly relevant. Returning these assets to the community is becoming increasingly important for Italian municipalities, thanks to the many social benefits that can be generated (e.g., new spaces to provide community services, a visible and tangible symbol of legality, etc.). The process of redeveloping confiscated buildings, due to procedural complexity and a lack of resources, is currently characterized, on one hand, by a limited number of projects actually implemented compared to the potential of the total number of buildings available and, on the other hand, by the lengthy duration of the redevelopment process (12 years on average), which significantly increases the time it takes for the asset to return social value to the community. The objective of this research was to study, develop, and describe a mechanism that (i) enables an increase in the number of redevelopment actions of confiscated assets, (ii) accelerates the attribution of social value to these assets over time and (iii) extends the social impact of the requalification interventions that provide an opportunity for the professional training of students and the professional qualification of vulnerable people. There are two main tasks of the research shown in this article: (i) to highlight the main critical issues and needs in the management of confiscated assets by Italian municipalities, through a survey conducted among key informants; (ii) to build and test an innovative ‘win–win model’ for the requalification process of confiscated buildings, aimed at overcoming obstacles and anticipating the delivery of social benefits to a large group of stakeholders, including vulnerable people, tested in a pilot project. This “win–win model” combines building requalification and training through the activation of a “construction site school”. All original contributions are derived from the research “Co-WIN”, funded by the “Polisocial Awards 2021”, which developed methods, strategies, and tools capable of reducing social imbalances, with an equity and sustainability perspective. The results illustrated the drivers and challenges for the renovation and reuse of confiscated built assets; the necessary changes in documents and procedures to activate and replicate the “Co-WIN model”; and a training program for the construction-site school based on the social categories involved. Finally, the discussion highlights the network and the mutual benefits for stakeholders, focusing on the social relevance and social impact achievable through applying the Co-WIN model to the requalification process of confiscated buildings.

Learning from the present polycrisis exacerbated by the global pandemic and applying these lessons to the issue of climate change could bring long-term benefits. This contribution offers a novel point of view on the active role of urban services (re-defined as adaptation services) in supporting human systems’ adaptation to climate change. Furthermore, it discusses the implications of cross-level and cross-scale interactions in the management of adaptation services’ systems. The convergence of information collected from different sources (data triangulation) by means of literature review, in-deep analysis of policy documents and a continuous dialogue with key stakeholders shall ensure the consistency of the point of view proposed.

Climate change and extreme natural events are increasingly threatening human systems. Even if greenhouse gases emission were reduced to zero today, global warming and the consequent climate change would continue to affect future generations: as climate is changing, human systems must learn to adapt. This study focuses on the role, the use and the management of climate information to overcome the barriers to climate change adaptation action. The article first addresses the relationship between sustainable development and climate change, regarded as “two mutually reinforcing sides of the same coin”. After a short section on the complementarity of mitigation and adaptation strategies, it analyses the barriers to investments in climate adaptation action by public authorities: the uncertainty about the magnitude and the frequency of climate change-connected events, the common wrong perception of unlikelihood of global warming consequences and the intrinsic complexity characterizing human systems are identified as major constraints. These considerations lead to introduce the concepts of soft-resilience and low-regret adaptation strategies. The discipline of climate change adaptation based on soft-approach climate resilience strategies is closely linked to information management, information technologies, communications, logistics, geographic information services and good governance. Indeed, information management is here seen as the pillar of soft-approach strategies. Low-regret strategies are defined as measures that would generate net social and/or economic benefits both under current climate and a range of future climate change scenarios. Section 5 explores potential synergies between Climate Services (understood as any service, equipment, techniques, practical knowledge and skills that can be used to increase climate resilience of human system) and Urban Facility Management services. This study identifies Innovative Urban Climate Services, an integrated system of services addressing both climate and urban issues simultaneously, as an effective, soft-approach and low-regret strategy to overcome the barriers to adaptation action. These solutions provide a general framework allowing a flexible and customized support for human systems in adapting to unavoidable impacts of climate change.