Cultural heritage (CH) is considered a key element of cities and regions’ identity anduniqueness, contributing to people's wellbeing and health, as well as jobs creation, environmentalregeneration and place attractiveness. The adaptive reuse of abandoned and underused CH can be asustainable strategy for heritage conservation, stimulating local development processes. However,heritage conservation needs large investments, while the resources available are scarce, and invest-ment projects are subject to high uncertainties. Therefore, a careful assessment of impacts is neededto orient and direct CH adaptive reuse projects towards sustainability. Recent studies approach theadaptive reuse of abandoned buildings and sites as an effective circular economy strategy, potentiallycontributing to climate objectives through environmental regeneration and the reduction of naturalresources consumption. However, evaluation tools to assess the impacts and orient adaptive reuseinterventions in the perspective of circularity are lacking. Through the analysis of 76 literature sourceson CH impacts, this article explores how indicators are currently used in CH research and practice asimpact assessment tools. More than 3500 indicators were retrieved and classified. Finally, this articleproposes a comprehensive evaluation framework to assess the impacts of cultural heritage adaptivereuse in the perspective of the circular economy. The results show that, while some indicators areavailable, many circularity aspects are not considered in the current studies on CH impacts.

In this period of increasing urbanization, cultural heritage can play a key role to achieve sustainable development, as widely recognized by international institutions (i.e., United Nations (UN), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)). In this perspective, it is necessary to operationalize the principles stated at international level and thus new approaches and tools are required. The paper aims to understand the relationships between the implementation of adaptive reuse projects and their success (or not) in terms of impacts on the buildings themselves and on the urban context. The assessment framework for evaluating the impacts of heritage conservation and rehabilitation projects is described through the analysis and comparison of two Italian case studies: the Ancient Market and the Basilica of St. Peter the Apostle, in Siracusa (Italy). Although realized both in the same place (Ortigia, the historic centre of Siracusa), during the same period and by the same architect, these two interventions have produced different results in terms of urban development. A set of indicators, deduced from recent scientific studies, has been used to analyse the different impacts on physical, cultural, social, environmental and economic systems. To understand in depth the causes of these two different results, a survey has been carried out involving experts. The proposed indicators used for the ex-post evaluation can be also adopted in other contexts and for ex ante evaluation, in order to orient the strategic design choices in cultural heritage adaptive reuse projects.

The health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire world since the beginning of 2020, changing living and working conditions. The pandemic has generated a crisis that is having and will continue to have consequences on all sectors of the economy, including the real estate market. During the lockdown period, houses became spaces for both living and working, as well as for leisure activities. Therefore, they were modified to meet the new requirements of communities forced to spend most of their time at home. This will also affect the real estate market in the near future in terms of trends and the characteristics of desirable houses. This research aims to analyse the trends in the residential market in Italy and in particular in the metropolitan area of Naples (Italy). Starting from official sources, the trends of the real estate market, and in particular in the metropolitan area of Naples from 2009 to 2020, have been analysed. Then, two surveys were conducted involving both the community and real estate agents operating in the territory, in order to investigate the effects that COVID-19 has had on the real estate market. The analysis carried out highlights structural changes in the demand for residential properties in the metropolitan area of Naples due to the new requirements as a result of COVID-19.

As underlined by OECD and United Nations, as cities are growing in size, they will face challenges in becoming climate neutral, reducing their environmental footprint, and meeting the growing needs of their populations. In cities, the main challenges of sustainable development are concentrated. So, there is a need to identify a new development model in order to make cities more sustainable. This necessity concerns all sectors, including the tourism one, which represents the third largest socio-economic activity in Europe. The tourism sector puts pressure on the city, increasing waste generation, noise and air pollution, and congestion in infrastructure and public areas. In addition, it is organized according to the linear economy model. This linearity is particularly visible in cities as people here tend to choose comfort over sustainability. In this framework, new approaches, strategies, and tools are required in order to make the tourism sector more sustainable, thus reducing its negative impacts on cities. In this perspective, the Human Circular Tourism (HCT) model is proposed. The aim of this study is to provide an operational framework consisting of recommendations, actions, and indicators to effectively operationalize the Human Circular Tourism model and to support public authorities (and other tourism stakeholders) in the identification of efficient policies in the tourism sector.

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.