Appraisal and Evaluation in the Production of Works for the Transformation of the Contemporary City

Abstract

The article develops a series of reflections on a specific theme which, regarding the economic evaluation of the territorial transformation, remains, especially in Italy, particularly critical: the production of the territorial works and services, with specific reference to the public works (the new urban facilities). The subject, involving the Appraisal and Evaluation disciplines, allows us to highlight their fundamental contribution both at the operative/professional level as well as at the formative one. In order to develop the reflections, a comparison between two emblematic cases seem to be particularly effective: the Euskalduna Conference Centre in Bilbao (1999) and the new Conference Center, in Rome (2016). The other Italian events of the unfinished works, the issue of the executive phases in the design process and the fragmentation of the responsibilities, in addition to the continuing absence of a culture of the “project management”, allow to underline the important role that the Appraisal and Evaluation disciplines are called upon to play in the production of works for the transformation of the contemporary city, also in the perspective of the new Italian Procurement Code.