Natural and cultural resources

Reading the abstract, written in June 2009 for the present paper, it is clear that, while waiting for the Dublin workshop, I intended to focus attention on a specific aspect of sustainability: the importance of succeeding in quantifying the impact of theoretical choices and techniques employed in actions on the building heritage. However, participation in the workshop and discussion with others, has convinced me that the transfer of the concept of sustainability from the world of the ecologist to that of restoration is still far from mature, and requires further reflection before carrying my observations further. In this connection, in the discussion of the working group on Kilkenny city the meaning of the term ‘sustainability’ did not seem so clear when applied to the building heritage, and one of the first doubts shared by everyone was precisely: “What does ‘sustainability’ mean when we talk about the city? What is to be sustained? The buildings or the uses?” I therefore decided to try to note down some reflections, starting from the meaning of the adjective ‘sustainable’, and blending them with what emerged in the extemporaneous discussions of the workshop.