Innovative technologies for ancient cities: knowledge based transition towards prosperity

This paper discusses the way knowledge and innovation can support the performances implementation in ancient cities. Assumptions underlying the approach is that the construction sector, unlike others, is sensitive to evolutionary innovations rather than radical ones. The future of ancient cities, is inevitably linked with the ability to reinvent new behaviors for spaces and devices, with the design of transition technologies, able to fit within a built system, previously characterized by high degrees of rigidity. To support the theoretical analysis, the historic center of Salerno has been assumed as a privileged case study. The paper shows how textures, monumental complexes and isolated buildings in the real estate market, can become new dynamos of development, enabling EU countries to maintain a strong position in the global economy.