Beyond new clothes for renovation of social housing. Problems, strategies and future perspectives for the city of Rome

Because of technical, functional and economic factors, most of the European social housing stock, built after the WWII, is in decay conditions. Renovation, as life cycle extension of existing dwellings, is (often) a better choice than replacement. Which renovation strategy could be applied by the housing organization in Rome? Since the building envelope is highly responsible for physical decay, adaptation of existing facades might be a strategy of intervention to better energy performances, improve housing re-differentiation and building recognizability by the residents. In this paper, this subject is further addressed. The Dutch method for Energy Performance Assessment for Existing Dwellings (EPA-ED) is presented and the question whether and how it might be used in the Roman context is discussed. It emerges that EPA could be used by the housing organization provided that it is adapted and that the method itself should be included into a more integrated approach of intervention.