The ‘use’ in the reliable interventions on the Mediterranean architectural heritage

The multifaceted crisis of the Mediterranean area on the background of the global scenario introduces the strategic significance of the architectural heritage as an element of shared identity and factor of durable development. Some aspects of contemporary crisis referring to the specific operational field are discussed. The paper points out the research of reliable interventions as a tool to face many of the common critical situations and to prevent the technical risk. The ‘use’ is proposed as a term of reference, aimed to guide synthetically the decision process, to evaluate the achieved results, and contributing to the reliability. After introducing the topic of the use in the architectural heritage, the relationships between the quantitative and qualitative features of the use and the categories of intervention are discussed. The challenge of improving the uses of the archaeological sites are briefly pointed in conclusion as a instance, highlighting the need of responsible approaches to face the current times of crisis in Mediterranean area.