SCIENZA E BENI CULTURALI.2019 A COEVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO THE REUSE OF BUILT CULTURAL HERITAGE STEFANO DELLA TORRE Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Architettura, Ingegneria delle Costruzioni e Ambiente Costruito E-mail: stefano.dellatorre@polimi.it Abstract. The reuse of existing buildings has been often described as the adaption to an evolving environment and the related needs. Coevolution is a metaphor coming from biology science, related to Darwinian processes affecting species, which have strong relationships with each other. Coevolutionary models have been applied outside the biology field, namely in economics, aiming at the development of models for change management. The proposed implementation of a coevolutionary approach enlightens the potential influence that the presence of heritage produces on the environment and the society. The author’s thesis is that all the choices in conservation and reuse processes can be seen under a different perspective, after the step from “adaptation” to “conservation of the coevolutionary potential”. The awareness that the presence of an historic building or its features could produce future benefits going far beyond its mere use values, gives more reasons for conservation and/or modifications that are evaluated on the long terms and not just for the present needs. The expected change should concern the attitude to choice and the awareness about the reason why something has to be conserved instead of being sacrificed. On the other hand, in this perspective reuse becomes a tool for a richer evolution and changes, which are not necessarily negative for the historic building. The ultimate target of the paper is to clarify the benefits, which conservation discipline could get by opening the mindset to a wider variety of theoretical sources. Keywords: Reuse, Coevolution, Circular Economy, Planned Conservation, User Experience