Urban Regeneration Practitioners under Construction. An Unfinished Story of Professionalization

What are the enabling conditions, mechanisms, and criticalities in the process of construction of professional expertise? Elaborating on the results of an empirical and case study analysis carried out across different European countries, the essay addresses this question focusing on the process of professionalization of the architects involved in some major European area-based regeneration programs developed between the 1980s and the first decade of the 2000s. To this end, the text first analyzes the implementation of competencies and knowledge in action, reflecting on the role of architects in some key operations distinctive to this field of urban regeneration. The focus then shifts to a collective dimension to investigate the transferability of the competencies acquired to other ordinary contexts. In conclusion, a disconnection is highlighted between the dissemination of a repertoire of codified best practices and the limits imposed on an intrinsically active and interactive professionalism by the unfulfilled innovation of the underlying institutional framework.