Municipal Real Estate Management - A Conceptual Framework for Italian Municipalities

"In recent years, local Governments were affected by several lacks of functioning, mainly related to the absence of strategic approaches, unclearness in the distribution of public resources, external pressures that influenced decision making processes (i.e. decreasing national contributions, financial constraints, increasing expectations from citizens). In this context, the real estate management has become a key resource for municipalities which are pressured in the attempt to develop effective and sustainable policies, match the expectation of duly accountability, face a limitation in resources. The Italian Public Sector, and municipalities in particular, constantly highlighted a low interest and a limited understanding of the level, features and value of the portfolio of the assets owned. Notwithstanding the experiences and the principles applied in other countries (Sweden, UK, France), the first evidences from Italian municipalities asset management, did not seem to rigorously link to any theoretical framework, nor to the management tools successfully applied elsewhere. This research starts from the Italian experience of municipal real estate management and aims to focus and outline those principles and theoretical frameworks which steered local Governments in the attempt of effectively managing municipal assets. The paper then compares the Italian experience with the conceptual frameworks adopted in the European countries mentioned above, in order to find out similarities, differences, strength and weakness of the diverse real estate management strategies and tools. In order to answer these questions, this work will use an empirical analysis based on a multiple case study of six Italian cities, (i.e. those with more than 500.000 inhabitants) which are currently involved in those strategic processes. The findings of this analysis will help to enhance the understanding of public managers of those key factors that lead to an effective real estate decision making process.""