FROM GLOBAL STRATEGIES TO MANDATORY STANDARDS IN CONSTRUCTION. A time line for sustainable habitats

The paper is a critical essay aimed at understanding how Italian and European initiatives have influenced the development of building certification systems both voluntary and mandatory, as well as the ex-ante and expost tools for guiding technical-design solutions inspired by environmental sustainability. Starting from the main programmatic documents drawn up by the international organizations, and from national and international literature, the paper analyzes the main voluntary building certification systems by verifying their compliance with mandatory regulations, and in particular with the Environmental Criteria Minimum (CAM). The article focuses on the theoretical background of the existing sustainability assessment tools for buildings, specifically referringto their application to the Italian context; further the paper discusses in the form of a conclusion the comparison between the CAM and the other voluntary building certifications. The paper presents some of the results of the research PROSIT – PROgettare in SostenibilITà: qualificazione e digitalizzazione, made at the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II.