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Reuse radar

Bologna

Bologna publishes what few cities do: an official register of buildings their owners have made available for reuse, which lists the State's disused barracks and military hospitals next to the City's own empty premises. The Region adds 157 empty public flats waiting for works, and the City counts about 14,000 private homes standing completely empty while 6,000 families wait for a public home.
An empty building in Bologna with homes, balconies and neighbours drawn onto it in ink
Empty buildings on record
95
and 133 more with an empty shop, flat or floor
Vacant office space
—
not yet measured
Homes potential
—
not in the economic model’s office data yet

Office figures: No broker publishes a Bologna office vacancy figure (searched 8 Oct 2026). Map built 2026-10-09.

In 3D, from today’s sources — a potential we spotted, not a plan.

Empty buildings in Bologna

One point per building, from public records, open data and cited reports. Filter by type, size and how sure the evidence is; open one to see who says so and whether it could become homes.

The City's promised map of its own unused property (June 2025 agreement with the unions) is not published yet; the open property list records 'unused' only for a handful of small ruins.

Loading map…
Colour = type of building named officially likely reported
Missing a building?

Check any building in Bologna: could it become homes, and could the EHC model work there?

4 more buildings in Bologna reported in the news, not yet on the map

The articles do not give an address we could place, so these have no pin yet. From news reports, summed up in our own words with a link to each article — not checked on site by EHC.

  • ex hotel La luna nel pozzo, via Lenin — reported empty · formerly hotelThe former La luna nel pozzo hotel on Via Lenin, Savena, is an abandoned building where police carried out checks. BolognaToday (archive sitemap) (2024-10-08)
  • ex Ospedale dei Bastardini, via d'Azeglio — reported conversion planned · formerly hospital · 13,000 m² · owner: Invimit SGRA disused historic complex has begun redevelopment for cultural, study, coworking, nonprofit and residential uses Corriere di Bologna (2026-10-07)
  • ex palazzo delle Telecomunicazioni, piazza 8 Agosto — reported conversion planned · formerly office · owner: CovivioThe former telecommunications building on piazza 8 Agosto is to reopen as a four-star hotel, due by 2028. il Resto del Carlino (2026-08-13)
  • Ex Scuola Pedretti — reported conversion planned · formerly schoolThe approved project replaces the former school with apartments, shops and underground parking il Resto del Carlino – Bologna (2026-05-09)

Where conversion makes sense, and who to talk to

The districts where empty space, the right zoning and a working neighbourhood come together, and the owners and programmes that open a door.

A hand outlining a neighbourhood on a city map, with small houses drawn inside

San Donato–San Vitale and the eastern barracks

The STAMOTO, Perotti and Tagliamento barracks form one belt of State land being released for student and affordable housing, and the quarter holds the most empty public flats.

  • STAMOTO: about 128,000 m², call open to 19 October 2026
  • 58 empty public flats put forward for the Piano ERP Sfitti Zero
  • 130 industrial buildings of 2,000 m² or more in the City's map

Risk: STAMOTO needs decontamination and goes to an international competition; Perotti is already sold.

2 sources

Santo Stefano and the southern edge of the centre

The disused Staveco arsenal, the Annunziata convent and Villa Turri give the largest block of free State floor space next to the historic centre.

  • 23 State buildings free or partly free, most of them Staveco (about 40,700 m² gross)
  • 40 State buildings of 1,000 m² or more in use

Risk: Two thirds of Staveco is earmarked for the courts; the rest are listed buildings offered first for temporary or cultural uses.

1 source

Porto–Saragozza (historic centre west and the station)

The most entries in the City's Albo, the former military hospital at Via dell'Abbadia and Caserma Boldrini, a few minutes from the station.

  • 26 of the Albo's 93 entries
  • Former military hospital: 19,800 m² recorded free or partly free
  • 22 empty public flats in the Sfitti Zero list

Risk: Short-term letting competes for every central building; much of the space is in listed complexes.

1 source

Navile and Bolognina

The canal-side industrial heritage (Battiferro power station, Sostegno Landi and Grassi canal houses, ex Mercato Ittico) and 40 empty public flats.

  • 40 empty public flats in the Sfitti Zero list
  • 81 industrial buildings of 2,000 m² or more
  • Battiferro power station: 2,820 m² of City property in the Albo

Risk: Much is small or technical heritage; the large brownfields are already in planned schemes.

2 sources

Signals to watch

Decisions, auctions and closures that change what becomes available, and when.

  1. 2026-09-08STAMOTO barracks put out to Reinventing Cities

    The State, the City and C40 opened a call for concepts on the 128,000 m² former army works; it closes on 19 October 2026.

    1 source
  2. 2026-07-27City's Albo of reusable buildings reaches 93 entries

    Sixteen complexes of the State and other public bodies were added on 20 April 2026, alongside 71 City premises and six private buildings.

    1 source
  3. 2026-07-16157 empty public flats in Bologna on the Region's recovery list

    The City and ACER Bologna put forward 157 empty flats needing works; 138 were found admissible for the €50.7m programme.

    1 source
2 earlier signals
  1. 2026-04-20
    Piano Città degli Immobili Pubblici signed

    State, City, Region and University agreed to plan the reuse of public property together, naming Perotti (199 homes), Staveco and STAMOTO.

    1 source
  2. 2026-02-26
    City counts 14,000 empty private homes

    The City's housing department puts wholly empty private homes at about 14,000, with over 6,000 families waiting for a public home and 4,500 more homes in tourist letting.

    1 source

Sources, and what we cannot see

30 sources connected, 1 waiting for access. We only use data we may lawfully reuse; where a publisher blocks automated access we do not work around it — a person downloads it, or we ask for permission.

Every source, its licence and when we last read it
SourceAccessRecordsStatusLicence
OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API98Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Rail, S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations (OpenStreetMap)
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Building heights: GlobalBuildingAtlas (TU Munich)
Zhu, X. X., Chen, S., Zhang, F., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. (2025), Technical University of Munich
GlobalBuildingAtlas: an open global and complete dataset of building polygons, heights and LoD1 3D models. Earth System Science Data 17(12), 6647–6668, doi:10.5194/essd-17-6647-2025. Read from the Parquet copy on Source Cooperative. Satellite-derived heights (typically 1.5–3 m error in Europe), turned into storeys with storey heights fitted on Berlin; used only where no register or official 3D model sizes the building.
Open download402 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-09
CC BY-NC 4.0 (heights); footprints from OpenStreetMap and Microsoft: ODbL
Road noise (EU Environmental Noise Directive, Lden)
European Environment Agency
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
EEA standard re-use policy (attribution)
Leerstandsmelder.de — public reports of empty buildings
Leerstandsmelder (Gängeviertel e.V., Hamburg)
Shown while we ask Leerstandsmelder for permission. Reports since 2016 only, with the address, the month reported and a link to each entry; not checked by EHC. Each point says when a report has since been marked demolished, lived in, in interim use or rebuilt on Leerstandsmelder, and the owner type the reporter gave (private owners are never named).
Asking for permission0Pending
2026-10-09
Credited to Leerstandsmelder.de; asking for permission
Open-ended property funds: buildings they report partly empty
Open-ended real-estate funds (each point names its fund and report)
German and Austrian open-ended public property funds must list every property with its vacancy (or letting) rate in their annual and half-year reports. scripts/reuse/import-fund-reports.ts reads those lists; properties at 10 % vacancy or more are shown, those at 25 % or more count as evidence.
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
Published fund report (KAGB / KARBV property list), cited per point
Co-working spaces, department stores, banks, hotels and cinemas listed as permanently closed
Overture Maps Foundation (closure data: BrightQuery company records)
Places with operating_status "permanently_closed" in the monthly Overture release, read by scripts/reuse/import-overture-closures.ts and matched to the building they sit in. A closed business is usually one unit; names are shown only for companies, never for sole traders.
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
CDLA Permissive 2.0 (Overture Maps Foundation)
Land without current use and stalled construction, mapped from satellite imagery (Copernicus Urban Atlas 2006–2018)
European Environment Agency — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service
Urban Atlas class 13400 (brownfields, demolition sites and gaps in the built-up area, 0.25 ha and up) compared across the 2006, 2012 and 2018 editions, so each plot says how long it has stood unused; plus construction sites (13300) already under way in 2012, and 2012 construction sites left unused by 2018. Read from the EEA's open ArcGIS services, the same way in every radar city. The 2021 edition (Copernicus Data Space) drops plots built on since 2018 where scripts/reuse/import-urban-atlas-2021.ts has been run. Points are context, never evidence of vacancy.
Open API23Live
2026-10-09
Copernicus open data (© European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2006–2021, EEA)
Office buildings of 1,000 m² or more, with depth and storeys (EUBUCCO)
EUBUCCO (TU Berlin / ai4up), from the Spanish cadastre, Regione Lombardia’s building database and OpenStreetMap
EUBUCCO harmonises Europe's building footprints with their use, height and age. Only buildings whose source names the use are kept — the cadastre's office class in Barcelona and Madrid, Lombardy's "commerciale" in Milan, building=office in OpenStreetMap for Dublin and Lisbon — never EUBUCCO's machine-learning guesses. The footprint gives the plan depth, so the conversion score treats them like the German cadastre's offices (scripts/reuse/import-eubucco.ts → src/scripts/data/reuse/eubucco/, ODbL).
Open download0Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (EUBUCCO v0.2; Dirección General del Catastro, Regione Lombardia, © OpenStreetMap contributors)
Stalled construction and buildings held by insolvent developers
EHC research (dated press and court sources per point)
Signa, Adler/Consus and other developer insolvencies since 2022 and stalled sites, each with its latest dated status (src/scripts/data/reuse/stalled-projects.json; news leads from scripts/reuse/mine-news.ts are reviewed before they join).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Church buildings the dioceses and regional churches plan to give up
Catholic dioceses and Protestant regional churches (their building plans), via EHC research
Buildings a church body’s published building plan or recent reporting names as to be given up, without church funding, for sale or lease, or profaned (src/scripts/data/reuse/church-plans.json and brussels-churches.json).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-09
Cited publisher per point
Named buildings and sites from EHC research (each with its own source)
European Housing Coop research
Includes the library’s public lighthouse conversions (src/scripts/data/reuse/lighthouses.json), shown under "Already converting" with a link to their library page.
EHC research9Live
2026-10-09
Facts cited to their publishers
Year built and listing: OpenStreetMap building tags
OpenStreetMap contributors
start_date / construction_date and heritage / listed_status of the OpenStreetMap outline a record is matched to, where no register answers. Read with the outline match, not a separate query.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Buildings other public bodies have made available for reuse — the City's Albo (art. 15 LR 24/2017)
Comune di Bologna — Settore Ufficio di Piano and U.I. Patrimonio, Albo degli immobili resi disponibili per la rigenerazione urbana
Open API16Live
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0
City-owned premises the City has made available for reuse — the Albo (art. 15 LR 24/2017)
Comune di Bologna — Settore Ufficio di Piano and U.I. Patrimonio, Albo degli immobili resi disponibili per la rigenerazione urbana
Open API43Live
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0
Private buildings offered at a capped price through the City's Albo (art. 15 LR 24/2017)
Comune di Bologna — Settore Ufficio di Piano and U.I. Patrimonio, Albo degli immobili resi disponibili per la rigenerazione urbana
Open API6Live
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0
Empty public homes waiting for works — the Region's Piano ERP Sfitti Zero (Linea 1)
Regione Emilia-Romagna — D.G.R. 1147 of 6 July 2026, Allegato 2 (BURERT n. 185, 16 July 2026), proposals by the Comune di Bologna and ACER Bologna
Manual download100Snapshot
2026-07-06
No licence stated on the bulletin — an official regional act, used with credit to Regione Emilia-Romagna
City-owned buildings recorded as ruined or unused (Patrimonio fabbricati, 31 Dec 2025)
Comune di Bologna — Dipartimento Cura e Qualità del Territorio, Patrimonio fabbricati
Manual download13Snapshot
2025-12-31
CC BY 4.0
Ruined buildings in the City's technical map (Carta Tecnica Comunale)
Comune di Bologna — SIT, Carta Tecnica Comunale, edifici volumetrici
Open API54Live
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0
State buildings recorded as free (Agenzia del Demanio)
Agenzia del Demanio — Geoportale, Immobili dello Stato
Open API39Live
2026-10-09
No licence stated on the map service — credited to Agenzia del Demanio (its open-data files are CC BY 3.0 IT); shown under the 6 Oct 2026 licence decision
State-owned buildings of 1,000 m² or more in use (Agenzia del Demanio)
Agenzia del Demanio — Geoportale, Immobili dello Stato
Open API122Live
2026-10-09
No licence stated on the map service — credited to Agenzia del Demanio (its open-data files are CC BY 3.0 IT); shown under the 6 Oct 2026 licence decision
State buildings offered to investors (Agenzia del Demanio, Portale Investitori)
Agenzia del Demanio — Crea valore, investi con noi (investor portal)
Open API8Live
2026-10-09
No licence stated on the map service — credited to Agenzia del Demanio (its open-data files are CC BY 3.0 IT); shown under the 6 Oct 2026 licence decision
Property confiscated from organised crime and handed to public bodies (ANBSC)
Agenzia nazionale per l'amministrazione e la destinazione dei beni sequestrati e confiscati (ANBSC) — OpenRE.G.I.O.
Manual download4Snapshot
2026-10-09
IODL 2.0 (Italian Open Data Licence, linked from the portal)
Industrial buildings with a footprint of 2,000 m² or more (Carta Tecnica Comunale)
Comune di Bologna — SIT, Carta Tecnica Comunale, edifici volumetrici
Open API277Live
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0
OpenStreetMap: land mapped as brownfield
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API31Live
2026-10-09
ODbL 1.0
Public buildings their owner records as not used (Treasury property census 2023)
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, Dipartimento dell'Economia — Rilevazione dei beni immobili delle amministrazioni pubbliche (data at 31 Dec 2023)
Manual download24Snapshot
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0 (stated on the MEF open-data page; reuse with the source credited)
Public flats, shops and stores their owner records as not used (Treasury property census 2023)
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, Dipartimento dell'Economia — Rilevazione dei beni immobili delle amministrazioni pubbliche (data at 31 Dec 2023)
Manual download196Snapshot
2026-10-09
CC BY 4.0 (stated on the MEF open-data page; reuse with the source credited)
Cultural heritage in danger in Bologna — Italia Nostra's Lista Rossa
Italia Nostra APS — Lista Rossa dei beni culturali in pericolo
Open API7Live
2026-10-09
© Italia Nostra APS, no licence stated — only the name, the street, the list status and a link are kept (no descriptions or photos); credited to Italia Nostra
Buildings named in the news (each with its article)
Local and national press, read by EHC
Buildings the news reports empty, for sale or to let, to be demolished or being converted (src/scripts/data/reuse/news-building-leads.json; rules in src/lib/reuse/news-layer.ts). A report that names a building already on the map is shown on its card instead of a second point; one an open source contradicted, or that says the building is in use, is left out. Not checked on site.
EHC research11Live
2026-10-14
Facts with a link to the article; the one-line summary is ours — no article text is republished
Era of the buildings around it: ISTAT census 2011 (census sections)
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Residential buildings by period of construction (E8–E16) in the record’s 2011 census section — the last census that asked; not the building itself. An era only where 60% fall within 30 years.
Open downloadscoringLive
2026-10-14
CC BY 4.0
Probable era: estimated from a street photo (Panoramax, Mapillary, Google Street View)
Panoramax and Mapillary contributors; Google Street View (research use agreed with Google, 14 Oct 2026); estimate by EHC with a vision model
Where no register dates a building: its era read from a Panoramax or Mapillary photo looking at it — Google Street View only where no open photo answers (scripts/reuse/estimate-photo-eras.ts), only when the building is clearly visible and the model is confident, and only as “before 1945” or “1945 or later” — the split it got right for 89% of buildings with a register year in Amsterdam and Paris, and 89% from Street View pictures alone (photo-eras/calibration.json). An estimate: a sentence in the conversion check, never points.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-14
Open photos CC BY-SA 4.0 or Licence Ouverte 2.0 (per picture); Street View read for research only, never stored or shown; only the estimated era is published, never a photo

What this radar cannot see yet

  • The City's promised map of its own unused property (June 2025 agreement with the unions) is not published yet; the open property list records 'unused' only for a handful of small ruins.
  • Whole empty public buildings (Linea 2 of the Piano ERP Sfitti Zero) are listed in a regional act not yet approved; ACER Bologna publishes no count of empty homes.
  • The 14,000 empty private homes are a total, with no addresses.
  • No broker publishes Bologna office vacancy, and offices are not a separate class in the City's map.
  • University of Bologna and AUSL property disposals are not published as data.
  • Nominatim placed the confiscated-property addresses; two could not be placed.

Know an empty building we have missed?

Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Bologna that stands empty or barely used; once we have checked it, it joins the map under “Reported by visitors (checked)”.

A phone held up to photograph an empty shopfront, with a map pin drawn above it

We publish the address, the kind of building and your description once we have checked it — never your email. Please do not name the people who own or live in a building.

Radars nearby

The other radars in the same country and the nearest beyond. All 149 cities in the atlas

The figure on each card: empty buildings on record.

Bari, Italy923empty buildings on recordCatania, Italy226empty buildings on recordFlorence, Italy75empty buildings on recordGenoa, Italy176empty buildings on recordLjubljana, Slovenia48empty buildings on recordMessina, Italy72empty buildings on recordMilan, Italy535empty buildings on recordMonaco, Monaco2empty buildings on recordNaples, Italy265empty buildings on recordNice, France48empty buildings on recordPalermo, Italy61empty buildings on recordRome, Italy1,138empty buildings on recordTurin, Italy100empty buildings on recordVaduz, Liechtenstein7empty buildings on recordVerona, Italy59empty buildings on record