1 Introduction

The contents of the scientific-disciplinary sector (S.S.D.) of Real Estate Appraisal concern the development of methodologies for the evaluation of programmes/plans/projects, as well as the assessment of economic value of assets and rights, or the rates of return in public and private decision-making processes. The discipline includes both economic and financial analysis techniques (ACR and ACB) for the assessment of private and social convenience of investments in the construction, civil, industrial, environmental and energy fields throughout the entire useful life cycle of the assets, and approaches integrated and systemic (ACB and AMC), also supported by spatial analysis techniques, for environmental and economic-social assessments of programmes/plans/projects on natural and territorial resources, historical-architectural and landscape assets, in a logic of sustainable development. Main topics covered by this S.S.D. include Civil and Industrial Appraisals, Economic Evaluation of Investments, Sustainability Evaluation of Plans/Programmes/Projects.

2 Background and Legacy

The research unit that was progressively established in the Department of Industrial Engineering, which absorbed the existing Department of Economic and Management Engineering, is headed by Prof. Vincenzo Del Giudice who is the national Decan in the Real Estate Appraisal sector and was also co-founder of Italian Society of Real Estate Appraisal and Economic Evaluation of Projects. The research Group is currently completed only by Prof. Pierfrancesco De Paola, and carried out intense research activity in the fields of real estate appraisals and evaluations, financial and economic analyzes of projects, estimates of real rights and damages to real estate and environmental resources.

3 Evolution

The research unit develop teacher activities in the Course of Studies of Management Engineering, Building Engineering, Building Engineering-Architecture, Digital Technologies for Construction. Initially, Prof. Vincenzo Del Giudice has coordinated over time the several course of the scientific-disciplinary sector, supported by Prof. Giovanni D’Alfonso and Prof. Francesca Torrieri for the courses in Real Estate Appraisal and Law, Economy and Real Estate Appraisal, Urban Economy and Real Estate Appraisal, Principles of Economy and Environmental Appraisal. After retirement of Prof. Giovanni D’Alfonso, and until 2023, Prof. Del Giudice, Torrieri and De Paola (the latter, structured since 2019 in the Department) were holders of courses, each to the extent of its competence, of Real Estate Appraisal and Professional Exercise, Economy and Real Estate Appraisal, Real Estate Appraisal, Corporate and Industrial Appraisal. At the date of publication of this volume, the research unit is reduced to just Prof. Del Giudice and De Paola. The members of the unit have always worked in synergy with each other. The current unit’s members are the reference in the field of Real Estate Appraisal for many public and private institutions of primary importance, both at regional and national level, with the purpose of formulating advice and technical-appraisal assessments.

4 Main Research Programmes

The research unit mainly addressed the implementation of mass-appraisal type statistical-estimative models, which can also be used for the purposes of urban land registers, and also with regard to possible uses in problems of enhancement and redevelopment of territorial areas on an urban scale. This having regard to the different requirements for the use of valuation techniques found in the most recent international experiences and with reference to the issues of interest for real estate markets, verifying in particular the applicability of the models implemented starting from small real estate samples. The research unit has paid great attention to the following specific topics: the analysis of the real estate market through the construction of estimate models [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]; the evaluation of investments with particular attention to the double perspective of public and private evaluation [11]; the relationship between evaluation and project/plan [12].

5 Awards

Pierfrancesco De Paola is co-author of the paper: “Rethinking design and urban planning for the cities of the future”, which received the award in 2019 for the 2017 Best Paper by Buildings international journal (co-author: Thomas L. Saaty) [12].

6 Future

In recent years, problems concerning real estate sector have grown very quickly. Therefore, in-depth knowledge of this sector is highly relevant for real estate predictions, investments, and taxation issues. Increasingly important is an expansion of theoretical and empirical research on real estate sector using the paradigms and methodologies of finance and economics. The real estate sector requests accurate tools and approaches useful for stakeholders that pursue several objectives such as keeping real estate values under control or updating their profitability returns. For these reasons, the interpretation of real estate phenomena is a critical issue together with its evolution and dynamism, and at the same time appropriate techniques are required to be able to analyze adequately the characteristics of the real estate sector. Under this last profile, Prof. Del Giudice and De Paola represent the current excellence in the national research landscape. Valuable examples of these new tools and approaches are provided by the selected papers, the main aim of which was to investigate and expand the frontiers of knowledge that cover all areas of real estate economics, management and investments.