Through and Beyond Mega-Events. Scenarios and Prospects from Cities to Mountain Regions

This concluding chapter sums up the learnings from the workshop on Valtellina activated within the 2022 Urban Planning Design and Policy PhD program at the Politecnico di Milano, DAStU. Specifically, it depicts the results from the application of the research-by-design approach to an interdisciplinary program. Against this background, the final chapter launches wider and more open conclusions: from the case study of the 2026 Winter Games and its potential/uncertain legacies, to the challenges for future mega-event editions and bids. Considering the multiple overlaps between mega-events and mountain regions, this final section aims to interplay: (1) the risks and demands for both peak events and remote areas in a period of socio-economic and geo-political crises, and reorganization of globalization processes; (2) the potential connections between extraordinary/temporary events, longer processes of socio-economic diversification and reactivation, and ordinary governance and policy in remote areas; (3) the potential but often uncertain connections between extraordinary/temporary events, longer strategies, actions and mechanisms of spatial planning and design, and the regeneration in fragile remote areas (from local urban settlements to wider environmental and productive landscapes).