Culture as a Trans-Scalar Encounter: The Increase of Livability Through the Integration of Landscape and Services

Alta Valtellina is a culturally complex and rich territory that has been dramatically transformed through the rise of skiing tourism, becoming one of the major skiing areas and competition sites in the Alps. In the prospect of the 2026 Winter Games, this chapter explores how the cultural legacy of mega-events can strengthen the landscape and (re)produce contemporary services in the area. Through design-oriented research based on knowledge synthesis, this chapter contributes to understanding how Alta Valtellina can comprehensively enrich the Winter Games’ cultural agenda from a non-urban mountain perspective. Against the background of field research, the text contains design ideas, proposals for contemporary services, and schemes for a cultural legacy that can embrace the geographical and landscape complexity of the analyzed mountain region. In this framework, it specifically selects four sites that can be transformed and activated before, during, and beyond the Games.