The role of recurring cultural events in facilitating adaptive reuse and social reconnection of industrial heritage: the case of Parco Dora, Turin

The adaptive reuse poses both challenges and opportunities for industrial heritage sites. Cultural event programming has emerged as a key catalyst in this transformation process. This study uses Parco Dora, Turin, Italy as an empirical case, investigates how ephemeral but periodical cultural events, like the Kappa Futur Festival (KFF), a major European Techno festival held annually in Parco Dora, can effectively activate such spaces. Adopting mixed methods combined with multi-stakeholder analysis, including interviews, on-site observations, spatial mapping, and sentiment analysis, this study explores both top-down planning strategies and bottom-up experiential responses, aiming to understand the coordinated transformation of Parco Dora and to evaluate its social and cultural impact from the perspectives of visitors. The findings reveal that: KFF has played a significant role in both the physical revitalization and the symbolic repositioning of Parco Dora. 1) Tangibly, the festival has spurred infrastructural upgrades, enhancing the park’s function as a daily public space. 2) Intangibly, the annual event reinforces the site’s cultural identity and visibility, transforming it into a vibrant urban landmark. Visitors’ perceptions further emphasize the site’s unique historical and spatial character. This study offers a reference for the adaptive reuse of industrial heritage through cultural event programming, which demonstrates how periodical cultural events can generate sustained socio-economic and cultural value, providing strategic insights for planners, cultural producers, and policymakers aiming to revitalize post-industrial urban spaces.