Cultural Factories: Conversion of Industrial Areas into Cultural Hubs

Abstract

The need to restore the former industrial factories so as not to leave the buildings and the neighborhood in a state of neglect has attracted scholarly and popular attention. The following contribution aims to highlight how designers can contribute to the repurposing of buildings by paying attention to the end user and planning new experiences and activities by reading case studies of industrial conversion of production sites into cultural hubs. The company’s history, intrinsically linked to the territory, and its products, are the protagonists of the reconversion so as not to forget the past local productive culture demonstrating how it is possible to generate new and different economies from before. The case studies tell the story of the industrial conversion of companies and mines in urban and decentralized areas to get a representative look at the Italian and European territories.