Introduction: Risks and Opportunities for the Valtellina Mountain Region in the Face of the Olympic Perspective

This introductory chapter depicts the goals, structure and contents of the edited book Beyond the 2026 Winter Olympic Games: Sustainable Scenarios for the Valtellina Mountain Region. On the one hand, it frames the research project which it derives from, by defining the aims and describing the program of the 2022 workshop organised by the PhD in Urban Planning Design and Policy at the Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Architettura e Studi Urbani (DAStU). On the other hand, it explains the reasons for the selection of the territorial and thematic focuses, that is, the Valtellina mountain region, and its socio-economic and spatial disparities, as one of the four clusters of the Winter Olympics of Milan-Cortina 2026 in the Italian Alps. Accordingly, the chapter introduces the research methodology and questions, which are multidisciplinary and trans-scalar, at the crossing point between the potentials and risks of sports mega-events, the socio-economic and landscape fragilities of remote mountain regions, and their spatial inequalities.