International heritage conferences at Castello del Valentino
From 8 to 10 September 2026 the Castello del Valentino, a historic Savoy residence and UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the Department of Architecture and Design (DAD) of the Politecnico di Torino, hosted two international conferences devoted to heritage conservation research. The conferences were promoted by IEREK – International Experts for Research Enrichment and Knowledge Exchange, in collaboration with the Politecnico di Torino, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Cagliari [1].
The two conferences
The first, now in its tenth edition, is Cities' Identity Through Architecture and Arts (CITAA), devoted to how architecture and the arts shape and express urban identity and collective memory. Topics covered included historic urban development, conservation of cultural heritage, public art and the adaptive reuse of industrial complexes, with ample space devoted to digital technologies — 3D scanning, augmented reality and artificial intelligence — applied to heritage enhancement, as well as the climate resilience of cities, intangible traditions and the Mediterranean context [1].
The second conference, Conservation of Architectural Heritage (CAH), addressed the technical and creative conservation of tangible and intangible heritage at landscape, urban and building scale, examining the protection of archaeological, historic, military and modern assets. The programme was organised into three special sessions: Modern Heritage, on sustainable solutions and adaptive reuse for twentieth- and twenty-first-century architecture; Digital and Creative Heritage, on the use of HBIM (Heritage Building Information Modeling) and 3D modelling; and Religious Heritage, with an analysis of the transformation and compatible reuse of decommissioned churches [1].
The role of Castello del Valentino
The DAD's hosting of the two conferences confirmed Castello del Valentino's role as a meeting point between history, heritage and experimentation, in dialogue with academic research, contemporary design and sustainable regeneration, as well as the department's role in the international debate on the protection of cultural heritage [1].
Related articles: Castello del Valentino, International IEREK conferences at the Castello del Valentino (September 2026), Politecnico di Torino
Pages linking here
- Castello del Valentino
- Conferenze internazionali IEREK al Castello del Valentino (settembre 2026)
- Politecnico di Torino
Sources
- Politecnico di Torino — 10 September 2026