Significance The transformation of post-industrial sites occurs nowadays in many urban areas worldwide, often as a driver of the extensive regeneration of deprived communities and rundown built environments. Whilst this certainly applies to well-developed central urban areas, as proven by the many established approaches and successful cases of brownfield transformation, it might not in other type of contexts, such as peripheral urban or semi-urban areas, rural areas and mountainous regions.

Progress Here, the aim and scope of regeneration exceeds the mere urban scale to embrace a wider and more complex landscape dimension, thus requiring a conceptual and operational shift in how these post-industrial sites are understood and treated. The article addresses such a re-interpretation through the methodology and results of a design-driven research project on post-industrial landscapes in the European Alps.

Conclusions A systemic approach to brownfield transformation in peripheral regions is finally identified as a most suitable one, capable of supporting the required site-to-landscape conceptualization.