Project overview
Healing Heritage is a participatory research and design project promoted by MinD Mad in Design, DIST (Dipartimento Interateneo di Scienze, Progetto e Politiche del Territorio del Politecnico di Torino), and CCW Cultural Welfare Center, exploring the relationship between cultural heritage and well-being through inclusive, community-driven processes. The project hosts an annual five-day workshop open to under-30s with backgrounds or lived interest in mental health and cultural heritage, centered on multidisciplinary and co-creative collaboration. The 2025 edition took place in Turin, investigating the hidden identity of the Borgo San Paolo neighborhood and in particular, the Giardino Filippo Piredda, a garden overlooked by a residential facility for people with experiences of mental fragility. Quietly shaped by the transformations of post-industrial Turin, the garden holds a layered heritage of untold stories and new collective meanings waiting to be uncovered.