City Reformer's Group:

Torino 2008

In May 2008, the LSE Weak Market Cities Programme organised a workshop for practitioners from our City Reformers Group learning network.

It was hosted by the city of Torino - an Italian city that has been a real trailblazer in urban recovery and neighbourhood revitalisation, pioneering an integrated approach that acknowledges the connections between social, physical and economic problems and thus designs 'integrated' responses to them, as well as promoting resident involvement in the planning and delivery of regeneration programmes.

This is a challenging time for housing and regeneration in Torino and in Italy, and many of the city's leading policy-makers and practitioners presented their latest projects and ideas to us.

After a day of listening and sharing experiences, we spent a day visiting the neighbourhoods of Mirafiori Nord, San Salvario and Porta Palazzo, and special projects including:

• The Cascina Roccafranca community centre
• The Agenzia di Sviluppo di San Salvario local development agency
• The StessoPiano young people's flat-sharing scheme
• The Apolié employment drop-in centre
• 'The Gate' neighbourhood regeneration project

The LSE City Reformers Group Workshop in Torino was organised by Astrid Winkler at LSE, and Silvia Cordero at Torino Internazionale, and was supported by the Compagnia di San Paolo.

For more information, see our Torino City Report and our interim report Transforming Cities Across Europe.

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