The one-day event, originally scheduled for 2020 and postponed due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, “Transforming urban regions: Lessons from Turin and the Ruhr“ took place on Friday, May 5, 2023, in Turin.
The morning began with a workshop discussion based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the Emschergenossenschaft (EG) and the Competence Field for Metropolitan Research (KoMet) signed with the city’s cooperation partners in December 2019. The meeting took place at the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) of the Polytechnic University and the University of Turin in the picturesque Castello del Valentino. In addition to representatives from DIST and beneficiaries from the Ruhr region, representatives from the Urban Lab (UL) of the City of Turin and the Department of Cultures, Politics, and Society (CPS) of the University of Turin also participated. Building on the presentations from the first part, in which each partner introduced their respective research focus and expertise as well as their teaching programs and knowledge transfer activities, the second part of the meeting was dedicated to discussing opportunities for further collaboration.
The afternoon program included a bus tour organized by UL to Turin’s most important post-industrial hotspots. The itinerary included a stop at the iconic FIAT factory in Lingotto, which was converted into a multifunctional space in the 1980s, and a stop at the Officine Grandi Riparazioni (OGR), a former industrial site for the maintenance of rail vehicles that was recently transformed into a center for innovation and the arts. The tour concluded at the UL headquarters next to Turin City Hall, where Prof. Dr. Uli Paetzel, Chairman of the EG Board, gave a public lecture on the Emscher River restoration. The lively debate that followed was enriched by the participation of key local stakeholders, public officials, and scholars, who, either as panelists or audience members, shared Turin’s experiences regarding post-industrial restructuring, river restoration, and urban renewal. Particularly noteworthy was the presence of representatives from the City of Turin, the “Metropolitan City of Turin,” and the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation.
The KoMet representatives extended their stay by one more day to take part in a river restoration tour on Saturday, May 6. Organized in collaboration with the local tour operator Metrotrail, the tour included a guided exploration of Turin’s four rivers: the Po, Stura, Dora, and Sangone. Two particular highlights of the excursion were visits to Parco Dora—a former FIAT site that now serves as a mixed-use urban park following the drainage of a section of the Dora River—and the municipal community gardens currently being developed on abandoned land along the Sangone River in the working-class neighborhood of Mirafiori Sud.
You can find more details and a few highlights from this workshop HERE.
05.05.2023