Placemaking: Turin with a T for Transformation

There's probably no more beautiful job than thinking professionally about places. But when you get to work for three years on a city like Turin, there's really no doubt: this is something special. To help shape a strategy for this city is a true privilege.

Tapete Volante (Flying Carpet) of Daniel Buren - Piazza Palazzo di Citta

I've never worked in a city of this size that puts placemaking so high on its agenda—without always seeming fully aware of it, or perhaps simply not making a big deal out of it. So let's start with the facts.

When Turin won the European Smart Tourism Capital Award, the jury report highlighted how impressed they were by the city's ability to consistently transform industrial sites into creative public spaces. That same strength also helped Turin win the VivaCity competition, alongside Helsinki.

There's the famous Lingotto building, the former Fiat factory and its surrounding district. There's OGR, once a large train assembly hall, now home to cultural events, businesses, coworking spaces and food venues. There's Barriera di Milano, a true mecca for fans of urban regeneration. And there's Precollinear Park: an old tram line that has been turned into a long green urban park - transforming forgotten infrastructure into a living, shared space. And these are just a few examples.

It's no coincidence that Utopian Hours takes place in Turin, or that organisations like Stratosferico and City Lab focus on urban transformation here. Or that the Cottino Social Impact Campus, the first campus in Europe fully dedicated to social impact as a driver of knowledge and change, is based right here in the city. Regeneration is in Turin's DNA.

What's striking, however, is that the world of tourism (placemarketing) and the world of urban transformation (placemaking) remain completely separate.
And this may well be the biggest challenge for Turismo Torino's new strategy, which will be launched next year: how to translate the city's deep, natural capacity for transformation into meaningful visitor experiences and communicate about them. If you have any ideas, let us know!

- FRANK CUYPERS