Torino Spazio Pubblico - Torino Public Space

By project NEBA

Published on 11 March 2025

Italy

Piemonte

Torino

About this good practice

The project:
- promotes active participation and social cohesion through opportunities of social, intergenerational and intercultural aggregation;
- takes care and supervises public spaces, such as parks, gardens, flowerbeds and little green areas, along with the minor maintenance of street furniture within, chosen by the citizens themselves;
- develops social networks by sustaining a model of active citizenship which requires cooperation and exchanges of knowledge among different city’s stakeholders (citizens, associations, enterprises, public and private institutions etc.)

Methodology:
Any citizen who is willing to personally take care of a critical situation in public spaces has to report to the Torino Public Space project, in order to obtain the authorization to proceed legitimately, safely and in agreement with the city’s responsible offices.
The volunteers activities cannot and should not be a replacement for the activities of the Public Administration or any private contractor, which are already agreed upon and paid for, but are intended to increase the standards of such interventions and develop the democratic usability of public areas.
Each proponent of an intervention has to guarantee to sustain such activities by themselves

Main stakeholders:
Municipality of Torino, retirees, students, foreign nationals, people with disabilities, public utility workers, volunteers from the Universal Civilian Service, University trainees, associations and businesses.

Resources needed

Human resources: 2 public employees, 1 civil servant, 2.435 volunteers.
Financial resources: €6.000 cost for annual volunteer insurance covering 1.000 active volunteers each year while the equipment is provided free of charge by the municipal agency for waste management and other city businesses.

Evidence of success

2.435 volunteers involved in the practice, out of which:
- 765 over 60 years old;
- 266 students;
- 363 Foreign nationals;
- 28 People with disabilities,
- 74 public utility workers for 6.000 hours

174 operative areas across the City (including public spaces, green areas)

Potential for learning or transfer

It is a low cost initiative directly managed by the municipality that creates a strong sense of belonging within the citizens.
It has a strong impact in terms of social inclusion and of environmental awareness among people living in urban areas.
It deals with the philosophy of urban commons and returns in a better shape spaces that were before neglected and not livable.
It brings together people of different ages, nationality and social background, creating occasions for new relations and socialization.
It is a good example of multistakeholder approach involving public administration, citizens, third sector organisations, academics and business.
It helps the city administration in monitoring the state of the territories, collecting data, with special attention to those elements of greater proximity to the needs and difficulties of citizens (benches, children's games, fountains, shelters at public transport stops, traffic bollards, architectural barriers, etc).