Co-City - The collaborative management of urban commons to counteract poverty and socio-spatial polarisation

CO-CITY addressed the challenge of the regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods. In particular, the project focused on the high number of abandoned buildings, mostly the legacy of Turin’s industrial past. Of the ca. 1 600 city-owned buildings, 6,5% are unused or underused, however most of them can potentially become drivers of urban and social regeneration especially in deprived neighbourhoods. CO-CITY aimed to facilitate the development and implementation of ‘pacts of collaboration’ (pacts) between citizens, associations, and the municipality of Turin, that are mostly based on civic reuse of abandoned urban spaces and structures and maintenance of public spaces. The pacts are polycentric ‘commons-based urban welfare’ composed of generative communities centred on urban commons, and generate low-cost service co-production, social mixing, and enhanced care of public spaces.

During its implementation, the UIA project has capitalised on its experience so that it can be shared with peers. The outputs displayed on this page are the result of this process.