Torino Spazio Pubblico

By project NEBA

Published on 30 May 2025

Italy

Piemonte

Torino

About this good practice

The project was designed to address increasing shortages in public funds for green maintenance and the presence of small neglected green public spaces in Torino (courtyards, flower beds, street furniture, riverbanks, public parks).
Born in 2012 as an experiment of citizen activation through volunteers in charge of maintenance of public spaces that they directly choose.
Any citizen who is willing to personally take care of a critical situation in public spaces has to report to the project in order to obtain the authorization to proceed legitimately, safely and in agreement with the city’s responsible offices. Volunteers are trained, insured against accidents and equipped with safety devices. Their activities are not a replacement for the ones of the municipality, but are intended to increase the standards of such interventions and develop the democratic use of public areas. Proponents guarantee the sustainability of such activities.
The project is still nowadays a valuable instrument to:
promote active participation and social cohesion through opportunities of social, intergenerational and intercultural aggregation;
take care and supervise public spaces chosen by the citizens themselves;
develop social networks by sustaining a model of active citizenship which requires cooperation and exchanges of knowledge among different stakeholders (municipality, retirees, students, foreign nationals, people with disabilities, public utility workers, trainees, associations and businesses).

Resources needed

Human resources: 2 public employees, 1 civil servant, 2.435 volunteers
Financial resources: €6.000 costs 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 (AMIAT).

Evidence of success

Thanks to the project 174 green areas have been restored, increasing their liveability, perception of safety and beauty with NEB perspective and small public funding.
The project has a strong impact on social inclusion, strengthening civic engagement, sense of belonging and creating occasions for social interaction among citizens, including vulnerable targets. So far 2.435 volunteers have been involved: retirees, students, foreign nationals, people with disabilities, public utility workers.

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).