Change through beauty or duty? – that’s the question
Why do we need to rethink our territorial planning processes? How do we tackle the challenges and obstacles cities must face while regenerating the spaces? How can various European initiatives support cities’ journeys towards their NEB transformation? These are just a couple of questions that were addressed during the second international policy learning event in Turin, Italy.
During a three-day event, NEBA partners enjoyed fruitful discussions, which were opened at the Torino NEB Conference, organised by the NEBA partners: the City of Turin and the University of Turin. The Conference was opened by Chiara Foglietta - Deputy Mayor for Ecological and Digital Transition, Environment, and Innovation at the City of Turin, who stressed the importance of international cooperation in transforming our environments and learning from the best practices around different regions in Europe. The Torino NEB Conference offered NEBA partners an opportunity to present the project, network with a wide international audience, working in the NEB field, and dive deeper into the practises implemented in Turin as well as other countries and cities in Europe.
Among other topics, a question of motivating change and change makers was addressed during this policy learning event. What are the best tools to empower change? How can cities and regions drive change not only on a policy level but also on a non-governmental or even individual level? Does beauty work as a better motivator than duty?
On the second day of the visit to Turin, the NEBA team had an opportunity to explore the best practices implemented by the city with on-site visits. Seeking answers to the questions of how Turin tackles the theme of sustainability and climate change and what are the city’s policy frameworks, tools, EU projects and best practices, we visited the Cascina Falchera. This exceptional place is an old farmhouse, today acting as an urban farming and educational area on the outskirts of the City of Turin. It’s an open-source place of participation and active citizenship related to sustainability through models of social, environmental, energy, and economic experimentation from the perspective of outdoor education for all ages.
Another inspiring visit took the NEBA team to Orti Generali, which is based on a social enterprise model promoting ecological sustainability and social equity for the transformation and management of residual agricultural areas in Torino. It stands today as a model of urban regeneration: 170 gardens covering approximately 12 hectares, the revitalization of 1 hectare of informal gardens transformed into an educational hub, urban farm, and collective garden.
NEBA team finished the policy learning event on a high note with productive discussions of a thematic workshop, where partners and stakeholders explored the factors that shape the future of the city development and reflected on the good practices observed in Turin.
Some great outputs of the project await as soon, stay tuned to know, what NEBA presents next!