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A tactical urban planning intervention to enhance and activate a new pedestrian area.

Via Durandi

Redevelopment and urban art

2021

Social Design

In July 2021 we carried out an urban art intervention in the San Donato district of Turin, on a recently pedestrianized section of Via Jacopo Durandi in front of the Piazza dei Mestieri complex and within the paved perimeter around the Pacinotti Institute.

 

It is the result of a process started in the previous months in the area: after a careful analysis of the historical, social and architectural environment, we identified the objectives and needs of the users of the space.

 

We involved the main local stakeholders in a participatory planning activity, including the director of the Pacinotti School complex, the councillor for traffic mobility Lapietra, the director of the training institute Immaginazione e Lavoro (Imagination and Work) and the President of the Piazza dei Mestieri Foundation and we created a workshop with the students of the upper classes of the Graphic Operator course of the Immaginazione e Lavoro institution,

 

The project was carried out with the collaboration of the City of Turin, the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure of the City of Turin, the Piazza dei Mestieri Foundation and the Pacinotti Comprehensive Institute.

 

Our thanks to District 4

 

With the help of Iren and the technical sponsorship of PPG Univer.

Through an action of technical urbanism, we decorated the pavement with geometric motifs, shapes and colors derived from the study and from the modern reinterpretation of the architecture of the surrounding buildings. An action that favored a new perception of space by its users.

 

Specifically, the compositional elements were taken from the Pacinotti Comprehensive Institute and the former Fiorio tanneries, designed by Pietro Fenoglio in the ‘Novecento’  style of neo-Romanesque inspiration.

The color palette identified was freely inspired by the colors of the plaster, bricks and railings that characterize the façade of the former Fiorio tanneries.  

 

The tactical urban planning intervention is not definitive: it is a temporary action aimed at drawing attention to an area and stimulating a design that leads to the definition of new methods of use through the participation of citizens.

Friday 26th November, on the occasion of the day dedicated to ‘Bike to School’, the new pedestrian area of Via Durandi hosted a program of laboratory activities together with Fiab Torino Bike Pride, aimed at children and teenagers to raise awareness on the use of bicycles and a sustainable lifestyle.

 

In the preceeding weeks we sent a flyer to 20,000 families in the San Donato and Campidoglio districts, presenting the urban art intervention and the program of activities to promote awareness of the area and involve the public in defining new uses of the area

 

Program

 

14.00 PEDALING, PLAYING

Games of skill with a bike, basic notions of cycling technique and approach to cyclomechanics, by Ciclostili ASD in collaboration with Fiab Torino Bike Pride.

 

14.00 CARGO BIKE

Test ride of cargo bikes for the transport of goods and people, by Bici-t.

 

15.00-16.00 ANIMATED READINGS

An animated reading of fairy tales for girls and boys, by Ecoborgo Campidoglio.

 

16.45-17-45 pm BEAUTY THAT ARISES FROM CARE

How do our daily actions affect the environment and how can small gestures make a difference? A workshop for children to learn the waste cycle, by Edulren.

 

Approaching the ‘Bike to School’, Thursday 25th November at 15.00 the A come Ambiente (environment) Museum organized the following workshop:

A BIKE FOR THINKING “Keep calm and switch to MacA – Special”

In July 2021 we carried out an urban art intervention in the San Donato district of Turin, through an action of tactical urbanism. We colored the pavement of a recently pedestrianized stretch of road with geometric patterns, inspired by the architectural context.

Tactical urbanism does not lead to definitive interventions but to actions to activate the territory. It directs the attention of citizens and administrators to an area, triggering a virtuous process that leads to the design of a space shared with the users.

On 26th November, 2021 we organized, together with Fiab Torino Bike Pride, a calendar of laboratory activities aimed at children and teenagers to raise awareness on the uses of bicycles and a sustainable lifestyle. It was an opportunity for the citizens to reappropriate this new public space in the neighborhood, experimenting with some possible uses.