Territorial education through the rivers. The “Flowing with the rivers” public engagement project. – The contribution reflects on how the value of water resources in the ecological transition can be shared and strengthened through geo-graphical education. In particular, the Public Engagement project “Flow-ing with the rivers”, financed with 48,500 euros by the University of Turin, whose objective was the development of an educational model to sustainably reconstruct the relationships between human communities and territory around water as a resource and fundamental element in all relationships between natural and human systems. The project activities developed between 2021 and 2023, concentrating the action on the territory between Turin and Savigliano, in particular between the Po, Tanaro and Maira rivers, and involved universities, associations, schools with teachers, students and parents, citizens, media and local administrations. The involvement of local communities was considered a basis of geographical education, starting from the idea that through awareness of the ecological, cultural and economic value of rivers it is possible to arrive at a plan for life, care and sustainable development that produces a social and cultural change in the valorization and management of water resources. The interdisciplinary working group, scientifically directed by Cristiano Giorda, involved fifteen researchers from six different departments and scientific areas. The main methodology followed was that of territorial education through outdoor education and place and art based learning activities, ca-pable of territorialising the scientific and artistic dimensions with skills linked to territorial values, landscape, sustainable development -bile and active citizenship.

Redefining the city-river relationship: a look at the Turin area. – The relationship between the city and the river is being profoundly redefined in the context of the water crisis, in the relationship between the natural and the built environment. The paper will focus on the case of Turin, where deindustrialisation has led to morphological, functional and symbolic transformations of previously industrialized areas, with a new process of landscape construction, in some cases based on the heritage of the industrial past, in others on a new meaning (re)attributed to the environment, as the main physical and symbolic dimension of the re-territorialisation of post-indus-trial spaces. This paper focuses on the relationship between rivers and cities, and in particular on how rivers are once again becoming a (potentially) founding element of post-industrial landscapes. We will draw on some case studies in the Turin area, where the river emerges as a potentially structuring element in rethinking places deeply marked by deindustrialisation and in imagining and constructing a new landscape.

Feeding the city through events: Expo 2015 seen from Turin. – Among the various Italian cities that have employed events as a means of continuous relaunch and repositioning on the national and international stage, Milan and Turin have hosted the most significant mega-events in the last 20 years, as Expo 2015 in Milan and the 2006 Winter Olympics Games (WOG) in Turin and the forthcoming Milano-Cortina WOG 2026.
Especially on the Turin side, the relationship was mostly experienced in competitive terms, with a series of events and related specialisations, which originated in Turin and then migrated (‘subtracted’ from the Turin point of view) to Milan in particular.
This paper will examine the theme of food, which is central to the Expo 2015 event and to various minor events hosted in the two cities. Among these, the Turin-based kermesse Terra Madre (since 2004) – Salone del Gusto (since 1996) – stands out.
As a result of Expo, Milan has become one of the world’s leading food capitals, the first Italian city to adopt a structured food policy, and the founder of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) that started in October 2015 and by January 2024 had reached no less than 279 cities around the globe, including almost thirty in Italy. Turin has repeatedly at-tempted to represent itself as a food capital, also thanks to Terra Madre-Salone del gusto. Furthermore, it was the first Italian city to include the ‘right to food’ in its municipal statute.
This paper will attempt to deconstruct the narratives on the food-city re-lationship in Milan and Turin, largely triggered by the two major events. In the context of renewed competition for the 2026 Olympic bid, it will question the possibilities of collaboration around food spaces.

Requalification of peripheries with an industrial background: the case-study of Mirafiori in Turin. – The paper intends to develop a reflection, starting from the case of the Mirafiori neighbourhood in Turin, on the role that the peripheries can adopt as a laboratory of transversal innovation in the field of urban design, policy, governance, active citizenship and overall the global themes of Agenda 2030 (United Nations, 2015). The Mirafiori neighbourhood can be highlighted as an emblematic case, since it is an industrial suburb closely connected with the former FIAT (now Stellantis) industrial plant. Over the years, the neighbourhood has suffered a socio-demographic and identity crisis, and over time numerous projects have been launched to address these crises. Participation in European projects insisting on the neighbourhood allows us to be privileged observers and actors for: the re-designing and re-qualification of Mirafiori Sud through the realisation of Nature-based Solutions, useful to strengthen and increase the connection of the food system, a tool for social inclusion and territorial development, as well as to increase the envi-ronmental value of the already existing natural elements; to address activities with a Place-based Education approach, useful in the redesigning of spaces. The analysis of projects settled in Mirafiori is needed in order to assess the possibility of constructing new urban centralities starting from marginal places.

Muslim spaces in Turin: a relational perspective, beyond secularisation and sacredness. – This paper aims to present Muslim spaces in Turin, including non-worship spaces. To this end, considering the ongoing debate on secularised and sacred spaces and the relational perspective between spaces, this study investigates the presence of official sacred spaces in relation to unofficial sacred spaces such as halal butcher shops and kebab shops in the urban context of Turin. These spaces were analysed mainly with semi-structured interviews. The secularisation of religious spaces does not only occur within an institutional dynamic, but can also take place within the community itself. This occurs through changing relationships between spaces and people over time. Another variable that comes into play is the interpretation of spaces according to the different sensitivities of their users, who may interpret certain practices and places as sacred or without sacredness.