Torino Urban Eco Hub
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
Torino Urban Eco Hub (UEH) is a project of urban regeneration centered on sustainability. The main aim is to requalify a disused urban real estate to provide a physical location for an ecosystem of people working on sustainability. Torino UEH will be a coworking space, but most importantly will be a center to develop a network and to share knowledge, methods and best practices on sustainable processes, starting from Turin and then connecting people around Italy and Europe.
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
Urban areas feature a huge number of buildings in disuse. This suggests the need to rethink these places and to renovate already existing urban properties, creating value for the surrounding community. Through environmentally conscious restoration, we aim at giving a second life to one of these places, still maintaining its historical value in the urban context, by creating a coworking hub and a place of connection among individuals that care about a sustainable urban environment.
The main pillar of Torino Urban Eco Hub (UEH) will be sustainability, conceived as the pursue of economic development while nurturing a space of social, cultural and environmental prosperity, in line with the United Nations’ SDGs. Our challenge is to promote economic growth through a conscious use of local resources, which we want to use to deliver value to our urban community.
Torino UEH could therefore become a meeting place, where people sharing common ethical values and aspiring to a more sustainable place to live and work can go to network and develop collaborative relationships. It will be a place where to share experiences, expertise and learn new skills, while supporting the sustainable growth of the area. The Hub will support individuals, startups and small businesses to leverage common resources both in terms of physical spaces, such as meeting rooms, and human capital, exploiting advantages from community members’ competences as well as from a pool of experts that can be consulted through the Hub when needed. By growing entrepreneurial realities, we aim at making a long-lasting positive impact on the city's economic and cultural texture, also offering support through training, workshops, and local events. We would also like to include different target people and disseminate culture on sustainability.
It will also be a pleasant place to work, combining green architecture with sustainable technologies, creating a low stress environment but without losing its historical roots.
Key objectives for sustainability
Torino Urban Eco Hub is in the first place a project of urban regeneration. According to an ISTAT survey, the city of Turin hosts more than 16000 unused buildings1, and our aim is to pick a suitable one and renovate it in an environmentally conscious and ecological way. To reach this aim, we are eager to create partnerships with local realities, in a co-design process. We would like to dialogue with the Turin municipality to maintain the original features of the existing building, preserving the historical beauty of the place and at the same time collaborating with local construction companies specialized in implementing green solutions in urban renovation. Going deeper, we would like to use energy from renewable and sustainable sources, such as photovoltaic panels, and be active in the fight against environmental pollution, a crucial problem in Turin, thanks to the use of green walls. In addition, we would like to install a small urban farm on the roof of the building (if applicable), which will be a place to learn about greening as well as a space where to gather and network while chilling out from work. Talking about the inside, UEH will be designed in collaboration with architects with a focus on using ethical, sustainable, and recycled materials (second-hand and reused furniture), making nature a protagonist of the space. Furthermore, we currently are in contact with a local company specialized in aeroponic growth culture, which could provide us with one of their systems in which to grow vegetables that can be directly used by our community. We will promote sustainable mobility with several initiatives such as providing discounts for members travelling by bike or electric scooter as well as a safe place where to store them while in the Hub.
The combination of these features will shape a unique place in terms of user experience among coworking spaces in Turin, moving beyond most frequent ecological practices such as waste sorting.
1 ISTAT 2011 census
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Our coworking Hub will be eco-conscious as it will implement green infrastructure such as the features described in the chapter above and will be sustainable from the inside too. It will encourage green mobility providing free bike storage, implement smart technologies for lighting and heating, promote effective recycling, and include a plastic free bistrot. Most importantly, it will raise awareness around sustainability and push the community to make a positive impact on the surrounding ecosystem. This concept could be easily adapted and replicated in many other Italian or European cities, but we are planning to start from Turin as it is the city we live in, and of which we know the potential but also the limitations.
Torino UEH will turn an abandoned building into a beautiful place where it is pleasant to work and spend the day, also from an aesthetic perspective. We want to restore already existing buildings firstly because Turin is a historical town, built over the centuries maintaining architectural respect and coherence, allowing harmonious integration between old and new buildings. Our approach will not ruin the natural landscape, preserving the monumental nature of the territory, where liberty style can be side by side with industrial style, in a place that benefits both from the natural setting around the city and many green areas and parks in the city center. Apart from the refurbishment aspects, we plan to set plants for decorative and wholesome purposes, as well as implement aeroponics, an innovative growing technique (more efficient in term of resource consumption than traditional cultures), both for education purpose and for direct consumption in the on-site bistrot where, after working, users will find an informal and dynamic place for relax, network, and build their team.
Paying attention to details is the distinguishing feature of the project, combining functionality and aesthetics.
Key objectives for inclusion
Inclusion is one the main pillars of the United Nations’ SDGs. Torino UEH wants to be in line with this pivotal aspect in a multiple of ways.
From the architectural point of view, the planning will aim at eliminating all possible architectural barriers taking into consideration special needs of people with disabilities: this includes ramps to substitute stairs inside and outside the building, adequate dimension of furniture objects (e.g., desks, chairs, doors) and distance between them, equipped toilet facilities. These measures will try to meet the three conditions that, according to the Italian Law2, should be respected in each building: accessibility, adaptability and visitability.
The Hub will be a virtual meeting place before a physical one, therefore the creation of the community will include a phase of co-design involving members and stakeholders into the process of urban regeneration. This cross-disciplinary approach will concur in the shaping of a place that meets the needs of all the people involved. Furthermore, the active participation of local citizens will help UEH to fit into the existing local environment, without being disconnected from it. Once the Hub will also become a physical place and all activities will have started, we will be open to evaluate other contributions than monetary payment to use the spaces (swapping), as this will increase the sense of engagement in the community, and we will provide discounts for students and people with economic difficulties, with special memberships. In addition, we are committed to deliver periodical free workshops, consulting and training material for the affiliated members with the possibility for external users that are interested too to join single events and receive educational materials. Finally, we are planning to collaborate with local social companies to provide additional services, as food production and/or delivery and the creation of educational and didactic material.
2Legge 13/89
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
Firstly, the renewal of unused buildings is a distinctive feature of the project, which will also bring value appreciation to some areas in the city that are now in decline. The desire to bring back and revive an historical building will also allow citizens returning to populate and value these forgotten areas of the city. The sustainability focus in terms of reuse and renovation of the existing structure will limit the possible environmental impact to minimal.
At the core of our project is also the need to have a space in the city focusing and created around sustainability, filling the gap between the existing offer of places where to go and work and the increasing number of professionals working on this topisc. We want to involve the community in the desire to achieve a long-lasting positive impact by building meaningful and active connections. And this is the goal of Torino UEH. The Hub will provide a place where to learn, talk and implement new lifestyles - sustainable, of course.
Last but not the least, we want to support freelancers and individuals, as in Italy the current trend shows that shared spaces for working are mainly occupied by large companies3, leaving out the ecosystem of freelancers and SMEs, accounting for about 12% of the GDP. The topic of sustainability in this case turns into economic sustainability as well, because we plan to make some services available for the community users, such as communication guidance as well as the possibility of receiving consultancy in marketing, management and other dedicated services. Being active on this playground might allow these individuals to better express themselves in their work.
