What happens when an urban area is abandoned in a city like Turin? The people of Turin roll up their sleeves and create something unique!
Never before has the importance of urban greenery become more pressing than in recent years, not least because of the Covid-19 emergency; so much so, that we feel the need to take advantage of any space.
Precollinear Park was born in 2020 precisely from an idea of Torino Stratosferica, a non-profit cultural association that has been active since 2014, which, with targeted interventions, wanted to transform a degraded corner of Turin into a meeting place.
What is Turin’s Precollinear Park?
It is a redevelopment project of the end of the old tram 3 line, which has been set back for years before the Margherita bridge. It is an 800-metre-long space that runs from Ponte Margherita to Piazza Hermada. It is a green strip that goes up the tree-lined avenue of Corso Gabetti and unites four neighbouring districts: Borgo Po, Madonna del Pilone, Vanchiglia and Vanchiglietta.
But above all it is an initiative to recover the degraded situation of an area of the city, otherwise abandoned to itself.
Instead of tracks there is now a gravel path, instead of the rusty bus shelter there are now panels telling the story of a project born from below. And there are benches, tables, decorations, flower pots, a dog area and a rich calendar of cultural and recreational events and meetings.
2 years of collective experiment for a park that slopes downhill
Today, after two years of constant civic commitment and continuous improvements (new furniture, services, lights, plants, etc.), Precollinear Park is a welcoming, well-kept place, available to all citizens.
More than 500 people on average visit the park every day, and 15,000 people have attended cultural events since 2020.
The project has had so much resonance that it has become a true benchmark of urban regeneration, civic participation and social cohesion for many Italian cities. It is no coincidence that the European Commission has recently acknowledged it as one of the most successful placemaking projects in the neweuropeanbauhaus programme.
What is most striking is that Precollinear Park is also – and perhaps above all – a collective project for the preservation of public space. A new space open to and created by the community.
This is why Eurotherm has been supporting the project for the past two years, by supplying building materials and decorative elements so that the Precollinear Park can continue to represent an additional public green space for the Savoy city.
To celebrate its second year, we have produced, assembled, painted and delivered 40 metal planters that will help to enhance the beauty of this precious urban space.
