Spatial Justice Education Through Experiential Learning: The Case of AuroraLab in Turin (Italy)

The University and the Neighbourhood—Opportunities and Limits in Promoting Social Innovation: The Case of AuroraLAB in Turin (Italy)

“…It constitutes a pilot laboratory in the Turin context, involving researchers with different academic profiles (including urban planners, geographers, sociologists, and economists) united by a triple challenge: teaching, research, and public engagement [21]. In this sense, as recognised by Caruso et al [14], AuroraLAB poses several orders of challenges. Regarding didactics, the challenge is introducing forms of teaching outside the classroom, bringing students into direct contact with the real and complex issues that the territories demand.…”

“…In this sense, this contribution intends to analyse the Turin (Italy) case of the ToNITE Project, financed precisely through UIA on "urban security", which mainly targeted the Aurora neighbourhood, a fragile urban area north of the city centre with a rich social capital. In this context, the AuroraLAB action-research lab, promoted by the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning of the Politecnico di Torino within its Third Mission, has been active since 2018 to offer students opportunities for innovative teaching and support local stakeholders of the Aurora neighbourhood in micro-processes of urban regeneration and social innovation [14,15]. AuroraLAB, together with other local actors of the Aurora neighbourhood, won ToNITE-UIA funding in 2021 with a project named "Grandangolo-Dream Spaces for Safe Living".…”