Summer School on Green and Just Transitions analyses the Turin case
"Cities in Just Green Transitions: Turin post-carbon transformations" is the name of the Summer School that was held from 18 to 22 September at the Castello del Valentino, within the framework of the HORIZON-WIDERA research project "GreenFORCE: Foster Research Excellence for Green Transition in the Western Balkans", whose scientific head is Professor Giancarlo Cotella of the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning-DIST.
The "GreenFORCE" research project aims to promote excellence in scientific research and innovation in the Western Balkans by bringing together the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST) and the Responsible Risk Resilience Centre (R3C) of Politecnico, Co-PLAN Institute for Habitat Development in Albania, Polis University in Albania, the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography (UB-GEF) in Serbia, the Center for Economic Analyses in North Macedonia and the Nordregio research centre in Sweden.
During the Summer School week, ten students from Politecnico met ten students from the Polis University and the University of Belgrade to talk, think and design together the strategies to be applied in the context of "just green transitions" starting from Turin. The main challenge was to operationalise the principles of green transition in the specific context of the case of Turin, a city that appears in the 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 according to the framework drawn up by Horizon Europe.
In addition to the local perspective, the students also analysed examples and case studies from Europe and the Western Balkans, followed during their activities by international and multidisciplinary lecturers. In the course of their lectures and group activities, they came to understand the challenges and ways to address them, emphasising that in order to proceed along the green transition route, spatial and landscape planning tools and decision-making strategies must be coordinated in a coherent and integrated framework.