The debate on the demographic decline of Turin promoted by La Stampa has inevitably and rightly expanded to the model of the city that would be desirable in the near future. Given that our future is quite unpredictable, as the breakthrough in our lives of the pandemic has shown us, the discussion can also be useful to the new Lo Russo junta to identify the fundamental lines of a municipal strategy for city development in the next 5 years. .
In the last speech, the new city planning councilor, Paolo Mazzoleni, observed how the quantitative increase of the inhabitants in Turin is not, in itself, a goal, but above all the quality of the public space must be pursued. The judgment can be shared, but it requires a corollary of clarifications that make it less apodictic and, above all, that it is not the indicator of a temptation to which Turin often seems to indulge, that of an average provincial city, where a predominantly elderly population, resident in the center, you can enjoy the pleasantness of the hill, the elegant urban architecture, the trips on the renewed boats of the Po.
The decrease in numbers of the city is, however, a symptom. That of a less attractive city, where job opportunities are decreasing even for non-European immigrants, where the flow of graduates who find work abroad or in other Italian cities is constantly growing. Naturally, no one hypothesizes a return to that model of city which, in the 60s and 70s of the last century, made it grow to over a million inhabitants.
The characteristics of the economy today are very different, but the development of an innovative manufacturing, strongly focused on advanced technologies, can bring the interest of both investors and young people back to Turin, equipped with a modern cultural and professional preparation. which the city badly needs.
If, then, this generation is offered a pleasant urban environment, appreciable cultural, sporting and artistic leisure opportunities and, perhaps, a cheaper housing cost than that of other Italian metropolises, here is the end of the unstoppable decline in numbers. of the inhabitants becomes a natural consequence, if not a priority objective.
In this vision, the task of the public administration must not be limited to the care of the public space, which is, moreover, an attention
maintenance that Turin absolutely needs, but to the system of an overall development “direction” that also concerns the private space.
In short, Turin must not be transformed into a heavenly oasis in the city center, where elderly couples stroll pleasantly, besieged by desolate suburbs seething with protests. Hypothetical vision of pure terrorism, of course, but nightmares are sometimes useful to give us a healthy wake up call.
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