AuroraLAB: l’Università entra nelle periferie

In 2018, some professors and researchers of the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (Politecnico e Università di Torino), have launched a pilot project of innovative teaching (learning by doing) and action-research in the Aurora district of Turin, which led to the opening of a physical space: a meeting place between University and the neighborhood, where to share ideas and imagine common projects. After framing the meaning of this work in the more general context of a new way of understanding the so-called University “Third Mission” in terms of a “direct” involvement in processes aimed at fostering changes in local communities, the chapter explores the different implications of the daily exercise of “context immersion”, which often took shape in many neighborhood walks that have been organized. While, from a pedagogical point of view “getting into the context” helps to strengthen the ability to listen and dialogue with local actors, from a perspective of the researcher’s work, being in the field implies a greater involvement with the object studied (the territory), stimulating the relational attitudes of those involved in the research activities and expressing the need to establish a dialogue “between peers” with local actors.