Design as a Tool to Ground Rights in the Case of Cavallerizza Reale in Turin

In the Italian reformist tradition, cities are considered spaces shared by a diverse community. Containing this diversity—of cultures, social conditions, incomes, and interests—within limited boundaries can result in a build-up of pressure, or tensions, over space use and access. In this essay, some aspects of these tensions are explored using the case of the Cavallerizza Reale in Turin, highlighting how urban design can be considered a valuable tool for establishing commons. The first tension is between property and rights of use; the second tension arises due to the urgency to utilize as commons urban areas that have been abandoned or are underused; the third tension is based on the tools used to tackle the transition from unused or underused spaces to urban commons. The Cavallerizza Reale case reveals, in the light of these three tensions, how urban design tools can play a role in grounding rights of use, overcoming the superposition of public property and public use. What is more, it unveils how processes that bring agency to the transformation can play an institutionalization role, eventually speeding up the elaboration of urban design tools by officials.