Lost in Transition: Turns and Twists of Turin’s Post-Fordist Governance

Abstract: The article aims to present and critically discuss Turin’s urban policies during the last thirty years. Starting from the ’90, Turin, the Italian “one company town”, has passed through various moments of a never ending urban transition. By focusing on the Turin’s attempt to go beyond the so-called “Fordist urban model” and face the deindustrialisation process, and highlighting the present weakness of the socio-economic urban fabric, we advance two main arguments. The first one is that the never ending search for a new urban development model is marked by shortcuts and illusions, that led to the disapper of a fresh view on the city and its possible future and the gradual tarnishing of the leading role of the political and economic elites; the second one is that today Turin urban policies are mainly introverted and closed, while the possible links between Turin and the evolving urban geography of the Northern Italy are completely missed. This situation leads to the weak structuring of today urban public debate and to an endurance urban crisis.