ECONOMIC AREA
If there is a strong identity bound to Porta
Palazzo, it is that of commerce. In the past decades the neighbourhood
has undergone a transformation, it has been a magnet for various waves
of migration, for stratified stories, cultures and customs. But its
true soul, its market and its shops has remained intact. Now as in the
past, the market in Piazza della Repubblica remains as a reference point
for everybody that lives in Torino, the place where you can find absolutely
everything, on the stalls or in the shops in the streets around the
square. Borgo Dora has its own, more specific, historic identity: one
of the first industrial centres of the city, thanks to the canals that
supplied energy, it developed a concentrated nucleus of artisans, restorers
and second-hand furniture merchants. Then, on Saturdays, the market
at the Balôn. Every day thousands of people crowd in, buying and trading,
among enormous quantities of goods that arrive from all over Italy and,
more recently, from all over the world. Artisans, old skills and new
shops, a spectacle that has been repeated every day for decades. However
this reality is never static, it is continually changing. A dynamic
development process that accompanies, improves and strengthens the economic
fibre, through incentives and requalification of the "natural economy"
of the neighbourhood.
WHAT WE WORKING ON?
The new Balôn: support for the transformation currently underway
The Balôn is experiencing a period of transformation: The Gate aims to support the re-organisation of the market, both during and after the work, by preparing a framework that will allow all the social players involved, residents as well as fixed and itinerant traders to participate in the transformation process that is produced.As a common design tool, a plastic reproduction of the Balôn area has been used to support and facilitate work with the various groups, to help to visualize hypotheses and simulations better.
Apolie': employment and enterprise centre
In the wake of the reforms regarding Employment Offices and their decentralisation, The Gate project has created an initial pilot experiment of an employment orientation Information point. The association Apolié has been managing the infopoint in c.so Giulio Cesare 15 since 2000. While not being strictly tied to this sphere of work, the activities undertaken by Apolié are mainly directed at the social sphere of immigrants because of the background of the association’s staff, its geographical location in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood and the kind of unemployment present in the area. Apolié provides information to all those who use the infopoint regarding job opportunities with regular employment contracts or the possibilities for self-employment; more specifically it is an operative tool deployed in the neighbourhood which permits, among other things, the regularisation of unofficial or marginal commercial activities and it mediates between employment offer and demand in the area, with special attention to the weak social groups. At the same time, the staff at Apolié works in close collaboration with all the bodies that are actively committed to reduce unemployment, informal forms of employment and the exploitation of workers (public bodies, trade unions, Ascom (traders’ association) and other category associations relating to trade and commerce, immigrants’ associations, Consulates, Ministry of Finance, INPS etc.)Back to Index