Cascina Roccafranca

cascina_roccafranca
Project box

Geographical area: Europe

Location: Turin, Italy

City size: Medium (between 250,000 and 1,000,000 inhabitants)

Promoter: Municipality of Turin

Developer: Municipality of Turin and Cascina Roccafranca Foundation

Start year:

End-year:

Implementation phase: Completed

Project size: Block

Total area of intervention (in sqm): 3.800

Total investments (in USD): 20 million

Project overview

The regeneration of the old farmstead of Cascina Roccafranca and its repurposing into a community center represents a successful case of participatory planning in urban regeneration. The redevelopment project targeted the old farmstead Cascina Roccafranca in Turin on a total area of 3,800 sqm. The Cascina was built in the 17th century by the religious association Compagnia dell’Immacolata Concezione. After several different ownerships until the 1970s, the farmstead started to be abandoned due to the industrialization of the Mirafiori area and to the parting from agricultural activity. After years of abandonment, the farmstead was bought by the Municipality of Turin 2002 to start the renovation project. The Municipality employed the USD 20 million fund received from the European Union through the Urban II program to buy the entire site and start the renovation of the existing buildings. The European funding program supports the economic and social regeneration of cities and neighborhoods and promotes sustainable urban regeneration projects. The renovation initiative has been entirely funded and developed by the Municipality of Turin. In addition, the Municipality of Turin established the Cascina Roccafranca Foundation to manage the project. The foundation is composed of the Municipality and private associations and manages the operational activities of the project. The planning phase adopted a participatory approach, where formal and informal neighborhood associations, organizations, citizens and social workers were actively involved by the Municipality in the planning and repurpose of the farmstead. The old buildings have been refurbished and re-functionalized by becoming a community center hosting recreational activity, cultural events and social services to support the community and disadvantaged people. The redevelopment project focused on renovating the old building of the farmstead, conserving its original structure. The intervention renovated the entire farmstead structure by mainly employing sustainable materials (wood) and creating a window system to increase natural lighting. In addition, the renovation implemented innovative solutions and materials to improve the thermal insulation of the entire structure and created a photovoltaic structure to generate electricity. The project focused on the creation of open spaces, converting the farmstead into a community center providing social spaces and activities for the residents. The Cascina provides a variety of recreational and cultural events, from theatre exhibitions to musical events and projections. Together with recreational activities, the Cascina is actively engaged in providing social and economic support to the community and to disadvantaged people. The Cascina hosts several educational courses, offers counselling support to find job opportunities and legal assistance, and provides psychological support to distressed families and children. In addition, the Cascina provided employment opportunities for around 150 individuals and generated a significant economic value for the Foundation partners. The renovation project became a focal point for the community, given the social and economic difficulties faced by the neighborhood in recent years.

As a community center and public space for residents, the project is composed of different mixed-use spaces. The majority involves open and recreational spaces to host events, laboratories and courses, and spaces for institutional and public activities, especially the Ecomuseum and the childcare and counselling activities and associations. The farmstead buildings provide also space for commercial activities run by cooperative companies, namely a restaurant and a cafeteria.

Benefits

The restoration of the old buildings and the implementation of services, such as social courses, restaurants, cafeterias, had a positive impact in terms of job creation. All the organizations and events hosted in the Cascina provided employment opportunities for around 150 people, with 14 people working permanently in the Cascina. In addition, the project supported the creation of the Cooperativa Educazione Progetto, a social company developing projects targeted to help families, children and people with disabilities, and providing work services and orientation for unemployed people. With the funding provided from sponsors and the Municipality, the Foundation has been able to promote local activities and initiative which brought important economic benefits to local businesses and the entire community  . The economic activities hosted in the Cascina generated a significant economic value for the Foundation partners, estimated around USD 870,000 in 2017. The revenues are used to run the commercial activities held in the site, organize social events for the community, pay wages and host educational and training courses inside the Cascina.

The renovation project of Cascina Roccafranca is part of Progetto Speciale Periferie (Suburbs Special Project), which is a wider redevelopment project which refurbishes abandoned or underused buildings to create new community spaces in the Municipality. In this context, the refurbishment of the farmstead adopted a circular approach for redevelopment, renovating the existing buildings, adapting them to mixed-use spaces for the communities and avoiding the construction of ad-hoc buildings to host new community centers. The renovation works aimed to employ sustainable materials for the reconstruction of the farmstead, such as wood to restore the covering of the ceiling. In addition, the construction works implemented a solar photovoltaic structure on the smaller court building and implemented innovative solutions to improve the thermal insulation of the entire structure. The foundation hosts numerous events related to sustainability measures, and the catering activities (restaurant and bar) are obliged to employ sustainable products for their services.

The renovation of Cascina Roccafranca was targeted to bring significant social benefits to the local residents and the community, as part of a wider project to revitalize deprived, critical and less-developed neighborhoods of the city. Cascina Roccafranca became a community center, providing meeting space for the local community to engage in social and public activities. In order to promote social equity and inclusiveness within the community, the Foundation provides a variety of crucial public services to support low-income families, unemployed people, individuals with special needs and disabilities and migrants. The reception services offer guidance to citizens in understanding the activities and resources provided by the Municipality and support them in the creation and implementation of ideas and projects to improve the community or the Municipality. The counselling services provided by the Foundation offer consultancy for legal issues especially on labor laws, contracts and protection from abuses, and provide support for job-related activities such as job seeking and preparing job applications. In addition, these services help citizens with psychological support, especially for cases of violence against women and family-related issues, and provide educational activities for children, foreigners and lower-educated adults. The social role of the Foundation also flows in the provision of a public space for events, meetings and initiatives. The Foundation hosts cultural and educational events covering a variety of activities, from theatre exhibitions and studying spaces for young people, social support services for fighting discrimination and violence against women, language courses and physical activities. To further promote inclusiveness and participation, most of the events (59%) held in the Cascina in 2022-2023 were free, with a smaller part (15%) asking for voluntary donations and the remaining ones (26%) with standard tariffs. Lastly, the Foundation serves the role of preserving the local heritage and history of the city by hosting the Local History Interpretation and Documentation Centre (Ecomuseum). The Ecomuseum is a public archive established to conserve the local and historical memories of the entire city.

The Cascina Roccafranca project did not receive any sustainability certification.

Finance model

The redevelopment of the old buildings had been implemented through funding from the Municipality of Turin. The Municipality funded the acquisition of the entire site, and the construction works to renovate the farmstead. The management and operational activities of the Cascina are also funded by the Cascina Roccafranca Foundation. The organization is a public-private foundation composed of the Municipality of Turin and all the formal and informal organizations which were interested in the regeneration project. The Foundation directly manages the building and the activities conducted in the Cascina.

The renovation of the Cascina Roccafranca site has been entirely financed through direct public funds provided from the European Union. The resources amounted to USD 16 million and were entirely allocated from the Urban II program of the European Union. The funding program supports the economic and social regeneration of cities and neighborhoods and promotes sustainable urban development and regeneration projects. The funding was directly allocated to the Municipality of Turin to acquire the site of the farmstead and conduct the construction works to renovate the farmstead.

References and Credits

Cascina Roccafranca official website. Accessed on 10/04/2024. Available here.

Open Heritage. Cascina Roccafranca Project. Accessed on 10/04/2024. Available here.

Open Heritage. Cascina Roccafranca Project update. Accessed on 12/04/2024. Available here.

Municipality of Turin. Progetto Periferie. Accessed on 10/04/2024. Available here.

The Plan. Casa del Quartiere Cascina Roccafranca a Torino. Accessed on 12/04/2024. Available here.

Casa ATC Servizi. Accessed on 12/04/2024. Available here.

Officine De Rossi. Architetture. Accessed on 12/04/2024. Available here.

Economia del Bene Comune (2016). Bilancio del Bene Comune. Cascina Roccafranca. Available here.

Image from Vicini.to, retrieved here.