Le ‘nature urbane’ come arena di conflitto. Le mobilitazioni della Resistenza Verde a Torino

The proliferation of mobilisations in defence of soil and greenery make ‘urban natures’ an arena of conflict where discourses, policies, practices and resistance are confronted. This phenomenon occurs in many Italian and European cities, but Turin as a particularly active context. Here, citizens’ committees, associations and groups of inhabitants are contesting the cutting down and reduction of trees and lawns, the replanting and renaturation projects envisaged by national and European programs, the consumption of soil and cementing for commercial purposes. During 2023, part of the mobilisations merged into the Resistenza Verde network, involved in defence of parks and against the commodification of urban nature. This contribution explores discourses, practices and controversies raised by these mobilisations. More specifically, the essay investigates the plurality of meanings, expectations and solutions associated with “urban natures”. Particular attention is paid here to urban rewilding, the outcome of spontaneous renaturalisations in abandoned industrial voids, ruins and marginal or liminal areas, the favourite target of redevelopment programmes. The essay is the outcome of empirical research, still in progress, inspired by urban political ecology and conducted with a community-based approach.