Convivenza e cooperazione sociale in contesti urbani: il caso degli ex villaggi olimpici a Torino

This paper addresses the theme of urban regeneration drawing on a research study about a specific “area and people–based” program, realized in two neighbourhoods in Turin. In these selected areas some estates, originally built to host athletes and journalists during the Olympic Winter Games (2006), were converted into social housing units meant to promote social mix among less and more well off inhabitants of the area. The core question of the paper is whether the effect of cohesion and cooperation among people living in the same area, but belonging to different social classes, has taken place as expected. The paper explores factors and mechanisms explaining the partial failure of this social and urban experiment, focusing on the experience of daily inclusion/exclusion from a specific shared place. Concepts from institutional economy are introduced to enlighten the complexity of this experience.