Throughout Europe, civic spaces serve as vital arenas for democratic life… These are the places, the platforms, the events, where individuals and communities converge to engage, organise, innovate, express dissent, and collectively envision the future. These spaces are not fixed; they transform over time, thriving in some contexts while facing constraints from political, social, or economic pressures in others.
Capturing their dynamics demands more than isolated case studies or static snapshots; it calls for a framework that reflects their complexity, interconnectedness, and continual evolution.
The B.RIGHT SPACES CARTOGRAPHY responds to this need, offering a living, interactive, and accessible map that charts these spaces as a shared landscape of civic activity, fostering understanding, visibility, and dialogue across Europe’s diverse communities.
The Collaboration Pact for the Pratone Parella (Meadow Parella) is an agreement between the City of Turin and civic groups to jointly care for
and manage a large public green area of about 11,000 square meters located in Parella, a highly urbanized neighborhood in the western area of the city.
The care, animation and awareness-raising actions implemented by the community aim to enhance a green space taken away from building speculation.
Barriera di Milano is historically one of Turin’s primary reception areas for new residents, currently distinguished as a highly multicultural district with a significant youth population. Key challenges include the concentration of poverty among specific social groups. Additionally, parts of the district are stigmatized and often perceived as insecure or prone to violence.
Via Baltea is a community hub located in Barriera di Milano, a historically working-class neighbourhood in northern Turin. Barriera di Milano is today a dense and multicultural urban area where community-based initiatives play a key role in strengthening local cohesion. Since 2014, Via Baltea has transformed a former printing house into a lively community hub blending commercial, cultural, and social functions.
The Casa del Quartiere di San Salvario is a vibrant community hub located in a dense, multicultural neighbourhood in central Turin, close to Porta Nuova railway station. Historically diverse and socially dynamic, the area hosts families, students, migrants, artists and small businesses. The Neighborhood House explicitly works to ensure equal access to cultural, educational, and social opportunities.
The Portineria di comunità is a social space that mainly offers community services, allocated inside an old newsstand. It is located in the working-class neighborhood of Porta Palazzo. Although it is part of the city’s historic center, the neighborhood has historically been one of the districts that welcomed immigrants from Southern Italy throughout the twentieth century and currently hosts a large number of citizens of foreign origin.
Comala is a very active multipurpose cultural space and youth gathering place in Turin, located in the area of the former La Marmora Barracks in the former working-class district of San Paolo. This area was repurposed in the 1990s and became home to the Polytechnic University of Turin, contributing to the change in the neighborhood’s social structure.
The Via Cumiana 15 Collaboration Pact concerns the old abadoned Lancia industrial warehouse, redeveloped as a covered multipurpose square in San Paolo neighborhood. In this space civil society in collaboration with the Municipality and District 3, offers educational, cultural, and sports activities for the local community. Over the years, the co-management of the spaces has also expanded to the adjacent street, which has been pedestrianized, and to the neighboring green areas.
Orti Generali is a community urban gardening project located in the Mirafiori Sud neighborhood, a historic working-class district of Turin, within Parco Piemonte. As a peri-urban district where dense housing meets former agricultural riverbank land, the location is functional to experiment a project that reconnects residents with a long-overlooked landscape and strengthens their bond with the territory.
Cascina Roccafranca is a multifunctional socio-cultural center located in the Mirafiori Nord neighborhood of Turin. It was founded in the 17th century as a farmhouse in the rural area of Turin. With urban expansion and the end of agricultural activity, it was abandoned until public redevelopment transformed it into a Neighbourhood House (Casa del Quartiere).
The Giardino Pellegrino, also known as the Cardinal Michele Pellegrino Garden, is located in the Aurora district, near Piazza Borgo Dora and Porta Palazzo neighbourhoods in Turin, just a short walk from the famous Balon market. It is the only public garden in this area and has become, in recent years, a true point of reference for the local community.
POLEIS – the Polo Civico Esquilino (Esquilino Civic Hub) represents an innovative governance model for metropolitan social cohesion. Established in 2024 in a socially marginalised yet central district characterised by high ethnic diversity, the Hub channels strong community traditions of solidarity and mutualism into structured civic action.
Casa Internazionale delle Donne (the International Women’s House) has been operating for four decades in support and protection of women’s rights and freedoms. Since 1992, thanks to the support of the Coordination of Elected Women of the Municipality of Rome, the International Women’s House is an autonomous body in charge of promoting rights, culture, policies, knowledge and experiences produced by and for women.
The Cinema Troisi is located in the historic district of Trastevere in the centre of Rome (Italy). Its inclusive and participatory model has earned national recognition, with multiple “Biglietto d’Oro del Cinema Italiano” awards, confirming the public’s strong appreciation and the effectiveness of its community-based approach.