Cities often struggle with perceptions of safety after dark. To counter this, Turin has reimagined the night as a shared public space – inclusive, vibrant and alive. Its ToNite project proves that true security begins not with surveillance, but with community.
Reclaiming the night as well as the river
Night-time can mean freedom, creativity and calm. But in some neighbourhoods, it also means fear, isolation and underused public space.
That was the challenge facing the City of Turin in the neighbourhoods along the Dora River – an area rich in diversity and cultural history, but also marked by neglect, insecurity and fragmentation.
A fundamental characteristic of ToNite is its integrated and community-based approach in addressing the issue of urban security.
But the ToNite project has changed everything. A four-year Urban Innovative Actions project co-funded by the EU and led by Turin, ToNite is designed to rethink night-time safety and liveability not through policing, but through co-design, urban regeneration and new community services.
As Alberto Rudellat, European Project Manager at the City of Turin, explains, “A fundamental characteristic of ToNite is its integrated and community-based approach in addressing the issue of urban security.”
A neighbourhood-wide transformation
From 2019 to 2023, ToNite transformed the Dora riverside into a laboratory for inclusion, co-management and night-time engagement.
Three flagship spaces illustrate this transformation:
- Viale Ottavio Mai: once a bleak corridor behind the university campus, this 5,000m² area was reimagined as an “outdoor campus,” a pedestrian-friendly square and meeting place. New lighting, seating and paths turned it into a safe, welcoming hub for students and residents alike.
- Giardino Pellegrino: a 2,640m² garden in the heart of Aurora District, abandoned for years, was reborn as a family-friendly playground and cultural venue, co-managed by local associations through a Pact of Collaboration – a legal framework from Turin’s Common Goods Regulation.
- The Dora Riverbanks: covering an area of over 2km, these riverbanks were equipped with new street furniture, lighting and signage, creating a connected, walkable and well-lit environment for the surrounding communities.
These physical interventions were matched by intangible investments in local energy, with €1 million funding 19 local projects developed by NGOs, universities, schools and informal community groups – many of which still continue today.
A night of many voices
ToNite’s impact has been in bricks and benches, but also in events, stories and shared experience.
The call for proposals that funded the 19 projects was co-designed with local participants. The activities that followed – from cultural nights and school workshops to mobile hubs and walking tours – brought over 30,000 people into the night in new ways.
ToNite has certainly stimulated the idea that the night is also a time of possibility for cultural and social services.
- 2,222 events were held
- 29,918 people participated
- 15 partnerships were activated
- Four formal collaboration pacts were signed with community groups
Rudellat says, “ToNite has certainly stimulated the idea that the night is a time of possibilities also for cultural and social services.”
Among the most striking examples is Yalla Aurora, a long-term social hub co-created with local youth, as well as Lido Dora, an experimental activation of public space for night-time river culture.
Community-led innovation
One of the project’s key innovations was in how services were created. Not imposed from above, but emerging from below.
Rudellat explains that “without an integrated and highly participatory and community-based approach, the project would have run the risk of not being accepted by the areas on which it was intervening.”
By using tools like Pacts of Collaboration and co-design workshops, the city shared ownership of public space and governance with residents, especially those who were not part of formal structures, such as migrants, small associations and local schools.
Urban safety over simple security
Without an integrated and highly participatory and community-based approach, the project would have run the risk of not being accepted by the areas on which it was intervening.
The city’s impact assessment framework identified three core goals:
- Engagement and active participation
- Understanding – of place, of others, of possibilities
- Liveability and security perception – measured by how spaces are used, shared and cared for
The impact framework itself was co-designed with city departments, stakeholders and experts. It used a Theory of Change logic model to map and measure outcomes across policy, participation and perception.
€50 million in follow-up investment
Although the original UIA-funded ToNite project concluded in August 2023, its impact is growing.
The city has used ToNite as the launchpad for a wider integrated regeneration strategy in the Dora area, aligned with national and European programmes.
In total, Turin has secured:
- €10 million in 2024 interventions
- €40 million for the years ahead, from sources including React-EU, PinQua, PIU and the PN Plus programme
These funds will support new green areas, mobility improvements, social housing and further social innovation – including a new call for Community Spaces, called ImpatTO, which allocated €2.4 million to support local-led initiatives.
“ToNite was the starting point of a wider integrated regeneration programme aimed at pursuing and further improving the liveability objectives pursued by the UIA project,” says Rudellat.
Overcoming challenges
ToNite’s community-led ambitions were tested by real-world complexity.
The innovativeness of ToNite in tackling urban security with a community-based approach raised great interest from other organisations and cities.
There were also technical challenges:
- Winter weather made outdoor night events difficult
- COVID-19 forced many early co-design meetings online
- Target groups such as children were harder to engage at night
- Ensuring long-term sustainability of local services was complex
But thanks to local trust and flexibility, 10 of the 19 funded projects continue operating today, and many others have informed new policy directions.
Transferring the model
Turin didn’t keep ToNite to itself.
Through the URBACT Innovation Transfer Network, the city is now sharing its model with Riga, Cluj-Napoca, Sant Boi de Llobregat and Quadrilátero Urbano (Barcelos, Braga, Famalicao and Guimaraes in Portugal). The focus (via a follow-on project called 2Nite) is on helping partner cities adapt ToNite’s night-time strategy and community-based safety approach.
The city was also selected for a European Urban Initiative City-to-City Exchange with Lille Metropole, focused on riverside green space and collaborative regeneration.
ToNite has also been featured at:
- World Urban Forum (Katowice, 2022)
- Cities Forum (Turin, 2023)
- Mannheim Congress on Urban Security (2023)
- Tampere Smart City Expo, Montreal Night Summit, ANCI Assembly, and others
ToNite was the starting point of a wider integrated regeneration programme aimed at pursuing and further improving the liveability objectives.
A light in the night
Perhaps ToNite’s greatest achievement is not in how much it changed physically, but in how it changed perceptions.
The project redefined safety not as surveillance, but as connection.
It asked residents what it means to feel safe at night. What stories could we tell about these places – not of danger, but of dance, dialogue and community?
One of its most poetic contributions was “The River of Biographies” – an artistic storytelling intervention using 10 short films to strengthen the sense of community along the Dora River.
It’s symbolic of the project as a whole, which Albarello explains is, “To make the active community aware of its differences, its places and spaces, and to support the local community in taking care of those spaces and designing new ways of use – in order to make urban spaces open, inclusive and liveable as common goods.”
This initiative is shortlisted in the ‘Inspiring City’ initiative category at the Eurocities Awards 2025. This year, for the first time, Eurocities member cities are involved in selecting the winners of the awards. Our members can now vote to choose the best city hero and the best city initiative.
You can view the full awards shortlist here.
Results will be announced on Thursday 5 June at Eurocities 2025 Braga.
