Urban Regeneration of Ex-Scalo Vanchiglia: New functions and new inhabitants for a strategic area

Over the last decades, Turin not only reinvented itself as a post-industrial city but also became one of the leading European universities’ cities. While its tradition is manufacturing and logistics, its present identity is increasingly driven by knowledge, research, and education. The likes of Politecnico di Torino and Università degli Studi di Torino have experienced an increasing number of students from across Italy and the globe, leading to demographic rejuvenation and cultural diversity. The growth, however, has placed additional pressure on housing facilities within the area—particularly those around university campuses and buildings. The pressure is felt most acutely in the absence of affordable and decent student accommodation. What began as a temporary inconvenience has escalated into a long-term structural issue with extensive socio-economic and spatial consequences. Higher rents, overcrowded living spaces, and long travel times have turned student housing into a metropolitan challenge of larger dimensions—one which threatens educational fairness, social cohesion, and green urban development. This is an intricate issue which needs comprehensive building solutions that marry urban regeneration with participatory housing strategies. Here, the city’s diverse post-industrial past offers convenient opportunities for adaptive reuse. From Turin radiated dozens of abandoned or underutilized locations, remnants of its industrial past. Among them, Ex Scalo Vanchiglia has particular strategic appeal. A former freight train yard, now the land is a disconnected void in the cityscape—yet it is replete with potential considering its nearness to infrastructure, educational facilities, and city center. Its redevelopment serves as a model for the city’s redevelopment, an evolution from isolation to integration, from monofunctionality to hybridity. This thesis argues that student accommodation should not be seen as a marginal programme but a driving force of urban revitalization. Interwoven within a coherent architectural vision, student accommodation can initiate the regeneration of derelict zones. Aspects such as communal public realm, pedestrian permeability, modularity of typology, and mixed living-working formats stimulate social interaction, economic diversity, and architectural continuity. This approach not only responds to existing housing needs but also fosters long-term urban resilience. To place this proposal in context, four recent student housing case studies will be analyzed, giving insight into how innovative design solutions respond to evolving morphological, social, and contextual issues. These precedents will not be presented as icons but as analytical tools—demonstrating how spatial and programmatic decisions affect urban life. Ex Scalo Vanchiglia will be the focal point for a design-driven inquiry, linking its industrial heritage to a future academic purpose. Rather than viewing it as an emblem of deindustrialization, this thesis aims to explore it as an exemplar of reinhabiting the post-industrial city—where student housing is a primary driver of urban renaissance and space reinvention.