Urban Greening. Readdressing a mechanism for sustainable cities: Rotterdam and Torino =

The thesis critically deals with Urban Greening, a phenomenon that transformed contemporary urban areas in the post-industrial landscape. After a deep exploration of literature and field fieldwork, this research defines such an issue as “an accumulative mechanism of translation of the perception and relationship between society and urban nature”. By inquiring about greening mechanisms in the cases of Rotterdam and Torino, the work proposes a design experiment to challenge the current ways of production of green bodies, by fostering new relationships in the urban sphere. The first part of the thesis proposes to define urban greening through literature, contemporary definitions, and categorizations. Aiming for a redefinition of the concept by means of the deconstruction into its main components; society, nature, time, and interactions. The research directly moves towards a better understanding of what greening and nature can mean, by confronting the ideas of some significant authors, such as Matthew Gandy, Phillippe Descola, and Lucilla Barchetta, among others. The exploration understands the relevance of greening as a term that has gained momentum in the past few decades, with the decline of the post-industrial landscape and the increasing degradation processes of the Anthropocene. However, the general approach, wishes to go beyond the contemporary notions of greening, as one of the promises of the so-called “sustainable city”, and explore the constructions and narratives that have constituted its meaning throughout time. The second part of the inquiry takes two contemporary cities as case studies: Rotterdam and Torino. By analyzing their greening history and urban expansion, to later take a look at the modern-day panorama in terms of administration, governance, and policies around green infrastructures. Moreover, confronting this greening agenda with the projects that will shape the future of Rotterdam and Torino, assessing their reach, coherence, and implementation in terms of the sustainable city. As a result of the case studies exploration, the thesis draws a series of considerations that suggest new types of relationships around urban greening. The last part of the study wishes to challenge current ways of urban greening, by experimenting with a form of planning that drifts apart from the objectification of green elements and hopefully tries to integrate spontaneity in urban relationships.