An analysis of the eviction crisis in Turin: points of view and responses

In an era marked by rapid technological advancements and globalization, cities are increasingly competing to become tourist destinations, workplaces, and culturally rich places: these issues tend to shift the focus away from an old problem of the urban, housing, that especially in Italy continues to be one of the difficult knots to solve. Starting with housing, this thesis focuses on one of the practices that deny individuals and families the possibility of housing: the evictions. The city of Turin is not immune and it is particularly interested by these phenomena: in 2014, eviction requests reached 4.693 (Comune di Torino, 2023), making it the capital of Italy in terms of the number of evictions: 1 for every 241 families. A considerable increase, whose understandings, reasons, causes, consequences and response and containment measures are the focus of this thesis, also concerning the current period in which there are 1.365 eviction requests in 2022 and 1.220 in 2023 (Comune di Torino, 2023). The thesis, through a mixed-method approach, which combines qualitative analysis of interviews and field observations with quantitative content such as the analysis of data provided by the municipality, aims to offer (i) an understanding of the eviction phenomenon and at the same time (ii) the responses for the containment of the phenomenon. In doing so, attention will be paid to relevant actors, such as institutional and third-sector actors, who will outline their understandings and the responses to the phenomenon in the city of Turin.