The correct interpretation of the polygenic nature of the great railway stations contemporary, appearing increasingly as complex systems operating in conditions of dynamic equilibrium between the different factors affecting them, and to analyze its design practices and intervention strategies more suitable for making stations privileged places of reconciliation between the railway and the contemporary city.

The station, now, has to translate the many and apparent contradictions in terms of urban and architectural quality to impose itself as a true threshold, physical and conceptual, of our contemporary every day. In the train station they intersect and interact complex issues related to transport technologies (technical architecture), urban development (the city), to finance infrastructure (politics and economy) and the needs in the short, medium and long term for the various types of travellers and users (society and culture).

The third part of the thesis contains the analysis of a case study and is focused on the new Torino Porta Susa.

In order to power the research field "Stations, places for cities" i felt would be interesting to trace, through the interpretation of internal company documents, the design process and procedure that involved Turin Porta Susa, analyzing the management of the process company through the reconstruction of the different phases of the project, from the debate (1984) to complete activation (2014).