“They tried to make me go to rehab. I said, no, no, no”. Representations of ‘deprived’ urban spaces and urban regeneration in Turin, Italy

Abstract

Starting from a critical perspective on conventional representations of urban margins and traditional approaches to urban regeneration, our article aims to highlight the missing relationships between urban policies and the ways in which places organize their cultural, social and economic life. What are the socio-spatial practices that shape the everyday urban life? In which ways they are related or not to urban regeneration processes? Using Turin as a case-study, the paper discusses these questions and highlights the inconsistency of the normalizing narrative adopted by urban regeneration policies and the heterogeneous, multiple and constantly evolving identities unfolding in the urban margins.