From 17 to 19 October, Turin will host the ninth edition of Utopian Hours, the international festival that explores the themes of city making and urban innovation, at La Centrale – Nuvola Lavazza. Three intense days of meetings, masterclasses, workshops, exhibitions and side events will bring over forty international guests, the most influential media outlets, renowned urban planners and more than two hundred Italian and European institutional representatives to the city. Utopian Hours offers an opportunity to discuss experiences and solutions capable of imagining more liveable, inclusive and resilient cities.
The title chosen for this edition, “United Cities”, invites us to overcome barriers and boundaries, creating connections between places, people and practices. Conceived and curated by Stratosferica Impresa Sociale, the festival attracts innovators from all over the world who bring to the stage projects and visions on themes such as public space, climate adaptation, placemaking, sustainable mobility, cultural regeneration, technology applied to urban planning and community building. The aim is to share not only analyses and challenges, but also concrete solutions capable of transforming cities.
Since its first edition in 2017, Utopian Hours has stood out from traditional conferences: it is not a formal event, but a true celebration of the city in all its dimensions. It is a space open to professionals, administrators, students, creatives, entrepreneurs and citizens, a context that favours the sharing of ideas and experimentation over the rigidity of institutional models. As Giacomo Biraghi, president of Stratosferica, pointed out, the festival was created to generate inspiration and hope, focusing on solutions and not just problems, and creating an environment where leaders of change can meet and influence each other.
The presence of leading figures such as Elizabeth Diller and Winy Maas marks a decisive step forward in the international resonance of the event. Their participation, bridging research, urban design and cultural institutions, strengthens Turin’s role in the global urban innovation scene and consolidates Utopian Hours as one of the leading European platforms dedicated to the future of cities.
The three-day festival will feature a series of case studies and practices that show how utopia can become a concrete design tool: from rivers restored to communities to wooden neighbourhoods, from digital simulations for planning to participatory infrastructures that give citizens a voice.
In this context, utopia is not understood as an escape from reality, but as an exercise in imagination that paves the way for concrete possibilities. It is the discipline of thinking about better cities and the very way of building them. Once again, Turin becomes the privileged theatre for this global dialogue, reaffirming Italy’s role within the international urban agenda
