The effects of a new metro line on residents mobility and gentrification. A case study in Torino (IT)

New transport infrastructures represent strong occasions for physical urban renewal and, by increasing the level of connectivity, often produce strong effects on citizens behaviours. In particular new transit infrastructure... [ view full abstract ]

New transport infrastructures represent strong occasions for physical urban renewal and, by increasing the level of connectivity, often produce strong effects on citizens behaviours.
In particular new transit infrastructure may have two kind of effects: on the one side they can increase equity through higher accessibility of poorly connected areas, while on the other side they can push up the real estate prices producing a gentrification effect.
Therefore, the present paper investigates if any effect of the metro line can be traced on residents displacement and if the social composition of neighborhoods along the line shows any changes after such an intervention.
Through the analysis of demographic and socio-economic data at census level of the urban population, the study tries to assess the effects produced by the recent metro line (subway) serving the city of Turin also considering commercial vibrancy around public transport nodes.
Equity lens has been applied by stratifying the population according to socio-economic status, profession and age.
A pre post intervention study has been conducted in order to highlight changes consequent to the opening of the metro line.
Results show that gentrification as a consequence of a new metro line is not always taking place but it depends on other contextual elements characterizing the urban fabric.