Transforming Venaria: From Urban Avenues to Nature-Positive Mobility
Telling the story of the territory through projects that improve fruition
When the Municipality of Venaria Reale approached LAND in 2022, there was a precise vision: to bring people back to the centre, to respond to their housing, work and social needs, and to do so by following the principles of Agenda 2030, which calls for inclusive, safe and sustainable cities. ‘It was not just a design question,’ says Martina Erba, architect and project director of LAND Italia,’ but of creating a nature-positive system that spoke of the future and community. And that is what motivated us from the very beginning.’
Future Vision of Viale Buridani with people at the centre. Image by LAND
Starting from Existence to Change Perception
The first step was to work on two of Venaria’s most significant urban axes: Viale Buridani and Via Mensa—avenues that are not just urban spaces but real places of identity. ‘Our approach,’ Martina explains,’ has been clear from the very beginning: starting from the existing to preserve the identity and change the perception, enhancing the places.’
For Viale Buridani, the proposal focused on restoring the double row that characterised the avenue by integrating more biodiversity and improving soil permeability. ‘The objective was to give more space to people and less to cars, creating a place where people can stroll, socialise and experience the city. It is an avenue that must breathe together with the community.’
Via Mensa, on the other hand, is the monumental axis leading directly from the centre to the Reggia di Venaria. ‘Here, we wanted to imagine a ‘green filter’ towards the Reggia, making the street more welcoming and attractive for residents and tourists. Urban greenery is not only an aesthetic choice but a tool to improve environmental comfort and well-being.’ Together, these two streets form an authentic ‘green mesh‘, a route connecting the city to Mandria Park and the Reggia, enhancing both urban and natural spaces.
BikeOnda: Gentle Mobility that Changes the Territory
From experience on Viale Buridani and Via Mensa, which LAND continues to follow even now, during the construction phase, as artistic direction for the landscape choices, a second assignment was born: BikeOnda, a cycle-pedestrian infrastructure that will connect Venaria – the project’s lead municipality – with the western Turin municipalities of Druento, San Gillio, La Cassa, and Fiano via the Ceronda river, which becomes the backbone of this new infrastructure. The feasibility study, with the PattoTerritoriale Zona Ovest di Torino at the helm, was financed by the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, the Metropolitan City of Turin and the municipalities themselves. It is not just a cycle path, it is a way to connect people to places, reducing environmental impact and promoting a healthier lifestyle.’
BikeOnda is a project to enhance the area along the Ceronda torrent in terms of cycling tourism, promoting the recovery and re-utilisation of the area’s rich historical and natural heritage. BikeOnda intends to represent a thematic route functional to the tourism and fruition purposes of the area, thus expanding the Reggia di Venaria tourism offer to the neighbouring municipalities’ widespread benefit. In addition, the BikeOnda project intends to trigger territorial regeneration processes such as the recovery of the Bizzarria, an extravagant hunting lodge built in the eclectic style by King Victor Emmanuel II around 1860, and the bridge over the Ceronda, the enhancement of the Mandria Regional Park and indirectly, the creation of jobs in the cycle tourism hospitality sector. It represents an opportunity to secure bicycle and pedestrian traffic along the provincial road between Druento and San Gillo and improve the Ceronda stream’s embankment defences.
Future vision of Viale Buridani, Venaria Reale (TO). Image by LAND
A Pioneer for Small and Medium-sized Municipalities
Venaria Reale shows how even small and medium-sized municipalities can become protagonists of a sustainable transition. ‘Venaria Reale has realised that intervening in aspects such as urban regeneration in a green key is necessary and an opportunity to improve the quality of life and access funds such as those of the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) and regional tenders.’ BikeOnda has been included in the 2021-2027 ERDF Regional Programme of Piedmont as part of the Urban Area Strategies (SUA) conceived as a tool to enable wider use of territories through investments in the environmental, cultural and digital fields in favour of the competitiveness of the territories involved and to promote and strengthen the implementation of integrated interventions capable of bringing growth and territorial cohesion.
With the support of LAND, Venaria Reale is setting out on a path that looks to the future: an urban space where nature, culture and people come together, creating a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable city.
‘Projects like these,’ Martina concludes,’ remind us why we do our work: to transform places, improve people’s lives and leave a legacy that will last.’
BikeOnda project:
https://www.landsrl.com/en/work/bikeonda-a-green-ray-connecting-the-po-and-the-alps/
Venaria Reale:
https://www.landsrl.com/en/work/venaria-reale-viale-buridani-and-via-mensa/
