TO DREAM: Turin’s new urban district

In their various ways, Leisure, Food and Entertainment are destined to become the kind of services any cutting-edge retail facility must provide in full, meaning modern-day Shopping Malls must follow a new ‘narrative’: a narrative that turns a retail experience into a "24-hour journey" capable of bringing together (even over great distances) shopping, food & beverages, indoor and outdoor entertainment, sports activities and possibly even hospitality in a kind of "micro-city" incorporated in an all-encompassing retail landscape. A new Urban District Lombardini22's project for TO DREAM in Turin embodies this new business concept of commercial offer: an authentic Urban District attracting all target groups regionally, setting the benchmark for business, services, hospitality and entertainment in Piedmont and an extensive area of north-west Italy. A generous catchment area TO DREAM is the result of the redevelopment of the former Michelin industrial area in Turin - an operation that does not entail any further land consumption - and is located in a privileged position. Providing a gateway to the city from the north-east in the middle of an important road junction that makes it easily accessible from north-west Lombardy, TO DREAM occupies a strategic position capable of attracting visitors from an extensive, highly populated and up-market catchment area: 1.6 million residents within 30′, around 3.8 million within 75′, with a 13% higher than average income and an unemployment rate that is 9.1% lower than the national average. TO DREAM can boast some equally notable facts and figures of its own. Set on a site of 270,000 square metres, the Urban District covers a total of 85,000 square metres: 45,000 sq.m. of shops, restaurants and services forming a state-of-the-art Open Mall accommodating leading national and international operators; 23,000 sq.m. of recreational amenities, a hotel, gym, 17,000 sq.m. of Retail Park and parking for 4,000 cars. In more specific detail, there will be: 100 businesses, 25 restaurants, 8 cinemas, an events arena, a gym, a play area and a 4-star hotel. All of this will be surrounded by a large ‘green’ area of over 45,000 square metres running around Corso Romania - doubled in length and enhanced by a cycle path to encourage eco-friendly mobility - and offering visitors the chance to relax, play or enjoy sports. The concept is for an open-air mall with a design inspired by Turin's elegant porticos and based on meticulous principles of sustainability: use of natural materials, renewable energies with over 1 MW of photovoltaics, recycling of rainwater and wastewater. The development is divided into two phases: a 25,000-square-metre phase encompassing shops, restaurants and services and a 20,000-square-metre phase including shops, services and a fully-furnished park stretching for over 1 km linking the different parts and nearby facilities. The first phase is scheduled to open in 2022. The Entertainment area is an authentic village covering over 23,000 square metres, including spaces dedicated not only to entertainment but also to training and education: a centre open to everyone, young people, families and schoolchildren. An extensive range of amenities meeting the challenge of balancing familiar and well-established formats with new experiences that are appealing due to how new they are: a multiplex cinema, latest generation electric karts, adventure courses, virtual reality, zero-gravity trampolines and indoor/outdoor sports activities, as well as a 1,500-seat events arena, a 4-star hotel and a catering area overlooking a large green belt blending in with the city's green routes. This area dedicated to recreation is part of the third and final phase of development of the Urban District, which also includes a large Retail Park covering 17,000 square metres that will set the benchmark for shopping in Turin by providing large and medium-sized shopping facilities located in a very pleasant setting. Landscape is, in fact, a key aspect of the enterprise: a landscape that stretches for about one kilometre in the form of paths (lined with amenities), carefully picked vegetation and water features to enhance the entire setting. The TO DREAM project, thanks partly to the presence of the new Michelin Headquarters, sets the tone for a truly unique environment in which shopping, entertainment, food, ‘green’ life, hospitality and business come together and provide opportunities for socialising: in other words, an experience that generates value as the space is shared.