AN URBAN MARKETPLACE UNDER PRESSURE: The Steady Gentrification Process of Porta Palazzo (Turin) Through the Eyes of Market Sellers and Policy Makers

Abstract

Marketplaces, crucial sites for low-income populations as sources of affordable goods and social interaction, are at a critical juncture. They are experiencing decline due to the rise of shopping centres and neglect by public authorities, while at the same time being rediscovered as tourist attractions, sources of profit and tools for urban regeneration. Porta Palazzo, Turin's largest and most affordable municipal market, exemplifies these tensions. Situated between a gentrified neighbourhood and a diverse working-class area, the market faces gentrifying pressures. In this article, I draw on onsite observations and 32 semi-structured interviews with traders and municipal officials to highlight the disjuncture between top-down regeneration agendas and the bottom-up lived experiences of market traders. In this research I call for greater attention to the role and agency of long-established market traders, arguing that they experience marketplace gentrification as a complex and contradictory process. On the one hand, their understanding of these ongoing transformations is often fragmented and partial. On the other hand, formal market traders frequently adopt an ambivalent stance towards these processes. This study contributes to research on urban markets with empirical evidence about the timing and contradictory sociospatial relations that are crucial to understanding its contested change.