1/ Can a transit infrastructure be the backbone of a long-term urban planning policy?

It can.

A thread about Torino, a city that used the construction of a the passante cross-city line, to reshape completely a large sector of the metropolitan area with a large "Progetto Urbano"
2/ Turin was one of the industrial powerhouses of Italy until the 1980s, the "Detroit of Italy", hosting FIAT, Iveco, Lancia, Fiat Ferroviaria, etc. The Lingotto is one of the most interesting car factory of its era (1920s). But the whole city was blanketed with large factories
2/ Turin was one of the industrial powerhouses of Italy until the 1980s, the "Detroit of Italy", hosting FIAT, Iveco, Lancia, Fiat Ferroviaria, etc. The Lingotto is one of the most interesting car factory of its era (1920s). But the whole city was blanketed with large factories
2/ Turin was one of the industrial powerhouses of Italy until the 1980s, the "Detroit of Italy", hosting FIAT, Iveco, Lancia, Fiat Ferroviaria, etc. The Lingotto is one of the most interesting car factory of its era (1920s). But the whole city was blanketed with large factories
2/ Turin was one of the industrial powerhouses of Italy until the 1980s, the "Detroit of Italy", hosting FIAT, Iveco, Lancia, Fiat Ferroviaria, etc. The Lingotto is one of the most interesting car factory of its era (1920s). But the whole city was blanketed with large factories
3/But with de-industrialisation, many of those factories closed or moved elsewhere leaving the city with an heavy heritage of blight and abandoned areas (red) in the hearth of the city, particularly along the railway from Milan bordering the city center on the West
4/ Faced with this challenge, the city made a new master-plan in the 1990s completely centered on the renewal of those areas as the main driver of urban transformation. The idea was to take advantage of the then under planning HSR to transform both the mobility and the city.
5/ This is how the city came out with its "Progetto Urbano" centered on the "Spina Centrale" (the Central Backbone): Large compounds of closed factories (called Spina 1,2,3 etc.) were to be transformed along with the construction of the North-South rail link in a coordinated way.
5/ The previous 2-track line cutting the city in half in a trench has been quad-tracked (with 2 tracks for HSR and 2 for S-Bahn (SFM)) and covered with a new large (too large) multi-way boulevard, togather with a new u/g Central Station (Porta Susa) and several others for the SFM
5/ The previous 2-track line cutting the city in half in a trench has been quad-tracked (with 2 tracks for HSR and 2 for S-Bahn (SFM)) and covered with a new large (too large) multi-way boulevard, togather with a new u/g Central Station (Porta Susa) and several others for the SFM
5/ The previous 2-track line cutting the city in half in a trench has been quad-tracked (with 2 tracks for HSR and 2 for S-Bahn (SFM)) and covered with a new large (too large) multi-way boulevard, togather with a new u/g Central Station (Porta Susa) and several others for the SFM
6/ Many new developments and functions have been anchored along the North-South axis, that took more than a decade to be finished, finally opening in 2012: The Polytechnic, the Intesa-SanPaolo headquarters and, obviously, a lot of new housing
6/ Many new developments and functions have been anchored along the North-South axis, that took more than a decade to be finished, finally opening in 2012: The Polytechnic, the Intesa-SanPaolo headquarters and, obviously, a lot of new housing
6/ Many new developments and functions have been anchored along the North-South axis, that took more than a decade to be finished, finally opening in 2012: The Polytechnic, the Intesa-SanPaolo headquarters and, obviously, a lot of new housing
7/ The largest and probably most interesting development to day is "Spina 3", located across the Dora River. Residential high-rises, commercial, high tech companies, all built around a large park bordering the river, that was reopened after being paved over in the 1960s
7/ The largest and probably most interesting development to day is "Spina 3", located across the Dora River. Residential high-rises, commercial, high tech companies, all built around a large park bordering the river, that was reopened after being paved over in the 1960s
7/ The largest and probably most interesting development to day is "Spina 3", located across the Dora River. Residential high-rises, commercial, high tech companies, all built around a large park bordering the river, that was reopened after being paved over in the 1960s
7/ The largest and probably most interesting development to day is "Spina 3", located across the Dora River. Residential high-rises, commercial, high tech companies, all built around a large park bordering the river, that was reopened after being paved over in the 1960s
7/ The largest and probably most interesting development to day is "Spina 3", located across the Dora River. Residential high-rises, commercial, high tech companies, all built around a large park bordering the river, that was reopened after being paved over in the 1960s
8/ The construction of the N-S rail link was also the occasion of getting rid of an urban landscape dominated by the heavy car infrastructures of the "automotive" city. Unfortunately, the new boulevard is still too car-dominated, in tune with the most car-friendly city in Italy..
8/ The construction of the N-S rail link was also the occasion of getting rid of an urban landscape dominated by the heavy car infrastructures of the "automotive" city. Unfortunately, the new boulevard is still too car-dominated, in tune with the most car-friendly city in Italy..
8/ The construction of the N-S rail link was also the occasion of getting rid of an urban landscape dominated by the heavy car infrastructures of the "automotive" city. Unfortunately, the new boulevard is still too car-dominated, in tune with the most car-friendly city in Italy..
9/ The SFM service started slowly in 2014, with 5 lines at 30' headway sharing the cross-city tunnel. One branch is still disconnected, waiting for the completion of a short connecting tunnel. Two more stations box are completed but not finished as the city run out of money.
In the coming years, the SFM will move to a further stage with more lines, some at 15' headways, giving a combined 5' in the N-S link.
10/ Despite a slow beginning and the stop to the Spina 4 re-development caused by the 2008 crisis, the strategic choice to anchor the city transformation to this multi-billion infrastructure proved successful. Turin is no more the grey post-industrial city it was in the 1990s
11/ It was not easy to keep together so many projects, many of them depending from the central government. There were several stop-n-go, false starts and changes along the way. But that clear "Spina Centrale" strategy has nevertheless guided Turin's planning in the last 30 years
12/ Yesterday I twitted a crayon for a possible central rail Spine for Montréal, re-using the Autoroute Ville-Marie and the CP line to the harbor. It was a funny exercice. But it's an exercice planning authorities should engage with more seriously. https://twitter.com/ChittiMarco/status/1303468919529836545?s=20
13/Putting aside the political and technical challenges of realizing such scheme, the idea is not just to run trains, but also to use that major transit infrastructure to structure the city development in a 20-30 years time frame with what the French call a "Projet Urbain"
14/Montréal situation is very similar, with a lot of abandoned industrial areas now under transformation along the CP line. But development is happening in a fragmented way, without any "big picture".
Turin had one, even if imperfectly delivered.

Where is Montréal's big picture?
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