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This paper deals with the relationship between university public engagement activities and local territories in promoting social innovation processes. In particular, this paper starts from the assumption that since social innovation has become a guiding concept of policies at various scales, opportunities for innovation, i.e., calls for tenders, funding, etc., have multiplied. However, universities should act as intermediary actors so that the bureaucratic and managerial complexities of accessing these opportunities do not risk cutting off the territories and/or the weakest actors. Starting from the experience of the AuroraLAB action–research laboratory of the Politecnico di Torino within the Tonite project financed with European Urban Innovative Actions funds, this article investigates the multiple roles that the university can play in supporting platform spaces for inclusive social innovation based on local needs. This article concludes by highlighting the multi-layered personality of the university in neighbourhoods and the perspectives for socially engaged research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the case of the 'Grandangolo' project in Turin, funded by the European Union (EU) through the 4th call on urban security of the Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) programme, the paper discusses the role of the university and the relationship between the latter and local actors in enabling social innovation ecosystems through public funds. In a complex system where greater engagement of neighbourhoods is increasingly required in order to find solutions to local issues, university action-research laboratories can help achieve this task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten years after extension and renovation works were conducted on the line as part of the urban transformation process for the 2006 Winter Olympics, tramline 4 is the most widely used in Turin and has played a significant role in the evolution of public transport. Featuring a length of 15.8 km, 45 stops, approximately 60 min from one end of the route to the other and a frequency of 5 min in peak hours, tramline 4 is the most important infrastructure in the north–south axis of the city. It has also played a crucial role in reconnecting distant neighbourhoods to the rest of the city. Indeed, it crosses the city from one end to the other, revealing the complexity of the former Italianone-company town. Thus, not only is tramline 4 a simple means of transport but also a mobile social and physical cross section of Turin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]