ERIKA BATTISTI

Public Markets as a Stepping Stone: Securing Business

Opportunities for Underserved Populations

Commerce Department Communication Manager

City of Torino

The Markets of Torino

9th International Public Markets Conference

Public Markets as a Stepping Stone: securing business opportunities for underserved populations

Barcelona, 26th March 2015

Erika BattistiCommerce Department Communication ManagerCity of Torino

City surfaceCity area: 130 Km2

Green areas extension: 21,3 Km2

Trees: 160.000Cycle tracks: 175 Km

PopulationTorino: 905.014 Foreign residents: 140.138University students: 96.311Metropolitan area: 1.515.786

Economic indicatorsGDP: 57.566 million euros (Province)Firms: 231.081 (Province)

Culture and leisure facilitiesPlaygrounds: 277Sport facilities: 200Museums: 45Public libraries: 18

MunicipalityBudget: 1322 million eurosEmployees: 10.436

Torino: key figures

Welcome!

Urban Markets in Italy

• Provide high quality goods at a low price

• Represent an employment opportunity

• Represent an important economic and socio-cultural reality

• So strong that they have affected the urban development of towns which, through the centuries, have grown around market squares

The markets of Torino

� Retail context: 28.000 business activities, 203 private retail distribution centres, and 7 shopping centres located in the city’s outskirts

�The city has 42 open-air and 6 covered markets, that are spread around the city’s 10 districts

�The most important one is Porta Palazzo market. It is close to the city centre and is the largest urban open-air market in Europe

10.000 workers involved

Immigration Flows

Social Integration: Markets are a multicultural meeting point

Alimentary integration: Markets have a large variety of foods from all over the world

Employment integration: Markets help the introduction of immigrants in working activities

Chinese food & Chinese farmers at Porta Palazzo Farmers Market

“0 km” products are important

�The quality of fruits and vegetables is strictly related to the distance between production fields and markets: “0 km products”

� Most of Porta Palazzo’s producers sell vegetables and fruits grown within 40 km from Torino

� Every day, about 300 farmers come to Torino to sell their products. Torino is the Italian capital of farmer’s markets

� «Slow Food» and its project «Terra Madre» were born in Piemonte. Their philosophy is Good, Clean and Fair

The consequences of the Italian economic crisis

THE NUMBERS OF FOOD WASTE

In the world

A third of the food produced in the world is lost or wasted

1.3 billion tons/year

In Italy

On average 100-150 kg of food waste per person per year

Potential annual saving 1.500 €per family per year

RECOVERING FOOD IS A LOGISTIC PROBLEM

It works if:

DONOR AND BENEFICIARY ARE CLOSE or not far

THE DONOR KNOWS THE BENEFICIARY or at least their needs

OUR GOAL:

making markets economic and socio-cultural catalysts again

European Projects

New Urban Markets Plan

Autonomous coordination and Associations

Common Identity Website and communication

Promotion and social integration Tourist promotion

New Urban Markets Plan

NEW OPENING HOURS

ONLINE FREE STALL ASSIGNEMENT

NEW MARKETS LAYOUT

Collaboration with the Politecnico of Torino:new actions for the improvement of markets attractiveness

STEP 1: ANALYSIS STEP 2: MODELLING

STEP 3: VALIDATION STEP 4: PROPOSALS

Last Minute Sotto Casa project

Select your account

User loginBusiness loginNew sms

Good afternoon MrRossi, you will findfresh fruit on 50% sale, at… shop, until7.30 p.m.

The “WIN WIN WIN” project

• Traders WIN: selling usold food at the end of the day

• Customers WIN: buying good products with a discount

• Environment WINS: the food waste is reduced

The “Fa Bene” project

Main goals: • recovering food surplus of markets’ stalls • allowing customers to buy fresh and quality food for the needy families from the same neighbourhood

The beneficiaries, having received these products for free, are asked to give their time and skills back to the community through socially useful activities.

It is an important social project, born in 2013, based on the closeness between donors and beneficiaries.

It has been developed in 3 markets located in different places of Torino: Foroni Square, Chieti Street and Svizzera Avenue.

In 2015 it will be further developed in 5 more markets.

How it works1) Every day market stalls have an excess

of products. It can be given for free to the needy families.

2) Customers can also make donations using special «Fa Bene» boxes.

3) At the end of the day the collected goods are gathered together.

4) At the gathering point the boxes are put together and made ready for delivery.

5) The delivery is then carried out using bicycles and therefore without pollution.

This way: families previously chosen by the social services will be given their daily food supply.

In exchange to this they will be required to share their skills with the local community.

Courses for market traders

� In 2014 the City of Torino organised free

training periods for market traders

� The courses were held by professors of

Politecnico of Torino and territorial marketing experts

How Education changes mentality and business approaches

• Ensuring team building

• Helping social inclusion

• Supporting the definition of market identity

• Encouraging innovation

• Improving traders’ managerial skills

• Influencing better marketing and promotion

• Helping market traders to compete with supermarkets

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

erika.battisti@comune.torino.it

Barcelona, 26 March 2015 -9th International Public Markets Conference