Utopian Hours returns to Turin on October 16–17.

After a highly successful first event in Rotterdam, the international city-making festival returns home with a programme more ambitious than ever.

Join Utopian Hours: Full Festival and one-day tickets, as well as the special under-30 offer, are available on Eventbrite, with a 15% discount for the Torino Social Impact ecosystem using the code “UHTSI15”.

Hosted, as always, by La Centrale Lavazza and Dorado Community Hub, Utopian Hours Torino celebrates its tenth anniversary with the same quality and variety of guests that have made the festival renowned, bringing together an outstanding lineup and a rich cultural programme exploring how cities can respond creatively to the social, environmental and political challenges of the 21st century.

“In Rotterdam, we experienced first-hand both the urgency of today’s urban challenges and the extraordinary creativity with which cities are responding to them. Now we return to Turin with even greater ambition,” says Luca Ballarini, co-founder of Stratosferica. “With Part 2 of our Ten Years Edition, Utopian Hours will continue to push boundaries, bringing some of the world’s most radical urban visions to our city. Because today, more than ever, ‘cities are mental weapons’.”

Among the international guests announced is Sir Peter Cook, co-founder of the legendary avant-garde collective Archigram. With pride and excitement, Stratosferica announces that, just one week before his 90th birthday, Sir Peter Cook will be in Turin to take the stage at La Centrale Lavazza. Throughout his life, he has imagined, studied and redefined cities, shaping architectural thought through his visionary work, drawings and unwavering belief in the power of imagination. His participation is particularly significant for the many young people attending Utopian Hours, offering a unique opportunity to hear from one of architecture’s most brilliant and influential minds.

In the true spirit of the Utopian Hours festival, Turin will also host The City is a Garden, an exhibition of drawings related to Sir Peter Cook and Archigram, which will open during Utopian Hours 2026 and continue at Dorado for two months. Many of the works on display have never previously been shown in Italy, offering a rare opportunity to enter the visual universe of the legendary experimental collective, often described as “the Beatles of architecture”.

The programme will also feature Wim Walschap, CEO and Senior Partner at Herzog & de Meuron, representing the Swiss architecture powerhouse known for its ability to combine tradition and innovation in ways that allow each to enhance the other; Zahra Ebrahim, co-founder of Monumental, an organisation that builds bridges between communities and institutions in Toronto and embraces the productive chaos of urban life, from informal economies to spontaneous placemaking; and Carolyn Steel, who explores the concept of Sitopia — literally, “food-place”.

The programme will then look at cities through a series of international projects and practices: Rotterdam Rooftop Days, exploring the potential of urban rooftops for climate adaptation and public space; Gleispool, a large public swimming pool proposed for a former railway yard in Basel; Helsinki’s Crown Bridges project; Quatorze, a non-profit practice promoting architecture based on solidarity; Nice Developers, whose work aims to demonstrate that real estate developers do not necessarily have to be the bad guys; Madrid-based ENORME Studio, exploring the future of architecture through experimental, participatory and adaptable design; and Powerhouse Company, the international architecture firm working across housing, construction and urban transformation.

As in previous editions, the festival will go far beyond the traditional conference format. Alongside keynote lectures, masterclasses and the Urbanites Fair at La Centrale Lavazza, Utopian Hours Torino will host its signature roundtables at Dorado Community Hub, designed as participatory working sessions aimed at generating concrete responses to contemporary urban challenges.

Dorado will also host a programme of exhibitions, including The City is a Garden by Sir Peter Cook and Urban Frame, presented in collaboration with CAMERA – Centro Italiano per la Fotografia. The festival will also renew its collaboration with the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (AFFR), bringing back to Turin a selection of films dedicated to architecture and the city and offering an additional perspective from which to explore the themes and questions at the heart of Utopian Hours.

This year’s European Guest City is Rotterdam, which will have a dedicated presence at the Urbanites Fair, a roundtable at Dorado and a session on the main stage. The Italian Guest City is Naples, following Brescia in the 2025 edition.

Join Utopian Hours: Full Festival and one-day tickets, as well as the special under-30 offer, are available on Eventbrite, with a 15% discount for the Torino Social Impact community using the code “UHTSI15”.