Potentialities of the Index for local policy makers:
an example in the City of Turin

The Turin-Index is a useful tools for local decision-makers engaged in:
- Strategic planning in the field of local welfare
- Strategic planning in the field of innovation policies, in cooperation with local public utilities.
In order to provide an example of the possible application of the Turin-Index, the Turin School of Local Regulation designed maps with the percentages of bills paid with a delay of more than 30 days in the city of Turin (for the water service and electricity). 
Maps were created on the basis of postal codes provided by service providers for each single contracts, therefore areas within the maps represent postal codes in Turin.

The possibility to map the Turin-index for the City of Turin allows to compare the spread of the phenomenon of arrearage with other information useful to identify areas with a higher concentration of vulnerable citizens. Thanks to a cooperation with Ufficio Pio della Compagnia di San Paolo (a benevolent fundo of the major Bank Foundation in Turin) it was possible to compare a similar map related to the number and origin of aid applications received by the Fund. Data refer to applications (about 7.000) presented in 2012 by families living in Turin.

Distribution of aid applications received by Ufficio Pio
Data Ufficio Pio 2012

Results obtained with the application of the Turin-Index seem to partially overlap the number and origin of applications. Deeper analysis shall be made before deducing any result. Nonetheless, we can suppose that the Turin-Index integrated with information about welfare demand may become a tool to identify most vulnerable areas where to concentrate the efforts of all the actors engaged in facing poverty issues.