Last month, the City of Milan invited the public to attend the conference “L’approccio di Milano alla rigenerazione urbana: sviluppo e sostenibilità ambientale contro gli immobilismi di ritorno” (The Approach of Milan toward Urban Regeneration: Development and Environmental Sustainability against the Immobility of Going Backward). The conference was hosted in the historic Sala Alessi of the City Hall building Palazzo Marino, located directly behind Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel on Monday, July 1st, 2019.
Introduction
To begin the conference, architect and journalist Silvia Botti, who is also Director of Abitare (an architecture and design-focused review), gave a list of the major enjeux facing the City of Milan today: Growth, (re-)development, new neighborhoods like City Life and Porta Nova; and the city’s position as a center of finance and industry, as the location of the World Expo of 2015 and also the recently chosen location for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Milan has become one of the largest and most important cities in Italy, but also a key player among major European cities, and one of the “most European,” or open and international among the major urban players in the continent.
“Milano2030: Objectives”
Pierfrancesco Maran, Assessore all’Urbanistica, Verde e Agricoltura (City Councelor for Urban Planning, Green Spaces and Agriculture), explained the purpose of the plan Milano2030. Maran started by mentioning the different types of sustainability: There is the classic environmental definition, but also another applied to development projects. The latter means to maintain a wide view during the conception of new projects, not only from the traditional urban studies perspective, but in an all-encompassing, systemic sense. Ecological aspects of projects have become integrated in recent years, and other aspects are now gaining attention, including archaeological history, as well as a new focus on social inclusion via greater involvement of the community and local residents in planning processes.
He spoke of the example of the neighborhood around the metro stop QT8 as a success in urban redevelopment that integrates surrounding areas and neighborhoods to become dynamic parts of the city infrastructure. Rovereto and Corvetto are among the next neighborhoods that will see redevelopment, with more community spaces, pedestrian-friendly streets, and other adaptations characteristic of the New Urbanism movement. Other recent projects, such as City Life and Porto Nuovo, can serve as models for future development. As explained in our previous article “Le Monde,” the work of Stefano Boeri exemplifies Milan’s new approach, to integrate environmental concerns in the design and conception of new projects. Maran concluded, the redevelopment of Milan must include consideration of the countryside and the landscape, just as the redevelopment of these areas must consider the role of the City in their development.
Marco Prusicki, Presidente Commissione del Paesaggio (President of the Landscaping Commission) spoke next about the role of his Commission in Milan’s urban regeneration. Three steps are fundamental for each action of the Commission. These include the following:
– Definition of a theme or problem with respect to the landscape
– A strategy for the intervention, articulated to deal with all relevant and possible problems
– The coherence of such intervention with respect to previous and future actions
Case Studies
Then a series of case studies was given, with several areas of the city that symbolize the new efforts of redevelopment, explored in further detail:
1. “Dalla Stecca degli Artigiani alla nuova stecca, Bosco Verticale e Biblioteca degli Alberi – Isabella Inti, Presidente ADA Stecca e Tempo Riuso” (From the Stecca degli Artigiani to the new cue, Vertical Forest and the Library of Trees – Isabella Inti, President of ADA Stecca and Tempo Riuso). In 2011, a formerly industrial area was identified, that which surrounded the Garibaldi train station, now known as Porto Nuovo. Examples of great redevelopment strategies and programs were studied, to learn how cities have succeeded, and others failed, in projects of such an ambitious scale. Historically, the neighborhood was opposed to the idea of developing skyscrapers, with several newspaper headlines from the 1960s and 70s that showed local residents against the idea of redevelopment. The 1980s and 90s saw a change in this dynamic, when planners fostered a greater sense of community during the planning stages, hosting workshops and sessions of public consultation with the City and other officials. In the early 2000s, a debate arose between two sides: the potential renovation and retrofitting of historic industrial buildings, or the demolition and redevelopment of the area. In the end, the latter was chosen, with the construction of a series of skyscrapers, a commercial and shopping center, the new “Library of Trees” park and a new community space called Stecca, which opened in 2013.
2. “Il Marchiondi – Emilio Faroldi, Prorettore Politecnico di Milano” (Vice Rector of Milan Polytechnic University). Memory, history and materials guide the projects to “Regenerate the Modern” of this important educational institution, as explained by Faroldi of Milan’s Polytechnic University (UMP). Over 50 workers are active each day as part of the University’s constant efforts for renewal and regeneration. A dozen sites fall under the competence of UMP, which are situated around the city, with the greatest number to the North East of the city center. The Marchiondi Institute constitutes one of the most important examples of Politecnico’s efforts to regenerate its campus. Built in the 1950s, the building was eventually abandoned in the 1990s and fell into disrepair. Studies around this time evaluated its importance in historical terms, and also its potential value as a residence for students. By 2008, the first authorizations arrived to remodel the building. Its close proximity to Metro line 1 made the building easily accessible, and a strategic project for connections between the city and the university.
3. La piazza d’Armi di Baggio – Giancarlo Tancredi, Comune di Milano (City of Milan) This site includes 41.5 hectares with only 10.2 acres of developed (built) land, which means a great amount of green space,.important to Milan for the preservation of the environment and air quality near the city center. Traditionally, a zone called the “Orti” (vegetable gardens) occupied this zone, with a combination of community gardens, but also dumping sites and other poorly managed spaces. In 2004, administrative authorities defined the important interests of the area following Article 10 DLGS 24/2004, including the maintenance of green spaces, the banning or newly built areas within these green spaces and awarded the designation “Grande funziona urbana” (Great urban function) in city planning documents. As of March 2019, this area was inscribed in the 50% of Milan’s land area intended to remain green space, as an “essential urban forested” area.
4. Il Qt8 – Enrico Fedrighini, Assessore del Municipio 8 (City Councilor for the 8th District of Milan). Montestella is an important part of the history of the City, one that needed preservation. In 2009, the Ministry made a series of decrees for the revaluation of the area, with greater importance placed on pedestrian areas and other improvements. From now on, interventions in this area necessitate the contribution of experts in these domains.
5. Rogoredo e la Palazzina ExChimici – Raffaello Vignali, Presidente Conservatorio di Milano (Rogoredo and the Ex-Chemical Building – Raffaello Vignali, President of the Milan Conservatory). Milan hosts the biggest music and artistic conservatory in Italy, with over seven hundred students, and nearly one thousand admissions request each year (18% of which from international students). The challenge for Vignali was to create the Conservatory’s own “campus” using the zone around Rogoredo. The guidelines of the project circumscribe the concepts of a public green space and the necessary buildings, but not simply to create the typical university campus with a small park in the center. The campus needed to include housing and classrooms, but also a grand auditorium to allow students to perform their works, with abundant green spaces to make it liveable. One major problem was identified in the process of renovation: The existence and use of asbestos during the former chemical factory building’s original construction process. For the President of the Conservatory, the health and safety of faculty and students remains a prime concern, of utmost importance before any other matter. Thus, reconstruction processes have placed health and safety above all else, for a finished site that won’t pose problems in the future.
Discussion Panels
Finally, two discussion panels were held, in the presence of several figures from the political, business, cultural and NGO fields. The first focused on the theme of “ Milano che sa rigenerarsi nella collaborazione tra istituzioni, cittadini ed imprese” (Milan knows how to regenerate with the collaborations among institutions, citizens and businesses”) with the participation of the following actors: Stefano Venturi, Vice Presidente Assolombarda; Ferruccio Resta, Rettore Politecnico di Milano; and Paolo Mazzoleni, Presidente Ordine Architetti Milano (Stefano Venturi, Assolombarda Vice President; Ferruccio Resta, Rector of the Polytechnic University of Milan; and Paolo Mazzoleni, President of the Milan Order of Architects, a trade union)
Stefano Venturi spoke of the dangers of BlackRock Funds, which should not come as a surprise for fellow students of LLM in Sustainable Development at the University of Milan, as we already heard about the risks and dangers posed by this colossal investment fund during a special lecture this Spring. Blackrock’s investments do not display any concern for the environment or sustainability, but rather solely a search for profit. Thus, Venturi continued, their model is not one that Milan should consider, but the City should choose one considerate of the human and social aspects of redevelopment, as well as of environmental health. Venturi agreed with previous speakers that new projects like Porta Nuova and City Life can serve as an example of the bright future of Milan.
Ferruccio Resta asked for greater synergy in projects between NGOs, citizens and other groups, to make future projects more sensitive to the concerns of all parties. There is a flux of students in Milan, with thousands arriving and leaving each year. The role of the universities has changed, as students become more transient, and come to Milan for an education but don’t necessarily stay afterward. The many university campuses often serve as a center of life in Milan, the “beating heart” of the city, both in the formation of students and future leaders, but also as actors of urban transformation. Changing campus, as Politechnico has done before, is no easy task. It doesn’t signify only transferring students, but also infrastructure, laboratories, professors and researchers. In Citta Studi, a new project exemplifies the speed at which projects can be completed. A new campus building project started 15 months ago, which should take only 18 months to finish, which means that it will be open by this fall in order to welcome the new students of the next academic year.
Paolo Mazzoleni explained how the Union of Architects of Milan is a central actor in the redevelopment movement. Giorgio Cavaglieri, an Italian architect originally from Milan, became a leading figure of the adaptive reuse and historic preservationist movements in the United States. Once he graduated in studies of architecture and engineering at Politecnico di Milano, he moved to Baltimore, and later to New York City. In the transformation of older neighborhoods, Cavaglieri can serve as an example to be followed, in the effort to reuse existing buildings rather than encouraging the wasteful and energy-intensive construction of new ones.
A second discussion panel, “Sostenibilità e rigenerazione” (Sustainability and regeneration), included interventions from the following members of the associative and environmental sectors: Edoardo Croci, Italia Nostra; Damiano Di Simine, Legambiente Lombardia; Daniele Meregalli, FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano (Italian Environmental Fund); and Riccardo Mancioli, WWF
Edoardo Croci explained how Italia Nostra has been active in the discussions around several of the projects mentioned in today’s conference, including that of the QT8 area. The group made efforts to promote the creation of new gardens and other green infrastructure in such projects. Damiano Di Simine and Daniele Meregalli mentioned the future impacts of climate change and how they may transform life in the city. Urban regeneration can be a response to problems such as climate change by integrating environmentalism in the core of new projects. Finally, Riccardo Mancioli pointed out that we are facing a true environmental crisis. The creation of new urban forests will provide a key solution to help Milan maintain its environmental integrity. This project necessitates a long process of planning for its implementation, but according to Mancioli, the results will merit the difficulties encountered along the way, and the lengthiness of the process.
Conclusion
While Giuseppe “Beppe” Sala, Sindaco di Milano (Mayor of Milan) was slated to provide the conclusion to the conference, in the end he could not attend because of a simultaneous engagement. Thus, Pierfrancesco Maran returned to the stage to provide a summary of the previous speakers. He also reiterated the positivism of the other speakers’ and his own view of Milan’s future. With the right combination of environmental and social consideration, the City will be able to confront new challenges such as global warming and threats to social inclusion, to constantly regenerate itself as a cleaner, greener, and more sustainable vision for the future.
