A Green River for Milan is an urban reforestation project developed for the consultation of ideas: “Scali Milano”, organized by FS Sistemi Urbani in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan in view of the Program Agreement. In this context, Stefano Boeri Architetti was invited, along with EMBT Miralles Tagliabue, Mecanoo, MAD Architects and Cino Zucchi Architects, to formulate an integrated vision of the future of the seven abandoned railway yards in Milan.
“The theme represents one of the greatest opportunities for urban redevelopment and regeneration of the years to come present in Europe. On these bases, A Green River for Milan aims to create a continuous system of parks, woods, oases, orchards and public gardens on 90% of the seven railway yards – connected by green corridors and cycle paths built on the strips of the railway tracks. In the remaining 10%, high-density urban borders can be built, capable of hosting activities that are currently lacking in Milan’s neighbourhoods: above all residences and study spaces / laboratories for young people (young professional housing and student hotels), but also cultural services and assistance to the citizen (libraries, clinics, kindergartens), as well as social and market building”, says Stefano Boeri.
The system of architecture, public places and green Metropolitan Towers, is enriched by a very high variety in the ways of living and the mixing of functions.
A Green River for Milan flows through the urban body of Milan, halfway between the expansions of the late nineteenth century, the Holy Bodies and the first peripheries of the twentieth century. A total area of 1 million and 100,000 square meters of parks, hills, clearings and meadows will make up the landscape of a continuous green system designed to take the place of Farini’s abandoned yards, Porta Genova, Porta Romana, Rogoredo, Greco-Breda, Lambrate and S. Cristoforo. Inside it houses a ring circuit for public mobility (MM6 on surface) and a metropolitan infrastructure for the use of groundwater for geothermal purposes. With the construction of the MM6 along the Green River system, Milan will become the fifth European city due to the extension of the public transport network. The intensification of the use of the existing railway system can also give rise to a new integrated and continuous bicycle-pedestrian infrastructure, divided into 45 km of routes around the city.
Stefano Boeri Architetti has conceived and developed the project as a unique opportunity to rethink Milan as a whole, combining urban development with the presence of continuous green systems accessible to all, able to improve air quality and ensure the protection and multiplication of urban biodiversity.
role: project coordinator
for: Stefano Boeri Architetti
in collaboration with: ARUP Italia, Quinziiterna Architettura, MIC, studio Laura Gatti.
a project for: FS Sistemi Urbani in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan
in the framework of: Scali Milano consultation
year: 2016-17
link: https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/project/un-fiume-verde-per-milano/
Azzurra Muzzonigro 