Environment. "The green heart of Milan", Green week and Forum underway
Meetings, debates and 270 events to make the city the capital of urban greenery and ecological transition - Milan Green week 2022 - Photo gallery - Press conference
Milan, September 27 2022 – Milan is increasingly an attractive center for ideas, projects and moments of national and international discussion on environmental issues. From 29 September to 7 October, the first edition of the "Forum Ambiente" will take place in the city, the cultural and scientific laboratory dedicated to contents that are indispensable and cannot be postponed today more than ever, such as the ecological transition, the fight against climate change, the care of the landscape and urban greenery through the protection of soil, water and air quality.
To illustrate, today a Palazzo Marino, the themes of the Forum, which will be accompanied by 270 events planned in the city on the occasion of Milan Green Week 2022 (from 30 September to 2 October), the Mayor Giuseppe Sala with the Councilor for the Environment and Green Elena Grandi accompanied by Manuela Ojan (Head of Environmental Transition – AMAT), Marcello Milani (AMSA CEO), Simone Dragone (MM President), Silvio Anderloni (Director of Forest in the city, our Italy), Massimiliano Cecchetto (President of the Environment and Green Commission – Municipality 4), Gustavo Gandini ( Animal Guarantor – Municipality of Milan), Riccardo Gini (Northern Park Director, ForestaMi Technical Director).
"I believe that the opportunities for meeting, discussion and debate dedicated to the concrete actions that we can implement in favor of the environment are important for Milan, a city that has placed particular ecological attention at the center of its development initiatives – declared the Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala – I am sure that useful suggestions and suggestions will come from the Environment Forum and the Milan Green Week to define the directions of ecological transition policies at a local and national level, within which Milan can reconfirm its active commitment and be recognized as an authoritative cultural and scientific reference point".
"The green heart of Milan is large and pulsating. In this Forum and in the Milan Green week we want to tell, listen, plan and discuss with experts, administrators, scientists, disseminators, citizens, to build together the city we want. A city that places the well-being of people, the quality of life, the protection of the soil, air, water, greenery, the ecological transition, environmental and social justice at the center of our commitment as administrators and as citizens"; thus commented the Councilor for the Environment and Green, Elena Grandi.
Environment and greenery forum
The Forum will be an opportunity for meeting and discussion which will bring conferences and debates entirely dedicated to the environment to the city for almost two weeks and will be entitled "Environment Forum - The green heart of Milan". The rich program of meetings, all free, is aimed at citizens but also at an audience of professionals: agronomists, landscape architects, architects, engineers, doctors, journalists, and anyone sensitive to environmental issues.
It will start on September 28th, at 18 pm, at the Casa degli Artisti, with the inauguration of "The unexpected green", a photographic exhibition by Massimo Ferrari created in collaboration with the paper processing company Pigna: a long series of shots which tell of a lush and beautiful green landscape, sometimes unknown and unexpected, in the different neighborhoods of the city. Thursday 30th, 29am, at the Civic Aquarium the air will be the protagonist of the international conference "Improving air quality for a healthy and inclusive Milan": scenarios and proposals for intervention from the Air and Climate Plan and the European projects connected to it . Following, at 9 pm, there will be space for greenery design as a tool to mitigate the effects of climate change with the conference "The vision of the metropolitan city of Milan as a resilient ecosystem".
On Tuesday 4 October, the Palazzo Reale headquarters will open its spaces to the Forum and will host, at 9 am, the international conference "The city as a laboratory for climate neutrality": the event will also compare the experiences and projects of the nine cities, Milan, Rome, Turin, Bergamo, Bologna, Florence, Padua, Parma and Prato, which have signed the protocol with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility which will allow the launch of synergistic research and innovation actions on mobility, energy efficiency and urban planning and greenery.
In the same spaces, from 14pm to 15pm, the Urban Resilience Project Management will host the networking event "Making cities resilient" to promote the creation of a national network of resilient cities, in collaboration with the United Nations Office for the Reduction of disaster risk (UNDRR) and the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI).
At 15 pm, then, the close connection between health and the environment will be investigated thanks to the meeting "Milan launches dialogues on the green future in cities" in which the most effective solutions to make cities green and healthy will be analyzed with the help of everyone.
There will also be space for the world of communication and events which will meet at the Civic Aquarium on Wednesday 5 October, at 9 am, for the workshop dedicated to the planning and implementation of "green" and sustainable events and demonstrations, with a particular focus on the theme of disposable materials, the management of food surpluses and separate waste collection, and the use of electricity derived from renewable sources. The Forum will not lack a section dedicated to filmmakers and documentaries: on 30, 5 and 8 October, in collaboration with the Cineteca, six documentaries set in Milan and beyond will be screened at the Cinema Arlecchino: Milan, its gardens, the parks, vegetable gardens, rivers will be told from different points of view. Thursday 9th at the Natural History Museum, there will be two meetings dedicated to the animal world and its relationship with the city: at 6 am "The relationship between man and dog in the city: challenging dogs - Concerns and possible actions"; at 10pm, "Nuts, crows, turtles, biodiversity: new fellow citizens": a journey to discover the new urban biodiversity.
On 6 and 7 October, the Environment, Climate Change and Energy (ENVE) Commission of the European Committee of the Regions (Consultative Body of the European Union) will be held in Milan for the first time. October 6th will be dedicated to the plenary meeting of the Commission, while a conference is scheduled for the morning of October 7th at Palazzo Reale entitled "Green deal at local level: for a future-proof recovery project".
Alongside the contents proposed in the Forum, from 30 September to 2 October, the "Milan Green week" will take place which, after the years of the pandemic, will once again represent the participatory and bottom-up story of the city we want. A rich schedule that for the 2022 edition offers Milanese people 270 free events to experience throughout the city including extraordinary openings, meetings, talks, exhibitions, presentations, guided tours, excursions, workshops, games, to discover the greener side of Milan . Another opportunity to fully understand the importance of the environment, the protection of resources and the need to implement more sustainable lifestyles. A busy calendar made possible thanks to the extraordinary collaboration of Associations, Committees, Social Streets, Universities, Municipalities, Libraries, Research Institutes, Cooperatives, Companies, public and private subjects active in the area who collaborated with the Municipality and implemented all the their creativity.
Many initiatives are planned starting from those carried out by MM at the suggestive water plant in Piazza Diocleziano. The "Lexicon and clouds" exhibition, created in collaboration with the University of Turin, is dedicated to language, communication and the perception of the climate crisis. The "Passages on water" meeting will be an opportunity to talk about drought, water bombs, climate changes and the sustainable use of resources. A walking excursion is also proposed which from the Vettabbia Park reaches the Nosedo Purifier and which will lead participants to the discovery of a real urban bird watching guided by LIPU staff.
In the early afternoon of September 30, the great hall of the Natural History Museum will host the conference "Clever cities, saving with nature", in which the European H2020 project will be presented, which experiments with green infrastructures and innovative naturalistic solutions. Also on the afternoon of September 30, at the House of Rights, organized by the Thara Rothas association, we will talk about connections between environmental rights and social equity: "Green humanity" will compare the many experiences in Milan and beyond. For those who want to remain in contact with nature, ERSAF Lombardia will accompany citizens on a walk along the Lambro river, to discover the projects underway on the only river in the city. In the late afternoon, starting from Cascina Nascosta, you can visit Sempione Park to discover the monumental historic trees, accompanied by scientific and literary readings on the topic.
In the Porta Romana area, Cascina Cuccagna will be the meeting place for businesses, institutions, associations and citizens. On Friday 30th, at 17pm, the "Climate Alliance" will be launched, the collaboration pact between businesses and the city to achieve the objectives of decarbonisation and improvement of air quality. The presentation of "The City's Air and Climate Plan" will be held on Saturday 1 October at 10am with the support of the Scientific Technical Committee. This will be followed by the presentation of the Citizens' Assembly for the Climate, a civic participation body structured to accompany the implementation of the Air and Climate Plan. At the same time, "The Energy Help Desk" will be inaugurated, a new pilot service of the Municipality of Milan for consultancy on the culture of energy saving and for combating energy poverty. The dedicated space will remain open for visits throughout the day. At 16 pm a tribute to the memory of Antonio Cederna, writer and politician, beacon of Italian environmentalism and inspiration for many lovers of the artistic and natural beauties of Italy, with the presentation of the anthology of his writings edited by Andrea Costa and Sauro Turroni. At 17pm with the "Green books" initiative, in collaboration with the network of Milanese libraries, citizens and volunteer readers will share readings aloud on the environmental theme and inspiration for an ecological future. At the same time, it will be possible to follow "Urban resilience: dialogue between European projects on the challenges of climate change", a round table and an interactive dialogue with citizens on the European projects of the Urban Resilience Directorate, for the city's strategy for resilience and the fight against climate change in Milan. This will be followed, again by the Urban Resilience Directorate, with the presentation of "Climate campaigners", the app that challenges people to change small daily habits. Throughout the day, an info point will be available on all the activities of "Milano Cambia aria", an initiative of the Municipality of Milan which promotes participation on environmental issues and decarbonisation.
There will also be space for the culture of recycling thanks to AMSA which will present "Unwanted furniture", the catalog exhibition created in collaboration with Opendot to raise public awareness about the reuse of furnishing objects, thus extending their life cycle and at the same time promoting the reduction of waste in an increasingly circular economy model. On the same days, AMSA will distribute free organic compost produced by A2a Ambiente to citizens in five points of the city.
Even San Vittore, the city prison, reopens its doors to the Green week allowing the Milanese to discover the "Shared Garden" kept inside as well as the historic and fascinating one of the women's department. The participation of the Aurelia Josz Botanical Museum is unmissable with guided tours, fun activities for children, artistic installations by the students of the Brera Academy, readings and meetings on the plant and animal world for an unusual journey to discover urban biodiversity.
There are also many initiatives proposed by citizen associations active in the area such as We are urban (WAU), which along the external walkway of Garibaldi Station, together with the street artist Vincenzo Magno, aka Vim, will create a mural inspired by the theme of capable sustainable mobility , thanks to the paints used, to transform harmful elements present in the air such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides into inert substances.
Also present is the FAI which for the occasion will open to the public "An environment for the environment", the new narrative multimedia space at Villa Necchi Campiglio, dedicated to the immersive story of Milan, city of water. A way to promote the culture of the environment and sustainability and to discover the history of the city starting from a fundamental resource, water. Another historic residence in the city, Villa Lonati, will host, thanks to the "Comunemente Verde" project, an exhibition dedicated to the evolutionary path of plants; as well as guided tours of the garden's greenhouses to discover curiosities, uses and false myths of the plant world and other initiatives to improve botanical and horticultural knowledge.
ForestaMi will propose, at the North Park, the exhibition "Inside the forests", an interactive journey through the world's forests to understand the importance and need for their protection. At the Triennale, a meeting between businesses, institutions and local administrations on the benefits of urban forestation. For children there are also various proposals from MuBa, the children's museum of Milan at the Rotonda della Besana and at the BAM all'Isola: workshops and activities, exhibitions and games to discover and learn to know and respect nature.
Not to forget the numerous initiatives proposed by the nine city municipalities which took action together with the associations present in the area to offer, over the three days of the Green week, different opportunities for meeting and discussion aimed at enhancing urban greenery and environmental protection. The same goes for municipal libraries, which responded with enthusiasm, opening their spaces to adults and children for games, readings, guided walks, audiovisuals and much more.
The complete calendar of the Forum and all the events proposed by Milan Green Week 2022 can be consulted on the website Milan Green week. He also activates a poster campaign for the city.
Participation in the conferences will give the right to professional training credits in collaboration with the Order of Architects, Planners and Landscape Designers, the Order of Journalists, the Order of Agronomists and Forestry Technicians.
Updated: 27/09/2022