Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Milan, November 26 2019 – The first edition of Active Week kicked off yesterday, a week of events, workshops and activities with the psychophysical well-being of workers at the centre. An initiative conceived by the ActiveCowo startup, winner of the Neighborhood Innovation tender of the Municipality of Milan "FabriQuarto", which intends to create working and collaborative habitats to offer "healthy" working, social and training spaces.

Until Saturday 30 November the Affori neighborhood will become the first "Active District in Italy" where during the day there will be space and inspiration to remember that an active lifestyle is the basis of the well-being and good health of citizens, with a particular focus on workers.

During the Active Week, however, free "active" workstations are set up inside the Iseo Sports Center of Milanosport, but also in other places in the neighborhood such as the beautiful Villa Litta and the Spazio Iseo, already a place of widespread civic participation of neighborhood, as well as in various commercial establishments, places where anyone can go to work with their PC and smartphone, follow yoga and meditation workshops in the morning before starting work, meet active life experts for breaks in which to activate body and improve posture, experience a different lunch break with a guided "walking lunch" around the neighborhood to discover the places that characterize it and end the week with a traveling "street workout" through the main streets of Affori.

“A commendable initiative – declares Roberta Guaineri, Councilor for Sport and Quality of Life of the Municipality of Milan – which intends to promote physical activity in the workplace. During this week, in fact, citizens will be able to learn in an immediate and fun way simple but fundamental exercises that can be practiced by everyone to combat the effects of a sedentary lifestyle at work. Because the good health of individual citizens is the basis of the well-being of the entire community."

"We are very happy to become the epicenter of this beautiful project – the words of Chiara Bisconti, president of Milanosport -. Milanosport has always pushed the city towards moments of well-being and it is nice that these are not limited only to swimming or of sport in general but which can become part of people's lives even during working hours, furthermore precisely on the subject of agile working, it has recently been introduced as an experiment for the workers of Milanosport and now it also becomes an opportunity for get to know our facilities and experience them not just for sport. An initiative in total harmony with our corporate vision, which sees our facilities as places to live, always open to the community".

“Projects like this – declares the councilor for Labor Policies, Productive Activities and Commerce Cristina Tajani – really contribute to the improvement of services to citizens, responding in a new way to the needs of the inhabitants of the neighborhood, experimenting with new business models capable of combining economic sustainability, job creation and generation of socially positive effects on the territorial context and on the entire community of Affori and the surrounding neighborhoods. A project that is in line with the best European experiences aimed at stimulating investments and businesses with social impact".

Freelancers, startuppers, employees, students and curious people will be welcomed to work in smart working mode but with particular attention to well-being.

Asco Affori, the Affori traders' association, has joined the Active Week also thanks to the collaboration with some merchants who host the "Active Installations" in a route through the main streets of the neighborhood. By entering the shops, citizens can discover and try the body activations proposed by the well-known trainer and influencer Fabio Inka.

And also in the evening "Active Aperitifs" where active life experts will be present to tell stories and share experiences of those who have been studying movement as a healthy lifestyle for years. But also authors of books dedicated to walking and the influence that movement has on making people more productive and creative.

“We are happy – says Annalisa Quaranta founder ActiveCowo – to experiment with our project in a neighborhood that already has structures and spaces suitable for welcoming smart workers and digital nomads during the day. We enter trying to enhance what is already there by bringing to enjoy it in a new way. We are also certain that our concept can improve the quality of life of workers and we hope that companies will also support their employees in the future. Furthermore, we are happy to have the collaboration of the Municipality of Milan, the attention and active participation of Milanosport and the enthusiastic welcome of important local entities such as Asco Affori".