Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

In 5 years the value of contracts with private individuals for greenery management has almost tripled. The green shelter in Repubblica, the redeveloped Russoli park and the new fitness path in Sempione have been inaugurated

Milan, September 26 2019 – An economic value of almost 1,5 million euros and 522 contracts for the care of parks, gardens and flowerbeds. These are the numbers that tell the importance of collaboration between public and private for the management of greenery in Milan. As part of the "Care and adopt public green areas" project, from 2015 to today we have gone from 426 contracts signed to 522 today, while the economic value of the interventions, i.e. the cost of the interventions and maintenance supported by private individuals, has gone from approximately 598 thousand to 1.364.000 euros, which becomes almost 1.567.000 euros also considering the resources necessary for the management of the Tree Library launched last July by Coima SGR through the Catella Foundation (the management costs starting from next year).

“In just 5 years we have tripled the value of interventions promoted by private individuals. These are truly significant numbers that demonstrate the growing sensitivity of citizens and companies to the environmental issue – declares the Green councilor Pierfrancesco Maran –. And in the coming years their contribution will be even more evident: in fact, we are working to ensure that the new parks, from the Tree Library to City Life and the 20 new ones that will be created between now and 2030, are managed by private individuals. A mechanism that guarantees high maintenance quality of the new parks and the possibility for the Administration to concentrate public resources on those for which it is difficult to find partners and investors".

And the projects that inaugurate today at the opening of Milan Green Week are born precisely from the collaboration between public and private sectors. Thanks to IGPDecaux, from today until October 2nd the shelter of the tram stop in Piazza della Repubblica will be completely covered in evergreen plants and vegetation. A project that refers to that of green roofs and walls in Milan, which will also be explored in depth tomorrow at the conference at the Steam Factory "Nature solution in the city: in courtyards, on roofs and on walls" promoted by Milano Clever cities.

Russoli Park will be inaugurated this afternoon at 16 pm after the redevelopment works carried out by Italgas in the 30 thousand square meter area of ​​via Carlo Bo. The intervention saw the renovation of the existing structures - football and bowls pitches and a play area which had finally become accessible to all children, the creation of a fitness area with equipment and nine gymnastic stations for free body exercises, a reserved space to dogs and the planting of some shrubby and herbaceous species. The meeting area was also expanded, with the addition of a pergola with tables and benches.

A little later, at 17 pm, Levissima will celebrate the creation of the new fitness path inside the Sempione park. With the equivalent of the PET bottles collected during the last edition of the Milan Marathon and thanks to the support of AMSA, which amounts to approximately 30 tons of plastic and cans, the existing life path was regenerated with the positioning of new tools for exercises in recycled plastic. Furthermore, QR codes have been placed on a selection of equipment which allow runners to view the demonstration videos of the exercises created by Daniele Vecchioni, a marathon runner and expert in running and movement, with their smartphone.