Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

In autumn, in total, there will be 38 tactical urban planning interventions carried out to make the neighborhoods more liveable

Milan, August 13 2021 – A new space for meeting and socializing opportunities will soon be available in the Santi Patroni d'Italia square, in Municipality 6, through a tactical urban planning intervention.

The creation of a pedestrian area on the west side, scheduled for autumn, will allow pedestrians to return another 560 square metres, in addition to the current ones, while maintaining the presence of some parking spaces and without changes to the current circulation pattern.

The intervention will be accompanied by ground paintings and completed with the installation of bicycle racks and temporary bollards which could be planters or posts to ensure respect for the pedestrian area without structural interventions, and with the installation of seats and other furnishing elements that facilitate the use of public space.

"These methods of urban change – explain the councilors Marco Granelli, Mobility and Pierfrancesco Maran, Urban Planning – allow us to experiment with gradual solutions, evaluate their effects and resolve any critical issues, before opting, where appropriate, for definitive interventions. Giving life to new places of sociality and imagining a different use of public spaces has the objective of improving the quality of life of citizens in the neighborhoods and their free time. We followed the proposals of Municipality 6 to give balance to different needs and create a pedestrian space that didn't exist."

Open squares is the program of activities created starting from 2018 with the first "Trentami" intervention in Piazza San Luigi based on the experimentation of tactical urbanism.

With the first 15 interventions carried out, 20.000 m2 of public space were recovered for pedestrian use and use by people, promoting road safety, social aggregation, quality of life and also the nearby commercial activities and neighborhood shops. Squares in the center of Milan's neighborhoods have been reborn, too often absorbed by the need for parking, by car traffic and torn from the oblivion of the dormitory neighborhood that takes away vitality and activity. Some of these interventions were characterized by the recovery of spaces in front of schools, which promoted sustainable accessibility and road safety in delicate points and moments. Thus citizens began to take back their spaces and live in their neighborhoods.

Municipalities and citizens also participate in the planning through collaboration agreements, which is why the activity takes place in concert between the three departments of Urban Planning and Greenery, Mobility and Participation.

After Piazza San Luigi, to name some of the other tactical urban planning creations, Porta Genova, Minniti, Spoleto-Venini, Corvetto, Ferrara, Capuana and Tirana.

These light interventions can then lead to structural changes that permanently change the neighborhoods, the public space and therefore the city. This is what is happening in Piazza Dergano and in the surrounding streets, where the works will end in September with a significant redevelopment of the neighbourhood, in Piazza Angilberto, Piazzale Lavater and in Via Rovereto and Esedra of the Trotter park, at the intersection with Via Giacosa.

Structural works are also planned for September in Piazza Belloveso, where interventions relating to underground services are currently underway, and a tactical intervention in Piazzale Bacone, where benches, ping-pong tables, racks and in September the paint will be placed. Changes are also planned in Largo San Dionigi in Pratocentenaro.

In this way, in autumn, a total of 38 tactical interventions will be carried out. An experience inspired by the activity of Bloomberg associates, which has collaborated with the Municipality of Milan since 2018 and which has carried out the same work in many cities around the world.