Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Almost 240 trees between Corso Buenos Aires, Doria, Lavater, Benedetto Marcello and Padua, pedestrian vocation for Corso Venezia: today at the Elfo Puccini theater the Administration talks about the projects for the nerve center of the north-east

Milan, June 11 2019 – It is one of the strategic arteries of the city on which important transformations are underway and for which concrete projects and ideas for the future already exist. “San Babila-via Padova” is a redevelopment plan more than six kilometers long that starts from the construction sites of the M4 metro and reaches beyond the former Trotter boarding school, bringing new urban quality, greenery and liveability. 

It will be discussed this evening at the Elfo Puccini Theater during a public meeting in which the projects for the trees in Corso Buenos Aires and in Via Padova will be illustrated, for interventions that will make Corso Venezia pedestrian-friendly, the regeneration proposals for Piazzale Loreto as part of the Territorial Government Plan, the project for Viale Doria, winner of the international Reinventing cities tender and the possible scenarios for an increase in public and pedestrian space. 

The event will also be an opportunity to talk about the public and private interventions underway and those carried out in recent years along the entire artery that extends from the center to the Martesana, helping to regenerate the city with public spaces, new services and cultural activities . 

“The regeneration of these 6 km of Milan is taking place gradually and in a widespread manner, with large and small interventions that see a close synergy between public and private – declares the councilor for Urban and Green Planning Pierfrancesco Maran -. Now we are at a turning point. We want to think of a more sustainable Milan 2030, which regenerates public space and makes it greener, more welcoming and inclusive. We have a vision of the future of this axis which is anchored on three projects in the start-up phase, which will lead to the increase in pedestrian areas and trees, with the aim of arriving at a wide-ranging overall and quality project . This is why it is important, at this stage, to involve citizens, associations and traders, to identify priorities together and maximize energy." 

"We are combining the green and urban redevelopment of one of the most significant commercial axes of the city with a concrete project aimed at improving accessibility to the various commercial activities present, so that Corso Buenos Aires can truly be a place that can be enjoyed by everyone while enhancing the commercial heritage of the area - declares the Councilor for Commerce and Productive Activities Cristina Tajani - A call for tenders will be launched in September to promote actions and activities that allow the commercial vocation to be enhanced as well as removing any architectural barriers still present and which limit access to the activities. A call that fully welcomes the requests from the main trade associations and residents".

"With the arrival of the M4, which will allow you to reach Linate and Lorenteggio in 15 minutes from the centre, and the valorisation of Corso Venezia with the redevelopment and widening of the pavements, we are making the viability of the San Babila-Palestro axis even more sustainable - declares the councilor for Mobility and Environment Marco Granelli -. The next step will be to accompany the changes envisaged by the projects on greenery and commerce with a reasoning on traffic. This is why we look carefully at the studies carried out by experts in the sector."

The projects that will be described during the public meeting.

ALMOST 240 TREES BETWEEN CORSO BUENOS AIRES AND VIA PADOVA
The future of Corso Buenos Aires is green. The first experiment along the commercial artery will be seen next year at the Corti di Baires, a commercial and residential complex currently being renovated, between via Scarlatti and via Pergolesi, where around 30 trees (15 on each side) will be placed in pots that they will also have seating functions. The objective is, gradually over the years, to expand the tree-lined areas along the entire course, exploiting the maximum width of the sidewalk. Around 100 trees will also arrive in 2021 in via Padova, between via Giacosa, via Cambini and via Anacreonte, where as part of the Neighborhood Plan the pavements will be widened and the area in front of the Church of San Giovanni Crisostomo will be redeveloped. Also counting the 90 trees that will arrive in Via Doria as part of the winning Reinventing Cities project, the 6 specimens that will arrive in Piazzale Lavater and the 13 in Via Benedetto Marcello, there will be at least 239 new trees on the axis.

PEDESTRIAN-DESIGN CORSO VENEZIA
Make the area between San Babila and Palestro predominantly pedestrian. The intervention, which will be carried out between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, will improve the liveability of the access road to the heart of the city and involves the widening of the pavements and therefore of the space dedicated to pedestrians. Bicycles will thus be able to travel along a safer route before connecting to the cycle path in Via Palestro.

PIAZZALE LORETO AND VIA DORIA
Loreto will be redesigned according to the rules of the new Territorial Government Plan which provide incentives for those who regenerate near some strategic squares of the city. 

There are many suggestions received as part of the call for ideas launched by the Administration a few months ago: the "Loreto Mall" in continuity with the Baires and Monza-Padua axis proposed by PrassiCoop; the “Overpark” by the architect. Brembilla, a green area enclosed in an inverted cap over the square; the large pedestrian roundabout of “The permeable city” proposed by the architect. Viel; the Ecoritmi project conceived by the team led by the architect. List that extends the redevelopment to Corso Buenos Aires, Piazza Lima and Piazza Argentina; "Dolo Promenade" by Team Maglione Fodde Architect, which connects the redevelopment of Loreto to via Doria by providing trees and greenery. Once the PGT has been approved, the Administration will launch a tender for the design of Piazzale Loreto, with the aim of reinventing the area with a view to maximum sustainability and urban quality. 

The future of viale Doria, however, is already certain, in the stretch between via Giovanni da Palestrina and viale Brianza, where thanks to the "Coinventing Doria" project, winner of the International Reinventing Cities tender, a hostel will be created open to national and international accommodation with large spaces for 'interest for public use. The project plans to make the stretch of Viale Doria between Viale Brianza and Via Palestrina a single lane for vehicles, thus increasing the public space for social cohesion and greenery: here, in fact, a small urban lung will be created with 90 trees, shrubs and herbs aromatic, with the idea of ​​subsequently extending the plantings along the entire axis of Via Doria, in continuity with the future configuration of Piazzale Loreto and Corso Buenos Aires.

EDUCATION "MILAN FUTURE CITY" AND "BUENOS AIRES COURSE - THE VALORIZATION OF A HIDDEN ASSET" 
A future with fewer cars and pedestrian spaces is possible, indeed necessary. This is supported by the "Milan Future City" study carried out by Metrogramma and Mobility in Chain which analyzed the vehicular flows along Corso Venezia-Corso Buenos Aires-Via Padova, one of the longest commercial axes in Europe. The intent of the project, which intercepts the sustainable development objectives of Milan 2030, is to find a new harmony between cars and the city, imagining quality spaces capable of being more hospitable and anthropocentric.

“Milano Future City” therefore imagines the reduction of only one lane in each direction from Piazza San Babila to the end of Via Padova and the introduction of two lanes for the movement of electric cycle vehicles. The pavements thus become wide and welcoming and the parking spaces prepared for electric charging. Parking bays dedicated to last mile services have been imagined along the sides of the road axis, to optimize and reduce the flow of products and materials delivered and green oases. 

The study “Corso Buenos Aires - The valorisation of a hidden asset” carried out by the Transform Transport research unit of Systematica S.r.l. investigates in particular the currently hidden qualities and characteristics of the course, highlighting its value through a series of analysis tools and thematic mapping. The underlying objective of the study is to start a dialogue between users, inhabitants and managers of the course so as to rediscover the qualities of a structure with enormous potential. In particular, the Systematica study also supports the need to widen the sidewalks, eliminate a lane for each direction and create a cycle path. The benefits would lead to a reduction in traffic (-416 cars per hour on Corso Buenos Aires) and pollution (-1,61 kg of emissions per hour), and to an undoubted advantage for commercial activities linked to greater pedestrian use of the course.

The two studies represent interesting ideas in the context of the discussion on the future of the artery, which will have to be rethought from an ecological perspective, favoring green mobility and the quality of public space, starting, as already foreseen, from the presence of trees. 

INTERVENTIONS IN PROGRESS AND RECENTLY CARRIED OUT
There are also many interventions and projects already underway along the entire axis: the construction sites of the M4 San Babila metro, which will connect Linate to Lorenteggio passing through the center; the renovation, by 2020, of the former archbishop's seminary in Corso Venezia 11, which will become a Portrait Hotel of the Ferragamo group; the conversion of the former Spazio Oberdan ready, thanks to a project by the architect. Carlo Ratti, to become MEET at the end of the year, the international center for digital culture promoted by Meet the Media Guru with the Cariplo Foundation; the intervention at Palazzo Bocconi-Rizzoli-Carraro, destined to host the new Etruscan Museum from 2020 thanks to a project by Mario Cucinella promoted by the Luigi Rovati Foundation; the redevelopment of Piazzale Lavater, where a first tactical urban planning intervention has widened the pedestrian area and made the intersection with Via Ramazzini safe, anticipating the larger project which will bring 2021 new trees and new paving by 6; the redevelopment, scheduled for this summer, of the parterre that houses the car park and the market in via Benedetto Marcello, with the installation of 13 new trees; the redevelopment of the former Astor cinema in via Redi, which after years of inactivity will welcome commercial spaces; the renovation of the historic Corti di Baires, which will bring new houses and shops in front of which the first tree-lined block will be built up to Via Scarlatti, where the construction of a new accommodation facility is underway; the renovation works, by GBPA Architects, of the Palazzo di Fuoco in Piazzale Loreto, designed at the end of the 2020s by the architects Minoletti and Chiodi and ready to be revived at the beginning of 50 with shops and offices; in via Padova the project relating to the Participatory Budget proposal for the redevelopment of the stretch between via Pontano and via Anacreonte with new lighting, pedestrian spaces and trees is being defined. 

The same number of interventions have been carried out in recent years; the Indro Montanelli Gardens have seen the recent redevelopment of the Gazebo della Musica and the creation of an inclusive play area and a dog area with agility courses; Piazza Oberan has been redeveloped, together with the historic day hotel; new paving and pedestrian spaces have also made Largo Bellintani, via Spallanzani and via Frisi, near the Venezia Library, more beautiful and livable; the cycle path was created in Viale Tunisia; the Raffles Milano Istituto Moda e Design was recently opened in via Casati 16; in via Rovereto TrentaMi in Verde was born, a new experimentation of Zona 30 with the installation of plants and benches designed by Genitori Antismog and FIAB Milano Ciclobby and the collaboration of the citizens of NoLo Social District and the activists of the MoBì collective; the former Convitto Trotter has been the subject of an important redevelopment project by the Administration and is ready to welcome social activities co-planned by the Municipality and the Cariplo Foundation with Ati La Fabbrica di Olinda; the green area of ​​via Mosso was recently depaved and annexed to the park; the multifunctional sports field for children was inaugurated a few weeks ago, created with the technical collaboration proposed by CUS Milano Rugby.