Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Greener Farini, connections between neighborhoods and new exit of the Passante at Lancetti south. The stopovers two years after the Program Agreement: circle line also in Mind, Olympic Village in Porta Romana, the Reinventing cities project in Greco

Milan, July 25 2019 - Green light for the Masterplan for the regeneration of Farini and San Cristoforo. Exactly two years after the approval of the Program Agreement for the redevelopment of the railway yards, the relevant Supervisory Board took note of the "Climate agents" project by Oma and Laboratorio Permanente, winner of the international competition organized by FS Sistemi Urbani and COIMA SGR in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan. The Masterplan which aims to outline the guidelines for the future development of the area has also been revised in light of the public consultation phase which in recent months has seen the participation of a thousand citizens, representatives of associations and municipalities in public meetings with the designers and the compilation of almost 900 questionnaires on the website www.scalimilano.vision

The main requests of the city relating to the greater compactness of the greenery and the road system within the Scalo Farini have been implemented. The cycle/pedestrian walkways designed to connect the areas reserved for the Brera Academy to the M5 Monumentale subway (the so-called “Bridge of the arts”) and Dergano/Bovisa to the Sarpi/Porta Volta (“Ponte Nuovo”) neighborhoods in correspondence with the Civic music school , as requested by citizens, will be conceived as green connections in continuity with the large linear park along the railway. An objective that will also be strengthened by greater continuity between the large linear park system and the widespread and accessible greenery of the system of public spaces between the blocks that will constitute the new neighborhood. The construction of a new "arts square" is also planned near the Brera Academy which will highlight the centrality of the University, ready to transfer part of its functions as early as the end of 2020, in the development of the neighborhood. The park of Villa Simonetta will also be expanded and connected with the large linear park, as requested by the citizens.

As regards traffic, it is planned to create a new exit south of the Lancetti del Passante stop and a new tram line that connects the neighborhood between Bovisa and Porta Nuova. The request for a new vehicular connection between via Lancetti and piazzale Lugano along the southern border of Derganino was also implemented, which can be connected with via Bovisasca, while the possibility of a new crossing between via Valtellina and via Caracciolo is introduced. Thanks to the new green bridges and the dense cycle/pedestrian network, all points of the Farini airport will be reachable from the Cenisio and Lancetti stations within 10 minutes on foot and 5 by bicycle.

In San Cristoforo, the approved Masterplan introduces the expansion of the new square on the Alzaia del Naviglio to improve the connection with the future cycle/pedestrian walkway between the Lorenteggio and Ronchetto sul Naviglio districts and the exit of the M4 stop. The introduction of a new cycle/pedestrian walkway is also planned at the Parish of the Holy Curé of Ars, which will allow continuity of the future linear park along the Naviglio Grande.

“Two years after the Program Agreement we are ready to open the implementation phase which will bring a new green district to Farini and a naturalistic oasis to San Cristoforo – declares the councilor for Urban and Green Planning Pierfrancesco Maran –. The objective is to see the development of the two airports begin, together with Porta Romana and Greco for which concrete plans already exist, by 2021. In the meantime, the process for the circle line, a fundamental mobility infrastructure on a metropolitan scale which will make more accessible not only the airports but entire neighborhoods of the city. The development of the railway yards represents the cornerstone of the sustainable development strategy towards a greener, more connected Milan 2030 with a greater offer of rental accommodation".

“With the 2019-2023 Industrial Plan, the FS Italiane Group – declared Carlo De Vito, President of FS Sistemi Urbani – has confirmed its commitment to the topic of urban regeneration. The redevelopment interventions envisaged over the course of the plan will amount to around two billion. For many years now the group has become aware of its role as a protagonist in urban dynamics and is concentrating resources and skills at the service of the national territory. In Milan we signed the Program Agreement two years ago and we are starting to see important results: the awarding of the Greco-Breda airport to the Lombardy real estate fund through the Reinventing cities competition, the acknowledgment of the Masterplan of the Farini airport after several months of public consultation which will be home to the Brera Academy and the future development of the Olympic village in the area of ​​the Porta Romana airport for the 2026 Winter Olympics. We are helping to create the Milan of tomorrow through the redevelopment of over a million square meters of territory within the City of Milan.”

“The public sharing path of the master plan has favored the development of a better connection with the surrounding neighborhoods. We are committed to making our contribution to this urban recomposition together with the Municipality of Milan also through the urban regeneration projects of the extension of the Porta Nuova district and the master plan of the Valtellina-Farini area which, if connected, will represent an innovative project for Milan unique in the world.” declared Manfredi Catella, Founder and CEO of COIMA SGR.

The "Climate Agents" project is part of the strategy of the Municipality of Milan for adapting to climate change through the creation of two new environmental devices capable of reducing pollution deriving from urban settlement. The first, green, in the Farini airport, where the creation of a large linear forest will be able to cool the hot winds coming from the south-west. The second, blue, in San Cristoforo for water purification. The Masterplan is also conceived in the name of continuity between neighborhoods and aims to re-establish relationships between areas of the city that have always historically been separated.

As regards Farini, as foreseen by the program agreement for the redevelopment of the railway yards, 65% of the surface will be dedicated to greenery and public spaces, with the creation of a large park in connection with Porta Nuova and Bovisa, up to Mind . The new ecological device of the Farini Park consists of a band of large trees planted along the entire south-west side of the area on both sides of the railway, which will reduce the heat island generated by the city and filter pollution carried by the wind that blows from the south-west in Milan in summer. The project also involves the recovery and reuse of pre-existing structures to be used for public services and the Brera Academy, the creation of a system of new squares with spaces for children, the market and sport. Inside the airport, the cycle-pedestrian vocation will prevail with the creation of a cycle path that will connect the new neighborhood to the Porta Nuova system and the installation of a new tram line. The project envisages modular development possibilities, in consideration of the possible different economic scenarios that will be created in the coming years. Based on the Program Agreement, it is estimated that one thousand social residential housing apartments will arrive at Scalo Farini, which will become one thousand five hundred with ordinary subsidized housing.

San Cristoforo will instead be transformed into a public park characterized by the presence of an ecological oasis which, as foreseen by the Program Agreement, will be created with economic resources generated by the development of the Scalo Farini and will strengthen the environmental system of the Southern Agricultural Park. San Cristoforo will create a large pool with the function of water purification, in some places suitable for bathing, in continuity with a linear park. The existing Aldo Rossi building will be preserved to host services relating to the use of the park, with a future neighborhood square connecting to the M4. Towards the city centre, we imagine a hill built with landfill materials to protect homes from the noise pollution of the railway, also acting as a natural grandstand for sporting activities that can be practiced in the airport and a panoramic point for viewing the skyline of Milan. With the conclusion of the Masterplan, the green light is given to the implementation phase of the Program Agreement.

There is also news regarding the circle line, for the construction of which the Scali program agreement provides for 97 million euros of investments. While the awarding of the works for the construction of the new Tibaldi station is in the tender phase, the representatives of the Scali railways, Expo and Cascina Merlata program agreements today approved the Memorandum of Understanding to create an additional railway stop to the one already planned from the AdP Scali (Stephenson stop) at the walkway connecting the former Expo areas (now MIND - Milano Innovation district) and Cascina Merlata. The Stephenson station was already among the works planned and financed by the agreement relating to the railway yards while the second will be built as part of the refunctionalization project of the Expo Area and with resources generated by the "Cascina Merlata" and "Mind" plans by 2024-2025 to be primarily at the service of the University, the Human Technopole research center and the new Galeazzi hospital foreseen by the Mind plan, and the new residences and services in the Cascina Merlata district.

And two years after the signing of the Program Agreement there is already a certain program for two other abandoned airports. Scalo Romana will host the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic village: once the Games are over, the athletes' residences will be transformed into accommodation for university students as provided for in the Program Agreement. The international competition for the drafting of the master plan, which will naturally take into account the presence of the Olympic Village, will be launched by FS Sistemi Urbani in the second half of this year. The development of the area, in view of the 2026 Olympics, will include urbanization and infrastructure works, as well as the transformation of public green areas.

The Greco airport already has a master plan and an investor thanks to Reinventing cities, the project promoted in collaboration with C40 which involved the sale of unused areas in favor of high environmental quality projects. “The graft”, the project presented by Investire SGR spa together with the designers Barreca & La varra, Arup Italia Srl and others, envisages the creation of the first zero-emission social housing neighborhood in Italy, with houses mainly for rent: in total , it is expected that the new neighborhood will host 400 new social housing units (60% for rent and 40% for subsidized sale) and 300 beds for students, for a total of approximately 1500 new residents, mainly aged between 24 and 44 years old. 72% of the railway yard (approximately 45 thousand square metres) will be allocated to greenery, spaces, pedestrian and equipped paths for public use, much more than the 60% quota set by the Program Agreement for the redevelopment of the railway yard.

*image of the Farini airport: on the basis of the existing railway infrastructures, a possible extension of the green bridges up to the maximum configuration represented above has been hypothesized. The actual sizing will be subject to a subsequent technical-economic feasibility study.