The creation of a new university campus on the MIND area (former Expo site) and the consequent transfer of some departments of the University of Milan which currently gravitate to the area called "Città Studi", together with the reallocation of the Besta and of Tumors at the City of Health of Sesto San Giovanni, represent the prerequisite, from a planning/design perspective, to promote an urban regeneration intervention that systematizes the present resources, i.e. assets, experiences, aspirations and development prospects of various subjects public.
The objective of the Program Agreement is to rethink Città Studi, i.e. the areas that gravitate around via Celoria, Golgi, Venezian, Mangiagalli, Colombo, through the integrated action of a plurality of public administrations, maintaining and safeguarding the centrality of the vocation university, also in synergy with other public functions - of public and general interest, while simultaneously preserving the characteristics of the neighbourhood, today strongly characterized by the presence of academics.
The precise objectives referring to the quality of the built environment and above all of the public space will be defined during the work started in the Technical Secretariat with a view to valorising quality architecture in the urban landscape, greater integration of university functions with the urban fabric and the valorization of open spaces so that the identity of Città Studi is strengthened and qualified.
In March 2021 the City Council approved the guidelines for the signing, with the Lombardy Region and the University of Milan, of the Memorandum of Understanding for the valorisation and relaunch of "Città Studi" as a hub of right to study services, tertiary training, research and innovation in view of the transfer of some departments to the Mind area. The protocol, which highlights the State's commitment to maintaining a strong presence in the neighbourhood, is aimed at defining a plan for the reuse of the properties present in Città Studi which will be left vacant, providing for the establishment of library structures, research laboratories, places of innovation and university residences, respecting the historical interest of some of the properties in the areas, an example of which is the Biology headquarters, a distinctive work by the architect Vico Magistretti and testimony to the fertility of Lombard culture and architecture.
