Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

We have worked to make open spaces a “better place”. We have set ourselves the goal of enhancing our city, revealing the beauty and richness of its natural places. We like to see Milan as a large tree, grown by nourishing itself on the willingness to be contaminated, on the openness to differences, on the curiosity to experiment, on the search for beauty of its citizens and on their desire for nature in the city. 
We have developed a vision that has established once and for all that green spaces are the city's heritage and the cornerstone of the quality of urban life; that every green space, public and private, forms the unitary city heritage; that green development must be planned at a metropolitan, supra-municipal level and in the long term; that ecological interconnections and the reconnection of the already available heritage must be placed at the centre; that the plurality of subjects that participate in green development must be recognized; that the unity of the large park system is fundamental, avoiding uniformity between parks; that the concepts of biodiversity, green/blue, silence and refreshment are central. 
As Francesco Borella suggested to us, starting from greenery can be a fundamental move for an urban regeneration strategy at a metropolitan level. 
Anyone landing in Milan on a beautiful day, or looking at satellite images from Google Earth, can see on the one hand the great erosion of the territory of the Milan urban region and on the other how important open spaces still are. How the park system is immediately recognisable, from the North Park to Bosco in Città up to the complex nature of the area included in the South Park. In recent years we have looked a lot at:  
• the challenges of evolving the urbanization phenomenon,  
• the issues of land consumption,  
• the growth in the quantity of greenery per inhabitant: from 8 square meters in 1980 they became 13,5 in 2009 and are almost 20 today.  

We have known for some time that green is not a merely quantitative aspect, even if quantities count, but it is a great opportunity for projects and implementations, for strategy and governance. This vision has begun to guide our administrative choices. 
Today, however, we feel it is necessary to express the green vision in a strategic document, taking the opportunity of the necessary updating of some tools of the Territorial Governance Plan, scheduled for next year, to then arrive at the future drafting of the Green Plan . Therefore, after five years of growing attention to the themes of greenery, agriculture, parks and open space, we have started an action to take stock and reflect on the future, with a series of workshops that have allowed us to draft this strategic document. 
It is only by building a general strategy of urban planning projects on open spaces and their different components that, on the one hand, we can safeguard them from future compromises and, on the other, we can make open space a fundamental infrastructure and a powerful tool for urban regeneration , able to: 
• mark the edges of urbanization, 
• improve the air we breathe,  
• build spaces for refreshment and slowdown within the consolidated fabric,  
• naturalise green areas 
• build new large usable and livable public spaces,  
• offer food and biodiversity, both plant and animal, 
• offer opportunities for training and connection with the land in agricultural spaces,  
• build fundamental elements of the contemporary urban landscape as a whole. 

Projects - therefore - capable of designing an urban regeneration strategy through greenery and creations that know how to work tactically through incremental transformation actions. How to do it? 
• starting from available resources, with the aim of making the new spaces under construction immediately usable and livable; 
• welcoming the knowledge present in the city on the issues of greenery, its development and its management;  
• leveraging people's desire for direct participation in the care of the territory 
• addressing the problems of degradation, reclamation, abandonment and defragmentation and dispossession of values ​​which are still a feature in many peri-urban areas;  
• rediscovering the water system and the relationship between water and soil as a generative element of the territory of the central Lombardy area. 

Naturally the themes of open space and parks, of usable and livable greenery overlap with the themes of agriculture. Peri-urban agriculture is no longer an area neglected by the city waiting to be transformed, which lives on sewage and feeds on pesticides and polluted air. Agriculture has returned to being a vital function in the city's metabolism because it produces food, environment, landscape and culture. The waters are now purified, local products are increasingly appreciated by consumers, the Milanese are rediscovering their countryside, demonstrating that there is no need to travel far to find relaxing and regenerating landscapes. Coming out of the residual phase of the 80s in which agricultural fields were dismantled for future construction, we must now ask ourselves what are the specific characteristics that urban agriculture must acquire to fully participate in the life of the city.  
It is clear that, if on the one hand there are the needs of production and on the other it is not possible to think of reconstructing the conditions of the open countryside of the lower Po Valley here, the city and agriculture must grow together while respecting and maturing their own specificity. The Municipality of Milan played an important part with the tools it put in place, together with the Region and the Metropolitan City, the farmers played an important part with their new organizational forms which allowed a constructive dialogue. The Milano Metropoli Rurale Territorial Development Framework Agreement constitutes an institutional framework that can allow us to move in the direction of a progressive rapprochement between agriculture and the city. 
All this requires advanced governance models, which are based on a stimulating and enabling role on the part of the public administration. And we are ready to practice this role starting from this moment of listening and project relaunch. 
We are therefore dealing with the near future, certain that we can contribute to an improvement of the city with these reflections and with the hope of seeing them realized. And with a final thought. 
We strongly believe in the systemic vision of landscape and in a strategic role that the municipality can and must exercise in these years to come.  
For this to happen, we are fascinated by the idea of ​​a future more integrated approach to the landscape, which keeps together the aspects of greenery, agriculture and urban planning and which with vision, courage, tenacity and a long view carries forward the issues raised. 

Greenery as a factor of urban regeneration 
 
The actions carried out are summarized below, with which we have made our city more beautiful, alive, livable and green; freer, more fun, participatory and lived in all its places. 
 
The development of the natural landscape and its connection networks 
Through certain rules, the Territorial Government Plan approved in 2012 introduced a very strong limitation of the land consumption process with the acquisition by the Administration of new green areas (127.000 m120.000 already found and XNUMX mXNUMX in progress), through the mechanism of indirect appurtenances, according to a planning design that innervates the city until it connects with the large peri-urban parks by implementing the Ecological Networks. 
Since 2011, 3,2 million square meters of additional public greenery have been made usable, both thanks to new parks and thanks to the redevelopment of existing greenery, as in the case of the Ongari Quarry.  
13 new parks over 10.000 mXNUMX have been created, thanks to timely management of the interventions, also putting public and private resources deriving from the deduction of charges for urban planning projects into the system.  
Where once stood the large, never completed hotel built for the 90 World Cup (demolished through the transfer of building rights), today stands the Vittorini Park to integrate the Monlué - Ponte Lambro agro-naturalistic area recovered with agricultural functions. 
We have joined the two Local Parks of Supra-municipal Interest (PLIS) of the Media Valle del Lambro - which extends to Monza - and of Martesana, which enters the city along the entire Naviglio of the same name. 
Ecological strengthening interventions have been carried out on the Ticinello valley and ecological compensation of the impacts of Expo 2015, designed and implemented with farmers. 
Studies were carried out on the Lambro river valley (RE Lambro), on the operational and decommissioned railway strips (Rotaie Verdi), on the north of the city between Parco Nord, ex Paolo Pini and Groane (RiconnettiMi).  
 
The experience of parks designed and managed with citizens 
In recent years we have opened up to new forms of co-design, care and management of greenery with citizens. 
In a few years a large unfinished park in the area of ​​the former Sieroterapico became the Segantini Park, in collaboration with the citizens and the Segantini Park association: today a living place of high ecological value thanks to the valorisation of the natural system of the Boniforti Roggia . 
The first lot of the 'Great Forlanini Park', a project developed in a participatory manner with associations, universities, farmers and other entities present in the area, was implemented by creating a 2 km network of cycle and pedestrian paths starting from Viale Argonne through the agricultural areas of Cavriano. The final objective is to make the green area up to the Idroscalo usable and walkable, with the construction, already financed, of a cycle/pedestrian walkway over the Lambro. 
Thanks to the joint action of non-profit associations and the Administration, 15 new "Shared Gardens" have been created, places where care for greenery and sociality have made once degraded and underused areas flourish again.  
Since 2015, with Italia Nostra, the "Condotto Gardener" has also been introduced, an expert available to give advice on these experiences of participatory green care. 
 
The qualitative and quantitative development of urban greenery 
We have developed a new vision that abandons 'ornamental' greenery, which is expensive and difficult to manage, to embrace the concept of perennial, indigenous greenery with high ecological value. 
This vision favors the concept of enjoying greenery, available to all, brought to life by citizens thanks to their participation. 
Today there are 400 green areas adopted and cared for directly by private individuals, double compared to 2011. 
New simplified criteria have been defined for the granting of urban gardens, making a previously patchy procedure more linear and transparent. Vegetable gardens in the city have increased by 20%. The criteria for the agreement of private gardens with social purposes were also approved and experiments with community gardens were promoted. 
The public tree heritage of Milan has grown by around 67.000 units since 2011 (60% in the neighbourhoods, and 40% in the large parks, such as Ticinello, Vettabbia, Bosco in Città and Parco Nord) and can count, today, overall on almost 260.000 trees.  
Today we can say that nature has truly entered the city also through the promotion of biodiversity, with the introduction of reforestation practices and flowering meadows not only in large parks but also in the city centre, with experimental urban beekeeping and creation projects of habitats favorable to butterflies. 
 
The recovery of the relationship between city and agriculture 
We have promoted a notable growth in the protection and enhancement of the agricultural function, a fundamental resource also for the protection and enhancement of the territory and landscape, as well as for the containment of land consumption. 
We worked on consolidating the relationship with the Agricultural Districts of the city and the metropolitan area (over an area of ​​22.000 hectares), defining an institutional framework with them, through the approval of the Framework Agreement for Territorial Development (AQST) “Milan Metropoli Rurale” (also signed by the Region and the Metropolitan City), which led to the start of a contractual consolidation, a land improvement, a strengthening of the supply chain (sale of products from Milan's farmers in large-scale retail trade), a review water supply and the participation of agricultural companies in the management of public green areas. 
We have focused on the continuation, in an organic form, of the recovery process of the system of historic municipal farmhouses, both urban and in agricultural areas, as care for the territory which sees the city/countryside combination as a factor in the redevelopment of the peri-urban areas as well. 
We have started experiments connected to Expo 2015 (e.g., at the Pole Tecnologico Padano, of which the Municipality is a member; of short supply chains at large-scale retail trade); agriculture has become food for the city, job opportunities, especially for young people, and innovation, protection of peri-urban areas, culture in the suburbs, recreational and cultural services for citizens. 
The Ticinello Park, the Vettabbia Park, the Risaie Park and the extension of the Forlanini Park are examples of parks created with bottom-up pushes that have been able to integrate and enhance the existing agricultural landscape. 
 
 
Towards a strategic guidance document on the topic of open spaces 
 
Operating today on the open space system means intervening in a widespread manner on the urban landscape through the integration and continuity of the different territorial areas and the different skills. 
It means privileging first of all the connections of the environmental corridors by tying the green areas into a territorial unicum.  
It means promoting the construction of material and immaterial relationships between the local green system, within built-up areas and that of an urban and territorial scale, to arrive at a redefinition of the urban landscape. 
Developing a strategic guidance document for the development of open spaces for the City of Milan means first of all identifying strategic lines and medium and long-term actions capable of giving new life to plans and projects to preserve and develop the natural ecosystem: 
• attributing a strong management role to the Municipality of Milan; 
• enhancing the resources of the Metropolitan Parks system; 
• increasing the permeability and connection of green spaces within the urban fabric; 
• considering green maintenance as a fundamental element of design; 
• raising citizens' awareness of their participation in the care of greenery and the importance of the agricultural landscape; 

The guidelines we propose below are based on the assumption that the overall quality of public spaces is achieved, on the one hand, through the valorisation of the main vocations of the natural landscape and, on the other, with an adequate governance system that manages the wealth of the different territorial systems and initiates forms of coordination to reduce the waste of resources and optimize results.  
For each of the strategic lines that have been identified, some possible actions and some synthetic indicators will be proposed. 
Introducing indicators means using measurement parameters capable of showing the adequacy of the activities implemented to achieve some precise objectives, that is, "demonstrating the effectiveness and efficiency" of the actions suggested by the strategic plan. 
Specifically, environmental indicators are tools capable of highlighting and evaluating large variations compared to the starting situation to be used for monitoring the quality of the urban environment.  
These indicators must also consider the qualitative aspect, helping to make understandable the benefits brought by the actions to environmental conditions and well-being, as well as the change in certain behaviors on the part of citizens. 

A metropolitan territorial vision 
  
The configuration of the metropolitan park system is the central element in the construction of the future development strategy of the landscape at the metropolitan city level, capable - by its nature - of going beyond borders. 
The supra-local park system allows a projection towards the urban region, connecting the parks of the metropolitan city and the external parks, integrating them into a unitary design of the "territorial parks" around Milan. 
The size and nature of the metropolitan parks envisaged by the statute of the metropolitan city cannot be limited to the automatic union of the North Park and the South Park, but must recognize the merits and limitations of past experiences and necessarily include the river ramifications of the Olona, ​​the Lambro ( the entire PLIS Media Valle Lambro) and the newly established PLIS della Martesana. In fact, it is a question of promoting the ecological value of the metropolitan park, in addition to its fruitful/urban and agricultural redevelopment value, and recognizing how Milan is at the center of an environmental network and not an isolated place to be delimited with a belt.  
From this perspective, one can imagine a "federation" of metropolitan parks that builds on the experience of the parks participated by the Municipality of Milan (North, South, Groane, Monza, Parco del Ticino, Media Valle Lambro, Martesana, Ticino, Adda) avoiding the separation between the central core and peripheral parks. The extension of the Ticino Park to the center of Milan and the Adda Park to San Marco can restore two fundamental places of the city to their most interesting relationship with the territory. 
The setting of policies and projects must be integrated and capable of combining levels of protection, landscape-environmental planning, use, development of the agri-food system and related services, introducing a strategic reflection on transport networks in relation to metropolitan parks. 
 
Possible actions 
• Establishment of the metropolitan parks system table, with the task of analyzing and coordinating the development scenarios of the metropolitan landscape, under the direction of the Municipality of Milan. 
• Development of territorial marketing actions to create and make the metropolitan city perceived as a green-blue city, with connections of canals and cycle paths that lead its inhabitants to move in a sustainable way as an alternative to the car for both leisure and work. 
• Promotion of a consultation table for the redefinition of mobility strategies at the metropolitan scale: 
- methods of crossing the territories of the Parks, with the aim of favoring rail transport and intermodality as a replacement for road transport; 
- creation of cycle-pedestrian paths and ecological corridors for local connections in line with the network system at metropolitan level. 
• Widespread redevelopment of the main access/connection road networks through the elimination of superfetations (non-regulatory advertising, redundant signage, etc.), design and management of margins, optimization of locations (reshaping, insertion of cycle, pedestrian and public transport areas, etc.) with landscape and environmental purposes. 

 
Possible indicators 
• Number of projects resulting from the tables established. 
• Surfaces  (HA) of green/blue  infrastructure financed. 
• Km of cycle-pedestrian paths created. 
• Number of signs eliminated. 

Governance  
 
The theme of the governance of open spaces is today a central aspect of reflection and represents one of the key conditions for giving substance to the strategic vision envisaged. 
In green governance, Milan must be able to take a significant step forward towards overcoming the current fragmentation, promoting a model that guarantees unity of intent, safeguarding residual open spaces and enhancing the peculiar aspects of each large park. It is necessary to give space and encourage exchange and interaction between the different realities of parks which, from many points of view, represent experiences of great interest. 
The design of the governance system can start with the experimentation of forms of coordination and integration between existing park bodies and arrive over time - and on the basis of the results of the experimentation - at organizational methods with direct management and control responsibilities. 
 
Possible actions 
• Use the organizations currently present in the territories to physically create connections between the parks and enhance the areas they manage (CFU, Segantini Park Association, Bosco della Giretta etc.) 
• Collaborate with the Lombardy Region so that the regional law on parks (currently under review) is developed through a strategic vision both on the role of metropolitan parks and on the territorial structure to define meaningful mergers. 
• Construction of PLIS territorial networks (e.g. North-West, Alto Milanese, Vimercatese and Adda Martesana) 
• Revision of LR 86/83 and integration of LR 32/15. 
• Establish a database of metropolitan landscape state property, a complete census of metropolitan open spaces and their actual use status (through integration of existing databases and further research and updates). The purpose of the database is to have an updated picture of public property (of Municipalities, Charitable and Participatory Bodies), of the characteristics of the soil as well as of the present and potential ecosystem performances.  

 
Possible indicators 
• Number of territorial networks between parks established. 
• Creation of a metropolitan landscape state property database. 

 
Programming and planning 
 
Milan wants to consolidate the landscape on a metropolitan scale, placing urban and agricultural open spaces at the center of design attention and making greenery a protagonist - and not a residual element - right from the planning phase of the metropolitan area.  
Included within a strategic vision that enhances open spaces, large urban voids (railway yards, barracks, former industrial sites such as Bovisa and the Urban Transformation Areas such as that of Porto di Mare) and the green areas that will be created at internally they can play a fundamental role. 
It is essential that the theme of open space acquires a central role and becomes one of the constituent parts of public city planning. Because our vision elevates public city services to fundamental components of urban well-being and quality. 
Affirming the principle that greenery is a service is to protect greenery itself and can occur through: 
• The encouragement and promotion of agreement practices in order to introduce private management proposals with public purposes into the green circuit; 
• The encouragement and promotion of temporary uses of green and even marginal areas, with the participation of private entities 
• The expansion of city parks (Forlanini, Cave, Lambro, Acqua Rubattino park, Teramo etc) 

The strategic role that greenery plays from the point of view of climate change must be strongly underlined. It is essential to broaden the reference framework towards actions increasingly aimed at the integration of hydrological and hydrogeological components. 
It is necessary to set up multidisciplinary studies aimed at defining the Ecosystem Services of metropolitan parks (regional parks, PLIS, urban parks, agricultural parks), at estimating their material and immaterial values ​​in order to inform integrated policies that concretely recognize the services provided to the systems urban technologies: we could start with a pilot case and then extend the action into thirty-year planning. Paths with a strong participatory component are hypothesized, fundamental both for the attributions of values ​​(operational technical part) and for the cultural dissemination function.  
 
Possible actions 
• Definition and monitoring of the  land value of the metropolitan area, also in relation to regional legislation 
• Incentive and promotion of interventions aimed at implementing the mechanisms already envisaged by the PGT and the Building Regulations for the energy requalification of buildings (e.g. green-roof). 
• Incentive and promotion for the study and development of compensatory mechanisms on a territorial scale. 
• Optimization of the management of green infrastructures, in particular, linear green systems, irrigation network and forests according to a unitary vision through agroforestry plans and forms of associated private and public management and use. 
• Optimization of forest management according to a unitary vision through forest management plans and forms of management and use of by-products for large sectors; 
• Generalized improvement of the ecosystem performance of the open spaces of the Milanese metropolis. 

• Creation of pioneer parks in areas awaiting transformation according to the principle: naturalize, heal, connect. 
• Direct actions on railway areas and main abandoned areas also with temporary reuse and durable systems. 

 
Possible indicators 
• Maintain indicators already existing in the SEAs of the P.G.T. of the Municipality of Milan. 
• Sqm acquired through equalization mechanism. 
• Number of agreements stipulated with the private individual. 
• Number of ecological connections made. 
• Square meters of green areas recovered which are now waterproofed. 
• Number and m2 of green roofs built. 
• M2 of equipped areas per inhabitant. 
• Number of experimental and temporary projects launched. 

 
 The water system 
 
It is necessary to enhance the city water system (aquifer, rivers, canals, minor waterways, fountains), which are the green/blue infrastructure, ecological connections and agricultural production and buildings. 
The general objective must be to converge the territorial actions of the Milanese metropolis towards a settlement model in which land and water can produce a new phase of awareness and civilization. 
On the water network (composed of rivers, Navigli and minor water network), it is necessary to define an overall reference strategy, starting also from the recent studies of hydraulic reconnection of the Navigli system, which allows it to be fully recovered, also through a modular implementation for small-scale and sequential interventions. It is necessary to implement an overall strategy for the redevelopment and governance of the entire water system both in Milan and in the metropolitan area as a whole. All this leads to an increase in Milan's resilience, fundamental for the challenges of this century.  
The Municipality of Milan, in this systemic vision, must maintain and strengthen its strategic management role, involving all subjects (public and private) capable of making their contribution in this objective of developing the agro-environmental landscape, thus making up for to the scarcity of public resources. It must also network with the Municipalities of the metropolitan area since the governance of the landscape and the environment is only possible by going beyond administrative borders. 
The administration must be capable of conveying the highest level of knowledge of the city, and must be open to innovation experiments on all scales of the city's green, agricultural and 'blue' landscape. 
 
Possible actions 
• Address the issue of urban water in multifunctional and multidisciplinary terms in order to capture all the potential for redevelopment of the urban landscape and green areas, even residual ones, through the use of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). 

• Redevelop the Lambro, Seveso and Olona rivers as green and blue infrastructures serving the metropolitan city. 
• Rationalization of the surface water network with the creation of standard regulation structures, recovery of irrigation water currently lost in the sewerage system, etc.; 
• Reconnection of the Olona river and the Lura stream. 
• Implementation of the “100 Fontanili” project. 
• Strengthening and improvement of the Vettabbia canal irrigation system. 
• Continue with the feasibility study, already started, for the reopening of the Milanese canals. 
• Integrated design of open spaces in general and water. 

 
Possible indicators 
• Number of fountains reactivated. 
• Number of regulation interventions. 
• Number of interventions to improve the irrigation system. 
• Number of river redevelopment interventions. 

 Proximity greenery  
 
The planning of the use and organization of urban greenery and existing residual free areas as essential components of local public space constitutes a central commitment today.  
The "landscape as a starting point" (Michel Desvigne) where attention is paid to characterizing the local public space, in response to the demand for integration and uses linked to daily life in the different social and settlement contexts of the city, contrasts with great spectacular projects of the past. Never before has it been necessary to move from the logic of large single projects to a concept of an always active process of planning, design and implementation of integrated projects. 
In this logic, the integrated policy for open spaces must be implemented, which through urban design tends to intertwine the nearby green system with that of large city and peri-urban parks, with the system of cultural heritage, personal services and networks of slow mobility and at the same time capable of renovating those underused and degraded portions of the city. 
Large parks and peri-urban PLIS play a fundamental role at a local level, as generators of new opportunities from which to branch out connections and bonds, overcoming the vision of the Milanese green system as radiocentric towards the construction of an integrated system of networks capable of penetrating the city built and to strengthen its permeability. 
The design of a 'green infrastructure' through the completion of ecological connections is articulated and comes to life starting from this dimension up to the smallest one of the neighborhood garden and flowerbed; it is understood as a  system of natural passages which, by improving the environmental quality of the city, make it more accessible and inclusive, allowing the safe enjoyment of a variety of activities.  
If connected by a green infrastructure, larger scale parks as well as smaller green areas will be able to contribute to the needs of the city in a broader sense, holding the different functions together,  performing an ecological and ecosystem function. 
Project and maintenance must be thought of together, this will allow you to create quality and long-lasting greenery. 
Just as for the management of areas, it will also be necessary to promote forms of public-private partnerships for parks; this means thinking about subjects (associations, etc.) who deal with it not only for the operational part, but also for the planning and project planning part, coordinating the activities of use and cultural promotion with the maintenance aspects, in a more management vision of the park model also in the context of finding resources for future maintenance. 
 
Possible actions 
• Strengthening of green networks in planning design. 
• Integration already in the planning phase of the various administration departments involved in the implementation of projects. 
• Implementation of policies that incentivize the completion of ecological networks. 
• Continuation, in analogy to what happens for some building interventions, of the construction of new urban parks in intervention lots and phases in relation to the available economic resources. 
• Development of new methods of financing public works with the provision of a service dedicated to increasing participation in European, state and regional funding calls, as well as private foundations. 
• Improvement of safety in the use of parks, through enhancing the role of Volunteer Ecological Guards and promoting cultural/group events. 

  
Possible indicators 
• M2 of new “green spaces” created. 
• Ecological networks completed. 
• Number of tenders/funding won or obtained. 
• Number of green areas connected to protected landscapes. 
• Numerical decrease in petty crime crimes. 

  
The relationship with agriculture  
 
Agriculture must be strengthened, integrating it into the life of the city (more communication, more services for the city, precise definition of the city's Food Policy), towards innovative and sustainable models.  
Priority must be given to the implementation of the AQST (Territorial Development Framework Agreement), the economic strengthening of agricultural activity (also as a possible source of work, also with specific tenders aimed above all at young people that reward integrated and multifunctional agronomic projects), as well as the recovery of the signs of the rural landscape, strengthening ecosystem connections, possible fruition paths, nodes of meaning and possible places of sociality (e.g. historic farmhouses and other places to be redeveloped or underused), especially in the most vulnerable areas of the city .  
In this sense, the involvement of large public (non-profit organizations in particular) and private landowners is strategic. 
 
It is necessary to innovate the food and agri-food supply chain (also following the example of existing good virtuous practices): reconstructing the agri-food supply chain, from agricultural production to distribution and consumption, with attention to the issue of waste at all stages; strengthening the network of actors active on these issues; introducing elements of innovation in the context of peri-urban agriculture (with attention to the dimensions of biodiversity and resilience); building a sustainable supply chain on the topic of food (from production to consumption), putting innovative approaches to work along all the junctions. The municipal structure must be strengthened with professional skills in the agricultural sector and administrative procedures simplified, in collaboration with farmers.  
As regards the agricultural activity carried out directly by citizens, vegetable gardens are seeing a strong growth in demand (due to their aggregative and social function, as well as a return to the land), which must correspond to a strong increase and diversification of supply.  
 
Possible actions 
• Define a strategic and multifunctional unitary planning and programming of agroecosystems, finalizing public incentives in particular in the context of the AQST. 
• Define an integrated agricultural policy with use in the area closest to the urbanized area and instead conversion to organic farming in the rest of the metropolitan park.  
• Defining guidelines for the redevelopment and reuse of the cultural heritage system and farmhouses free from the (limited) possibility of recovery by farmers who are instead entrusted by agreement with the care of parts of the urban landscape. 
• Launch studies and proposals for the rationalization of the size and production directions of agricultural companies with the aim of promoting greater profitability and positive effects on the general territorial quality. 
• Promote and support projects for product, process and supply chain innovation (innovation of the production system on sustainable models, optimization of resources, new forms of sales and marketing integrated with the needs of the metropolitan population). 
• Establish an interdisciplinary group made up of universities, associations, consortia, districts etc., through which to initiate research, paths, experimental actions with low environmental impact, metabolic education processes. 
• Communication, valorisation and promotion of the territory, of rural culture, of the greenery/open spaces system: a large exhibition on the rural heritage, on the agricultural landscape and on the values ​​of which they are bearers. 
• Identify a coordinating entity, with the dual function of managing and maintaining the individual areas and organizing social activities (for example, as happens at the Bosco in Città). 
• Implement experimental projects for the creation of 'light' vegetable gardens (with little infrastructure) created directly by the gardeners and assigned for a single year, on a rotational basis. 
• Promote the associated public-private management of large urban rural areas such as Ticinello, Vettabbia, Porto di Mare with the dual function of agroforestry management and maintenance of individual areas, and organization of educational and social activities.  

 
Possible indicators 
• Number of farms converted to organic. 
• Number of new urban gardens managed. 
• Number of international projects/financing acquired. 
• Metabolic efficiency index. 

• Energy contained and CO2 emitted. 
• Level of multifunctionality and sharing of use (agricultural/recreational). 
• Social activity index. 
• Employment index. 
• Number of agricultural products supplied to the Milanese market. 
• Hectares improved or recovered in the various items. 
• Biodiversity indices. 
• Increase in number of employees. 
• Volumes recovered. 
• Increase in farmers' income. 
• Reduction in municipal expenses for land management. 

  
Participation and care of greenery, promotion and communication 
 
We have said that intervening in the widespread redevelopment of the urban landscape through the integration and continuity of the different areas of intervention means putting different types of actions into a system, from those with a broader vision linked to strategic directions and qualitative achievement objectives, to operations of a more basic and punctual type of ordinary maintenance or micro-interventions. 
We believe that in all phases of this process, the indispensable element is the active participation of citizens: just as during the design, transformation and adaptation choices of public space it is necessary to listen to the real needs of the territory, so for the good maintenance of open spaces, the active participation of citizens contributes to their care, construction and protection.  
The involvement of citizens produces a sense of belonging and new forms of local communities that lead to respect and control of the territory; difficult and slow but fundamental action to guarantee the good state of preservation of public spaces (for example, the 'Ghe Pensi Mi' app has more than 2.000 maintenance interventions carried out following reports from smartphones by citizens).  
In this key, "green volunteering" must be seen not only as a tool to support the public administration in terms of material resources but also as a way in which citizens act concretely, know the projects and the reasons for the choices. And in this way it nourishes the citizen's civic sense. 
Increasing participation in environmental issues means first of all being able to promote and communicate services, available areas, current and future projects more clearly. It means making green care actions understandable and accepted and at the same time spreading greater knowledge and culture of greenery. 
For example, we created two editions of "Green City Milan", 3 days dedicated to greenery which saw the participation of more than 200 organizations who organized more than 500 events spread over 6 days; communication can now be planned in an even more structured and widespread way, with specific tools for the different target audiences. 
 
Possible actions 
• Census and make new areas available with a view to putting the greatest number of projects into circulation, making them easily accessible to citizens. 
• Educate in participation: shared open spaces can become the hubs of a community, outlining new ways of experiencing the city by activating collaborations with schools, associations, groups of elderly people, etc. 
• Stimulate the creation of networks, vertical and horizontal, which also see the care of greenery as a social tool, for an increasingly lively and cohesive city.  
• Increase and improve communication not only to promote existing possibilities with clarity, but also with the aim of initiating a wider selection of partner entities. 
• Candidate Milan as “European Green Capital”. 
• Introduce forms of protection of the Administration in contracts to guarantee the success of the projects (security deposits, penalties, etc.). 
• Diversify the ways in which space is used, also linked to finding economic resources.   
Possible indicators 
 
• Number of inhabitants who can reach equipped green areas on foot in max 10 minutes. 
• Number of participatory projects and “shared gardens”.  
• Number of sponsorships and maintenance in public/private partnerships. 
• Number of networks and associations that deal with the care of city greenery. 
• Number of 'management groups' and certain contact persons for each green area 

  
Trees, perennials and new knowledge 
 
In an overall vision of open spaces, a  green management inspired by principles of innovation and experimentation plays a central role. A management capable of combining new technical knowledge with the use of older knowledge; capable of seeking the optimization of resources and at the same time developing existing greenery with qualified interventions; and capable of articulating the methods of intervention on the diversity that landscape areas present. 
It is of fundamental importance to enhance and protect the urban arboreal heritage, with particular reference to its value within the different ecosystems. 
Trees in Milan have to live with a series of constraints and negative elements: 
• the scarcity of spaces allocated to them, which must be shared with the road system and the construction sites connected to it and with car parking, elements which often compromise their growth; 
• the continuous evolution of the climate with temperatures 3-4°C higher than the seasonal averages, or the alternation of very rainy periods with higher than average rainfall, with long periods with no rain which have strongly influenced the growth/rooting of trees , as well as favored the development of particular pathologies. 

In recent years the Municipality has favored more resistant and resilient plants, while promoting a more marked presence of flowering trees to protect biodiversity. We therefore focused on oaks, limes, pears and apple trees to enrich the heritage.  
Tree pruning must be considered in its extreme delicacy and carried out only if strictly necessary, following the most innovative techniques available on the topic. 
It is essential to pursue biological diversity, also with awareness of its qualitative aspect; in fact, species richness is not always synonymous with high quality. It will be necessary to work on the choice of species to introduce with a major change in the cultural approach, considering all open spaces as places serving the varied urban ecosystem. 
The use of native and perennial plants should certainly be encouraged, contributing to the maintenance of biodiversity, the harmonious insertion of spaces into the landscape as well as effective savings in maintenance and management costs.  
This plant diversity will also automatically be reflected in animal diversity, with particular reference to pollinating species, aiming to bring butterflies back to the city through the creation of 'biological corridors' also through the involvement of citizens invited to plant on their balconies, terraces, windowsills and condominium flowerbeds the most suitable species.  
 
Possible actions 
• Adoption of a management plan for the city's tree heritage which introduces rules (renewal of trees, increase in monitoring, protection of road rooting sites, five-year management plan). 
• Renewal of street and park trees (40% young, 30% adult, 20% mature, 10% elderly). 
• Insertion of new genera and increase in biodiversity: as a function of ongoing climate change (average temp increased by 2°C in the last 15 years). 
• Launch a communication and public information program on good practices for 

green management. 
• Start a training program for personnel employed in the design and control of both maintenance and new plant interventions.

• Strengthening of the maintenance service, by requiring the necessary skills and relevant certifications from the companies in charge of both new systems and maintenance. 

 Possible indicators 
• % of plants re-planted in a given period of time. 
• Number of new trees planted. 
• Ordinary and extraordinary maintenance costs. 
• Incidence of diseases linked to the levels of pollutants present in urban areas. 
• CO2 equivalent absorbed. 

  
Qualified maintenance 
 Starting the study for Milan's green strategic plan means not only working with a view to increasing and improving the city's green cover, but also setting the goal of maintaining it in the long term. And it means recognizing a strategic role for green maintenance. 
From this perspective, maintenance acquires a central role not only as an element of maintaining existing urban greenery, but also as an element to take into consideration already in the design phase of the 'new greenery'. And the design must be implemented with the awareness that, since greenery by its nature changes over time, maintenance will in fact be an element of modification of the original design. 
Furthermore, correct planning of maintenance interventions can guarantee the long-term maintenance of a landscape intervention, significantly reducing its management costs. 
An innovative vision of maintenance is measured with essential elements, such as: 
• availability of economic resources, often scarce; 
• different types of urban contexts; 
• safeguarding public safety; 
• climatic variations 
• constant updating of knowledge which determines new  maintenance techniques. 

It is necessary to consider that green maintenance must now be able to make use of new knowledge that determines new intervention techniques and this can only happen through significant constant training of operators. 
 
Possible actions 
• Start a multi-year maintenance program. 
• Adoption of a green regulation. 
• Plan ongoing staff training. 
• Request for greater skills and guarantees of certification from companies responsible for external services. 
• Launch a public communication and education program. 
• Prepare a manual to define the areas of intervention and regulate the collaboration between the different skills (plant engineering, construction, landscaping) in order to guarantee the proper completion of each intervention in an urban context. 

 
Indicators 
• Costs of ordinary and extraordinary maintenance. 
• Number of ordinary and extraordinary interventions. 
• Number of training hours. 
• Number of new techniques employed.