Thematic sites - Municipality of Milan

It is estimated that globally, cities consume more than 65% of energy and are responsible for more than 70% of CO2 emissions. In Europe, urban areas are home to the 75% of the population and can significantly contribute to reducing emissions, managing to offer cleaner air, safer transport, and less noise pollution.

In line with what emerges from these data and with the objectives of the European Green Pact - EU Green Deal - the European Commission launched the Mission "100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” - also called “Cities” -, which has as its aim the achievement of climate neutrality by 2030 in one hundred cities of the Union - plus another 12 cities in countries associated or about to join the European Commission's European framework program Horizon Europe.

Selected from the 377 who submitted their applications, the one hundred cities involved act as centers of experimentation and innovation, with the ultimate goal of achieving climate neutrality in all European urban areas in the shortest possible time.

Actions that contribute to European mission for climate neutrality they take place in various fields, including sustainable mobility, green urban planning and the creation of clean energy districts. Furthermore, each city was invited to prepare its own "City Climate Contract” - Climate City Contract - which includes a plan for climate neutrality in all sectors, including energy, construction, waste management and transport, together with investment plans, involving various local stakeholders.

Together with Bergamo, Bologna, Florence, Padua, Parma, Prato, Rome and Turin, Milano it is one of the nine Italian cities selected for Italy in the European Cities Mission. The participation of the Municipality of Milan in the Mission Cities it is part of a series of national and international initiatives on the topics of the climate crisis, decarbonisation and sustainability, on which the administration of the Lombardy capital has been engaged for years.

Among these the network C40 Cities Climate, la Urban Agenda Partnership on Air Quality, il Covenant of Mayors, the network 2020 Resilient Cities Network, the European initiative EIT Climate-KIC.

Furthermore, since 2019, the Municipality has started the development of the Air and Climate Plan (CAP), aimed at reducing air pollution and contributing to the prevention of climate change through adaptation policies for the territory.

Il Air and Climate Plan acts as a transversal and strategic device for the planning and programming tools already envisaged by the Administration.
The objectives concern five areas of action:
health and inclusiveness - for a clean, fair, open and supportive city;
mobility - to guarantee sustainable, flexible, active and safe travel;
energy - to reduce and improve consumption;
the climate - for a green, fresh and livable city, capable of adapting to changes;
â € ‹â €‹ â € ‹â €‹ â € ‹â €‹ â € ‹awareness - to involve the inhabitants and all the actors present in the area in sustainable and environmentally positive lifestyles.

The document addresses the transition towards a “zero emissions” city in an integrated way, relating the need to reduce air pollution with the needs related to climate mitigation and adaptation policies, including EU Missions.

The Climate City Contract of Milan will be based precisely on the anticipation and strengthening of some of the objectives and actions of the Air and Climate Plan.

In an era where cities are facing growing challenges, such as the climate crisis and ecological transition, it has become crucial to find effective ways to include various social actors in innovation processes. 

MOSAIC was born with the aim of supporting the development of innovative solutions to respond to contemporary challenges through a co-creation process that sees the participation of all interested stakeholders.

The project focused in particular on the European Mission “100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030”, and had as its specific objective the involvement of all the components of the quadruple helix, and therefore obviously also citizens, in the processes that take place within innovation ecosystems. 

To test the co-creation methodological approach, MOSAIC involved two of the hundred European cities already involved in the European Mission for climate neutrality, Milano e Gothenburg.
Pilot co-creation experiences were created in the two cities to respond to an innovation "challenge" on climate neutrality and sustainability that was identified by the two municipalities, in line with the European Mission Cities. 

In each city, the development of the pilot actions unfolded through three phases, starting from the identification of the challenge to be faced up to the development of innovative solutions. More details on the stages of the process are described in the section “The InformAria path".

In Milan the challenge identified was aimed at finding effective methods to guarantee citizens updated information on air quality to support citizens in their daily decisions.
In Gothenburg the pilot experience focused on improving the urban mobility in a specific neighborhood of the city, to obtain an inclusive, convenient, comfortable and reliable service.
Thanks to the experience gained in the two pilot actions, MOSAIC has developed recommendations to encourage the replicability of the process co-creation in other cities and regions.

La methodology for remote services of MOSAIC was developed starting from the analysis of previous co-creation experiences conducted both in the context of European funding programs, such as Horizon 2020 - and in particular the actions Science with and for Society - and in other contexts that have involved European companies and cities in recent years.
​​​​​​​Based on the results of this research activity, the project then structured an approach to effectively involve all parts of the quadruple helix within the innovation process. 

More information on the MOSAIC methodology and the pilot experience in Milan is available in the sections “MOSAIC in Milan: InformAria", "Land stages of the InformAria journey” and on project website.

MOSAIC was funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 program. The project activities, coordinated by Stickydot, concluded in December 2023. The process that took place in Milan was guided by the Foundation Giannino Bassetti, with the collaboration of the Municipality of Milan.

Together with Gothenburg, Milan was selected as the city in which to test the pilot actions of the project MOSAIC.

Il InformAria path envisaged a co-creation process that involved representatives of all four components of the quadruple helix - institutions/governance, research, industry, civil society organizations/citizens - to face the challenge of climate neutrality and sustainability.

InformAria was born from the collaboration between Giannino Bassetti Foundation, Partner of MOSAIC, City of Milan (Green and Environment Directorate), which has been involved since the preparation phase of the European project proposal, e AMAT (Environment and Territory Mobility Agency), a technical structure that supports the Municipality on some issues, including monitoring the air in the city.

The activities of InformAria have been developed in line with the objectives of Air and Climate Plan of the Municipality, and were located, in particular, in Area 5, "Conscious Milan: a city that adopts conscious lifestyles". 
Furthermore, the project took place in full continuity with the European mission for climate neutrality.

The methodology proposed by MOSAIC envisaged a form of collaborative innovation that had as its objective the production of a concrete result, such as the development of a technological tool or a service. 
The co-creation path occurred through three phases, which went from identifying the sustainability challenge to be addressed to developing concrete solutions that could help resolve it.

During the Preparatory phase, the project partners, together with representatives of local administrations, identified the challenge, starting from the priorities indicated by the cities in their "Climate Contract".
The next steps provided for it study of the context, With the stakeholder mapping to be involved, and the launch of a public call to invite interested actors to participate in the co-creation process.

The second stage had as its objective an initial formulation of project ideas capable of responding to the challenge and the formation of teams to develop the projects. This phase occurred through the organization of a “gathering” (meeting), during which all the participants met, acquired more information on the challenge, discussed it and developed draft ideas around which working groups were formed. 

La third stage consisted in the conception and precise planning of a solution proposal that it represented an adequate and useful tool for all stakeholders and for the city as a whole.

The co-creation process favored the elaboration of original and innovative solutions, which surpassed existing ones, thanks to the contribution of actors with different perspectives and interests.    

The path of InformAria it started in October 2022 and ended in December 2023.

The path of InformAria consisted, in a first phase, in the identification of the challenges for the city of Milan.
The challenge, identified by Giannino Bassetti Foundation together with the Green and Environment Directorate of City of Milan and to AMAT (a municipal agency of the Municipality of Milan), consists in the creation of a technological solution to "communicate air quality data to citizens in a SMART way so as to allow them to make informed decisions and adopt appropriate behaviors".

In January 2023 the Municipality of Milan published a call for participation through determination and public notice - available in the "Attachments" section together with the application for participation - aimed at citizens, startups and businesses, third sector bodies and associations, research bodies and universities. 

Forty people were selected from those who submitted their applications: these are eighteen citizens or representatives of civil society, eight people who work in the world of research, three representatives of the administrations, and eleven representatives from the business world.

Persons admitted to InformAria were invited to the “Gathering” which was held on March 3 at the Sforzesco Castle.
​​​​​​​On this occasion, the participants, through a structured dialogue facilitated by the Bassetti Foundation, met and discussed each other, sharing experiences and ideas, and formed three working groups - internally heterogeneous - each with a own solution proposal to respond to the challenge. 

Un detailed report of the event is available in the “Attachments” section.

During the following phase, the three teams - supported by the Bassetti Foundation facilitators - worked together to define their ideas in more detail, delving into the key issues that emerged and discussing the feasibility of the proposals. They also spoke in two plenary meetings that took place online during the month of March experts and experts who presented their contributions on air quality, health and open data. 

In mid-April, each group developed a report to describe their project idea in detail, on the basis of which the Bassetti Foundation and the Municipality of Milan selected two groups suitable to move on to the actual planning phase.

After a few weeks of work, the two groups presented the solutions to representatives of the Municipality (Environment and Green Department, ITED Technological and Digital Innovation Directorate, Mobility Directorate, Green and Environment Directorate, Mayor's Cabinet) and of AMAT (Energy and Climate Area of the Environmental Transition Directorate). 

On September 29th, during the Green Week in Milan, the Municipality gave feedback regarding the feasibility of the solutions proposed by the participants.

The final event was held on Friday 29 September at Cascina Cuccagna as part of Green Week InformAria, the path of co-creation which saw citizens, actors from the world of innovation and research, representatives of civil society and the city administration working together to make Milan more sustainable.

It began last March in the European context of project EU MOSAIC, this experience led a group of city actors to co-create solutions to make i air quality data and allow them to take informed decisions.

After a presentation of the co-creation path, promoted by the Bassetti Foundation in collaboration with the Municipality's Green and Environment Directorate, and after a brief description of the solutions designed by the participants, the city government gave feedback to the volunteers on the potential for realization of the proposed projects.

The meeting ended with a interactive session, during which the public had the opportunity to launch proposals for other challenges, which were faced with the same collaborative spirit experienced thanks to the InformAria path.

THU the agenda of the event.