The project – for which the intervention area is to be registered in the LEED Neighbourhood Development protocol – envisages a functional mix: at its heart is a spacious urban park that will rank as the third largest in Milan, complemented by sports and leisure facilities. Surrounding it, four significant public functions are planned: a Children’s Museum, a second campus for the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory of Music, named ‘il Bosco della Musica’ (the Music Grove); an arena for events, and a contemporary shopping district alongside essential services catering to both individuals and businesses, which will either be located within preserved existing structures or integrated into the ground floors of some of the new buildings. This will construct an urban ‘network’ that not only serves the emerging neighbourhood but also the city that receives it.
The project establishes a natural geometric order that is characterised by a series of axes of which the two most important are the “diagonal” axis, primarily dedicated to cycling, pedestrian traffic, and public transport, traversing the park to link Piazza Tina Modotti with the northernmost section of Milano Santa Giulia, and a pedestrian axis bordering the park, running along the edge of a large lake-to-be. The design of the ‘crescent’ and urban boulevards that form the backbone of the urban fabric of the neighbourhood is grafted on to the structure of these routes, connecting a system of squares and public functions that are interwoven with open spaces, tree-lined avenues, residential streets, and gardens. In this ‘compact’ city the primary traffic artery is the outer ring road, which is situated adjacent to the areas with the highest infrastructure density, and is kept at a distance from the heart of the urban life.
