Last updated: April 2022
With the "Green River" for Milan, the design team coordinated by Stefano Boeri has proposed an urban reforestation project that aims to realise on 90% of the seven abandoned railways a continuous system of parks, woods, oases, orchards and gardens for public use, linked between them by green corridors and bicycles made on the railroad tracks. (1, 3 and 4).
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Grey infrastructure featuring greens
- Railroad bank and track greens
- Parks and urban forests
- Green corridors and green belts
Key challenges
- Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
- Climate change mitigation
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity restoration
- Green space creation and/or management
- Regeneration, land-use and urban development
- Conversion of former industrial areas
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Ecological restoration of ecosystems, Transformation of previously derelict areas
Project objectives
The Farini area is a symptomatic example of an area that has been severed from its context by infrastructure and vacated by industrial and infrastructural activities. This area has been suffering of environmental degradation (notwithstanding the ‘spontaneous’ presence of some natural ecosystem), and is at risk to the impacts of climate change (1). The goal of the intervention is to restore the derelict area while assessing urban environmental problems, creating a space where architecture and nature live in harmony (4).
Implementation activities
Unknown.
Climate-focused activities
Climate change mitigation:
- Increase green urban nature for carbon storage (wetlands, tree cover)
- Improve carbon sequestration through selection of more adaptable species
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity restoration:
- Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
- Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
- Restore ecological connectivity
Main beneficiaries
- Citizens or community groups
Governance
Management set-up
- Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Private sector/corporate actor/company
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Unknown
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The project is commissioned by the Ferrovie dello Stato, the railway company partly owned by the state. The Boeri Architect Studio has designed the project applying the NBS in this case study and is currently competing with other 4 projects to get selected (3 and 4).
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a local policy or strategy?
Yes
(There is plan for the Ferrovie dello Stato in the city of Milan to recover the derelict areas along the railways, including the ex-scalo Farini (2 and 3).)
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Public national budget
- Public local authority budget
Type of funding
- Earmarked public budget
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
- Restoration of derelict areas
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Cultural heritage and sense of place
- Protection of natural heritage
- Protection of historic and cultural landscape / infrastructure
- Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts, No impacts reported
Presence of formal monitoring system
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
References
1.Miaw (2017), Project website, Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)
2. Miaw 92017), Project docs, Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)
3. Corriere della Sera (2017), NBS envisioning, Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)
4.Stefano Boeri Architetti (2017), Boeri's project (Un fiume verde per Milano), Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)
5. AD Space: Source link (Website not available in 2020)
6.Comune di Milano (2019), Scali ferroviari. Presa d’atto masterplan Farini e San Cristoforo, OK a fermata circle line a Mind, Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)
2. Miaw 92017), Project docs, Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)
3. Corriere della Sera (2017), NBS envisioning, Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)
4.Stefano Boeri Architetti (2017), Boeri's project (Un fiume verde per Milano), Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)
5. AD Space: Source link (Website not available in 2020)
6.Comune di Milano (2019), Scali ferroviari. Presa d’atto masterplan Farini e San Cristoforo, OK a fermata circle line a Mind, Available at Source link (Accessed 9-9-2020)