Reinventing Cities in Crescenzago with a new gateway to Lambro Park: Social housing, greenery, and bicycles

A new green access to Lambro Park and a highly sustainable social housing project ignites the neighborhood of Milan with new vitality and reconnects it to the main transformations planned in the north-eastern quadrant. This is the cross between green and urban textures used by the winner of the Crescenzago site in the second edition of the Reinventing Cities competition. This international competition paired the municipality together with C40 Cities, providing the establishment of the land sites to be allocated to sustainable urban regeneration projects.

The Green Between project was presented by a multidisciplinary team led by Redo SGR benefit company. It composed of architects Camillo Botticini and Matteo Facchinelli of the ARW studio for architectural design, AG&P for the study of the landscape, the company Stantec as environmental experts, and the Social Housing Foundation for the identity and social development of the future community of residents.

'We included this area in the Reinventing Cities competition because we wanted to identify a high-quality project able to respond in an innovative way to the environmental and social challenges of the neighborhood,' said the Councilor for Urban Planning Pierfrancesco Maran. 'I think that the winning proposal has fully grasped the spirit of the competition which, let us remember, called for ten sustainability objectives to be met, and to operate a decisive territorial stitching between the Lambro Park and Palmanova. Green Between is also one of the pieces of Milan 2030, which expands the city limits by offering new sustainable and affordable housing solutions and access to the city 15 minutes away with greenery, public spaces, and services available to all residents'.

Mark Watts, Executive Director of C40, comments, 'The Reinventing Cities competition inspired the creative collaboration we need to combat the climate crisis thanks to the skills and creativity of architects, artists, environmentalists, and entrepreneurs. Reinventing Cities is much more than an innovative competition - it supports a green and fair recovery from the pandemic to create the future we want. Despite the difficult moment, the number of participants and the quality of the proposals submitted for the second edition of the competition in Milan are exceptional. C40 is proud to support Milan in this initiative that contributes to making the city's ambitious climate goals a reality.'

As required by the competition, the Green Between project will transform an underused parking area into an ecological social housing district. There will be 360 housing units of which two-thirds will be rented at an affiliated rent for young people and families. There will be an active ground floor, characterized by areas designated for public and commercial life for the community along with a view of the city. The public space of the new settlement will start with a large square overlooking the Crescenzago metro stop, and a green cycle and pedestrian boulevard that leads from the station to Lambro Park.

The square will become a social meeting place for all along with spaces dedicated to young people. Starting from the M2 stop, the relative underpass will lead to a large area equipped as a play field theatricalized by the presence of green stands and staircases. Beyond this will be the market square, the heart of the new district. A tree-lined embankment between the metro tracks and the square will ensure the mitigation of the acoustic impact generated by the passage of trains.

The bicycle and pedestrian route will follow the existing axis of Via Cazzaniga and create a new green axis of entrance to Lambro Park. This will be a strong element of the AbbracciaMI route and will improve and secure the connection between the park and the two underpasses of Via Palmanova. This includes the connection from the Crescenzago metro to the Martesana and the Adriano district crossing the ancient village of Crescenzago, and the one at via Palmanova 213 with the Martesana along Via Padova. The new district aims to become the center of a mobility network and a Bike Hub for the inhabitants and users of the AbbracciaMI network. It will provide services such as bike rentals as well as charging stations for electric cars. At least 35% of the surface will be green from the planting of hundreds of trees, connecting with Lambro Park. This will triple the surface's current greenery levels. 800-square-meters will be dedicated to vegetable gardens and orchards, and 66% of the total flooring will be permeable.

Sustainability is at the heart of every building design choice. The energy consumption of the new residential complex will be minimized due to the use of renewable resources of local production (heat pumps powered by renewable energy and the use of photovoltaic panels). Climate-changing gas emissions will be neutralized due to the adoption of mitigation and compensation solutions and commitments. The building aims to achieve carbon neutrality and use building construction that will improve the standards provided for NZEBs (Nearly Zero Energy Building). As requested by the competition, great attention is given to the community dimension of the neighborhood. The Redo app will allow residents to access information about the services offered, regulate the use of shared equipment and common spaces, and digitally monitor the impact of emissions into the atmosphere of their daily activities. The social aspect of the project is mainly aimed at the young generations' present and future. In the initial phases of planning, the team involved the large community of students of Crescenzago along with other locals. This is where the idea of creating a hub dedicated to children arose.

The Green Between masterplan will develop a 15,000-square-meter area a few steps from the metro, near the headquarters of the RCS MediaGroup S.p.A. publishing house and not far from the San Raffaele Hospital. It will fall into a predominantly residential context, where social housing buildings of the 60s alternate with those of more recent construction, such as the intervention of the Competition 'Abitare a Milano/1' in via Civitavecchia, the new compendium of social housing 'Urbana new living' developed by Redo itself in via Rizzoli, and 'Welcome', a futuristic tertiary hub immersed in the nature of the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. The ongoing enhancement of Crescenzago also is due to the interventions promoted within King Lambro, the municipality project together with ERSAF, Parco Media valle del Lambro, Politecnico and Legambiente. The contribution of Fondazione Cariplo over the years has allowed the realization of interventions to stitch up the urban ecological network for the redevelopment of the Milanese River. Also, Lambro Park's Swiss Forest has recently recovered from being a vast area that was once long abandoned to finally returning to public use. A path of legality and reorganization is also underway regarding the privately owned areas of Via Rizzoli, which eventually can be regenerated to green and re-enter the afforestation interventions carried out in the adjacent areas within the framework of 'King Lambro'.

Stantec was also part of the winning team in the first C40 Reinventing Cities competition for L'INNESTO, the first zero carbon social housing project in Italy. The project was proposed by the team of Fondo Immobiliare Lombardia (FIL or Lombary Real Estate Fund) - managed by REDO, with Fondazione Housing Sociale (FHS) as a strategic partner, Barreca & La Varra for architectural and landscape design and Arup Italia for urban and environmental design. Stantec delivered services focused on site remediation, wastewater and rainwater management and resilience, deploying its expertise in infrastructure design, environmental engineering, and sustainability. The project is currently being developed and Stantec is mainly providing remediation and railyard decommissioning services.

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