The “Cooperation Agreement for Via Quarti” between the Municipality of Milan and the local community is just the first step in a complex project which will pool the Politecnico di Milano with organizations in direct contact with the local area.
The urban regeneration project is part of an extensive network initiated in the Municipality 7 and Quarti neighborhoods. The idea is to experiment with new uses of Parco delle Cave, starting by physically changing the road surface, a “space for everyone” and a new entrance to the park. The project has been created thanks to a shared workshop held from October to December 2018, which involved local inhabitants, associations and the Milano West Road Project group, a research-intervention project financed by the Polisocial Award.
In the words of councilor Lipparini, “tactical urban intervention and regeneration thanks to cooperation agreements are multiplying throughout the city and are a very efficient tool to improve the quality of life in the suburbs. They are fruit of an alliance between the Municipality, citizens and local organizations and they have had a strong impact on social relations, especially in fragile contexts such as Via Quarti, where we have wanted to focus attention, care and change”.
According to Andrea Di Franco, “the project in Via Quarti in Baggio is being set up by the West Road Project research group, together with Italia Nostra, Vestre and other associations, in one of the most complicated contexts in Municipality 7, with a network of extraordinary social workshops, of which Via Quarti is probably the most significant”. Considering the scope and depth of the co-designing that has been implemented within this research-action, this is absolutely true.
Thanks to its internal organization dedicated to social responsibility (Polisocial), the Politecnico is able to play the role of university mediator able to connect and point the different players towards concrete action in the local area. (source AffariItaliani)
