1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Milano
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Un Fiume Verde per Milano
Short description of the intervention
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).
Address

Via Carlo Farini, 27
20159 Milano
Italy

Location
The NBS is a city-wide initiative, the GIS point marks the centre of the city
Total area
1250000.00m²
NBS area
1250000.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Previous derelict area
Other
Please specify “other type of area” before implementation of the NBS
Railways (1, 3 and 4).
Website of the intervention
https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/it/portfolios/un-fiume-verde-per-milano/
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2017
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
in planning stage
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Envisioned
Please specify "other" stage of the intervention
The project did not pass the selection phase and another company got the green light from the Railway company and the municipality of Milano in 2019 (6). The work started in 2019. Below is the website of the winner:
https://oma.eu/projects/scalo-farini
Goals of the intervention
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).
Quantitative targets
Green spaces must cover a minimum surface of 80% out of the total surface. It is projected that the whole intervention will cover an area of over 1 million square meters (5).
Monitoring indicators defined
% of the total surface area covered by green space; sq m covered by the intervention (5)
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
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
Climate change mitigation: What were the goals of the NBS?
Sequester and store carbon
Climate change mitigation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Increase green urban nature for carbon storage (wetlands, tree cover)
Improve carbon sequestration through selection of more adaptable species
What types of restoration goals are / were defined for the NBS intervention?
Ecosystem-focused
What activities are implemented to realize the restoration goals and targets?
Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
Restore ecological connectivity
Implementation activities
Unknown.
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Ecological restoration of ecosystems
Transformation of previously derelict areas
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
Railroad bank and track greens
Parks and urban forests
Green corridors and green belts
Vegetation Type
Trees
Garden beds
Other
Please specify how many trees were planted
Unknown
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Local climate regulation (temperature reduction)
Air quality regulation
Carbon storage/sequestration
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Maintenance of genetic diversity
Cultural services
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Physical and experiential interactions with plants and animals
Scale
Spatial scale
Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Citizens or community groups
Please specify other local relevant strategy
restore derelict areas: 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).
Governance
Governance arrangements
Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Non-government actors
Private sector/Corporate/Business
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
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).
Key actors - initiating organization
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Railway
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Railway
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Unknown
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Yes
Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan"
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).
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
Voluntary re-qualification of a derelict area. (3)
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify the general plan with GI/NBS section
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).
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
Other
Please specify other vegetation type
parks, woods, oases, orchards and gardens; green corridors (1, 3 and 4).
Green spaces (5)
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Please specify
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Please specify
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
Public national budget
Public local authority budget
Type of fund(s) used
Earmarked public budget
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
Risk reduction model
Green densification model
Green health model
Green heritage model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Private for-profit actor (e.g. firm, insurer)
Type of innovation
Technological
Infrastructural innovation
Please specify technological innovation
Specific derelict railways currently suffering environmental degradation will be rehabilitated (2, 3 and 5).
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales
Restoration of derelict areas
Description of environmental benefits
Specific derelict railways currently suffering environmental degradation will be rehabilitated (2, 3 and 5).
Green spaces must cover a minimum surface of 80% out of the total surface. It is projected that the whole intervention will cover an area of over 1 million square meters (5).
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).
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and 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
Description of social and cultural benefits
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).
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
No impacts reported
Indicators
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).
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of September 2020
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
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
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Please specify
There's still no evaluation assessment in place.
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
Please specify
There's still no evaluation assessment in place.
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Project website
Project docs
NBS envisioning
Boeri's Project
Comune di Milano announcement
List of references
1.Miaw (2017), Project website, Available at http://www.miaw.polimi.it/2017/02/everything-nature-ex-scalo-farini-urbanarchitecturallandscape-strategies-for-a-resilient-milano/ (Accessed 9-9-2020)

2. Miaw 92017), Project docs, Available at http://www.miaw.polimi.it/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/WS-01_Mauro-Baracco.pdf (Accessed 9-9-2020)

3. Corriere della Sera (2017), NBS envisioning, Available at http://www.abitare.it/it/habitat/urban-design/2017/05/21/milano-scali-ferroviari-architetti/?refresh_ce-cp (Accessed 9-9-2020)

4.Stefano Boeri Architetti (2017), Boeri's project (Un fiume verde per Milano), Available at https://www.stefanoboeriarchitetti.net/it/portfolios/un-fiume-verde-per-milano/ (Accessed 9-9-2020)

5. AD Space: http://www.adspazio.it/il-fiume-verde-di-boeri-cambiera-milano/ (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 https://www.comune.milano.it/-/scali-ferroviari.-presa-d-atto-masterplan-farini-e-san-cristoforo-ok-a-fermata-circle-line-a-mind (Accessed 9-9-2020)
Comments and notes
Comments
2020 comments:
The project is still in its envisioning phase, so only preliminary documentation is available. More info should come up by the end of the summer. I checked for updates on date 6th August 2017, and it seems like the project by Boeri is one of the most favorite and soon they will discuss practical applications with the Municipality of Milan, but no official announcement is out yet.
Pictures of the NBS
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/scalo_farini.jpeg
/sites/default/files/nbs/images/scalo_farini2.jpeg