URBNETLAB » Happening

Marco Facchinetti and Roger Keil meeting in Toronto. Exchanges’ network ready to start

Urbnetlab — Fri, 30 Sep 2016 13:44:10 +0000

Marco and Roger met yesterday in Toronto to start the already signed agreement on multilateral, institutional exchanges between Politecnico di Milano and York University. The program starts from a strong agreement: ‘planning’ will be the main topic covered by all the activities of the exchange. Planning as the main, most relevant answer to the processes of multi scalar regional (re) urbanization, currently occurring worldwide. Since these processes are producing territories and spaces which are different from those studied through the traditional concepts of urban planning studies, planning will be considered as the first and main point of view to understand what’s going on. Marco and Roger set a very intensive agenda on what is going to happen in 2016, 2017 and 2018 for students, academics and young researchers from both schools and a detailed program will be presented soon.

We both believe that the exchange will bring great opportunities in term of cultural and educational advancements. Toronto and Milano are two cities rapidly changing and evolving into more complex regions; suburban development is changing and it is creating new urban objects and incredible new urban behaviors throughout the metropolitan areas. Students, researchers and academics will be involved in studying how planning, as a main answer, should be able to face these changes and create a new idea of city.

Research seminar day in Stockholm: innovation and the reshaping of the city

Urbnetlab — Tue, 27 Sep 2016 13:20:41 +0000

Alta Scuola Politecnica students enrolled in Marco Facchinetti’s MIND project will attend on October, 7th a one day research and studies seminar day about innovation.

During the second phase of the project, students are requested to learn from different experiences, already open to innovation and precisely they should focus on places where innovation has already started re shaping the city and the region. For these reasons, we selected Stockholm as a dynamic regional environment, and we all would like to learn:
– how regional and urban management are working together to promote a different future for the city
– how innovation as a paradigm is re shaping some areas within the city/region, how it is able to bring urbanity back to region and how it is mixing up uses, behaviors, interests and creativity
– how innovation districts can really become a new urban feature, able to change urban planning agenda; how they work in Stockholm, which urban planning devices are supporting them and how strategic is the regional planning frame surrounding them

On their side, students will present their first analysis on the Milan case study, and together with Marco Facchinetti will illustrate the first frame to introduce the November, 16th 2016 International Conference about innovation in urban region, organized in Milano. Stockholm together with Barcelona and Chicago will be presented in Milano, discussing at the same time together with local, city and metro organization the future of redevelopment.

Full presentation of the day

FROM CITY TO REGION

Urbnetlab — Thu, 07 Apr 2016 19:53:22 +0000

“From City to Region. Transformations and the urbanization of the metropolis”
Marco Facchinetti – Hardback – April 2016

This new book aims at understanding if recent transformations in our cities are creating new typologies of urban regeneration or transformation processes. New emphasis on downtown areas, extending the daily life of many central places, new ideas for the retrofitting the suburbs, some new attempts in regional planning and consolidated experiences in transportation networks are bringing to our attention a new way of interpreting the relations between cities and regions and some new geographies in the organization of urban regions.

The research published in this book investigates on the last 15 years of attention on cities, asking if it has produced new typologies of urban environments, linked to regeneration and transformation of some parts of the city. Can we say that downtown re birth or suburbs retrofitting are creating new typologies of urbanity so recognizable to become a specific chance for all consolidated cities?

It tries to understand if this process of re thinking some parts of the cities brings to a new way of reading and planning large cities: are relations between downtowns and suburbs so different from the past to be able to restructure the cities into regions, made by episodes of urbanity not necessarily in or close downtowns? Are recent transformations so structurally urban to be able to consider urbanity as main value and to spread it around less dense regions?

The book answers to these questions proposing a manifesto for better planning urban regeneration processes for those transformations able to reconnect differently urban characters to regional cities. The manifesto proudly starts from Italian culture and practice in place making and urban transformations planning, rediscovering some rules and ideas able to propose a different approach to space design. Reading some of the most well known principles and ideas, the manifesto proposes a way of understanding and planning regeneration processes finding a new way of considering “urbanity” as a value for all the transformations around a region.

Smart City & Pianificazione

Urbnetlab — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 19:39:30 +0000

Nell’ambito dei rapporti di collaborazione con la Regione Lombardia, si è svolta giovedì 31 Marzo 2016 la presentazione sul tema dei rapporti tra pianificazione e gestione smart delle risorse della città. A partire da quanto costruito con il progetto Lavorando con quello che c’è, la presentazione apre alla collaborazione sui temi della gestione intelligente della città, dei suoi flussi, dei suoi consumi e del modo nel quale la pianificazione possa incidere da un lato agevolando i processi di gestione con le proprie scelte e dall’altro introiettando i temi della città intelligente all’interno del proprio vocabolario e del proprio modo di agire.

Scarica la presentazione

Second semester is about to start at Politecnico di Milano

Urbnetlab — Thu, 21 May 2015 08:20:33 +0000

After teaching at the Urban Plans Studio, and after sharing for months with students coming from all over the world an amazing experience of urban planning, for a transformation area on the south edge of the city of Milano, second semester is about to start. Marco Facchinetti will be teaching at the Urban Planning Studio, open to first year’s students. The course will focus on the different ways in which the City is transforming itself and opening its boundaries to the Region. More to come, on the Education section

Beppe Sala wins primary election in Milan. Official candidate to 2016 municipal election

Urbnetlab — Tue, 19 May 2015 10:58:40 +0000

Beppe Sala has been chosen by left wing voters, supporters and party to become the official candidate for 2016 Spring Milano elections. Beppe Sala is the former commissioner and chief of the successful Milano Expo. Sala met few days before winning the Italian Infrastructures Minister, Graziano Delrio to share their visions about the transformations of Milan’s rail depots and areas. Since years, many of the rail areas and depot are under used or no longer used. Since the rail beltway has been built during the first decades on 20th century, the majority of these areas is in the city center, very close to many hot areas recently transformed by the city. Together with the Minister, Beppe Sala agreed on creating a special plan to convert the areas into green, social housing, public facilities, promoting a pilot plan, able to be used also by many other cities around the country, with the same urban planning issue. We will see what happens in the future, if Sala becomes the new Mayor of the city and how the areas will be planned and transformed. Transformations are strategic for these areas and this is the last chance for the city to add a consistent amount of green, public areas and public facilities to the congested, compact city center. Above all, this is the last chance to interpret this transformation according to the new regional dimension of the city, losing the traditional Milan focused vision to join a larger, more network-like vision over the future of the city.
More to come on Policy, Advocacy and law