The Rotaie verdi project is truly getting under way. On Thursday 13 July, Milan's city council finally approved the programme agreement on the former railway yards, presented on 19 October last year and developed by WWF, with the support of Fondazione Cariplo in partnership with the Comune di Milano, Cooperativa Eliante and Rete ferroviaria italiana. The aim: to make use of disused railways to create a green oasis connecting the city with the countryside, by building cycle paths, allotments, park areas and affordable residential housing.

What the Rotaie Verdi project is

It is, in practice, a linear park intended to breathe new life into disused railway yards and tracks, along the lines of projects already completed at the Promenade Plantée in Paris and the High Line in New York. Rotaie Verdi, whose feasibility study was presented at the Urban Center in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, plans to redevelop and connect three yards in the southern part of the city: San Cristoforo, Porta Genova and Porta Romana.

The aim is not only to increase green space and tackle the decay of the city's outskirts: the linear park is conceived as an ecological corridor with the goal of connecting the city with the countryside, linking the south of Milan with the Parco agricolo on the city's doorstep, and hosting ecosystems typical of the Lombardy region.

With the city council's final green light, a process that began in 2005, when Gabriele Albertini was mayor, comes to a close. The plan provides for expenditure of 172 million euros, divided into three items: green space (the least costly), architectural interventions and urban planning measures.

Promoting biodiversity

According to surveys already carried out by naturalist experts, the project could genuinely promote local biodiversity: within the yards and along the tracks there are already 368 plant varieties, equivalent to 81 per cent of the total known in the city, while invertebrates are represented by 64 species and subspecies, particularly insects. Amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals are also present, including protected species such as the European green toad.

Old and new projects

Rotaie Verdi also serves to clarify the overall redevelopment plan for Milan's former railway yards: the agreement between the Comune di Milano and FS, approved more than a year ago on 22 September 2015, concerned seven areas — Greco-Breda, Farini, Lambrate, Romana, Rogoredo, Porta Genova and San Cristoforo — totalling one million 250,000 square metres to be regenerated through social residential construction and an increase in green areas. Maximum building capacity had been set at 674,000 square metres, with public-use spaces amounting to 590,000 square metres, of which 525,000 were to be green space. A further 10 km of cycle and pedestrian paths had also been planned.

The new project clarifies the functions of the southern yards: in particular, the Porta Genova yard is earmarked for the enhancement of functions linked to the fashion and design district, while San Cristoforo, to be given over entirely to parkland, will connect with the Naviglio Grande system. The Romana yard, meanwhile, will connect with another important new cultural hub: Fondazione Prada.

Sharing cities and the regeneration of the southern outskirts

Rotaie Verdi also forms part of a broader transformation project for one of Milan's most challenging outskirt areas — the territory identified as Porta Romana/Vettabbia, which stretches from the Romana yard itself to the Parco della Vettabbia, just before Chiaravalle and the Parco agricolo Sud.

Sharing cities is a European project currently involving three lighthouse cities — Lisbon, London and Milan — in which digital solutions are to be implemented to improve the liveability of districts earmarked for development. The project is characterised by co-design with residents; its objectives include implementing energy monitoring and retrofitting of buildings, promoting electric and sustainable mobility, car sharing and bike sharing, attracting new investment, making the neighbourhood "nearly zero-emission", and accelerating the adoption of smart city solutions.