Urban transition, a new Pilot Eco-district in Porto di Marea are (Milan) via IMM methodology

Nowadays the environmental ramifications of urban development have become crystal clear. Subsequently, the main headline is how one should implement practical methods to tackle urban growth and environmental issues simultaneously. How should one integrate urbanization and the issue of saving natural resources? How design strategies could contribute to climate change mitigation and emission reduction? Is urban morphology correlated with these issues? And eventually, how can the urban transformation be performed, retrofitted and monitored in order to achieve a more sustainable result? A strictly sectorial approach could result in neglecting mutual dependencies of these demands. Conversely, an integrated approach can help to sharpen a better comprehension on the performances of different urban assessment. City seen as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) is investigated at various scales with a focus on the neighbourhood one (considered as an intermediate scale). IMM, Integrated Modification Methodology, is a multi-stage, iterative process, applied to urban complex systems, for improving the metabolism of the city as well as its energy and environmental performance. The method has been depicted through prior publications by the authors; hence, the proposed paper aims to present a case study located in Milan and particularly in Porto di Mare area. Porto di Mare has a unique position at the outskirts of the city, between important infrastructures, the city centre, and the rural belt around the metropolitan area of Milano. This represent a great potential opportunity for studying a better connection between rural and urban areas of Milano. Our paper aims to demonstrate the role that an innovative, high efficient Eco Districts (as pilot Italian initiative) could play for the area as well as to show its impact on larger part of Milan. The presented research aims to demonstrate how it’s possible to improve the energy and environmental performance of urban contexts, reducing consequently its footprint.