Urban Green Space to Promote Urban Public Health: Green Areas’ Design Features and Accessibility Assessment in Milano City, Italy

During the first waves of the Covid-19 pandemic period, urban environments were stressed; the resilience of our cities were tested, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the urban contexts, not always capable to promote and protect the population health status. Urban Green Spaces (UGS) have proved essential role as “tools” to improve Urban Public and Mental Health. Unfortunately, the heterogeneous distribution of UGS inside the contemporary cities, together with the disparity in quality of such spaces, led to some exclusion phenomena. The paper would describe a research experience based on four consequential phases: theoretical background update; tool definition phase (Quantitative assessment: Proximity of the UGS in Milano, and Qualitative assessment: RECITAL 2.0 Mi-lano); application phase in the urban context of Milano city and findings analysis. About the application phase, 24 parks were evaluated: by the comparison of the “RECITAL 2.0 Milano” results with the UGS surface data, no significant pattern emerges, that means that environmental quality is not linked to the extension of the UGS. By the comparison of the overall score with the average real estate val-ues in the analyzed area, emerges an easily readable and expected correlation: the top-performing parks are in the most exclusive areas of the city, often in or near the city center, easily reachable by public transportation alternatives. Qualitative assessments can detect criticalities in-side the urban environment, while quantita-tive assessments can find areas of the cities deprived of the benefits of UGS. The overlap of both findings could be an indicator of the presence of some form of exclusion phenomena, thus requiring attention both of Urban Planners and Policy Makers to ensure healthier and more equal urban environments.