Milan. A hotbed of experimentation in the transformation of post-industrial areas

The paper discusses the relationship between Milan and the second life of post-industrial areas in its metropolitan region. In fact, the relocation of the industrial belt and the modification of infrastructural frameworks have been at the center of the political and scientific debate since the end of World War II, and the general plans and talk-about projects that followed. Entailing slow and sometimes contradictory transformation processes, the gradual conversion of dismissed areas has nonetheless reshaped entire urban portions and today seems still far from conclusion. The paper selects from among the plethora of post-industrial transformations a few emblematic experiences that help to frame how Milan became a hotbed of experimentation and how the perspective and the needs of the city transformation could be addressed in the future. The outcomes discuss design challenges and themes emerging from the past and ongoing architectural projects and processes of urban transformations in post-industrial sites and reflect on the strategic way contexts, architecture, citizens, and sustainable environments can find innovative and harmonious forms of coexistence.