Infrastructures for Proximity. Methods and Strategies for the Regeneration of Railway Station Areas in the Lombardy Network

The regeneration of railway stations represents a strategic field for integrating mobility infrastructures, public space, and territorial cohesion. This contribution proposes a systemic method for the analysis and programmatic orientation of interventions on railway station areas, understood as territorial infrastructures of proximity, capable of promoting territorial equity and social inclusion. Starting from a comparison between national and international models and from the analysis of the Lombardy railway system, the research defines a multi-criteria tool for the analysis and evaluation of stations and the development of operational guidelines for their regeneration. The application to the Milano Cadorna case (Italy) provides a profile structured by macro-areas, highlighting critical issues, opportunities, and intervention priorities, and outlining a method that can be replicated at the network scale. The paper presents an interpretative framework for an infrastructural heritage that now requires systemic regeneration, together with a method that can be replicated in comparable regional railway contexts.