The project for Piazzale Loreto redevelopment in Milan consists of a large and complex public space transformation in a critical urban area. The project site includes different urban surfaces: a square with an articulated vehicular intersection, an eight-story adjacent building, and the commercial and pedestrian underground spaces of the subway station, for a total of 26,000 square meters of gross surface area^[1]. The property of all the spaces belongs to the Municipality of Milan, which in 2019 proposed the site for the international competition Reinventing Cities, an initiative of the C40 city network. C40 is a coalition of mayors seeking to confront the climate crisis with innovative architectural and urban planning solutions. The purpose^[2] of the public administration is to reorganize the mobility of the square, prioritizing the safety of slow mobility fluxes but at the same time maintaining the car transit capacity; maximize the provision of attractive and programmable public spaces integrated with a system of green areas to improve environmental services; re-activate the underutilized commercial spaces belonging to the underground subway station; renovate the vacant public building introducing new functions.

Piazzale Loreto today

Piazzale Loreto is an enigmatic square. The heavy historical facts associated with its name precede any visual image of the space itself. In August of 1944^[3], 15 partisans were executed there by a fascist squad, as a deliberate retaliation act to frighten the population and isolate the Resistance. Less than one year later, the dead bodies of Benito Mussolini and other high-ranking fascist commanders were hanged in the same place and exposed to the jubilant crowd. The square is nationally recognized as the symbolic end of the line of the fascist regime. There is a minimum trace of this history in the present setting of the square, which has no centrality in the current spatial configuration.

Its design on the ground did not change much from what it looked like in the 1950s: a wide surface (more than 4 acres) surrounded by large traffic lanes that make nearly impossible the pedestrian crossing and cycling very uncomfortable and dangerous^[4]. A lawn lies idle at the center, crosscut by other vehicular intersections, and billboards peep out from the buildings’ facades. Underground is an important interchange subway station whose pedestrian tunnels host various spaces for offices and retail shops.

Piazzale Loreto represents the northeastern entry point to the core of Milan, both for vehicular and subway fluxes from peripheries and suburbs, a nodal point for many to experience the city. Different urban contexts surround the square, some hosting very vulnerable segments of the urban population. On the north, there is a variegated historically working-class neighborhood, which on the western side sees advanced phenomena of gentrification, while on the eastern side presents the highest concentration of low-rent private housing market in the city, with some extent of precarious material conditions. On the south is a commercial boulevard that leads into the city center, and the Milan Cathedral is only two miles away. The neighborhoods on this side host mainly middle-class housing, with some areas of high-end housing for the upper class.

The LOC project in brief

The discursive dismissal of Piazzale Loreto and its surroundings and the need for their redevelopment have been well-established and emphasized by media and local administrations for years (Verga, 2016). The winning project for the square renovation is called LOC – Loreto Open Community. With an ambitious design^[5] that radically changes the square design and partially uncovers the pedestrian tunnels of the subway station, the project aims to create a two-level square. The street level will host slow mobility paths, widenings, and three new buildings for commercial facilities with accessible rooftop gardens. A lowered level, corresponding to areas previously underground, will be planted with 300 trees and constitute the core of the project, an open space with direct access to the subway lines. The existing building, once the public office of the education department, will host co-working spaces, offices, and a privately operated kindergarten. The project aims to mitigate the effects of climate change with attentive planning of greenery, water, and energy management, claiming to be a space for resilience and adaptation. The developer who won the competition had scheduled to complete the works by 2026, in time for the Winter Olympics the city will host. However, issues related to the public-private partnership agreement emerged, postponing the start of construction.

Issues in relation to the project that question our idea of city

Some questions emerge from the project features and interrogate the urban future envisioned by the LOC project. What idea of the city does the project embed?

Despite the declared goals of inclusiveness, increment of open liveable spaces, and citizen participation, the transfer of the public land surface rights to the private developer for 90 years raises questions on the overall idea of urban development and the future accessibility and appropriability of the square. Additionally, some residents, local organizations, and experts in urban dynamics are concerned about the risk of gentrification in the adjacent neighborhoods due to the likely increment of property value around the project area.

We propose to reflect on the project from 3 different critical perspectives.

First, questioning the design process of the LOC project and its rhetoric. Which type of process did the Municipality activate to redevelop the square? How does the project relate to discursive global trends and local planning practices of urban development? Second, urging to look at the possible effects of the LOC project on the housing market in the immediate surroundings and the ability of current residents to enjoy the result of the renovation in the future. What impacts might the project have on vulnerable communities living in the neighborhoods surrounding the LOC project? Third, reflecting on the limits of privately owned public spaces and the risk of social exclusion. What kind of public space does the LOC project envision and plan?

Bibliography

Verga, P. L. (2016). Rhetoric in the Representation of a Multi‐Ethnic Neighbourhood: The Case of Via Padova, Milan. Antipode, 48(4), 1080-1101.

^[1] Detailed information on the LOC project is included in the “Technical project report” available on the Municipality of Milan website, last retrieved 12/12/2024. 

^[2] Call for Piazzale Loreto regeneration, last retrieved 12/12/2024. 

^[3] Archival material from the ANED (National Association of the Deported), last retrieved 12/12/2024. 

^[4] In 2023, after some fatal accidents, residents organized a protest in Piazzale Loreto to claim measures for mobility security.
Newspaper article: 06/23/2023, “Dal comune di Milano solo parole, è colpevole delle morti. Questa è un’emergenza”: i ciclisti bloccano piazzale Loreto dopo l’ultimo incidente, Il Fatto Quotidiano, last retrieved 12/12/2024. 

^[5] Project designs and illustrative tables are available on the Municipality of Milan website, last retrieved 12/12/2024.