Contemporary Production and Urban Change: The Case of Milan

ABSTRACT

How do new sites of production and workplaces relate to the making of urban change in Milan’s peripheral areas? The paper answers this question by looking at two different fields of investigation related to peripheral areas. On one hand, the paper examines the policies promoted by the public administration at the municipal level to enhance urban innovation through new workplaces within the smart city agenda. On the other hand, the urban innovation brought by the establishment of cultural and creative industries promoted by private actors will be examined, ranging from the new geography of creative places to the creation of temporary transformations. Starting from these two fields of analysis, the paper identifies areas of difference and potential combined effects between public action and private initiative. These are placed against the backdrop of a conception of contemporary production that has worked as a tool for social inclusion and place-making in peripheral contexts in Milan.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban change
• smart city policy
• creative production
• new production
• Milan
• Italy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on Contributors

Simonetta Armondi is an assistant professor in economic political geography in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano.

Antonella Bruzzese is an associate professor in urban planning in the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano.

ORCID

Simonetta Armondi http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5293-7581

Antonella Bruzzese http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9785-7606

Notes

1. A fab lab (fabrication laboratory) is a small-scale workshop offering (personal) digital fabrication. A makerspace is a community center that provides technology, manufacturing equipment, and educational opportunities to the public (see Moriset, 2014 and Mariotti et al. in this issue).

2. See all the documents available at: www.lavoroeformazioneincomune.it

3. During the workshop “I luoghi della produzione creativa a Milano. Riflessioni e prospettive” (“The Places of Creative Production in Milan: Reflections and Perspectives”), held at the Triennale di Milan, May 22, 2013, the curators—A. Bruzzese, I. Giuliani, C. Botti—collected the views both of four scholars working on the issue and four entrepreneurs involved in the process.

4. See the Journal of Urban Technology special issue: “Creating Smart-er Cities” 18:2 (2011).

5. For critical interpretation of the notion of creative class and creative city respectively, see Peck 2005 and Scott 2006. On the link between the city and innovation, see Shearmur 2012.

6. The list of the sub-categories used is visible in Bruzzese 2015b. How to define, and consequently quantify, creative production sectors is an open question. To understand the Italian situation, see Fondazione Symbola's 2015 report.

7. Data from Cognetti 2014.

8. The surfaces vary between 20,000 and 600,000 square meters, and the number of lots equals to the 20 percent of the total number.

9. For an interesting and still actual portrait of the “unfinished” Milan see Bolocan Goldstein and Bonfantini 2007.

10. For a synthesis of Milan's previous urban policy see Gonzaléz 2009.

11. This framework has allowed operators to begin their works with a direct intervention method called DIA (Dichiarazione di Inizio Attività). Nowadays, for buildings larger than 15,000 square meters, this would imply the use of an implementation plan (Piano Attuativo), accompanied by a transfer of standards areas and a share of at least 35 percent of social housing.

12. The area is about 1 square kilometer with 15,175 residents. 7.4 percent of the buildings are productive (the Milanese average is 5.8 percent), 8.1 percent tertiary and offices (the Milanese average is 4.4 percent) See Milan's PGT (general urban plan), adopted in 2012. Annex 3, Le 88 Schede NIL.

13. Including some big fashion brands such as Esprit, Kenzo, Zegna, Hugo Boss, Gas, Diesel, Tod's and the Armani museum.

14. More information on www.base.milano.it

15. Fuorisalone is the set of initiatives, events, trade fairs and creative activities that happen in the city, while Milan's annual International Furniture Fair (Salone del Mobile) takes place at the fairgrounds. At the beginning of the 1980s, this was a spontaneous phenomenon involving only young and emerging designers, seeking alternative locations around the city. Year after year this trend gradually expands, giving birth in the 1990s to the “Fuorisalone” as it is nowadays: a big number of events, that takes place in industrial spaces, streets, showroom, and galleries in several districts of Milan, attracted more than 350,000 visitors in 2014.

16. The motto of the local association Made in Lambrate is: “the neighborhood that is alive 365 days a year.”

17. Such as Made in Lambrate, or Association Tortona, or Cascina Cuccagna to name a few.

18. The Councilor for Employment Policies, Economic Development, University and Research underlines that “In the last five years, thanks to new smart city policies, 63 spaces for new production available for citizens were created, and 40.000 square meters of vacant spaces were renewed” (Tajani, 2016).

19. In these areas a certain heterogeneity still exists, both in the inhabitant's social profiles and in the economic activities’ profiles. The place where the effects of gentrification are more visible is in the Tortona area. Here the real estate average price in the period from 1993 to 2012 increased considerably. For example, for “new apartments” prices jumped from 2.450 €/sq.m to approximately 5.050 €/sq.m (+205 percent); for “recent apartments (with less than 40 years and refurbished)” from 1.800 to 4.000 (+221 percent); and “apartments, with more than 40 years or to refurbish” from 1.420 to 3.150 (+222 percent) (OSMI, 2012). Although it appears high, the increase is in line with the trend of Milanese prices during the same period and it is not so different from others registered in neighboring areas (for example, the homologous data in the nearby area “Conca del Naviglio,” which are + 180 percent; + 190 percent; + 164 percent respectively).