Bicocca - A Case of Urban Regeneration

MILAN - It was the mid-80s, with the first aftermath of globalization, most industrialized cities and regions experienced an epochal shift. Moving from a production system based on manufacturing to a service-oriented economy did not happened without backlash on urban planning.

In those years, the wind of delocalization and a financial crisis forced the well-established Pirelli industry to move away from their almost-central neighbourhood in Milan. Since then, the area called Bicocca represents the biggest Italian transformation of a defunct industrial site to a new functional urban and modern district.

Bicocca area, before and after.

The idea was that of replacing the Milan’s old industrial atmosphere with a modern fashion that, including a university-educational centre should generate strategic relationships with firms to foster and favour technology transfer, knowledge sharing and finally local and economic development. 

The project labelled “integrated multi-functional and technological pole”, coordinated by Pirelli and designed by Vittorio Gregotti at Gregotti Associati International, was built up without the direct involvement of the Municipality of Milan and that can explain the partial lack of a comprehensive perspective, consider for instance that a new “fuchsia” subway line stopping at Bicocca is expected by 2012 and some sites still remain without a well-defined destination. 

Besides a shopping mall that does not deserve our attention and few under-construction housing, Bicocca area consists of a novel theatre, the Arcimboldi, which is sponsored by the historical Teatro alla Scala and offers high level performances ranging from opera to cabaret, an experimental centre for contemporary art and creativity called Hangar Bicocca, and a brand-new university, the University of Milan-Bicocca which with almost 30 thousand students and 21 buildings represents the biggest actor of this urban revolution.

Criticism arose during the 90’s and is still going on. Someone criticizes the architecture itself, labelling the buildings by Gregotti as “the ugliest on earth”, some blame the lack of coordination and central planning which resolve in creating a neighbourhood with no human dimension.

A study carried out by the University of Milan-Bicocca itself in 2007 concludes that “The project of Bicocca is far from being a planning project, it is much more an architectural design project developed by a private firm under the permission of the municipality, a plan must consider the relationship between the area and its surroundings, the transportation network, the needs of public and analyses about the transformation of the area and also active participation of different actors. But in the Bicocca project these are lacking points of the project and also the reasons why it is not a success. As an investment the project is successful because the investor, Pirelli group, benefited from this project, but as an urban transformation project it is a failure due to the lack of integration to the surrounding areas and articulation to the rest and center of the city.”

Possibly, any judgment upon this regeneration has to look forward and consider a long-run perspective. At the moment, the process of change is still ongoing and shortcomings are easy to detect. Nevertheless, Bicocca is a great gamble with the future and can eventually offer to Milan and its people the chance of moving to a polycentric city model. Indeed, the complete development of the area will depend greatly upon the proactivity of its major components, the University of Milan–Bicocca, the Arcimboldi Theatre and last but not least, the Hangar Bicocca that with its multi-dimensional approach to arts and culture represents the perfect incubator for change and innovation.