La Festa di Isola Pepe Verde

Sunday I was at the festival of Isola Pepe Verde. Isola Pepe Verde is an association started by the local community of Isola (a neighbourhood in Milan) to work together in finding a park for the neighbourhood, which is now dominated by construction, skyscrapers and cement.  Only a small patch of green remained next to the train and metro station Garibaldi. They have proposed that this strip of green along with the adjacent old parking lot can become a small garden and community centre. This has been quite a difficult project for them as community hardly seems on the minds of the big industries being built around it. However the municipality of Milan have assigned it to them, and on Sunday they started planting on the green strip.  Along with it they had they’re festival which has now become an annual affair.  Also see the adjacent project  that I was part of here.

Corporate structures, Isola

From Garibaldi station, Milano

Bosco Verticale, Milano

At the moment the skyline of  the neighbourhood Isola  in Milan is dominated by large cranes and construction. These visions of progress seems to represent the opposite of how a lot of the citizens of Italy experience it. Amongst  these constructions is the Vertical forest designed by architect Stefano Boeri. While I quite like the idea of it and the design concept; the reality of it is quite something else. These apartments will cost more then most people can afford and instead of being seen as positive thing in the community of Isola, it becomes a symbol of the gentrification that has been taking place over the past few years. This has led to the already very cement area to become even more grey, and it has also taken away the spaces used by the community, there is no longer a park (apart from the future park that will be there for the inhabitants of the obviously not very inclusive Vertical forest ) or community centre, something they have requested several times with constructive proposals.  Read more about the community's struggle here (unfortunately all in Italian) and in english and italian on the website of the Isola Art Centre. This  situation lets me wonder what the point of good design is if it is at the cost of others?  

Isola Skyline, Milano