City Life

As a mixed-use project, the CityLife neighborhood hosts a variety of land uses. To create a public park within the district, more than half of the total surface was dedicated to open spaces and green areas covering more than 170,000 sqm. In addition, the project created recreational spaces with tennis and padel courts and the ArtLine Milano exposition. The remaining area is divided between the buildings designed by the architects Zaha Hadid, Daniel Libeskind and Arata Isozaki, which include the residential buildings, the three towers hosting the offices at the center of the neighborhood, and the shopping district. The project also includes a public kindergarten and the metro station Tre Torri.

The redevelopment project revitalized the brownfield of the former international trade fair and increased the attractiveness of the entire neighborhood by creating new residences, commercial areas, open spaces and recreational areas. The creation of a shopping and business district generated new employment opportunities given by the offices, bars, restaurants and retail stores located in the newly built commercial districts. The offices host around 5,800 employees in total.

The regeneration project had a clear objective in reducing the environmental impact of the newly constructed buildings. Firstly, the energy employed is entirely produced from renewable resources, thus reducing the emissions produced for the heating and cooling systems of the residences. In addition, the residential constructions are all A-class certified, with a low environmental impact and energy usage, and the construction involved the employment of insulating materials to improve energy efficiency. The redevelopment of the area saw the construction of a 173,000 sqm public park, with the planting of more than 2,000 trees, and flower gardens amounting to more than 5,000 sqm. The implementation of this spread green area is dedicated to regulating the micro-climate of the area and absorbing CO2, as well as to improving and protecting the urban ecosystem of the area.

The regeneration of CityLife aims to create a new and inclusive neighborhood. In order to do so, the project provides a vast area dedicated to open and recreational spaces. Firstly, the project created a 170,000 sqm public park, as well as two sports centers, namely the Citylife Tennis Garden and the Milano City Padel courts. The redevelopment provided residents with access to public services, creating the Tre Torri new metro line M5 stop and building a new public kindergarten. Lastly, the project envisioned also the provision of recreational and cultural areas with the institution of ArtLine Milano, a public space hosting cultural events and exhibitions. Regarding the mobility characteristics in the redevelopment area, the project built the largest car-free area in Milan, with roads and parking slots located underground. The above area is totally dedicated to promoting sustainable mobility, with dedicated pedestrian and bicycle paths that run across the neighborhood.

The new CityLife neighborhood received several international certifications of sustainability, both at building- and community-level. The Shopping District received the BREEAM-in-Use certificate, achieving the level Very Good for Asset Performance and Good for Building Management. The Allianz Tower and PWC Tower received the Gold certification, while the Generali Tower achieved the Platinum certification. In addition, all the residential buildings created in the district are certified A-class for energy use and consumption. At the neighborhood-level, CityLife received the Platinum level in the LEED for Cities and Communities, the SITES for Existing Landscapes, the first in Europe to receive such certification, and the WELL Community Certification.

The CityLife project has been entirely funded by the private company CityLife S.p.A., which was initially composed of Generali Group, Riunione Adriatica S.p.A. (later incorporated in Allianz), Progestim (incorporated in Immobiliare Lombarda), Grupo Lar, and Lamaro Appalti. Later, only Generali Group and Allianz remained as owners of the company, with the last one selling its share to Generali in 2014. In addition, the selling of the land of the former fair area has been achieved with a Public-Private Partnership between CityLife S.p.A. and Milan Fair Foundation, formerly a public-private company that later became an entirely private company with public participation.

The project has been entirely financed with the private resources of CityLife S.p.A., which were acquired through loans from different banks interested in financing the redevelopment of the area. The approval of the final Integrated Intervention Plan (Piano Integrato di Intervento) and the Masterplan required a long negotiation process with the Municipality of Milan. This process required the application of Development Exactions in the terms of public services (kindergarten, the metro station, the public park, etc.).

Image from CityLife, retrieved here.