Unless
Basic information
Project Title
Unless
Full project title
Nothing will change. Unless everyone is involved
Category
Reconnecting with nature
Project Description
‘Unless’ is a project that seeks to create a community sharing collective responsibility of a place from conception to conservation.
Geographical Scope
Local
Project Region
Italy
Urban or rural issues
Mainly urban
Physical or other transformations
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
EU Programme or fund
No
Description of the project
Summary
‘Unless’ as an idea was born out of this need to create an approach to re-use and transform a public space set in the city of Milan (Italy). The project is concerned with the improvement of the aesthetics and the connection between two adjacent public parks and an adjoining road. Currently, the two parks are separated by an open air gallery, perceived as a visual and architectural barrier and an unsafe place, while the adjoining road has a lack of safe crossing and bicycle paths.
There is no doubt that the world as we know it today suffers from a milieu of problems with regards to our relationship with the environment. In light of these challenges, we realised that any gesture, action or solution imaginable couldn't ignore climate change, neighbourhood involvement, and biodiversity protection. While sharing our concerns about the uncertainties of the future of our planet, we talked about rising temperatures, recurring cloud bursts, the polluted air, and the light pollution in the cities. This list of problems is ever increasing and if we maintain the status quo, we risk moving towards a point of no return…‘Unless’ all of us are involved in reimagining our relationship with the environment.
Our approach consists of three main elements : Disruption, Adaptation and Inhabitation.
There is no doubt that the world as we know it today suffers from a milieu of problems with regards to our relationship with the environment. In light of these challenges, we realised that any gesture, action or solution imaginable couldn't ignore climate change, neighbourhood involvement, and biodiversity protection. While sharing our concerns about the uncertainties of the future of our planet, we talked about rising temperatures, recurring cloud bursts, the polluted air, and the light pollution in the cities. This list of problems is ever increasing and if we maintain the status quo, we risk moving towards a point of no return…‘Unless’ all of us are involved in reimagining our relationship with the environment.
Our approach consists of three main elements : Disruption, Adaptation and Inhabitation.
Key objectives for sustainability
This project is rooted on the EU Taxonomy Regulation that establishes six environmental objectives which provide indications for sustainable actions:
Climate change mitigation: objective met through asphalt removal along the street, installation of solar panels on top of the gallery separating the two parks.
Climate change adaptation: objective met in the parks with the introduction of the rain gardens as a proposal against cloud bursts; tree species chosen for their ability to adapt to increasingly harsh climates.
The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources: objective met through rain gardens as a smart tool to create permeable pavements to restore water balance by capturing, retaining, and improving the infiltration capacity in urban areas.
The transition to a circular economy: objective met with urban gardens nourished by compost made with the organic harvest collected from the neighbourhood
Pollution prevention and control: objectives met with the reduction of parking spots, extension of the bicycle paths, addition of bike racks and reduction of light pollution.
The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems: objective met through a lighting project aimed at lowering the colour temperatures of the lighting sources by opting for mixed Amber and White LEDs so that the insects and fauna are not disturbed by the blue light. Furthermore the project suggest to reduce the level of brightness of the luminaires along the road and inside the parks up to 1 Lux. 1 Lux is the average value of illuminance brought by the full moon on a clear night and guarantees orientation and safety, so as to be able to follow a path, identify obstacles and recognize people.
Climate change mitigation: objective met through asphalt removal along the street, installation of solar panels on top of the gallery separating the two parks.
Climate change adaptation: objective met in the parks with the introduction of the rain gardens as a proposal against cloud bursts; tree species chosen for their ability to adapt to increasingly harsh climates.
The sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources: objective met through rain gardens as a smart tool to create permeable pavements to restore water balance by capturing, retaining, and improving the infiltration capacity in urban areas.
The transition to a circular economy: objective met with urban gardens nourished by compost made with the organic harvest collected from the neighbourhood
Pollution prevention and control: objectives met with the reduction of parking spots, extension of the bicycle paths, addition of bike racks and reduction of light pollution.
The protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems: objective met through a lighting project aimed at lowering the colour temperatures of the lighting sources by opting for mixed Amber and White LEDs so that the insects and fauna are not disturbed by the blue light. Furthermore the project suggest to reduce the level of brightness of the luminaires along the road and inside the parks up to 1 Lux. 1 Lux is the average value of illuminance brought by the full moon on a clear night and guarantees orientation and safety, so as to be able to follow a path, identify obstacles and recognize people.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
Our proposal, while maintaining its own identity, adapts to the context through a relationship of materiality and colours. The intervention fits harmoniously into the historical context highlighting the typical red of the bricks chosen as colour of the project.
The newly established openings between the gardens create new visual connections and improve the livability of the place.
The tree selection of the rain gardens guarantee colourful and always different scenarios through the seasons creating a pleasant and restorative environment
The newly established openings between the gardens create new visual connections and improve the livability of the place.
The tree selection of the rain gardens guarantee colourful and always different scenarios through the seasons creating a pleasant and restorative environment
Key objectives for inclusion
Inclusion for us has different meanings. Looking at the street we extended the bike path to encourage more light traffic coming into our site and we designed wider crossing to let all people feel safer. Looking at the parks we add a new play area where children and adults can enjoy their free time and we insert several benches and tables to encourage socialisation and chance of encounters among inhabitants of the neighbourhood. We also looked at other kinds of neighbours: insects. Our lighting project aimed at lowering the colour temperatures of the lighting sources by opting for mixed Amber and White LEDs so that the insects and fauna are not disturbed by the blue light.
How Citizens benefit
Citizens around the area will benefit from this intervention for several reasons. Firstly, the change in the infrastructure foresees the presence of a new connection with a greater bicycle lane, which can encourage people to use a sustainable transportation system, increasing their sense of safety.
The presence of an urban vegetable garden can increase the sense of community, and encourage people to socialise, spend time outdoors, and increase the feeling of making a change (see the “Reasonable Person Model” Theory by Kaplan & Kaplan, 2005).
The paved spaces which are currently not utilised, we propose to be filled with desks where people can meet and work outdoors.
A series of contemplative gardens constitute the opportunity to gain restoration from mental fatigue and increase people’s well-being (see “Attention Restoration Theory”, by Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989)
The presence of an urban vegetable garden can increase the sense of community, and encourage people to socialise, spend time outdoors, and increase the feeling of making a change (see the “Reasonable Person Model” Theory by Kaplan & Kaplan, 2005).
The paved spaces which are currently not utilised, we propose to be filled with desks where people can meet and work outdoors.
A series of contemplative gardens constitute the opportunity to gain restoration from mental fatigue and increase people’s well-being (see “Attention Restoration Theory”, by Kaplan & Kaplan, 1989)
Physical or other transformations
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Innovative character
Our concept presents a holistic way to approach urban design by looking at sustainability not only from an environmental point of view, but also from a social one. This is what separates us from mainstream actions in the field. The integration of the cognitive and psychological expectations of the end user within the design process provided us with a unique perspective into the nuances of the community that lived within the project site. This approach shows that a personalised approach to understanding end users can foster positive results in comparison to standardisation. By providing all stakeholders equal opportunity within the design process, we believe that our approach helps instil a sense of responsibility within each person involved.
In the words of American psychologist Stanley Milgram “it is easy to ignore responsibility when one is only an intermediate link in a chain of action”.
In the words of American psychologist Stanley Milgram “it is easy to ignore responsibility when one is only an intermediate link in a chain of action”.
Disciplines/knowledge reflected
We started addressing the issue of sustainability and ecological awareness through landscape engineering methods, looking for solutions to collect rainwater and solar energy. Then, we thought about how these mechanical solutions could be implemented in the project of a place inhabited by a lively and active community, and that is when we implemented our architectural and engineering backgrounds with knowledge from disciplines such as Cognitive Science, Environmental Psychology and People flow simulation. This process shed light on the effects that space has on the wellbeing of people, therefore guiding our design strategies and the implementation of the engineering solutions we found. In order to create a place that could enhance the ecological well-being and biodiversity, we also interacted with an expert in lighting design. For example, we studied that lights in public space play a crucial role for the wellbeing of insects and other animals, therefore we took this knowledge into account in the design of the park.
How stakeholders are engaged
The first principal stakeholder involved in this project is us, or more precisely, our firm: Lombardini22. Since we started a deep and sincere synergy with Save the Planet through an internal merging, and a new Business Unit, our focus on ESG , our environment, and how to save it, became a new goal in all our projects.
The city Municipality agreed on having a new idea and use of a “wasteland”, focusing on a new way to involve the people themselves in a new way to live a public space while reacting to the
The city Municipality agreed on having a new idea and use of a “wasteland”, focusing on a new way to involve the people themselves in a new way to live a public space while reacting to the
Global challenges
Rain gardens (from problem to a solution)
Parking lots reduction
Sustainable mobility parking
Reduction of lighting pollution (fireflies)
Social Inclusion (by making all involved stakeholders)
Parking lots reduction
Sustainable mobility parking
Reduction of lighting pollution (fireflies)
Social Inclusion (by making all involved stakeholders)
Learning transferred to other parties
Traffic calming
Renewable energy through solar panel used for lighting and recharging station for the public areas furniture
Renewable energy through solar panel used for lighting and recharging station for the public areas furniture
Keywords
Disruption
Adaptation
Inhabitation
Inclusion
Well-being
