The Transformation of the Great
Decommissioned Farini Railroad Yard:
The Research for a Modern Housing
Settlement
Raffaella Neri and Tomaso Monestiroli
Abstract The paper deals with the theme of the transformation of the large abandoned areas of the city, of their new destination, of the role of parks and gardens in
the construction of the modern city, of the research on the housing units settlement
principles. The essay collects several projects carried out over time: they are the
results of a national PRIN research.
Keywords Railroad yard · Housing · Urban composition · Housing units
1 The First Project, 2009
1
The Farini railroad yard is an important and strategic site due to its remarkable
extension and availability as well as to its now central location within the city, its
connection with the transportation network and the proximity of its urban facilities.
As such, it is a part of the city that needs to be reconceived and rebuilt. How? Based
on which city concept? By building what connections and based on which principles
and elements?
From the urban planner’s point of view, a preliminary question should be asked
when approaching this issue: given the area’s high potential, would it be possible to
build a new and challenging high-density settlement, a modern development within
the nineteenth-century city, without creating yet another suburb—albeit a luxury one,
gravitating on the city of Milan—and use it as an opportunity to redesign the built
tissue surrounding it? What conditions would lead to such an outcome? And, given
that concentration and building density allow for a more limited use of surface, both
in the undeveloped areas around the city and at its very core, what does it mean to
1 Design Group, Antonio Monestiroli, coordinator, with Ilario Boniello, Massimo Ferrari, Stefano
Guidarini, Tomaso Monestiroli, Raffaella Neri, Claudia Tinazzi Coll. Marcello Bondavalli, Lorenzo
Margiotta, Guido Rivai.
R. Neri (B) · T. Monestiroli
Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering—ABC Department, Politecnico di
Milano, Milan, Italy
e-mail: raffaella.neri@polimi.it
© The Author(s) 2020
S. Della Torre et al. (eds.), Regeneration of the Built Environment
from a Circular Economy Perspective, Research for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33256-3_19
191
Decommissioned Farini Railroad Yard:
The Research for a Modern Housing
Settlement
Raffaella Neri and Tomaso Monestiroli
Abstract The paper deals with the theme of the transformation of the large abandoned areas of the city, of their new destination, of the role of parks and gardens in
the construction of the modern city, of the research on the housing units settlement
principles. The essay collects several projects carried out over time: they are the
results of a national PRIN research.
Keywords Railroad yard · Housing · Urban composition · Housing units
1 The First Project, 2009
1
The Farini railroad yard is an important and strategic site due to its remarkable
extension and availability as well as to its now central location within the city, its
connection with the transportation network and the proximity of its urban facilities.
As such, it is a part of the city that needs to be reconceived and rebuilt. How? Based
on which city concept? By building what connections and based on which principles
and elements?
From the urban planner’s point of view, a preliminary question should be asked
when approaching this issue: given the area’s high potential, would it be possible to
build a new and challenging high-density settlement, a modern development within
the nineteenth-century city, without creating yet another suburb—albeit a luxury one,
gravitating on the city of Milan—and use it as an opportunity to redesign the built
tissue surrounding it? What conditions would lead to such an outcome? And, given
that concentration and building density allow for a more limited use of surface, both
in the undeveloped areas around the city and at its very core, what does it mean to
1 Design Group, Antonio Monestiroli, coordinator, with Ilario Boniello, Massimo Ferrari, Stefano
Guidarini, Tomaso Monestiroli, Raffaella Neri, Claudia Tinazzi Coll. Marcello Bondavalli, Lorenzo
Margiotta, Guido Rivai.
R. Neri (B) · T. Monestiroli
Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering—ABC Department, Politecnico di
Milano, Milan, Italy
e-mail: raffaella.neri@polimi.it
© The Author(s) 2020
S. Della Torre et al. (eds.), Regeneration of the Built Environment
from a Circular Economy Perspective, Research for Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33256-3_19
191