With the rapid growth and expansion of urban centres in the latter half of the 20th century, industrial sites, formerly located on the city's periphery, now find themselves encompassed by the ever expanding urban fabric of the city. Paralleling this growth has been a shift in the main economic drivers of the city from industrial production to service industries. Consequently, what were once vital elements of the city have gone fallow. Milan, once the center of Italy's industrial region, is today Italy's leading financial center and a global center for fashion and design. Currently experiencing a boom of urban redevelopment, the city's post-industrial urban voids now provide exceptional opportunities for ambitious architectural and urban innovation.
Bovisa, originally located on the outskirts of Milan, initially benefited from a strong network of railway lines connecting it to the city and beyond. Paradoxically, the conditions that once allowed it to flourish now isolate it from the rest of the city and hamper its development. Separated from the surrounding neighborhoods, the site suffers from a surfeit of infrastructure. Further impeding the site's development, the ground is heavily contaminated – a lasting burden of the site's industrial history. In order to become suitable for development, the site requires intensive remediation. In recent years, numerous masterplans and attempts to redevelop the site have been proposed with no results. Unable to overcome the site’s many constraints, Bovisa has languished undeveloped, disconnected from the thriving areas surrounding it, a void in the urban fabric of Milan.
A site of conflicting potential – an open expanse of underutilized land, advantageously situated within Milan's expanding urban boundaries yet constrained by infrastructure and industrial pollution. How to overcome the site's many limitations and capitalize on the opportunities it affords, integrating it into both Milan's urban fabric and economy?
