The archipelago of urban health. A vision for Milan from the railway yard regeneration

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6093/1970-9870/13116

Keywords:

Archipelago, Urban Health, Walking Isochrones, Railway Yard Regeneration, Health Polycentrism

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to envision urban open spaces as a strategic system for the health of the citizens, experimenting with innovative interpretation tools and design-oriented approaches. The focus is on walking, considered by medical sciences to be the best therapy for preventing the cardiovascular and osteoporotic risks associated with sedentary urban lifestyles. According to the Italian Higher Institute of Health, half an hour of uninterrupted walking a day is the main preventive measure. Milan could be a pilot case thanks to the “human scale” of its urban form combined with the potential of the ongoing transformation of its railway yards. The proposed vision is inspired by the concept of "archipelago" and developed by intertwining the model belonging to ecology (MacArthur and Wilson) with that of urban morphology (Ungers and Koolhaas). The hypothesis of work is that the regeneration of the railway yards could offer “stepping zones” to build a spatial matrix based on 30’ of continuous walking (the contemporary urban health good practice), linking urban parks to the peri-urban countryside and, across the city, connecting pedestrian urban centralities among them. The qualitative interpretation is integrated with the elaboration of data-driven spatial maps, to support urban strategies that can respond to the post-covid demand of public health, thanks to the therapeutic power of walking.

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Author Biographies

Giovanna Fossa, Department of Architecture, Build Environment, and Construction Engineering - Politecnico di Milano

She is full professor of Urban Design and Planning, Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano. She teaches Regional Planning and Regenerative Urban Design at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the Politecnico. She has gathered a long and international experience (teaching, research and projects) in fields of urban and territorial regeneration, regional and landscape planning, new forms of tourism and production, place making and branding. A special focus is on cross-disciplinary and cross-border research themes. Her collaboration networks include MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Yale School of Architecture, SUPSI CH Department of Environment, Constructions and Design, Regional Plan Association New York, Fundacion Metropoli Madrid.

She is member of the Collegio di Milano and Urban Land Institute ULI Italy Scientific Committees.

She is author/co-author of several publications, among them Small Town Renaissance (Springer 2025), Hybrid Factory Hybrid City (Actar, 2022), Shaping Spaces for ever-changing mobility (TeMA, 2020), The Design of Urban Manufacturing (Routledge, 2020), Planning Talks (Maggioli, 2018), ITATOUR (F. Angeli 2012).

Federico Mistò, Systematica S.p.A.

He is an architect with experience in architectural and urban projects, currently collaborating with Systematica. After a Master of Science in Architecture by Politecnico di Milano, he got a Post-graduate in Landscape Architecture and a Master in Urbanism by Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya. In Systematica, he brings expertise on mobility planning, masterplan assessment for mobility planning and on mobility spaces design. He’s been working for Systematica, among others, on the masterplan of Mind – Milan Innovation District, on the masterplan of the Milano Scalo Farini Railway Yard, and on the Regulatory Plan of the Port of Genova.

Papers born from his thesis of Master in Urbanism have been presented and published in conference proceedings, as ISUF-H 2022 (Regeneración urbana e infraestructura verde: una aproximación interescalar para reconstruir una continuidad entre abandono y expansión), and ISUFItaly 2022 (Reading the urban form through the green-grey armature as a tool for spatial regeneration: the case of Piacenza).

Quying Wang, Department of Architecture, Build Environment, and Construction Engineering - Politecnico di Milano

She is a landscape architect and Ph.D. candidate at Politecnico di Milano, focusing on health-oriented urban open spaces. Inspired by her experience during the Wuhan COVID-19 lockdown, she explores how green space regeneration can enhance urban health and resilience. She holds a B.S. in Architecture from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and an M.S. from Politecnico di Milano. Her master’s thesis on healing gardens laid the foundation for her current research, which uses data-driven spatial analysis to improve walkability, reduce environmental inequality, and integrate green systems into urban regeneration—exemplified in her work on Milan’s railway yards. She actively publishes and participates in international conferences on spatial equity, walkability, and health, as well as regenerative urban design.

Giulio Zilli, Systematica S.p.A.

He is an urban and mobility planner currently consulting at Systematica, where he focuses on strategic planning and designing accessible, sustainable transport and public-space solutions. With a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning and Design and a Postgraduate Certificate in cycling mobility promotion, Giulio brings expertise from masterplans to detailed street design and mobility-management projects. His work spans sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs), urban traffic plans, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, traffic-impact studies and mobility-management strategies.

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Published

30-03-2026

How to Cite

Fossa, G., Mistò, F., Wang, Q., & Zilli, G. (2026). The archipelago of urban health. A vision for Milan from the railway yard regeneration . TeMA - Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment, (1), 79–92. https://doi.org/10.6093/1970-9870/13116

Issue

No. 1 (2026): Living and Walking in Cities: Mobility, Public Space and Spatial Justice

Section

SI 2026. Living and Walking in Cities

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Giovanna Fossa, Federico Mistò, Quying Wang, Giulio Zilli

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

  

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