INNOVATION AS ENGINE FOR URBAN REGENERATION

GABRIELE PASQUI – DASTU, Politecnico di Milano, Head of Department of Architecture and Urban Studies
MARCO FACCHINETTI – DASTU, Politecnico di Milano, Professor of Urban Planning Department of Architecture and Urban Studies
PATRIZIA LOMBARDI – Politecnico di Torino, Head of Department , Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning
BRUCE KATZ – Brooking Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program
JULIE WAGNER – Brooking Institution, Metropolitan Policy Program
ALBERTO BRAMANTI – Università Bocconi Dipartimento di Analisi delle Politiche e Management Pubblico
DAVID BROWN – School of Architecture University of Illinois at Chicago, Associate Director
CECILIA LINDAHL – Stockholm County Council, Office of Growth an Regional Planning
NAOMIE VERSTRAETEN – Managing Director of Brainport International Program
PETER VINCENT KENTIE – Managing Director of Eindhoven365
ELEANOR ESSER GORSKI – City of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development
PIERFRANCESCO MARAN – Comune di Milano, Assessore Urbanistica, Verde e Agricoltura
ROBERTO MARELLI – Kilometro Rosso, Relations & Marketing Specialist
DANIELA MALDINI – Comune di Novate Milanese ViceSindaco
ALESSIO COMAI – Politecnico di Milano Master Degree Thesis

The conference will highlight the most relevant and updated aspects of the impact of innovation on European and American cities.

Innovation will be investigated as paradigm of a new generation of urban transformations, a new way of putting together productive and creative forces with everyday life, translating into action the principles of being smart, sustainable, eco-friendly, and re-inventing scales and relations.

Many cities and many regions around the western world are changing themselves and their economic structure shifting from traditional to innovative economy. For many of them, it means being recognized as places of manufacturing of new products, with a rich and fertile research behind them and able to open and expand new markets. The conference will emphasize above all the ability to translate innovation and innovative approaches in more strategic attitudes, as a multi-disciplinary approach, able to change the boundaries of expertise putting
at the center the creation/manufacture of something real, and using already urbanized areas to re-invent new production and new economy, together with a new lifestyle;
A specific focus will be dedicated to inclusiveness, as method to have different vocations, different actors and players
with different interests sitting at the same table and harmonizing their different standpoints to reach a shared objective; and as a method to re-invent the consensus building processes working together at the same interest rather than defending each side their own;

Urbanity will be considered by the conference as revised paradigm to describe a specific condition of life, not necessarily within traditional city limits but assuming a contemporary regional post sub urban point of view. Urbanity as paradigm able to aggregate uses, players, vocations, to re-invent productive places.

From cheap to smart, from rust to brain is the motto that could keep together also Milan’s vital economic region, ready to move forward with innovation and research as engines to transform the economy of the city and to re-invent the urban region as main actor of the transformations. Case studies from the Netherlands, Sweden and US will be presented and compared to show progresses: so come and learn!

INNOVATION AS ENGINE FOR URBAN REGENERATION.pdf