Zitat: „In Milan, the municipality and citizens have collaborated to create new urban squares through the innovative and versatile tool of tactical urbanism. These interventions have also become part of the municipality’s strategy in response to the impact Covid has had on Milan’s public space. Various fast, low-cost and participatory interventions – such as new pedestrian areas and bike-lanes – stimulated new urban uses of space, whilst simultaneously raising awareness for other urban issues like sustainable mobility.“
„Where are We Now Between 2019 and 2021, more than 30 squares have been built in different suburbs of the city whilst others are currently being planned or built – “Piazze Aperte” is by no means finished. This project has allowed a greater number of people to use public space in places previously unthinkable. Of course, over the years there have been mixed opinions and various criticisms – especially related to the reduction of parking spaces and traffic lanes. But, according to the monitoring and observing public life in the squares, places that are designed for people are used more intensely and loved much more by its users than spaces that are dominated by cars.“
About „Public space quality is the backbone of a sustainable city. Great streets, places where you intuitively want to stay longer, human scale interaction between buildings and streets, ownership by users, placemaking and good plinths (active ground floors) and a people-centred approach based on the user’s experience – that is what The City at Eye Level is all about.
The City at Eye Level is a worldwide program with many partners. STIPO, team for urban development in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Athens, is the initiator. The open source books have been developed with 200+ co-authors, and put together in partnership with many, including the UN Habitat, Project for Public Spaces, Future of Places Research Center, Faculty of Planning of the University of Porto Alegre, the Placemaking Leadership Council, the European Placemaking Network, Pakhuis de Zwijger Amsterdam, Bernard van Leer Foundation, Think City, Urban Discovery and many many others.“
https://thecityateyelevel.com/stories/longread-milan-before-and-after-citywide-placemaking
„Piazze Aperte – a citywide tactical urbanism programme – was developed by Milan (IT), with the support of AMAT-Municipal Agency for Mobility and Environment in collaboration with Bloomberg Associates, and the Global Designing Cities Initiative. The project enhanced public spaces as community hubs, expanded pedestrian areas and promoted green mobility to improve the environment and quality-of-life of citizens. Piazze Aperte adopts the approach of tactical urbanism to bring public squares back to the centre of neighbourhood life, as places where people can connect. Since 2019, stakeholders have collaborated in the design, development and implementation of this initiative, which has spread across Milan.
Piazze Aperte supports Milan’s 2030 planning goals for urban regeneration, environmental sustainability and sustainable mobility. The Piazze Aperte initiative implements participatory actions with citizens through Collaboration Pacts, following the principles of shared administration, as part of the co-design process activated between Milan, its citizens and local actors. (…)
Piazze Aperte enables cities to drive urban change through a comprehensive approach, involving citizen participation and collaborations with local stakeholders. It does this using an innovative tool for grassroots action called ‘tactical urbanism’, which promotes relatively quick and cost-effective interventions to enhance public spaces and also the implementation of long-term strategies to increase the livability of neighbourhoods. (…)
The tactical urbanism approach can be universally applied, to help speed up processes and mediate conflicts towards the transition to an increasingly resilient, inclusive, safe and human-scale city. It places citizens at the centre of urban transformations by involving them in the co-creation and co-implementation of services and projects in their neighbourhood, with the support of local stakeholders. The concept and objectives of Piazze Aperte are straightforward, and being versatile can be adapted to the specific legislative codes and contexts of different countries. The project’s motto is ‘lighter, quicker, cheaper’, factors that mean the practice can be easily re-adapted, re-shaped and re-used in other cities.“ (10.2024)
https://urbact.eu/good-practices/citywide-tactical-urbanism-programme