La terra della città. Milano e le sperimentazioni sociali di agricoltura urbana

Abstract

The paper suggests a possible interpretation of the increasing interest towards urban agriculture in Milan as supported by a desire to revive the city design and, at the same time, by a concrete attempt for its realisation. The construction of a taxonomy of experiences intends to compose a hypothetical scenario of a ‘cultivated Milan’, centred on those initiatives that highlight the use of cultivation not only as a practice of individual satisfaction or environmental reflection, but as a tool to approach urban issues and the organization of common life. In this sense the English definition of ‘community gardens’, even placing maybe too much emphasis on community aspects, appears to be more appropriate than the usual Italian ‘urban orchards’ to indicate this kind of experiences: even in different ways, all the observed projects aim at rediscovering urban common space, physical and relational, through the practice of small projects, apt to return a tangible and immediate satisfaction while, implicitly, look towards wider horizons.