IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v13y2024i8p1123-d1441562.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Informal Urban Biodiversity in the Milan Metropolitan Area: The Role of Spontaneous Nature in the Leftover Regeneration Process

Author

Listed:
  • Lucia Ludovici

    (National Biodiversity Future Center, Department of Electronic, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy)

  • Maria Chiara Pastore

    (National Biodiversity Future Center, Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy)

Abstract

The present study reflects on spontaneous nature’s agency to reclaim abandoned urban areas in Italian urban brownfields, providing a focused analysis of the Metropolitan Area of Milan. These spaces are the products of phenomena, such as deindustrialization, demilitarization, and uncontrolled urban expansion, which have produced a compromised heritage and challenges to regeneration. Such abandonment sometimes produces new forms of urban nature, which suggests a possible path for ecological regeneration and coexistence, as affirmed by the multidisciplinary literature. The related informal urban biodiversity grows regardless of future planning provisions, triggering unexpected transformations of the urban environment and producing socio-ecological value, as demonstrated by citizens’ recognition of these places. The present study maps informal urban biodiversity in the Milan territory, identifying the presence of large contaminated sites, relevant urban voids, vacant lots, and former agricultural spaces. This study also reflects on possible paths for urban planning and policies to integrate informal urban biodiversity within the urban ecological structure by analyzing the main features and challenges of the corresponding regeneration processes.

Suggested Citation

  • Lucia Ludovici & Maria Chiara Pastore, 2024. "Informal Urban Biodiversity in the Milan Metropolitan Area: The Role of Spontaneous Nature in the Leftover Regeneration Process," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:8:p:1123-:d:1441562
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/8/1123/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/13/8/1123/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Trentanovi, Giovanni & Campagnaro, Thomas & Kowarik, Ingo & Munafò, Michele & Semenzato, Paolo & Sitzia, Tommaso, 2021. "Integrating spontaneous urban woodlands into the green infrastructure: Unexploited opportunities for urban regeneration," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Biernacka, Magdalena & Kronenberg, Jakub & Łaszkiewicz, Edyta & Czembrowski, Piotr & Amini Parsa, Vahid & Sikorska, Daria, 2023. "Beyond urban parks: Mapping informal green spaces in an urban–peri-urban gradient," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    2. Henry Lippert & Ingo Kowarik & Tanja M. Straka, 2022. "People’s Attitudes and Emotions towards Different Urban Forest Types in the Berlin Region, Germany," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-21, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:8:p:1123-:d:1441562. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.