Speaker
Description
The paper stems from a nationally funded project at the intersection of research and design called “Unconventional Affordable Housing”, involving the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies (DAStU) at Politecnico di Milano, the University of Trieste and the University of Bari. In this context, a collaboration was launched between DAStU and the city administration of San Donato Milanese.
San Donato Milanese, a smaller medium-sized city with a population of approximately 33.000, is situated in the Milanese metropolitan area, bordering Milan to the southeast. Skyrocketing housing prices and rents in Milan in recent years have produced negative spillover effects also in San Donato Milanese, as Milanese low- and medium-income residents are increasingly driven to seek alternative and more affordable housing options in the hinterland. While housing costs in San Donato are still somewhat lower than in Milan, efforts of the public administration to curb market dynamics have so far had limited success, and future infrastructure developments (like the extension of the metro line connecting the two cities) are expected to further intensify pressures on the local housing market.
San Donato Milanese moreover shows some peculiarities: the development of the city is inextricably tied to the establishment of the National Hydrocarbon Corporation, ENI (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi) in the city in 1953, resulting in the transformation of the municipality from a small town of 2.700 residents in 1951 to a city of 27.000 two decades later – a process accompanied by the construction of various structures, including housing for employees and offices. Today, six giant (and thus highly visible) office compounds, partly designed by renowned architects, exist in the municipality. As a result of structural changes in economic structures and new modes of working, accelerated by the pandemic, two of these complexes have been dismissed in 2023 (the “Terzo Palazzo” and “Quarto Palazzo”), and two others are to be vacated in the short- to medium future.
The ongoing collaborative process entailed a series of cross-departmental meetings, a workshop with key stakeholders within and outside the public administration, and a series of in-depth interviews. The aim is to undertake a shared reflection on existing housing challenges and visions of broader urban transformations for a city with specific historic trajectories, which have concrete impacts on the city’s morphology. The “Terzo” and “Quarto” have been selected as sites for the development of proposals of ‘unconventional affordable housing’, responding to challenges identified along with the municipality. The paper presents some reflections on the implications of the decommissioning of such a heritage on the urban fabric and identity of a city, and on what potentials this entails, discussing whether and under which conditions ‘vacant giants’ can be resources for rethinking housing affordability policies and experimenting new forms of housing design.
| Keywords | affordability; unconventionality; housing policies; transformative reuse; housing design |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
