Liberation Day

Italy's Liberation Day or 25 April is a national holiday "commemorating the end of Nazi occupation of the Country during World War II and the victory of the Resistance" (Wikipedia). In Milan alone, 70.000 people marched and celebrated the victory of resistance today (La Repubblica). Milan's mayor pointed out that the city's response to obscurantism would be culture, inclusion, and solidarity - values of Milan, a city that would always be profoundly anti-fascist (Facebook).

"We have the duty to be the most anti-fascist city in Italy."
Beppe Sala, Mayor of Milan

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Photograph via La Repubblica

People First

"This is our vision of Italy." Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan

On 2nd of March 2019, a beautiful march took place in Milan, a march for inclusion, a march against racism. About 250.000 people took part, among them Mayor Giuseppe Sala who also danced to the rhythm of Patti Smith's "People have the Power" (WATCH).

“Se c’è una città che può dimostrare i benefici di una visione internazionale quella è Milano e non è solo il tema del rapporto sull’immigrazione: sono i dati, i dati delle tantissime imprese aperte da stranieri a Milano e il fatto che nelle nostre scuole pochissimi bambini immigrati hanno bisogno di assistenza con l’italiano perché alla fine sono bambini italiani“.
Giuseppe Sala

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photograph via Il Fatto Quotidiano

Milan is a Solidarity City

"Milan is a community of peace and tolerance, seeking to become a capital of freedeom where the responsibility to welcome and include migrants is a top priority. In May 2017, 100.000 people marched for "Together without borders" animated by the hope of those who believe in the respect of ethnic and cultural diversity. Milan supports the Solidarity Cities Initiative and is convinced that a plural society is a growth opportunity for everyone."
Giuseppe Sala, mayor of Milan

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image via Google

City of Singles

Milan is a city of singles: 164.435 live together with a partner while 379.035 live alone. Those who live alone say that they are happy, that living as a single has been an active choice - choosing freedom and independence. Most importantly, singles living in Milan say that they do not feel discriminated against (Corriere della Sera).

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Photograph via ESL

Access City Award ... The Winner is ...

The Access City Award is the European prize given to cities that make daily life more accessible to people with disabilities or older persons. The award is part of the EU disability strategy "that aims at making Europe barrier-free for persons with disabilities". It encourages cities with a minimum of 50.000 inhabitants to take part, share their experiences and to improve accessibility. Since 2010, more than 250 cities have participated.

"On the top position, Milan was recognized for its consistent accessibility efforts, as well as its commitment to projects for the promotion of the employment of disabled people, and the support of independent living. Milan’s building standards are to be granted for promoting universality in design. The city stands for its impressive steps to improve accessibility made in the past, but also for its ambitious plans for the future." The second places was granted to Wiesbaden, the third to Toulouse."

"In addition to its excellent and consistent accessibility efforts, Milan has also committed to projects to promote the employment of people with disabilities and to support independent living. Its building standards not only support accessibility and usability, but they also promote Universal Design standards, which aim to design products and spaces in a way that they can be used by the widest range of people possible. Milan is the winner of the EU Access City Award 2016, not only for its impressive steps to improve accessibility made in the past, but also for its ambitious plans for the future."

via Diversity is beautiful

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Photo via Mapio

"Take a Student Home": Matching Retired Citizens with Students

"Take a student home" is a project organised by the non-for-profit organisation MeglioMilano in the city of Milan. Retired citizens who can take care of themselves, live alone and would like to temporarily share their flat with a student have the possibility to let a room to a young person who has come to Milan to study. Currently, there are about 400.000 people living in Milan who are over 65 years of age.

This intergenerational project helps both, the young and not-so-young. Students do not have to pay high rents (Milan is the most expensive city in Italy) and only spend about 250 to 280 euros for the shared household (food etc.). Retired persons are not alone and get some support with daily work where needed. Both get to know a person they may get along with very well who is not from the peer group. The organisation knows the participating pensioners and how they live and makes sure to get to know the students well before making arrangements. Once it is settled who will live with whom, MeglioMilano asks for feedback from time to time (Meglio Milano).

The posting "Prendi in casa uno studente" first appeared on Diversity is Beautiful

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Photograph via AFW Milano

Jane Jacobs says...

“There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans.”
Jane Jacobs

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Photograph (Milan) via Vogue

Borderlife

Biancoshock's recent installation in Milan is called Borderlife - a social commentary on people who are forced to live in extreme conditions such as hundreds of people in Bucharest living underground in sewers. Small holes are wallpapered and tiled looking like fully-furnished rooms.
"If some problems cannot be avoided, make them comfortable."
Biancoshock

About Biancoshock (literally from the artist's website)

Biancoshock lives and works in Milan, Italy. For a very long time he didn’t consider himself as an artist, until, one day he decided to understand the purpose and the nature of his work. Soon becomes clear that there is no existing "category" that can fit his urban inclination, typical of the Urban Art, and his expressive process which is very close to the classic activist and performative art; this is the reason why he decides to give birth to EPHEMERALISM. Ephemeralism has the purpose of producing works of art that have to exist briefly in space but limitlessly in time through the photography, the video and the media. He has realized more that 650 interventions in the streets of Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, England, Hungary, Lithuania, Malesia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovak, Slovenia and Spain and he is not thinking about stopping.

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photograph via Biancoshock

Indifferenza.

Am Mailänder Hauptbahnhof, dem Ort von dem aus in den 1940er-Jahren Gefangene - die meisten von ihnen italienische Jüdinnen und Juden - in Todeslager gebracht wurden, entsteht ein ganz besonderer Platz. Bis 2007 wurde dieser Teil des Bahnhofs noch als Lagerstätte benutzt, nun ist er Ort des Erinnerns, des Dialogs zwischen Kulturen. Der Ort definiert sich nicht als Museum, der Ort selbst ist das ausgestellte Objekt. Teil dessen sind u.a. eine Bibliothek mit 40.000 Büchern, ein Auditorium mit 200 Sitzplätzen und ein Areal für Ausstellungen.

"The Memorial will be a public space open to dialogue, debate and confrontation between different cultures, a vocation sprung from a place devoted to memory, with the objective to make visibile what was kept hidden for years. It won’t be a museum, but a laboratory put into present and a reference for the entire civic community, in order to build a collective memory and to give people conscience to remember, tell, think."

Via/Mehr: architettura italiana

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Foto via architettura italiana