An international collaboration between Carlo Ratti Associates and other design companies is working on a project to transform a railway yard in Milan into a tree-lined park with an elevated walkway in the style of Highline New York.
Parco Romana, this is the name for the project, is planned for the Porta Romana district in Milan and will be centered around the former station. The site will be redesigned to create new public green spaces, including woods. The construction of new offices and some homes for Olympic athletes is also planned.
A suspended forest
One of the main attractions of the Roman Park will be a "suspended forest" consisting of a raised walkway based on the existing railway infrastructure. It will include hundreds of trees and offer walking routes with selected views of the area. The eastern area of the park will house new office buildings.
Other areas of the former station
On the western side of the former station there will instead be a mixed-use residential area that will host the athletes for the next 2026 Milan Winter Olympics. Once the games are over, it will be transformed into a community housing complex that includes social housing.
The residential area will also include a public plaza, a community garden, outdoor exercise spaces and coworking spaces located within the sheds once used for the repair of trains and now refurbished.
"The scheme rethinks a large railway yard. A place that has characterized this area of Milan for more than a century", reads in the project press release which will transform a station into a wooded park. "Parco Romana brings together a fragmented urban sector. It reconnects the surrounding neighborhoods with a vibrant mixed-use district rooted in the principles of inclusivity, biodiversity, resilience, connectivity and well-being. Built on a former station and around a new Grand Park that acts as a heart green of development, Parco Romana celebrates its layered histories by offering shared environments for living and working. Environments that unite a diverse community of residents, students, employees, athletes and visitors. "
