Cinisello Balsamo - Entangled

The Strategy focuses on the Crocetta neighbourhood, which is no longer considered within its traditional boundaries as a neighbourhood enclosed by major roads (A4, A52, SS6) with the highest population density in the city (approximately 29,000 inhabitants per square kilometre), but rather within a broader horizon that extends beyond the physical boundaries of the neighbourhood. Crocetta is an area consisting of large residential complexes, built between the 1960s and 1970s, with a population density six times the city average. Foreigners account for 65% of the population, out of a total of 5,000 residents, spread over an area of 157,890 square metres.

The building stock is almost entirely private and characterised by a high turnover of the resident population, due to the constant growth of the foreign component, which over the years has gradually replaced many long-standing inhabitants. Originally, the buildings were designed to accommodate professionals passing through from Milan for work reasons, offering them temporary accommodation. Today, however, the neighbourhood is inhabited by families who have chosen to stay, bringing with them a strong sense of belonging and a desire to improve the quality of life in their living environment.

The guiding idea that also gives the project its name (in scientific terms, entangled indicates a connection between particles that are distant from each other, in which changes in one affect the behaviour of the other) is to create new links and relationships between the numerous centres in the neighbourhood and its surroundings.

The transformation of the city therefore involves actions to reconnect and redesign some of its separate elements, which are considered parts of a whole. Entangled unfolds through seven actions, covering three areas of intervention:

• schools: the Girasole nursery and the Anna Frank school, with its unique features and excellence in teaching and training;
• public buildings, in particular the Sap building in Via Friuli;
• services: the Casa della Cittadinanza, the Friuli Senior Citizens' Centre and the Consultorio.

The plan aims to act on buildings and public spaces with redevelopment and new construction, also offering workshops and social actions to provide more services, more green spaces and more connections with other centres of interest in the vicinity, such as the elevated square on the A4 motorway, the footbridge over the Fulvio Testi canal and the network of cycle paths (Biciplan); the future M5 underground stations and the extension of the M1, as well as other redevelopment projects planned in industrial areas.