San Donato Milanese a workshop on innovation

Some years ago Marcel Smets commented that, instead of being “the instrument that makes it possible to accomplish operations within a clearly defined urban policy”, town-planning schemes in Italy were quite frequently just one aspect of an ‘ideological challenge’. Having taken this criticism to heart, the series of town-planning instruments drawn up for San Donato Milanese seems to have tried to liberate themselves from this condition by clearly stating their aim to create a framework for policies to transform the area, into which each individual urban intervention can be slotted to create a unified idea of the future. This brings them to address, in real terms, the change towards a city that is easier to live in. The author provides at least three reasons to back this affirmation.