BEFORE OBLIVION_Master thesis by Benedetta Falcone

LANDSCAPE TIMELINE 1900 2000

magna, Lombardy and V eneto

ETRURIANS Etruria P adana included vast possessions in Emilia-R o-

tribe belonging to the Golasecca culture

CELTS A ccording to istorians,h Milan was foundedby a C eltic

w neya d meadows sh

activities, mills became textile pr oto-industries C

The o g na wa er s eam had a No -Sou h d ec on no human n e ven on hadn changed he hydro og ca ame ye

Roman excava ed he new pa h o he O ona ve n orde o br ng wa e o he anc en “Med o anum The O ona ve became o he Romans he ma n pa hway o cro s he A ps

hy d r a u lic s t o t h e P o V a lley

bringing extensive knowledge of agriculture and

RO MANS The R o m a n s fo u n d e d t h e c ity o f M e d io la n u m

n he 15 h cen u y he cons uc on o cana expe enced a con derab e boos om 1439 o 1475 90 k ome e o cana we e bu n he e r ory o M an made nav gab e hank o he ex s ence o 25 ocks a ea ure ha no o he c y possesed

s des gn began n 1862 and wa comp eed n 1890 ong a er he cons uc on o he Nav g ye u ke he Nav g ) s cou se n er ec s ha o numerou o her wa erways such as he O ona he Lambro he T ebb a and he Seveso - o name bu a ew

legislation and technology

COMMUNS Vast improvements were made in agriculture,

The cove ng up o hese Nav g ook p ace be ween 1929 and 1930 w h he d sappea ance a ng o road was c ea ed ha ook he p ace and name he Cerch a de Nav g road c rc e W h he d sappea ance o he Ce ch a de Nav g he as wa e m a so d appeared

with th e gradual abandonment of agricultural Romans brough agr cu u e F u ree or ginal course 200 AD 1400

OLONA’S VALLEY HISTORY Politecnico di Milano Scuola di Architettura Urbanistica Ingegneria delle Costruzioni MSc Landscape Architecture. Land Landscape Heritage Thesis Project: BEFORE OBLIVION - Olona’s Downstream Landscape Recovery and Reconnection through Biological Infiltration Student: Benedetta Falcone 940502 Advisor: Prof. Andrea Oldani -1 -

The project area of this thesis is located in the western area of Milan, and in particular analyses and proposes to intervene in the lower Olona valley, which straddles the Altomilanese and the metropolis.

IETHOGRAM IETHOGRAM

Through the representation of rainfall events in Ietograms, it was possible to visualise the type of pattern that characterises Milan. The area presents a subalpine pattern characterised by two rainy seasons in spring and autumn and dry summers

HYDROGRAPHY GREEN PATTERNS INDUSTRIAL/TERTIARY TERRITORIAL ANALYSIS Politecnico di Milano Scuola di Architettura Urbanistica Ingegneria delle Costruzioni MSc Landscape Architecture. Land Landscape Heritage

Thesis Project: BEFORE OBLIVION - Olona’s Downstream Landscape Recovery and Reconnection through Biological Infiltration Student: Benedetta Falcone 940502 Advisor: Prof. Andrea Oldani - 2 -

STRUCTURAL PLAN

In the second part of the analysis, previously found data were selected on the basis of their proximity to watercourses. In this way, it was possible to create a parallelism between the different watercourses and to observe that certain elements, such as the presence of industrial and tertiary areas and the consequent increase in abandoned areas, are recurrent. Moreover, in this map, with respect to the territorial scale, a narrower area has been highlighted, ranging from the strip of the PLIS in the north of the province of Milan to the urban strip with an east-west trend that departs from the metropolitan area south of Milan.

fortresses are all those spaces destined for the exclusive circle of its inhabitants. These areas, often characterised by a repetitive pattern of apartment blocks or semi-detached houses, are inaccessible and isolated from their context.

Only25%ofthebanksofthestretch of the Olona examined for this analysis are wooded. Riparian vegetation is of vital importance for the self-purification processes that any watercourse normally undergoes and to ensure the survival of the species that inhabit

ABANDONED WATER TREATMENT PLANT RECONVERSION

The connection with the dismissed industrial area will trigger a transformation to recover these landscape through the intervention of the entities in charge of the mantainance of these structures

In the space separating the purification plant from the river banks, three gravel-covered strips of different diameters and granulometry will be introduced for the filtration of rainwater and the creation of a bed favourable to the taking root of phytoextractive herbaceous species

The project proposal envisages the decontamination of the area through a phytoextraction action by means of spontaneous pioneer vegetation and introduced species in order to increase the biodiversity of the coppice area that separates the building from the railway

In the ponds, similarly, phytodepuration of rainwater will be utilised through the use of rooted elophytes and floating hydrophytes.

The punctual introduction of trees will provide shade and cooling in an area characterised by low reflectance, which causes the so-called ‘heat islands’. The depavelling process will also increase the drainage surface at the expense of the permeable one

Through a process of depavenging, the private area is made accessible and suitable for point and random herbaceous emergence. The introduction of phytoextractive plants will operate a process of decontamination of the soil now completely covered by a concrete blanket

The deprogrammed area will be open to a wide variety of activities, removable temporary structures will be able to host events and open-air cinemas

The infiltrative action will propagate, through a unique movement, into the adjacent ‘ladders’ area, culminating in a strip of high and medium vegetation and into the tertiary area on the opposite bank of the Olona

A hybrid HF-VF+FWS (horizontal flow - vertical flow + free water system) type system will be proposed within the park, i.e. a hybrid series of horizontal, vertical and free-flowing phyto-purification tanks. The system’s water will be taken from the Bozzente stream, which flows into the Olona river in this very area, often discharging sewage that makes this area particularly polluted and smelly

The area also proves to be important from an urban point of view. Surrounded by schools and residential areas, it is a strategic area to start a process of education and bringing the community closer to the Olona river

Educational activities could be proposed as part of school curricula to make the youngest aware of environmental issues and the importance of water, a resource, now more than ever, that is increasingly precious and unavailable

PHYTODEPURATION SYSTEM

BIOLOGICAL INFILTRATION SYSTEMS