The Sponge City of the Future – Milan
The climate crisis requires us to rethink how we design, build, and manage our cities.
To support this transformation, the City of Milan and its surrounding metropolitan area developed, with PNRR funding, the Integrated Urban Plan Sponge City (PUI CM Spugna). This is a nature-based urban regeneration project that included 90 sustainable urban drainage (SUDS) interventions across 32 municipalities within the Milan metropolitan area.
The interventions focus on public spaces—parking areas, squares, roads, and green zones—redesigned using natural solutions to control runoff and capture rainwater at the point where it falls, reducing pressure on the drainage system during heavy rainfall.
This approach delivers multiple benefits:
- reduces flood risk in urban areas;
- enhances the quality and appeal of public spaces;
- helps mitigate the urban heat island effect.
