Li Shanglong Tutor: Mario Paris a.y 2018/19 Politecnico di Milano Politecnico di Milano School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering Master of Urban Planning The relationship between walkability and street vitality. An experimental explanation based on Milan Tutor : Mario Paris Student Li Shanglong 919061 October 2019 Contents. 01. 06 A premise: Why Milan? 08 The age of cars. Bloom of vehicles worldwide 09 The pace of change. The vehicle booming of Milan 09 Catering or restricting? The answer to the booming of vehicles 10 Why Milan?—An interesting city 11 Milan—Shanghai the “neighbour” 12000km away 02. 12 Background 14 The research question 15 The importance of walking space. The cultural context 17 “Traffic Calming”A walkable street design for Milan 03. 24 Traffic Calming measures——Integrated answer 26 The definition of Traffic Calming 27 Discussing the model of Traffic Calming 04. 30 Case Studies：Spatial morphology analysis 32 Brera-Garibaldi project 34 Colonne di Lorenzo project 36 Via Fiori Chiari project 38 Corso Como 39 Via Abramo Lincoln 05. 41 Lessons learned——Things that a walkable street needs 43 Balance between chaotic and order 44 Have visible life 46 Be compact 47 Be unique and localization 48 Equality 49 Orientation and mystery 50 Design method—as the answer to the question 06. 51 Site selection. A representative sample ——Porta Romana 53 Site selection. Principles and barriers 56 The selection of corridor 57 Porta Romana——The Roman Gate: chosen gate 58 Why Porta Romana has been selected 59 The land use of Porta Romana 63 The definition of border for the site 65 SWOT analysis 07. 67 Research and interview of the site. Quantitive and morphology measure 69 Quantitive measure on walkability : SD—Semantic Differential method 70 The investigation survey 71 The outcome of walkability evaluation 72 Morphology measure on street vitality : experience interview method 75 The influence of walkability to street vitality 08. 77 An experimental explanation: Enhancing the walkability condition of the area 79 The design of masterplan 86 Steps by Steps — Future implements in phases 87 Phase 1 95 Phase 2 100 Phase 3 108 Vision 2030 109 Economic feasibility 09. 111 Conclusions 113 Conclusions: Make use of the gray space 118 Acknowledgments 119 Bibliography 01. A premise: Why Milan? The chapter explains the reasons why the project is located in Milan. The primary motivation comes from the demand to manage the excess amount of vehicle ownings and its fast growth. The growing demands of walking environment in the face of that growth and the subsequent challenges regarding the development of automobiles are made possible by the development of Traffic Calming models. The development of Milan these years are also emphasizing on the improvment of road safety and the improvment of walkability. Since 2001, several road safety measures have been implemented under the National Road Safety Plan for the period 2001 to 2010. At the local level the government financed the implementation of road safety interventions through specific implementation programs promoted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Classified as: strategic and road infrastructure measures, road safety campaigns and education, and road safety management measures.Starting from the results achieved in this period and based on the policy orientations on road safety of the European Commission , the national strategies and objectives have been revised and updated for the period 2011-2020 and defined in the so-called “National Road Safety Plan Horizon 2020” (referred below as PNSS Horizon 2020). The PNSS Horizon 2020 proposes a hierarchical system of targets with two levels, in order to take into account both the general road safety trend and the high risk categories of road users. With such ambition of the revolution on traffic by Milan government, Milan can become a laboratory of forming a high walkability high vitality street. The improvment of street safety means the reviving of walking on the street. This provides us a good chance to study the walkability future of Milan. 1.1 The age of cars. Bloom of vehicles worldwide The map and graph shows the car amount world wide since 2015. There is still a rapid growth these years. Milan joins this global trend, so this is not an only case but shared the same problem world wide. Fig.1 The growth speed of vehicles world wide Fig.2. Vehicle amount worldwide 1.2 The pace of change. The vehicle booming of Milan One of the reasons why Milan The growth of vehicle use in Italy shares the same trend with the world wide. London In 1970 there were only about 12 million cars in Italy. This number became 40 million in 2010. Although the total number is not that high compares with other New York European cities, but considering that the number of citizens in Italy（63 million）this is really a big number. And if we emphasize on the city Milan, the area 183km² now Milan accomodates 700 thousand cars on the road. We must recognize the fact that Milan is struggled by the crowd of cars Milan has the biggest amount of now. Which provides us a chance to study cars average to the people on it. 1.3 Catering or restricting? The answer to the booming of vehicles The rapid growth of vehicles finds two Measures and walking-oriented streets. answers across cities in the globe. One is Some of them has proved to be success. to provide more car ways and parking for automobiles to make car drivings easier on the streets. The other option is to limit car use in the city. Providing more public transport and encouraging people to walk or bicycles to transport. The first option has proved can only deteriorate the situation. Wider roads will only attracts more car flow and the speed of widening streets will never catch up with the speed car produces. Milan is now changing to the second option. Although most streets are now still The improvement on Traffic calming struggled by illegal parking. There has has taken place in Milan been some attempts of Traffic calming Sources: Self photograph 1.4 Why Milan?—An interesting city Besides rich historical wealth and the unique traffic environment of Milan, the most important reason for me to choose Milan is because she’s an interesting city. As the “economic capital” of Italy, she is famous for her richness and the flourish economy. As the junction among Italy; France; Germany; Switzerland she is famous for her inclusive and the library of different culture. As a city with most famous designers and architects she is known as “the capital of design”. It’s really fantastic to find a city with so many features together. Considering she is just a city with 183k ㎡ and 1.3 million residents it’s rather more unimaginable for her to get the same achievements as giants like London and Paris. Milan, a name always connected with work and job opportunities. However when we walk on the streets, we will never really feel the pressing we experience in other international cities. People are enjoying the sunlight on the street; tasting typical Italian food. Musicians and artists are releasing their talents everywhere along the streets. Even people who are totally strangers before will greet you when passing by. The streets are full of energy and vitality. That’s why i call Milan an “interesting city”. As an urban planner, it’s joyful having the chance to study a city which is interesting. To a city, an interesting atmosphere means his society is optimistic and growing healthily. My study theme is about walkability and street vitality. Only citizens in an interesting city are willing to go out walk on the street. Only an interesting city can be full of vitality. So, to be interesting is the basis of my work. Milan provides me the chance. It’s my honor to have the chance to study such an interesting city and i believe it there is huge wealth waiting for me to discover. 1.5 Milan—Shanghai the “neighbour” 12000km away There’s a saying that “Italy is the China in Europe.” Two countries do have a lot similarities but considering Milan and Shanghai they even share more commonalities. Just like Milan, Shanghai is also the second largest city in China and has the most developed economy. Shanghai also has a long and unique history different from other domestic cities. Two cities share the same position in their own countries at the mean time they are also facing the same challenges, like the problem of aging society; boom of vehicles; the recession of streets; etc. Besides the common interests, we also have some our exclusive problems. Studying from the books or videos are far from enough, only through actual experience can we have a clear view of the real Milan and Shanghai. I was born and grew up in Shanghai China, and it’s my honor to have the experience to study in Milan. This is a precious opportunity for me to combine what i studied from Shanghai and knowledge in Milan together. When we make the comparison between the walkabliity and street vitality of Milan and Shanghai, we may get something new. These years, China has been studying on using green traffic and walking as a method to achieve city renaissance. Since Milan was a completely unfamiliar city to me before and where now i have a clearer impression, it’s a good chance for me to practice the experience of Shanghai on Milan. On the other hand, Europe is the cradle of Traffic Calming and Milan is a classic example of it.