WHAT IS THE VIVAIO
The Vivaio Bicocca represents a real and concrete commitment to making the Campus and the Bicocca district more liveable.
The Vivaio Bicocca represents a real and tangible commitment to help make the Campus and the Bicocca district more liveable. "Today we start an initiative that combines several cross-cutting actions and will transform Milano-Bicocca into an increasingly sustainable and welcoming University," said Rector Giovanna Iannantuoni at the inauguration of the "6 steps towards green changes" route. "For this reason, together with the valuable synergy with important partners and the Municipality of Milan, we have invested in a plan to increase the green areas that will change the liveability and spaces of our neighbourhood, encouraging moments of sharing and sociability for students and citizens alike".
THE FUNCTION OF THE VIVAIO BICOCCA
The Vivaio Bicocca, given in concession by the City of Milan to the University of Milan-Bicocca, represents an urban oasis context that offers itself as a point of contact between citizenship and the academic reality. The spaces of the Vivaio Bicocca are dedicated to participatory science actions aimed at the knowledge and protection of functional biodiversity at the basis of ecosystem services such as pollination, seed dispersal, and ecological connectivity. The Vivaio preserves the biodiversity of urban contexts, preserving environments in the most natural state possible and providing insects, birds and small mammals with a space to thrive and take refuge.
IMPACT OF THE VIVAIO ON SOCIETY
The social change that the University of Milan-Bicocca wants to promote is to move from a passive use of the city's green areas to the promotion and care of them, through interventions that enhance biological ecosystem services and through the definition and promotion of good practices in order to ensure wide use and resilience over time.
An integration of university teaching activities in the Vivaio is being planned, together with research activities carried out by the teaching staff of the University of Milan-Bicocca.
The Vivaio Bicocca was born from a tangible social demand of the neighbourhood, in line with the urban regeneration plan envisaged by the Municipality of Milan and in synergy with other initiatives. "Considering the educational role of the University," says Professor Massimo Labra, the Rector's delegate for Green Areas at Milano-Bicocca, "we believe that one of the priority aims of the activities of the Vivaio Bicocca is also to contaminate degree courses in the various disciplines with the themes of environmental as well as social and economic sustainability."
WHAT ARE THE INFRASTRUCTURES IN THE VIVAIO?
The structural objectives of the redevelopment of the Vivaio are the participatory creation of outdoor classrooms, made of leaves and tree-lined ceiling, and 3 biodiversity platforms: the biodiversity wall, the pollinator road and the biodiversity pond.
AN ARTIST'S LOOK AT THE BICOCCA CAMPUS
Carlo Stanga, known for his illustrated interpretations of many cities around the world, took on the challenge of representing the Bicocca campus as it is seen and experienced by those who populate it, walk through it, consume it and live it every day, giving us an image of the neighbourhood capable of showing not only the present, but also the vision of the transformation underway towards a sustainable and green future. The Bicocca Nursery has been represented as in the image below. For more details and the full talk follow the link.
