LAND Italia wins the special "Masterplan and Strategic Plans" award at the City‘Scape Award 2024
The jury recognized the transformative value of the "Meda 2025 Laboratory of Nature-based Solutions" project at the award ceremony held last Friday in the Hall of Honor at the Triennale in Milan.
A flood of nature. This is the evocative winning recipe proposed by LAND Italia for the urban regeneration of Meda, a town in Brianza with a rich manufacturing heritage nestled between waterways and productive areas to be enhanced.
The masterplan “Meda 2025 Laboratory of Nature-based Solutions” won the special “Masterplan and Strategic Plans” award at the City‘Scape Award 2024, an event organized by PAYSAGE with the International Landscape Architecture Magazine TOPSCAPE in collaboration with CNAPPC (National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscapers, and Conservators).
Presented by Filippo Lafleur during the International Symposium held on Friday, July 12, at the Triennale in Milan, he received the jury’s special recognition in the City Landscape category. In line with the event’s mission to promote landscape projects as a fundamental strategy for urban and social resilience, LAND’s masterplan explores the transformative potential of nature-based solutions to promote urban regeneration starting from public space.
Masterplan presentation by Filippo Lafleur, LAND
An urban regeneration that develops from the hills of the Brianza moorland, a “source” to infuse natural capital into the city and its productive spaces. A transformative process that unfolds along four “green rivers,” intersecting with a “blue threshold,” the Tarò stream, creating ecological corridors. Paths dotted with tree-lined rows, rain gardens, pedestrian areas with permeable surfaces, and draining parking lots contribute to enhancing existing cultural landmarks.
The masterplan “Meda 2025 Laboratory of Nature-based Solutions” includes a cycling and pedestrian path for soft mobility around the city, 2 new routes to connect regenerated spaces, 6 redeveloped squares, and 11 new parks and equipped spaces capable of hosting special occasions, such as international events or exhibitions. In terms of natural capital, LAND’s masterplan could provide Meda and its surrounding area with an additional 60 hectares of open public spaces and 350 hectares of green areas.
Meda masterplan by LAND
“The landscape is increasingly seen as a top operational strategy in the era of ecological transition,” states Andreas Kipar, CEO of LAND and head of the project. “By integrating nature-based solutions into urban design, public space takes on a new configuration with strong civic and ecological value. In this sense, Meda embodies a unique laboratory for enhancing open space for a better quality of urban life, which can also be replicated on a larger scale.”
“The LAND masterplan highlights some of the priorities for Meda’s urban planning,” adds Andrea Boga, Councilor for Urban Planning and Greenery of the Municipality of Meda. “Clearly, it presents both administrators and Meda’s citizens with the need for a radical change in the city’s structure. Hence, the need to introduce structural green elements to change the tone of the city’s landscape from an aesthetic, naturalistic, and climatic point of view. It will be the responsibility of politics to implement the masterplan, and in this context, both public and private resources generated by construction interventions will be fundamental. Finally, a commendation to LAND for this prestigious international recognition.”
The event was attended by authorities, stakeholders, professionals, and leading experts in the field, with 40 speakers from Italy and 12 other nations presenting 242 projects, marking a significant milestone in the history of the City‘Scape Award and the best practices of landscape architecture to which it is dedicated.
