LAND Italia wins ‘Masterplan and Strategic Plans’ special prize at City’Scape Award 2024

Aflood of Nature 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 territories to be enhanced.

The “Meda 2025 Nature-based Solutions Laboratory” masterplan won the “Masterplan and Strategic Plans” special prize at City’Scape Award 2024, the event organised by PAYSAGE with the International Journal of Landscape Architecture TOPSCAPE in collaboration with CNAPPC (National Council of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators).

Presented by Filippo Lafleur during the International Symposium held on Friday, 12 July, at the Triennale di Milano, it was awarded the Jury’s Special Recognition in the City Landscape category. In line with the event’s mission to promote landscape design as a fundamental urban and social resilience strategy, LAND’s master plan investigates the transformative potential of nature-based solutions to foster urban regeneration starting from public space.

An urban regeneration that develops from the hills of the Brianza moors, a ‘source’ for innervating the city and its productive spaces with natural capital. The transformative process articulated along four ‘green rivers’ intersecting with a ‘blue threshold’, the Tarò torrent, creates ecological corridors. Paths dotted with tree-lined rows, rain gardens, pedestrian areas with permeable pavements and draining car parks contribute to enhancing the pre-existing cultural emergencies.

The Meda 2025 nature-based solutions masterplan envisages a cycle-pedestrian ring for gentle mobility around the city, two new routes to connect the regenerated spaces, six redeveloped squares and 11 new parks and equipped spaces that can also host special occasions, such as international events or exhibitions. Regarding natural capital, LAND’s master plan could guarantee Meda and its territory 60 hectares of additional public open spaces and 350 hectares of green areas.

“Landscaping is increasingly emerging as a leading operational strategy in the era of ecological transition,” explains Andreas Kipar. “Through integrating nature-based solutions into urban design, public space takes on a new configuration with a strong civic and ecological value. In this sense, Meda embodies a unique laboratory for valorising open space for a better quality of life in the city, to be replicated on a larger scale”.

“LAND’s masterplan highlights some of the priorities for Meda’s urban planning,” adds Andrea Boga, Councillor for Urban and Green Planning of the Municipality of Meda. “It confronts Meda’s administrators and citizens with the need for a radical change in the city’s structure. Hence, there is a need to introduce structural green elements to change the tone of the city landscape from an aesthetic, naturalistic, and climatic point of view. The task of politics will be to implement the master plan, and both public and private resources generated by building interventions will be crucial in this respect. I applaud LAND for this prestigious international award”.