CI want a flower, Sergio Endrigo sang, with the words of Gianni Rodari. «To do everything you need a flower». A message that is anything but simplistic. Even in our cities: a flower, a plant, an urban garden can do a lot. Not just giving as gifts beauty. Not just offering relief from the summer heat. They can even become engine of inclusion, well-being and social transformation. A moment of sharing and discussion was dedicated to the “urban nature that regenerates and heals” as part of the Milan Green Week: to talk about and put into dialogue many projects animated by the same spirit.
Urban greenery that heals: stories of regeneration and civic activation
«A redesigned school courtyard, a shared garden, a public space returned to the community can activate social and collective care dynamics capable of lasting over time», he explains Riccardo Sorichetti, General Director Alia Falck Foundationwho organized the event. «The role of our foundation is to create the conditions so that these experiences do not remain isolated, activating the link between natural capital and community well-being». The mission is therefore to connect those who work in the area, encouraging the exchange of good practices and the growth of replicable models.
A challenge within the challenge: «not only to create effective projects, but build the conditions together so that they become common and lasting heritage of our cities”.
Not just beauty and well-being against heat and pollution
While overbuilding progresses, urban greenery becomes a bulwark, fundamental “for reducing heat islands but also for the effects on biodiversity and the liveability of territories, and for the reduction of certain types of pollutants”. But not only that: “It also has indirect effects, which emerge when attention is paid to its treatment with the involvement of people.” That is, it becomes a device of “civic activation and social cohesion, to become the shared heritage of the community».
No rush when you need a long-term strategic vision
Before reviewing, in a quick overview, some of the projects presented, a warning: it is not certain that they will be successful, not immediately and not all of them. «There are no magic formulas: the community processes that generated them are an important starting point. Now daily and long-term care work is necessary.”
In a world that is in a hurry, to really impact communities it is necessary to have none. «This is our vision: the idea is not just to financially support the projects, but to include them inside an overall strategic plan. A plan that looks far ahead and tries to unify community processes, accompanying urban transformation with the involvement of citizens». With patience.
Just as a forest is not born overnight, this design too «is a process that takes time. We need institutions, partnerships, but also a lot of volunteering and grassroots push: no one is enough alone.” Putting all the elements together is often complicated, but not impossible. «It’s part of our job to try to build these connections. And it is the thing that moves me every morning when I go to work”, explains Sorichetti, thus explaining the mission ofphilanthropic body that he directs (and that renews the activity of the former Falck Foundation, linked to the Falck industrial group).
Nature and community, 7 projects to know
1. Fiësca Verd, urban gardens in Turin
Fiësca Verd is the project built in Turin around urban gardens intended as tools for connecting neighborhoods and communities. The mission is to promote urban regeneration and social inclusion through the recovery of marginal green areas, and the activation of urban agriculture paths within them. It involves schools and associations, but also simply the inhabitants of the neighborhood.
Fiësca Verd is the project built in Turin around urban gardens
2. ForestaMi School, the environmental education program in schools
ForestaMi School is the environmental education program promoted by the Forestami ETS Foundation to involve students, schools and educating communities in building a more sustainable future. Through courses dedicated to schools of all levels, the project combines knowledge, ethics and participation, promoting awareness of climate change, protection of biodiversity and active citizenship.
Scuola Forestami was born from the belief that planting trees is not enough without a profound cultural change: educating the new generations means providing tools, values and concrete opportunities for action to contribute to the protection of the territory and the planet.
Scuola ForestaMi involves students, schools and educating communities in building a more sustainable future.
3. HanaMi, the first school in Italy dedicated to the ecological transition
HanaMi it is the first school in Italy dedicated to the ecological transition. Born from the experience of Soulfood Forestfarms offers a training course that combines scientific knowledge, field experience and project work. And he proposes to train expert professionals in the sector of landscape regeneration, be it urban, peri-urban or rural, increasingly indispensable and requested.
HanaMi is the first school in Italy dedicated to the ecological transition
4. Agroforestry that combines ecology and profit
Non-profit organization working to regenerate agroecosystems, Soulfood Forestfarms connects funds and corporate initiatives directly to the farmers who plant themsupporting them in planning, installation and management over time. Agroforestry is therefore understood as a solution that combines ecological and economic value, ensuring long-lasting and measurable impact.
5. The WWF Nature Classrooms
The Nature Classrooms of the WWF transform school courtyards into open-air educational spaces, encouraging the meeting between biodiversity, environmental education and new ways of learning. The network of schools that have created one (over 80) extends across the entire national territory. Thanks to the WWF educational method and outdoor education, they integrate into the educational program a learning method that has Nature as its protagonist in a concrete and tangible dimension, to help citizens of tomorrow grow healthy and aware of how fundamental nature is for our well-being.
The latest one created thanks to the support of the Alia Falck Foundation, in May 2026, was that of Paderno Dugnano (MI), an environmental education space for over 700 students of the Allende Comprehensive Institute, Plesso Manzoni.
The WWF Nature Classrooms transform school courtyards into open-air educational spaces
6. The urban forest of Pozzo d’Adda
Promoted by the Forestami Foundation together with the Municipality and created thanks to the support of the Alia Falck Foundation, it represents a concrete example of participatory urban forestation in the metropolitan city of Milan. On an area of over 20,500 square meters, with the planting of 1,691 trees and shrubs, offers citizens a place dedicated to well-being and sociability. It’s not just about planting trees, but about building a real green infrastructure capable of improving the quality of life and promoting biodiversity.
The urban forest of Pozzo d’Adda
7. Community roots, the regenerated Alley
“Community roots – Regenerated alley” is the participatory urban regeneration plan of theCuccagna Shipyard Consortium Associationborn for transform an abandoned space into a living and pulsating centrededicated to sociality, culture and learning.
Community roots, the regenerated alley