Parco Romana: Olympic Village and Urban Redevelopment

Olympic Villages are unique projects since there aren’t a lot of housing developments whose primary purpose is only going to exist for a three week period. Because of that, Olympic Villages are usually designed with a future use in mind. 

When I decided to check what they were doing for the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, I wasn’t expecting to find anything special. The Olympic Village in Milan was going to be used as student housing afterwards, which made sense considering the needs of athletes for a three week period can probably be satisfied by dorm rooms and a high-end cafeteria. The project claims it’s going to have no environmental impact, get 30% of its energy from solar, and have highly efficient water management and energy use. Everything about the project looked good, but there wasn’t anything overly interesting about it.

Then I found out that the Olympic Village was just one part of a much bigger urban development project in Milan. The entire initiative is planned to redevelop seven disused railyards across the city, but this specific project only involved one of them, of which the Olympic Village would only take up a corner. By now, the Olympic Village is complete and ready for the games, but the rest of the project is still underway.

As previously mentioned, the Olympic Village accommodations will become student housing. The metro line that runs through the railyard will be covered by a suspended forest and will be bordered by an eco-zone composed of grassy and wetland areas. The centre portion of the railyard will be converted into a park full of the region’s native plantlife. At the other end of the railyard, there will be a mix of social and market housing. This end will also have office and commercial buildings, as well as some public plazas. If that wasn’t enough, the entire area will be car-free, accessible through bike and pedestrian paths.

To put it simply, it’s a project that has it all. This railyard was an inefficient use of space, sure, but it had also become a barrier between two areas of the city. This project really looks like it’s going to reconnect the separated neighbourhoods while maximizing the utility of the area. To read more about it and see some renderings, check out the project’s website.

Written by GAPSS media committee member Rachel R.

Photo credits: Scalo di Porta Romana