The commitment and passion of COIMA people since 1974 have enabled us to turn 50 years old. To celebrate this anniversary, we decided to dedicate a moment of reflection to the future of cities, intended as places of civilization and community.

Our reflection has deep roots, nurtured by values woven into projects and people who together with us have created many stories.

To celebrate them, we have produced a publication on this first half-century entitled Inspiring Cities, published by Skira and edited by Professor Fulvio Irace, which we intend as a collection of inspirations for future generations. In fact, telling our story on the occasion of our 50th anniversary, considering our nature oriented towards the future rather than the past, led us to choose a reading key dedicated, in particular, to young readers who, through lived experiences and episodes, could derive stimuli for the many extraordinary paths they will take.

Therefore, we have composed a container of images, stories and testimonies that will take shape not only in a book but also in an installation that will live on October 10 in the Olympic Village construction site, the heart of the urban regeneration project of the Porta Romana railway yard in Milan that will be a contribution to the development of urban models for the future.

The most important chapter of the book for us is the one about the next 50 years. Thinking about cities as places for solving the many critical issues that we experience today, working out a vision, requires a broader perspective than just our own, and especially that of those who will be key players in the cities of the future and who are studying today. This is why we thought that the last chapter of the book will be our “Unwritten Chapter: Next 50 years” and will be written together through the collection of a series of contributions that will then be reassembled and published after the first edition of Inspiring Cities is printed.

How? A hackathon will take place in October among teams of university students from leading universities in Milan and Rome to express the ideal city of the future.

On October 10 we will dedicate a marathon thinking session to this theme, gathering their contributions as well as those of the rectors of the participating universities, of the architects who have worked with us for so many years and contributed to composing the book, of public institutions and private sector representatives.

Last but not least, citizens will participate digitally with their own contributions, to finally compose the chapter on the next 50 years, to which we refer as a collective testimony of goals to strive for in order to achieve better cities for all.