COIMA, in partnership with Chora Media, has tried answering to questions that emerged from the pandemic and the urgencies imposed by climate change through Nuove Radici (New Roots), a four-episode podcast series on the future of cities.

The project is inspired by COIMA Roots, the COIMA sustainability strategy, which lays the foundations for a new way of thinking about cities based on a sustainability and regeneration logic. What lies at the roots of the cities and neighbourhoods we plan for tomorrow? What key elements will those future places have, for us to choose them as our homes? How will administrations, institutions and companies respond to the needs of tomorrow’s citizens? Each Nuove Radici episode will practically and constructively discuss the polis’ future theme. It will do so through the narrator, journalist Francesca Milano, alongside the voices of architects, journalists, writers and leading experts.

To open the series it will be the architect and senator for life Renzo Piano, together with journalist and writer Mario Calabresi, and Manfredi Catella, COIMA Founder&CEO. The dialogue will investigate how, following the pandemic and the contradictions of human life in megacities, the Italian city, characterised by its short distances and connected neighbourhoods, can become an element of attraction and a model of international inspiration.

The second episode explores connections in urban planning with WeBuild CEO Pietro Salini, CDP Venture Capital President Francesca Bria, and writer Sara Loffredi. Connecting what is separate, linking a city with another, a neighbourhood with another, city and countryside, north and south, is the country’s challenge in overcoming its endemic backwardness. Today connecting means not only designing new physical infrastructures, such as bridges and tunnels, but equipping ourselves with better digital infrastructure enabling data and information flows. The fate of cities and the quality of our daily lives will increasingly depend on the efficiency of their material and immaterial connections.

The third episode will be about beauty, a theme addressed together with architect Stefano Boeri, designer Patricia Urquiola and Manfredi Catella. There is no genuine urban regeneration if those who design and build are not inspired by sustainability and beauty. Regeneration is a word that has entered the lexicon of architecture and urban planning and means repairing, reconverting, upgrading what already exists. Still, the story of the Bosco Verticale in Milan and the redevelopment of Porta Nuova are an example of a new way of working in the urban fabric, where sustainability and beauty are the guiding stars.

Renzo Piano, architect and senator for life

In the last episode Renzo Piano and Manfredi Catella will discuss the concept of belonging with Kelly Russell Catella, Head of Sustainability and Communication of COIMA. The pandemic has reminded us how every human being is connected to others for better or worse. Although the proximity of bodies, in the workplace and in public transport, made the virus circulation possible, we know that our lives need others and a different relationship with nature, as the experience at BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano park in Milan proved. Urban happiness cannot be separated from the quality of shared life, especially for the margins and suburbs, where the city often hides its best resources.

If you were interested you will find the release of the four episodes on COIMA’s LinkedIn profile and the main podcast platforms: Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Spreaker.