2. Reading. Task 2. Plant a tree: Milan's ambitious plans to be cleaner and greener

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          Milan is Italy’s fashion capital. If it has a main colour, it is grey. This is not only because of the blocks of neoclassical stone buildings for which the city is known, but also due to its often-grey sky, which traps pollution. However, Milan now wants to shift its colour palette towards green. The city has ambitious plans to plant 3 million new trees by 2030, a move that experts say could offer relief from the city’s muggy, sometimes tropical weather.

 

          Some projects have already led to environmental improvements. One example is architect Stefano Boeri’s unusual Vertical Forest residential towers. The famous Bosco Verticale – or Vertical Forest – completed in 2014 in the heart of Milan, is doubtless one of the most recognisable buildings of the last decade. It is often used as inspirational imagery for the green building movement because of its innovative idea to incorporate a vertical forest into 44 storeys across two towers. “I think the theme of forestation is one of the big challenges that we have today. It is one of the most effective ways we have to fight climate change. It is like fighting the enemy on its own field,” Boeri said. “It is effective and it is also democratic because everyone can plant trees.”
          The program will boost the number of trees by 30 percent in the broader metropolitan area. Milan officials predict it will absorb an additional 5 million tons of carbon dioxide a year – four-fifths of the total produced by Milan. Significantly, it would also reduce temperatures in the city by 2 degrees Celsius, according to officials. Milan is a city where the nighttime temperature can be much higher than in the surrounding area. City statistics show that the city endures 35 tropical nights a year. Milan gets very little wind to clear the pollutants that become blocked in by extreme changes in temperature – when a layer of cool air is trapped by a layer of warmer air, because the city lies close to the Alps. The lack of wind makes the urban heating more noticeable. The climate is very unchangeable here and planting trees will help tackle the problem.
          The project to make Milan greener includes an ambitious plan to transform a disused railway network into a series of seven parks, with 25,000 new trees every year. It also includes planting trees in 2,300 school courtyards.
          The Vertical Forest has attracted more than 20 species of birds, which Boeri said they had not expected. And the shade provided by the 800 trees and 15,000 plants means that residents rarely have to put on air conditioning, even during the peak of Milan’s wet summers. The Vertical Forest’s total greenery has the capacity to absorb 30 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. “There are also other advantages that are less measurable but I believe that the presence of green and trees has a very important effect on health and a person’s psychological state of mind, as it has been proved,” said Boeri.

 

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