In Italy, the challenge of urban regeneration is evolving from simple volumetric recovery to the creation of real “proximity ecosystems”. It is no longer just a matter of renovating buildings, but of managing the transition of disused industrial areas towards new functions that respond to the urgencies of the present: environmental sustainability, academic integration and international attractiveness.
In this context, contemporary urban regeneration today finds two of its most advanced examples in Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence and BiM in Milan. If the Florentine project transforms the former factory into a dynamic and inclusive neighborhood – animated by the international Polimoda community and design residences – BiM redevelops an entire block in Bicocca through a logic of retrofitting. Signed by Piuarch and Antonio Perazzi, the Milanese intervention returns over 50,000 m2 of office, retail and green areas to the city, presenting itself as a model of authentic sustainability.
To better understand the strategic importance of the two projects for Florence and Milan, we chose to interview Michelangelo Giombini, Head of Product Development & CEO of Manifattura placemakers, who explained how the strategy of temporary uses, the symbiosis with academic excellence and the investment in contemporary art are transforming these complexes into specialized employment hubs. Through the story of these two “vibrating containers”, Giombini offers a valuable overview of the state of the art of regeneration processes capable of generating social value and international attractiveness, redefining the local and national fabric.
Both projects are inserted in defined historical contexts (Bicocca and the Cascine area). What strategies have been adopted to ensure that these new districts do not become “islands”, but are truly permeable and connected to the pre-existing social fabric?
The first measure adopted to encourage the reintegration of BiM and Manifattura Tabacchi into their respective urban and social fabrics was to activate temporary uses within the buildings still awaiting redevelopment, in parallel with the start of the construction sites. This strategy made it possible to avoid the two interventions being perceived as transformations imposed from above or as exclusively real estate processes, instead immediately opening the places to the city and making the public an integral part of the change.
The temporary activation of the spaces had in fact a dual objective: on the one hand, to gradually accompany citizens, residents and stakeholders in understanding the new identity of the projects; on the other, immediately restoring vitality to complexes that have remained closed or underused for a long time. Cultural events, public initiatives, creative activities and moments of aggregation have thus transformed the construction sites into already experienced and recognizable places, capable of generating curiosity, participation and a sense of belonging even before the completion of the architectural interventions.
In this way, both BiM and Manifattura Tabacchi were able to progressively build a relationship with the surrounding area, initially involving the neighborhood and the stakeholders closest to the project, and then expanding their range of action to attract increasingly larger and more diversified audiences.
A particularly significant example of this approach is represented by the start of the regeneration process of Manifattura Tabacchi. In 2017, seventeen years after the closure of the factory, the project was presented to the city through a highly symbolic gesture: the organization of a dinner in the main courtyard dedicated to all the former employees of the complex. This moment represented not only an opportunity to meet, but above all an act of reconnection between memory and transformation, between the industrial past of the place and its future as a new contemporary urban centre. Involving those who had experienced the Manufacture on a daily basis made it possible to recognize the historical and identifying value of the site, while at the same time underlining the central role that the complex had had – and would continue to have – in the life of the city of Florence.
What is the estimated contribution of these processes in terms of attracting foreign investments and creating new specialized employment centers (tech, fashion, research) at a national level?
In this sense, BiM and Manifattura Tabacchi represent two quite different models, although they share the objective of creating urban ecosystems capable of generating relationships, attracting talent and building communities.
BiM is configured as a contemporary business center in the heart of the Bicocca district, designed not only as a workplace, but as an open and dynamic platform. The project combines regenerated and technologically advanced spaces with a strong integration with the university context, thanks to the collaboration with the University of Milan-Bicocca. A central element of the vision is the “common ground” on the ground floor: a system of services, activities and leisure spaces designed to extend stays beyond traditional office hours and attract people from all over the city. The objective is to encourage the creation of a heterogeneous and continually growing community, made up of employees, students, university staff, entrepreneurs, creatives and residents.
The symbolic and functional heart of the project is the Bicocca Pavilion, placed in the center of the new greenery square. This urban device represents the meeting point between business and leisure, in a constant dialogue between productivity, innovation and sociability. On the first floor there is the Innovation Hub of the Bicocca Foundation, the new University body created to connect academic excellence with the business world, promoting innovation projects and enhancing the university’s scientific and research assets.
Manifattura Tabacchi instead presents itself as a truly multifunctional neighborhood, where residences, training, work, culture, retail and hospitality coexist within a complex and permeable urban ecosystem. The co-presence of different functions encourages meeting and contamination between different audiences, nurturing a community that finds its main common denominator in creativity. In this context, a strategic role is played by the Factory, inaugurated in April 2023: a multifunctional space in which fashion, art, design, contemporary craftsmanship, lifestyle and food offerings intertwine, creating a hub capable of attracting an international community of creatives, professionals and new inhabitants interested in living and working in Florence.
The strategic value of highly identifying vertical poles also emerges in both projects. In the case of BiM, the Innovation Hub linked to scientific and technological research; in the case of Manifattura Tabacchi, the presence of Polimoda as an international excellence in fashion training. Both of these elements have contributed significantly to increasing the attractiveness of their respective developments: on the one hand by encouraging the establishment of new management tenants, on the other – in the case of Manifattura Tabacchi – by also supporting residential demand, as demonstrated by the success of the Anilla and Puro residences, already inhabited, together with the Zenit projects, due for delivery in September 2026, and Futura, currently under construction.
BiM and Manifattura Tabacchi dedicate large spaces to contemporary art (e.g. Specific collective, artist residencies). To what extent does cultural programming act as an accelerator for the commercial valorization of properties?
We believe a lot in cultural programming, especially artistic ones. This tool allows us to talk about the transformation that has been taking place since its origins, allowing the public to increase awareness of what is happening and, with it, the value of what is being transformed or built from scratch.
Suffice it to say that BiM, from day one, enhances and promotes the multiple expressions of contemporary creativity thanks to an artistic and cultural program curated by the Specific collective. Specific’s initiatives contaminate a place mainly dedicated to work with unexpected and stimulating looks and languages, establishing a virtuous dialogue with the building’s tenants, the community and the cultural institutions that animate the Bicocca district.
Art – of any type, more generally “expression of creativity” to include design, photography, music, performing arts, etc. – brings people together and establishes bridges with the rest of the city, encouraging people to frequent the place under construction and the birth of a local community.
The process is not quick, particularly if working on regeneration projects on the outskirts of cities, but it can prove more effective than any promotional campaign.
The starting point is to study what is already present, dig into the past and enhance what has been lost or forgotten over time.
Both in Milan (UniMiB) and Florence (Polimoda, E-RIHS), the academic presence is central. What are the first tangible results of the collaboration between scientific research and the business world within your Innovation Hubs?
In the BiM project in Milan, the collaboration initially started with the University of Milan-Bicocca and subsequently consolidated through the creation of the Bicocca Foundation represented a fundamental strategic element for the positioning and identity of the intervention. From this synergy a center dedicated to innovation was born, housed within the new Pavilion, conceived as a place of connection between the academic and entrepreneurial worlds.
The objective of the project is to create an ecosystem capable of promoting the meeting between research, industry and business, bringing together scientific skills, technological know-how and industrial development capacity. Through the Innovation Hub, the university – with its teachers, researchers, laboratories and infrastructures – can collaborate directly with companies in the definition and development of innovative and strategic projects, offering high added value services and promoting processes of technology transfer and interdisciplinary contamination. In this way, BiM goes beyond the traditional dimension of the management complex and is configured as a platform open to the production of knowledge, experimentation and shared innovation.
In the case of Manifattura Tabacchi in Florence, however, the presence of Polimoda from the early stages of the project had a decisive role in building the identity of the new neighborhood. The school
international fashion design not only represents an important function located within the complex, but constitutes one of the main cultural and social drivers of the entire development. The daily presence of students, designers, professionals and creatives from international contexts contributes to nurturing a dynamic and multicultural community, capable of influencing the very character of the urban project. A creative ecosystem has progressively developed around Polimoda in which training, cultural production, fashion, design, contemporary craftsmanship and events coexist and cross-contaminate each other, strengthening Manifattura Tabacchi’s positioning as a new international hub dedicated to creativity and cultural innovation in the Florentine context. The prestigious presence of the CNR and the European E-RIHS infrastructure fits into this framework with its exceptional scope of technology applied to restoration, bringing its group of international scientists and researchers into the community.
