From the inside looking out and the outside looking

Sites like the Farini Yards are familiar, as are the “who could argue with that?”
urban design straplines such as “vibrant town centres and green links” which are the precursor to the CGIs – indistinguishable from one project to another right across the world – of the masterplan vision.
The Farini Yards and what surrounds them are particular to themselves. The ease of the masterplanner’s felt pen with its confident arrows and scrawl can miss what is there in plain sight.
Methodology : A Brief Obedience
In the Principi e Indicatori, describing the ideals of connectivity, culture, green infrastructure, and resources, Milan (and these workshops) is urged to go further than clichés – multiple ambitions must be reconciled within density
of development.
There is always the danger of displacement of concerns and a deferral of
issues to these places which are not yet part of the city where, instead of addressing the tricky and political nature of the here and now, for example keeping production in the city or social stratification and isolation, an idealised versions of the city is projected to the place as yet undeveloped.
Through close looking at what is particular to the site, we can suggest how so-called temporary proposals can inscribe future uses both within the Farini Yards but also within “Milan itself”. Imagine the perimeter is an axis of reflection – for every condition we consider on the site we will look at the site itself through a series of companion spaces outside it.
Value/Time
We will be asking what one can get for the €3 000 000, gifted to us by this workshop brief. We will be describing different currencies of value, rates of exchange, rates of growth, modes of investment, quick wins and steady returns, momentary extravagance and incremental change .