GOCCIA (Green Opportunities to Clean-up Contaminants through an Interspecies Alliance) is an innovative urban and environmental regeneration project funded by the European Urban Initiative of the European Commission (ERDF – European Regional Development Fund). The project aims to remediate and regenerate the “La Goccia” area, a former contaminated industrial site located in the Bovisa district in north-east Milan, making it accessible once again and returning a natural space to the city.

La Goccia is located between the districts of Bovisa, Bovisasca, Quarto Oggiaro and Villapizzone, adjacent to one of the campuses of Politecnico di Milano. The area takes its name from its distinctive “drop” shape – goccia in Italian – defined by the railway tracks built to serve the gasworks established by the French company Union des Gaz in 1908, which went on to become one of the largest gas production plants in Europe by the 1930s. After the final shutdown of the facilities in 1994, the site remained closed to the public for the next 30 years and witnessed the emergence of a spontaneous urban forest spanning over 18 hectares. This forest has initiated a natural process of soil remediation. The project builds upon this process of nature-led recovery and aims to promote ecological and sustainable regeneration.

With a natural remediation process already underway, the decision was made not to apply traditional clean-up methods to the Goccia site, but to collaborate with nature, enhancing what had already taken root. The regeneration of the area is therefore based on Nature-Based Solutions (NBS): interventions inspired by natural processes to address environmental, social and economic challenges.

NBS are strategies that use—or work in partnership with—nature to regenerate land, improve air and water quality, reduce pollution, mitigate the effects of climate change and increase biodiversity. Unlike conventional approaches, NBS do not simply “repair” damage, but aim to activate virtuous natural cycles by building on existing local resources.

In the case of the Goccia, this means starting from the spontaneous forest to design a system of interventions that support bioremediation, natural water management, urban cooling, and the creation of new habitats. It is a project where nature is not only something to protect, but an active ally in shaping the neighbourhood’s future.

In this project, ature is fully recognised as a stakeholder, not only as an element to be preserved, but as a subject to actively collaborate with. This principle is reflected in the governance model adopted: the quintuple helix. Unlike traditional models, which involve institutions, businesses, universities and civil society (the so-called quadruple helix), the quintuple helix adds the environment as a fifth stakeholder. It acknowledges that any sustainable innovation process must take into account the ecosystem in which it unfolds.

The GOCCIA project places strong emphasis on community involvement throughout its development. The area will not only be regenerated but transformed into an innovative playground, where citizens can actively take part in guided tours, festivals, biodiversity education programmes and awareness-raising activities. In this way, the local community will play a central role in safeguarding the site, contributing to biodiversity monitoring and the stewardship of the forest. During the project, one of the former industrial buildings will be renovated with a zero-impact approach, creating a space that will be used by the project partners and later returned to the public.

The project is set to conclude officially in 2028, when most of the area will be opened to the public and the Goccia Forest will become a vibrant, accessible space and a point of reference for both the local and wider urban community. This will not mark a final end, but the beginning of a continuous, evolving process, where collaboration between nature and citizens establishes a new balance that will keep developing over time.