Celebrating 15 years of green commitment

Exactly eight months before the opening ceremony of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Green City Italia is anticipating the times, bringing Milan closer to other cities across the continent in the spirit of the green transition. The European Green City Forum, organized in collaboration with Regione Lombardia and under the patronage of the Orders of Architects, Engineers, Agronomists, and Biologists, will welcome guests from across Europe to Palazzo Lombardia on the morning of June 6, for a special edition of the Green Olympics with one single winner: Nature.

From sustainable urban regeneration to depaving, from biodiversity to green and blue infrastructure, and from active participation to ecological citizenship—many topics will be addressed across five panels aimed at promoting innovative models for the protection and enhancement of nature in cities, scalable at the regional level and beyond.

The day will open with institutional greetings from Lombardy’s leading authorities, followed by the keynote speech by Andreas Kipar, President of Green City Italia.

“Fifteen years ago, Green City Italia was born with the goal of bringing nature back to the heart of urban planning and our daily lives,” said Andreas Kipar. “Today, together with the Lombardy Region, we celebrate Nature as a living infrastructure—essential for the quality of life and resilience of our cities. In this atmosphere of celebration and dialogue, our cultural laboratory is expanding its foundations, becoming a catalyst for continental connections. Alongside other associations, academics, sustainability experts, and local administrators, we broaden our horizons with a renewed commitment to ecological transition.”

A focus session will be dedicated to the long-term collaboration between the City of Milan and Green City Italia on the issue of depaving, recently formalized through a Letter of Intent—marking a key milestone in Milan’s journey to becoming Italy’s first Nature-Positive City.

Also not to be missed is the discussion roundtable bringing together the most virtuous municipalities in Lombardy, winners of the past five editions of the “City for Green” Award promoted by Acer magazine, the event’s media partner. Moderating the panel will be Giovanni Sala, Vice President of Green City Italia.

From sharing best practices to building new alliances across territories, and raising awareness about the crucial role of cities in the fight against climate change, the European Green City Forum offers a concrete opportunity to move beyond traditional urban planning models. Through dialogue and collaboration, it aims to outline a new paradigm where Nature and Culture move forward together toward a more sustainable future.