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During the 12th World Urban Forum/WUF12, BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano, a Fondazione Riccardo Catella project, was given the LivCom Award for SDGs. This prestigious international award is promoted by the LivCom Committee – a non-profit organisation backed by the UN, various UN agencies and international organisations – and is dedicated to best practices in managing the environment and local development to create smart, liveable and sustainable cities.

Selected from a list of 267 candidates coming from 53 countries, BAM, the only Italian project to become a finalist, was recognised in the Whole City Award category for its ability to create liveable communities as a public park endowed with rich biodiversity and an innovative cultural programme that rose up within a large project to upgrade the Portanuova area. It represents the city of Milan as one of the most interesting best practices in the world.

The criteria based on which the LivCom Award for SDGs panel made its selection of finalists are: upgrading of the landscape and public areas; promotion of art, culture and cultural heritage; adoption of practices aimed at protecting the environment and in line with green economy goals; involvement, participation and empowerment of the community; attention paid to citizens’ well-being; and sustainability of the project’s planning and management policies.

“I wish to express the city’s pride in seeing the excellence of BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano, a Fondazione Riccardo Catella project, recognised with an award as prestigious as the LivCom Award, which involved organisations from the world over”, emphasised Anna Scavuzzo, Deputy Mayor of Milan. “BAM is an outdoor theatre for the city with its innovative, high-quality programming, a calendar of activities designed to bring well-being to the citizens. The Municipality of Milan is engaged in promoting urban policies that assist the liveability of our districts, the psycho-physical well-being of our citizens and culture that is increasingly widespread and accessible to everyone and to each individual. And it is doing so together with all the active organisations that work together every day to act out this commitment. The significant effort that BAM is putting forth makes Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano a great ally of the municipality in contributing to making Milan an increasingly liveable and friendly city, for both our citizens and our visitors” . – Anna Scavuzzo, Deputy Mayor and Councillor Responsible for Education of the Municipality of Milan.

“This recognition reconfirms once again the enormous commitment of Fondazione Riccardo Catella to the virtuous management of the public park and development of the territory by setting in motion projects aimed at improving the citizens’ quality of life. We are honoured to be here in Cairo to receive an award that confirms, at an international level, the BAM project in Milan’s Portanuova district as a best practice in sustainable development, activation of the community and social inclusion”. – Kelly Russell Catella, Director General of Fondazione Riccardo Catella and Head of Sustainability & Communications at COIMA.

“It is a great honour to receive the LivCom Award for SDGs, being one of 267 candidates coming from 53 countries around the world. I wish to share this prestigious international award with all those who have, together with us, believed in an innovative model able to place culture in the centre of urban regeneration and the creation of liveable communities. And in particular the Municipality of Milan, which has always been at our side with the mutual goal of fostering actions addressed to the citizens’ well-being; the many companies and institutions, essential for us and with whom we collaborate through scrupulous co-design work; the artists who take up the challenge of proposing contents aimed at interpreting contemporaneity; my team of professionals who look after every detail of the planning; and last, but not least, the lively communities that every day participate in the park’s life and our cultural offering, returning the sense of this enormous collective work”. –Francesca Colombo, General Cultural Director of BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano, Fondazione Riccardo Catella.