Milan's new role in the post-Covid world More than a restart, 2021 must mark a change of narrative

2020 was the year of the «interrupted» Milan - the year in which everything that the city was, in which everything in which its collective life and its international role manifested itself was put in an indefinite on hold. A sudden and dramatic change, especially as it swooped from above at a time when the design and expansion of the metropolis was at its peak. But here arises the problem of finding a new way or, rather, a new narrative that, moving away from the oltranzist positivism of #MilanoNonSiFerma (a badly aged hashtag), returns to define the role of the city with new confidence in the future and a clearer look at things. The pandemic can be an opportunity for Milan to rethink a more balanced urban dimension, which is inclusive and not only exclusive, livable and attractive as well as glossy.

Looking at the last twenty years of the city's history, in any case, it is clear that the key to the restart is a change of gear and paradigm – a change that the pandemic has made more necessary than ever. At the end of the 1990s the name of Milan evoked the hedonistic but stakanovista aura of Berlusconiism, the great industries and the tedious and compassionate world of offices – things changed when, with the second term of Mayor Albertini the paradigm was changed, the narrative distorted and the role of "capital of design" of the city relaunched once and for all. History must repeat itself. As Alessandro Poggi, marketing director of Uniqlo Italia, the city of «has the competitive advantage of being leaner and local than other European cities, this must lead to a faster gear shift than the others». Twenty years after its evolution, in short, a new narrative must be found for the city, a more human dimension rediscovered and the new generation of locals, all, who more who less, Milanese action, will be there to do it.