BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano

Born in 2019, BAM – Biblioteca degli Alberi Milano is an innovative Public-Private Partnership between the Municipality of Milan, Fondazione Riccardo Catella (FRC), a non-profit organization, and COIMA for the management, maintenance, safety, and cultural activation of a public park. Conceived as a nature-based cultural district, BAM places culture at the heart of urban life, using the arts as a tool to foster community engagement, well-being, environmental awareness, and social inclusion.

BAM redefines the role of public parks by integrating culture, nature, biodiversity, and well-being into a single urban ecosystem in the heart of Milan. Its management model combines daily environmental stewardship with more than 300 free cultural and educational experiences each year, delivered through participatory and site-specific approaches that strengthen social cohesion and encourage a shared sense of responsibility for public space. Guided by Managing and Cultural Director Francesca Colombo, BAM has become a contemporary agora for collective well-being, earning international recognition in 2024 through two UN-promoted awards: the Dubai International Award for Best Practices and the LivCom SDGs Award.

Culture is at the core of BAM’s identity. Since its opening, BAM has delivered over 2,390 free cultural and educational experiences, reaching more than 472,000 participants, including 138,000 children, and collaborating with over 4,900 artists. Designed as open-air, inclusive, and accessible, all activities aim to remove barriers to participation and promote cultural equity. BAM’s programming is rooted in site-specific, participatory, and co-creative methodologies that blur traditional boundaries between artists, audiences, and the natural environment. Artistic projects are developed in collaboration with artists and local communities, fostering inclusion, shared ownership, and active citizenship through listening processes, open calls, and collaborative initiatives.

Alongside its cultural mission, BAM ensures the care, maintenance, and safety of the park through practices designed to promote biodiversity, improve air quality, mitigate urban heat island effects, and support responsible water management. BAM also serves as a platform for experimentation and international exchange, collaborating with artists and cultural institutions from around the world and bringing global perspectives into the local context. Its program addresses key contemporary challenges—including sustainability, social justice, inclusion, and collective well-being—in alignment with the UN 2030 Agenda.

The park is part of the Porta Nuova urban development project, the first district in the world to receive both LEED and WELL for Community certifications, and is surrounded by internationally renowned architectural landmarks, including Stefano Boeri’s Bosco Verticale and César Pelli’s Unicredit Tower.