Born three years ago as an academic event in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan, Milan Arch Week today has expanded to have a more public remit. This year's edition will be held from 21-26 May across the city, at the university, the Triennale museum, and Feltrinelli Foundation spaces (with the satellite “About a city” event.)

Stefano Boeri, the artistic director of the event describes it as “a week of discussion and reflection in which Milan becomes a meeting place for architects from all over the world.” This week he unveiled part of this year's programme, a star-studded list featuring Pritzker Prizers Rem Koolhaas and Shigeru Ban, alongside Paola Antonelli, Assemble, Kunlé Ayademi, Alessandro Balducci, Said Berkane, Tatiana Bilbao, Mario Botta, Andrea Branzi, Frida Escobedo, Fala Atelier, Winy Maas, Giancarlo Mazzanti, Eyal Weizman and Ma Yansong.

Milan's mayor Giuseppe Sala notes that the week is of extraordinary importance to the city: “Architecture is one of the fundamental elements for the present and for the future of our city. It is not just new buildings, but also to mend what is there with the green.”

Speaking of nature, this year’s theme has been developed in close dialogue with the themes of the XXII Milan Triennale “Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival” curated by Paola Antonelli.

Lorenza Baroncelli, artistic director of the Triennale, explains: “The bond with Broken Nature goes back to the idea of ​​design that can restore the destroyed relationship between man and nature, and this can happen through the city. The city can become a place to intervene on climate disasters.”