As cities have contributed for centuries to the promotion of humanity’s greatest ideas, now, we must start from cities to overcome the climate crisis. Today, one of the most significant technologies capable of absorbing carbon dioxide and restoring our environment is photosynthesis. The book explores a new relationship between nature and cities. It aims to unveil the processes and complexity in the search for a new urbanism, raising questions, and opening old wounds related to the relationship between the human species and nature, putting these fragments together to create the portrait of our era. Green Obsession offers a path to be taken, a paradigm shift to give a voice to the ecological transition. It is essential to act together as members of the global community with a shared strategy. We need to conceive cities as green catalysts, to open the era of a new alliance between nature and city.

Stefano Boeri is founder and partner of Stefano Boeri Architetti, based in Milan with offices in Shanghai and Tirana, Albania. The focus on the relationship between city and nature led to the creation of the Vertical Forest, the first prototype of a residential building hosting 700 trees and 20,000 plants. He is a professor at the Politecnico di Milano and has been visiting professor at several universities. He is director of the Future City Lab at Tongji University. In 2018, he was cochair of the scientific committee for the First World Forum on Urban Forests together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). He presented the Great Green Wall of Cities developed with FAO, C40, UN-Habitat and other organizations at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York. Author of numerous books and publications, he was councilor for culture in Milan and in February 2018 he was appointed president of the Fondazione Triennale Milano.

Maria Chiara Pastore is head of research at Stefano Boeri Architetti and associate professor at the Politecnico di Milano. Her work includes research into the implementation of an improved green system as part of Greater Milan 2030, Forestami (Milano 2030), the production of the Water Vision for the 2030 Tirana Masterplan (Albania), the “Safer house construction guidelines” for the Malawi Ministry of Housing (GFDRR), the “Master plan for the City of Dar es Salaam” for the Tanzanian Ministry of Lands Housing Human Settlements Development and the master plan for EXPO 2015 in Milan (with Stefano Boeri Architetti). She has been a consultant to the World Bank, a member of the scientific committee of the World Forum on Urban Forests and visiting professor at Technische Universität Graz (TU Graz). In 2018 she published “Reinterpreting the relationship between water and urban planning. The case of Dar es Salaam” (Routledge, 2018).

Simone Marchetti is an architect currently living and working in Milan. Prior to his graduate architectural studies at Politecnico di Milano, he studied biology where he developed his interest in merging different disciplines. After working at London-based bureau EcoLogicstudio, incorporating biotechnology, architecture, and urban design, he now continues his research work in Milan. Since 2017, he has been a collaborator in the research division at Stefano Boeri Architetti where he is involved in projects in the field of urban forestry and urban planning resilience strategies. During 2020–21, Marchetti was assistant professor on the graduate urban planning course at the Politecnico di Milano. Some of his other undergraduate experiences include courses on sustainability in architecture and urban planning and principles of passive-house planning at the Technische Universität Wien and at Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (BOKU).

Livia Shamir is an architect and project leader at Stefano Boeri Architetti in Milan where she coordinates the research department. She focuses on strategic urban planning projects, specializing in urban sustainability and resilience strategies and urban forestry strategies. Since 2014, she has been assistant professor on the town planning design workshop course at Politecnico di Milano. She received a grant from the department of agriculture and urban studies at the Politecnico di Milano for the development of Forestami, an urban forestry project aimed at promoting the construction of a metropolitan park and encouraging urban forestry policies and projects in the metropolitan city of Milan. Shamir has collaborated with the FAO, Mantua Municipal Council, the Politecnico di Milano, and the Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology (SISEF) during the organization of the first World Forum on Urban Forests (WFUF) held in 2018 in Mantua and the WFUF Milano Calling 2019 International Forum.

Sofia Paoli is an architect who graduated with full marks from Politecnico di Milano. She won the Best Graduates Award 2018 from the Milan Order of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators (OAPPC) with her thesis project and she was a finalist in the Young Talent Architecture Award–EU Mies Award 2018. Paoli is enrolled in the Florence OAPPC and works for Stefano Boeri Architetti in the research department where she is involved in the field of urban forestry and urban policies and strategies for a number of projects around the world. Previously, Paoli collaborated with Bolko Von Schweinichen’s Architecture Office in Florence, dealing with the restoration of historical properties in Tuscany. She was assistant professor at the Università degli Studi di Firenze for Architecture Design Lab II in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2018 and for Interior Design Lab III in 2017. She is assistant professor at Politecnico di Milano for Urban Design Studio.

Luis Pimentel is originally from Venezuela and is now based in Milan. He works with Stefano Boeri Architetti as part of the research department and has been engaged in large scale projects specializing in territorial analysis. He cocurated the 2016, 2017, and 2018 editions of Milano Arch Week for the Triennale di Milano. He has also cocurated a series of international events in Maracaibo from 2009 to 2012 as part of the “Distopia” collective. He was assisting tutor for the XXIV Vertical Workshop for the Universitat Internacional di Catalunya (UIC) Barcelona School of Architecture and he participated in All the World Futures at the 56th Venice International Art Exhibition as part of The Tomorrow, an editorial project by Stefano Boeri and Pier Paolo Tamburelli. Together with Studio Folder he participated in the Far Away-So Close Architecture Biennale at the Muzej za arhitekturo in oblikovanje (MAO) Ljubljana. His work has been published in the Harvard Design Magazine: HDM 34 Architecture from Latin America.

Maria Lucrezia De Marco is a practicing architect and editor, and graduated from Politecnico di Milano in 2017. Her academic experience includes studies at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Seville and at Universidad Politécnica in Madrid. Her editorial and publication projects are mainly focused on architectural and urban planning research exploring the current changes in the contemporary metropolis. She works at Stefano Boeri Architetti’s Milan office and has collaborated on urban scale projects aimed at the regeneration of the natural environment in urban contexts. Since 2014, she has collaborated with international institutions and cultural organizations in the management and content production for more than 300 public events, conferences, and exhibitions. In 2020–21, she was an external collaborator for the Urban Planning Design Studio led by Stefano Boeri at Politecnico di Milano, focusing on the relationships between cities and rural villages in Italy.

Fiamma Colette Invernizzi is currently communication coordinator and creative content creator at Stefano Boeri Architetti. She is also editor of Il Bullone, a national monthly journal where she has been a volunteer since 2015. Invernizzi is also assistant professor at Politecnico di Milano, where she graduated with honors in architecture in 2015 and obtained a doctorate in Interior Design in 2020. As well as articles in national newspapers, she has written several academic papers about interior design, educative and research experiences and architectural restoration and contributed chapters to books, including “Design of the Unfinished: A New Way of Designing Leftovers Regeneration;” “Cultural, Theoretical, and Innovative Approaches to Contemporary Interior Design” by Luciano Crespi; and “Mind and Places: a Multidisciplinary Approach to the Design of Contemporary City” by Anna Anzani. During her academic career she has lived in Cyprus as a visiting doctoral student and participated in numerous international conferences in Europe and the Middle East.