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Reuse radar

Milan

Milan keeps a public register of 146 privately owned disused buildings whose owners must start a recovery or face demolition orders, and the City is offering its own land on 90-year surface rights for affordable rented homes — with cooperatives explicitly invited. Offices are tight in the centre, but the older stock on the periphery stands empty more often.
An empty building in Milan with homes, balconies and neighbours drawn onto it in ink
Empty buildings on record
535
from 20 open sources
Vacant office space
852,000 m²
9.2% of the stock
Homes potential
≈ 2,311
if 30% of empty offices converted

Office figures: Savills, H1 2026 — 852,000 m² of offices available in Milan, a 9.2% vacancy rate (3.6% for grade A); stock of about 9.26 million m² derived from the two. JLL put vacancy at 9.6% and BNP Paribas RE at 9.3% for the same period. Homes: our economic model’s conversion engine. Map built 2026-10-10.

In 3D, from today’s sources — a potential we spotted, not a plan.

Empty buildings in Milan

One point per building, from public records, open data and cited reports. Filter by type, size and how sure the evidence is; open one to see who says so and whether it could become homes.

The aerial photo (AGEA 2021, Regione Lombardia) is not openly licensed; it is shown with the Region's agreement (Jonathan Imme, 9 Oct 2026) and comes off on request. The City's newer 2024 orthophoto stays view-only.

Loading map…
Colour = type of building named officially likely reported
Missing a building?

Check any building in Milan: could it become homes, and could the EHC model work there?

8 more buildings in Milan reported in the news, not yet on the map

The articles do not give an address we could place, so these have no pin yet. From news reports, summed up in our own words with a link to each article — not checked on site by EHC.

  • capannone abbandonato di via Cesalpino, via Cesalpino — reported empty · formerly industrial buildingA fire broke out in an abandoned shed on via Cesalpino that homeless people used as shelter. la Repubblica Milano (2024-09-19)
  • Ex fabbrica farmaceutica Ciba — reported empty · formerly industrial buildingThe headline describes a former pharmaceutical factory abandoned for thirty years whose planned luxury housing never materialised. MilanoToday (2026-08-02)
  • Gasometri della Bovisa — reported conversion planned · formerly industrial buildingTwo former gasometers in Bovisa will be converted into an innovation hub and a sports facility by 2026. Milano Città Stato (2024-11-14)
  • Hotel Plaza — reported empty · formerly hotelThe headline tells the story of the Plaza, a grand hotel standing abandoned behind the cathedral. MilanoToday (2025-09-14)
  • Immobile direzionale a Cologno Monzese — reported conversion planned · formerly officeAn existing office building near the metro in Cologno Monzese will be converted into a student residence of over 600 beds. MilanoToday (2026-09-22)
  • palazzo curvo del Corvetto — reported emptyThe curved building in Corvetto remains abandoned after its planned transformation failed to happen. Milano Città Stato (2026-04-29)
  • Piscina Argelati — reported empty · formerly public buildingThe historic outdoor municipal swimming pool facility near Porta Genova has remained closed and completely abandoned for two years despite planned renovations. Milano Città Stato (2024-08-01)
  • Prima stazione di Lambrate — reported empty · formerly public buildingDecommissioned in 1931, the original passenger building still stands near the church of Santi Faustino and Giovita in Ortica. Milano Città Stato (2025-03-24)

Where conversion makes sense, and who to talk to

The districts where empty space, the right zoning and a working neighbourhood come together, and the owners and programmes that open a door. 852,000 m² of offices stand empty (9.2% of the stock).

A hand outlining a neighbourhood on a city map, with small houses drawn inside

Bovisa, Dergano and Villapizzone (north-west)

The densest cluster on the disused-buildings register, next to the Farini yard and the Bovisa university campus, with a City plot offered for affordable rent on Via Bovisasca.

  • 32 of the 146 art. 40 bis buildings sit in the Villapizzone–Cagnola–Boldinasco, Dergano, Bovisa and Affori districts
  • City land at Via Bovisasca 18 (1,838 m²) offered on a 90-year surface right
  • Scalo Farini covers 468,301 m² next door

Risk: Most listed buildings are former workshops and depots, so expect remediation and partial rebuilding rather than straight conversion.

2 sources

Lambrate and Ortica (east)

Former industrial streets (Via Sbodio, Via Folli, Via Arrighi) with both register buildings and regional brownfield sites, by Lambrate station.

  • 15 art. 40 bis buildings in the Lambrate–Ortica district
  • 7 sites (about 70,700 m² of land) in the regional 2008/2010 disused-areas census

Risk: Several entries are small former workshops; the large sites are already in developers' hands.

2 sources

Gorla, Precotto and Turro (Viale Monza / Via Padova)

Many small disused buildings in a dense, well-connected residential area on metro line 1 — the scale a single cooperative can take on.

  • 19 art. 40 bis buildings in Gorla–Precotto and Padova–Turro–Crescenzago
  • Viale Monza 90 added to the register in April 2024

Risk: Fragmented private ownership; buildings are small and mixed with occupied homes.

2 sources

Taliedo, Scalo Romana and Rogoredo (south-east)

Empty office and former industrial buildings on the register next to the Porta Romana yard, where the Olympic Village has just become student housing.

  • 17 art. 40 bis buildings, including a former Telecom office block and the former Ricordi publishing house
  • About 260,000 m² of land in the regional disused-areas census in Taliedo–Forlanini alone
  • 1,698-bed student residence opened in the former Olympic Village in September 2026

Risk: Land values rise with the Porta Romana and Santa Giulia projects; the biggest sites belong to funds.

3 sources

Signals to watch

Decisions, auctions and closures that change what becomes available, and when.

  1. 2026-09-07Olympic Village becomes student housing

    1,698 beds opened at Porta Romana four months after the Paralympics, at an average of €785 a month, 25% below the market.

    1 source
  2. 2026-08-29Affordable-housing land calls extended to 26 October

    Second extension for Ex Palasharp, San Romanello and Bovisasca after operators called the €90/m² rent cap too rigid; earlier rounds drew a bid only for Via Demostene.

    1 source
  3. 2026-07-18Office vacancy at 9.6%

    Take-up of about 134,000 m² in the first half of 2026; vacancy for grade A only 3.6%, so the empty space is older stock.

    1 source
4 earlier signals
  1. 2026-05-17
    Works under way at the former Caserma Mameli

    Remediation began in November 2025; more than half of the homes will be social housing.

    1 source
  2. 2026-05-12
    City offers 12 of its disused buildings in Milan for reuse

    Three calls covered 20 City properties 'in a state of current disuse' — five historic buildings and seven farmsteads and small buildings in Milan, and holiday homes and seaside colonies elsewhere — by concession or surface right; the deadline was extended and bids were opened on 16 September 2026.

    2 sources
  3. 2025-11-24
    Disused-buildings register updated

    The City's art. 40 bis map now holds 146 buildings, including three added by council resolution 38/2025.

    1 source
  4. 2025-07-21
    Planning investigation freezes projects

    A judicial inquiry into Milan's planning practice halted more than 150 building projects worth some €12 billion.

    1 source

Sources, and what we cannot see

28 sources connected, 1 waiting for access. We only use data we may lawfully reuse; where a publisher blocks automated access we do not work around it — a person downloads it, or we ask for permission.

Every source, its licence and when we last read it
SourceAccessRecordsStatusLicence
OpenStreetMap disused/abandoned tags and brownfields
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API238Live
2026-10-10
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Rail, S-Bahn and U-Bahn stations (OpenStreetMap)
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-10
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Building heights: GlobalBuildingAtlas (TU Munich)
Zhu, X. X., Chen, S., Zhang, F., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. (2025), Technical University of Munich
GlobalBuildingAtlas: an open global and complete dataset of building polygons, heights and LoD1 3D models. Earth System Science Data 17(12), 6647–6668, doi:10.5194/essd-17-6647-2025. Read from the Parquet copy on Source Cooperative. Satellite-derived heights (typically 1.5–3 m error in Europe), turned into storeys with storey heights fitted on Berlin; used only where no register or official 3D model sizes the building.
Open download255 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-10
CC BY-NC 4.0 (heights); footprints from OpenStreetMap and Microsoft: ODbL
Building heights: Database Geo-Topografico (Regione Lombardia)
Regione Lombardia – Geoportale della Lombardia
Regione Lombardia – Geoportale della Lombardia, Database Geo-Topografico (CC BY 4.0). Eaves height of the building’s tallest ground-standing volume (UN_VOL_AV).
Open download3,286 buildings sizedLive
2026-10-10
CC BY 4.0
Road noise (EU Environmental Noise Directive, Lden)
European Environment Agency
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-10
EEA standard re-use policy (attribution)
Leerstandsmelder.de — public reports of empty buildings
Leerstandsmelder (Gängeviertel e.V., Hamburg)
Shown while we ask Leerstandsmelder for permission. Reports since 2016 only, with the address, the month reported and a link to each entry; not checked by EHC. Each point says when a report has since been marked demolished, lived in, in interim use or rebuilt on Leerstandsmelder, and the owner type the reporter gave (private owners are never named).
Asking for permission0Pending
2026-10-10
Credited to Leerstandsmelder.de; asking for permission
Open-ended property funds: buildings they report partly empty
Open-ended real-estate funds (each point names its fund and report)
German and Austrian open-ended public property funds must list every property with its vacancy (or letting) rate in their annual and half-year reports. scripts/reuse/import-fund-reports.ts reads those lists; properties at 10 % vacancy or more are shown, those at 25 % or more count as evidence.
Open download0Live
2026-10-10
Published fund report (KAGB / KARBV property list), cited per point
Co-working spaces, department stores, banks, hotels and cinemas listed as permanently closed
Overture Maps Foundation (closure data: BrightQuery company records)
Places with operating_status "permanently_closed" in the monthly Overture release, read by scripts/reuse/import-overture-closures.ts and matched to the building they sit in. A closed business is usually one unit; names are shown only for companies, never for sole traders.
Open download142Live
2026-10-10
CDLA Permissive 2.0 (Overture Maps Foundation)
Land without current use and stalled construction, mapped from satellite imagery (Copernicus Urban Atlas 2006–2018)
European Environment Agency — Copernicus Land Monitoring Service
Urban Atlas class 13400 (brownfields, demolition sites and gaps in the built-up area, 0.25 ha and up) compared across the 2006, 2012 and 2018 editions, so each plot says how long it has stood unused; plus construction sites (13300) already under way in 2012, and 2012 construction sites left unused by 2018. Read from the EEA's open ArcGIS services, the same way in every radar city. The 2021 edition (Copernicus Data Space) drops plots built on since 2018 where scripts/reuse/import-urban-atlas-2021.ts has been run. Points are context, never evidence of vacancy.
Open API132Live
2026-10-10
Copernicus open data (© European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2006–2021, EEA)
Office buildings of 1,000 m² or more, with depth and storeys (EUBUCCO)
EUBUCCO (TU Berlin / ai4up), from the Spanish cadastre, Regione Lombardia’s building database and OpenStreetMap
EUBUCCO harmonises Europe's building footprints with their use, height and age. Only buildings whose source names the use are kept — the cadastre's office class in Barcelona and Madrid, Lombardy's "commerciale" in Milan, building=office in OpenStreetMap for Dublin and Lisbon — never EUBUCCO's machine-learning guesses. The footprint gives the plan depth, so the conversion score treats them like the German cadastre's offices (scripts/reuse/import-eubucco.ts → src/scripts/data/reuse/eubucco/, ODbL).
Open download1,969Live
2026-10-10
ODbL 1.0 (EUBUCCO v0.2; Dirección General del Catastro, Regione Lombardia, © OpenStreetMap contributors)
Stalled construction and buildings held by insolvent developers
EHC research (dated press and court sources per point)
Signa, Adler/Consus and other developer insolvencies since 2022 and stalled sites, each with its latest dated status (src/scripts/data/reuse/stalled-projects.json; news leads from scripts/reuse/mine-news.ts are reviewed before they join).
EHC research4Live
2026-10-10
Cited publisher per point
Church buildings the dioceses and regional churches plan to give up
Catholic dioceses and Protestant regional churches (their building plans), via EHC research
Buildings a church body’s published building plan or recent reporting names as to be given up, without church funding, for sale or lease, or profaned (src/scripts/data/reuse/church-plans.json and brussels-churches.json).
EHC research0Live
2026-10-10
Cited publisher per point
Named buildings and sites from EHC research (each with its own source)
European Housing Coop research
Includes the library’s public lighthouse conversions (src/scripts/data/reuse/lighthouses.json), shown under "Already converting" with a link to their library page.
EHC research27Live
2026-10-10
Facts cited to their publishers
Year built and listing: OpenStreetMap building tags
OpenStreetMap contributors
start_date / construction_date and heritage / listed_status of the OpenStreetMap outline a record is matched to, where no register answers. Read with the outline match, not a separate query.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-10
ODbL 1.0 (© OpenStreetMap contributors)
Disused buildings with critical issues (art. 40 bis LR 12/2005)
Comune di Milano — Direzione Rigenerazione Urbana
Open API146Live
2026-10-10
Copyright Comune di Milano — the dataset page reads "Solo consultazione autorizzata" since Oct 2026 (CC BY 4.0 until 6 Oct 2026); shown on Jonathan Imme's decision of 8 Oct 2026, credited to the Comune di Milano, off on request
Buildings mapped as ruined in the 2020 topographic database
Comune di Milano — Database Topografico 2020
Open API232Live
2026-10-10
CC BY 4.0 (Comune di Milano)
Degraded, abandoned or disused buildings and areas 2014–2017
Comune di Milano
Open download174Used, not shown
2026-10-10
CC BY 4.0 (Comune di Milano)
Census of disused areas 2008/2010 (Milan entries)
Regione Lombardia (with Assimpredil ANCE and the provinces)
Open API25Live
2026-10-10
No licence stated — shown with credit to Regione Lombardia (with Assimpredil ANCE and the provinces) (EHC decision, 6 Oct 2026)
Buildings owned by the City of Milan (2019 inventory)
Comune di Milano
Open download3,471Live
2026-10-10
CC BY 4.0 (Comune di Milano)
State-owned buildings managed by the Agenzia del Demanio (2023)
Comune di Milano, from Agenzia del Demanio data
Open download573Live
2026-10-10
CC BY 4.0 (Comune di Milano)
OpenStreetMap: land mapped as brownfield
OpenStreetMap contributors
Open API104Live
2026-10-10
ODbL 1.0
State buildings recorded as free (Agenzia del Demanio)
Agenzia del Demanio — Geoportale, Immobili dello Stato (data of 23 Oct 2025)
Open API36Live
2026-10-10
No licence stated on the map service — credited to Agenzia del Demanio (its open-data files are CC BY 3.0 IT)
Property confiscated from organised crime and handed to public bodies (ANBSC)
Agenzia nazionale per l'amministrazione e la destinazione dei beni sequestrati e confiscati (ANBSC) — OpenRE.G.I.O.
Manual download153Snapshot
2026-10-10
IODL 2.0 (Italian Open Data Licence, linked from the portal)
City of Milan: disused municipal buildings offered for temporary use during Design Week 2027
Comune di Milano — Direzione Demanio e Patrimonio / Unità Moda, Design e Creatività
Open download2Live
2026-10-10
not stated — City notice, credited to the publisher
Public buildings their owner records as not used (Treasury property census 2023)
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, Dipartimento dell'Economia — Rilevazione dei beni immobili delle amministrazioni pubbliche (data at 31 Dec 2023)
Manual download5Snapshot
2026-10-10
CC BY 4.0 (stated on the MEF open-data page; reuse with the source credited)
Public flats, shops and stores their owner records as not used (Treasury property census 2023)
Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, Dipartimento dell'Economia — Rilevazione dei beni immobili delle amministrazioni pubbliche (data at 31 Dec 2023)
Manual download80Snapshot
2026-10-10
CC BY 4.0 (stated on the MEF open-data page; reuse with the source credited)
Buildings named in the news (each with its article)
Local and national press, read by EHC
Buildings the news reports empty, for sale or to let, to be demolished or being converted (src/scripts/data/reuse/news-building-leads.json; rules in src/lib/reuse/news-layer.ts). A report that names a building already on the map is shown on its card instead of a second point; one an open source contradicted, or that says the building is in use, is left out. Not checked on site.
EHC research61Live
2026-10-14
Facts with a link to the article; the one-line summary is ours — no article text is republished
Era of the buildings around it: ISTAT census 2011 (census sections)
Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT)
Residential buildings by period of construction (E8–E16) in the record’s 2011 census section — the last census that asked; not the building itself. An era only where 60% fall within 30 years.
Open downloadscoringLive
2026-10-14
CC BY 4.0
Probable era: estimated from a street photo (Panoramax, Mapillary, Google Street View)
Panoramax and Mapillary contributors; Google Street View (research use agreed with Google, 14 Oct 2026); estimate by EHC with a vision model
Where no register dates a building: its era read from a Panoramax or Mapillary photo looking at it — Google Street View only where no open photo answers (scripts/reuse/estimate-photo-eras.ts), only when the building is clearly visible and the model is confident, and only as “before 1945” or “1945 or later” — the split it got right for 89% of buildings with a register year in Amsterdam and Paris, and 89% from Street View pictures alone (photo-eras/calibration.json). An estimate: a sentence in the conversion check, never points.
Open APIscoringLive
2026-10-14
Open photos CC BY-SA 4.0 or Licence Ouverte 2.0 (per picture); Street View read for research only, never stored or shown; only the estimated era is published, never a photo

What this radar cannot see yet

  • The aerial photo (AGEA 2021, Regione Lombardia) is not openly licensed; it is shown with the Region's agreement (Jonathan Imme, 9 Oct 2026) and comes off on request. The City's newer 2024 orthophoto stays view-only.
  • The City's open-data portal (dati.comune.milano.it) answered 502 to every API call on 8 Oct 2026, so its newest property and confiscated-property lists were not re-read.
  • The art. 40 bis register names buildings but not owners, floor area or vacancy dates (no new edition since 24 Nov 2025); the 2014–2017 survey is out of date and is used only to corroborate.
  • The municipal property list dates from 2019 and has no vacancy flag; the empty MM and ALER homes (about 2,500 and 3,400) are not published by address.
  • The City's regeneration-projects map still withholds geometry (checked 8 Oct 2026), so it cannot be drawn.
  • Office vacancy is only published as headline rates by brokers; there is no building-level or district-level open data.

Know an empty building we have missed?

Open data cannot see everything. Tell us about a building in Milan that stands empty or barely used; once we have checked it, it joins the map under “Reported by visitors (checked)”.

A phone held up to photograph an empty shopfront, with a map pin drawn above it

We publish the address, the kind of building and your description once we have checked it — never your email. Please do not name the people who own or live in a building.

Radars nearby

The other radars in the same country and the nearest beyond. All 149 cities in the atlas

The figure on each card: empty buildings on record.

Bari, Italy923empty buildings on recordBern, Switzerland5empty buildings on recordBologna, Italy95empty buildings on recordCatania, Italy226empty buildings on recordFlorence, Italy75empty buildings on recordGenoa, Italy176empty buildings on recordMessina, Italy72empty buildings on recordMonaco, Monaco2empty buildings on recordNaples, Italy265empty buildings on recordPalermo, Italy61empty buildings on recordRome, Italy1,138empty buildings on recordTurin, Italy100empty buildings on recordVaduz, Liechtenstein7empty buildings on recordVerona, Italy59empty buildings on recordZurich, Switzerland35empty buildings on record