The great industrial zones that surrounded the big cities up to about ten years ago, with the small and medium sized companies that complemented their production, have shut down as a consequence of technological progress and changed market needs or have moved to other areas.
The areas that have been freed from this type of use are located in semi-central areas of the city, generally close to the public transport network.
The economy of the city is now based mainly on tertiary businesses that have close relationships with international networks.
The economy of Milan in particular is based on business sectors where it is the leader on a worldwide level; we need only think of fashion. This city has deep historical and cultural roots, with a widespread capacity to think and manufacture excellence even in small objects for everyday use; a city that is basically willing to welcome new proposals and new cultural stimuli, pragmatically making them its own.
The presence of different ethnic groups in the city that are taking root in the social context generates not only conflict, due mainly to the incapacity to face change adequately, but also, and in particular, generates new cultural stimuli and a new inescapable need to compare with other cultures, which must be acknowledged and comprehended.
The new generations are more sensitive to this transition phase and are perhaps also more troubled by it.
Their strong expressive capacity and the great potential in terms of creativity and innovation that they express have generated a firm need for comparison and experimentation in projects and in practice.
In the city of Milan, the structure of the realities that work in the more advanced sectors of cultural and artistic production on an international level has a great many opportunities. Young people turn to these businesses, which often know how to ingeniously unite the heritage of handcrafted workmanship with the most advanced technology, to learn and experiment, going over and above the formal training that schools and academies provide them.
These business operators often work in associations or as true businesses. They have always tried to respond to this need, welcoming the strong potential of stimuli and ideas from young people, without however having the power to give form to these experiences and provide them with the added value that could be derived from putting them in a network.
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