Fabrizio Bellomo criticizes Stefano Boeri's Vertical Forest as greenwashing spectacle

In an editorial on Artribune, Fabrizio Bellomo critiques Stefano Boeri's Vertical Forest projects in Milan and Tirana, arguing they are visual gimmicks that generate photogenic landscapes rather than livable public environments. Bellomo contrasts the Milanese Bosco Verticale with the Bosco di Rogoredo, a real urban forest used as a public space despite its association with drug dealing. He draws parallels between the displacement of the Stecca degli Artigiani (a former factory housing artists and the Isola Art Center) in Milan for the Vertical Forest and the planned demolition of the Teatro Kombetar in Tirana, designed by Giulio Bertè, to make way for Boeri's Tirana Vertical Forest. Bellomo accuses these projects of serving real estate speculation and social exclusion, replacing community spaces with luxury towers accessible only to the wealthy. He invokes artist Bert Theis's utopian photomontages from 2003, which envisioned horizontal forests enveloping urban monuments, as a genuine alternative. The editorial was published on November 2019.