1 Are happiness and pride related to the quality of city life? The case of Milan, the richest Italian city1

Milan is the most dynamic metropolitan city in Italy. During the 70’s it experienced a deep crisis when it was feared that the progressive decline of the industrial manufacturing sector would have implied a decline of the city itself. However, in a period when the knowledge economy is driving the economic growth, Milan has been able to overcome that crisis (Foot 2001). The city has always been considered as a crucial pole of the most developed urban Europe, from the Blue Banana (Figure 1) proposed by the French Datar in the 1980s to the more recent Espon Pentagon (Figure 2)