Expo 2015

Expo 2015 (officially World Exposition Milano 2015, Italy; in Italian Esposizione Universale Milano 2015, Italia) was the universal exhibition in Milan, Italy, from May 1st to October 31st, 2015. The theme of the Expo was "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", including all the aspects of nutrition, feeding education, the severe hunger concerning several areas of the Planet, GMOs, etc.

Milan hosted the "International Exhibition of the Sempione" in 1906, whose theme was transportation.

Theme
Expo 2015 theme was "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", therefore regarding the complete spectrum of topics related to food and nutrition. The main leitmotiv was the unalienable right of having healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone. This is strictly connected to the UN development goals 2015 one of which targets to halve by 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

The various sub-themes involved technologies for agriculture and food production, innovations within the entire food industry, culture and traditions related to nutrition, best practices related to sustainability, the prevention of nutrition related illnesses such as obesity, food safety and security, etc.

Site
Expo 2015 was held in a 110 hectares area North West of Milan, 90% placed within the city boundaries, the remaining within the territory of the city of Rho. The site is positioned next to the Milan's Fair and it was once occupied by industrial productions and farming terrains.

The overall exhibition area resembles a fish-shaped island surrounded by canals; it is dived into four quadrants by its main axis, the Cardus and the Decumanus, respectively 1,5 kilometers and 350 meters, both recalling the ancient organization of a Roman city. So to give any Country the same visibility, each of the lots dedicated to the self-built pavilions of the participants had a side on the Decumanus. The Cardus was entirely dedicated to the host Country, Italy, and in fact was considered the Italy Pavilion itself, hosting local governments and Italian organizations.

The great 4.350 m² square at the intersection of the two avenues was called "Piazza Italia". Iconic elements and pavilions were positioned at the edge of the axis. "Palazzo Italia" is located at the northern end of the Cardus, along the banks of the "Lake Arena", while on the southern one there is the Open Air Theatre "San Carlo", home to several events and concerts, which can host approximately 9.000 people. The "Expo Center" was located on the western edge of the Decumanus, while the "Mediterranean Hill" rises up at the eastern end.

Access to the site was granted by four entrances: Fiorenza and Triulza to the west; Merlata to the south; Roserio to the east. Additionally the area was partially linked by the "Southern Waterway", which consisted in a cycling and pedestrian route along rivers and canals (the typical milanese Navigli) reaching the Darsena, the old fluvial port of Milan, in the center of the city.

The urban concept of the city was conceived in 2009 by VIP architects Stefano Boeri, Ricky Burdett e Jacques Herzog, along with architects and designer from Expo 2015 S.p.A; it was later reviewed and transformed into a masterplan in 2010. The three main planners abandoned the project in 2011 as a protest to the purpose and the wasting of money.

Participants
Expo 2015 was participated by 141 official participants; they were 137 countries and 4 international organizations: the United Nations, the European Commission, the Caribbean Community and the Pacific Islands Forum. As the hosting country, Italy was accounted within the official participants since when a commissioner for the Italian pavilion was nominated. Several local governments (23 institutions) are present within the participation of Italy or as partners and can be included within the official participants.

Additionally 10 civil society organizations and 25 companies were present as non-official participants.

Attendance
During the 6 months of Expo 2015 22.2 million visitors entered the exposition site (in terms on number of entrances).

In terms of sales, a total of 21.476.957 tickets was sold, accounting for 373.7 million euros revenues. Therefore the average ticket cost was 17.40€.

Bidding and awarding
The city of Milan has been awarded the organization of Expo 2015 on March 31st, 2008; the registration file was officially submitted to the BIE on April 22nd, 2010 and approved on October 20th, 2010; the official registration of the exposition took place on November 23rd, 2010. Both the awarding and registration took place during different sessions of the General Assembly of the BIE.

Milan won the competition against the Turkish city of Izmir that presented the theme "New Routes to a Better World - Health for All". Milan collected 86 votes against 65 by Izmir. The very first vote was canceled due to the failure of a few voting machines used by the BIE delegates.

The calendar of the bidding phase is summarized hereafter: Additional cities that were supposed to bid, but that did not submitted any bid were:
 * May 4th, 2006: Turkey submits the bidding dossier
 * October 30rd, 2006: Italy submits its bidding dossier
 * November 3rd, 2006: final due date for submitting additional bids. Italy and Turkey are the only contenders.
 * December 19th, 2006: first presentation of the bids by the two cities
 * Atlanta, USA
 * Las Vegas, USA
 * New York, USA
 * Moscow, Russia