Green Milan: Where Experiential Learning Meets the Future of Sustainability

There are classrooms that teach — and there are cities that transform.
Milan, the beating heart of Italian creativity and innovation, is one such classroom. This November, as SUMAS unveils its much-anticipated Experiential Camp – “Green Milan”, the city becomes a living laboratory for sustainability, where students explore how fashion, hospitality, gastronomy, and nature conservation converge to shape a greener tomorrow.

But Green Milan is more than a study program. It’s an embodiment of experiential learning — a pedagogical approach that turns ideas into action, theory into practice, and awareness into impact. In a world where sustainability has evolved from corporate jargon into a core business strategy, experiential learning offers what traditional education often cannot: perspective grounded in reality.

Sustainability is not a discipline that thrives in abstraction. It is lived, observed, and practiced — across supply chains, communities, and ecosystems. While theoretical frameworks like the Circular Economy, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Environmental Management Systems lay the foundation, it is experiential learning that brings these frameworks to life.

In sustainability education, context is content. Understanding how a city like Milan — historically known for opulence, design, and indulgence — has redefined itself as a hub of eco-conscious innovation teaches more than any textbook could. It reflects a mindset shift — one where creativity and commerce coexist with conscience.

At SUMAS, experiential learning is not a supplementary activity; it is the pedagogical backbone. Each course, project, and collaboration is designed to expose students to real-world sustainability challenges and empower them to ideate, collaborate, and lead within dynamic environments.

And that’s precisely what the Green Milan camp offers — a multidimensional, week-long immersion into Italy’s sustainable transformation.

Few cities have embraced sustainability as holistically as Milan. In the last decade, it has become a benchmark for urban green innovation, transforming industrial spaces into eco-districts, reviving local biodiversity, and integrating sustainability into its fashion and food industries.

This transformation isn’t just environmental — it’s cultural. Milan has adopted the circular economy as a lifestyle. Here, reuse, recycling, and regeneration are not buzzwords; they’re business models. Companies across sectors are rethinking their operations — from sourcing natural-origin materials to implementing closed-loop production systems — and in doing so, are crafting a new narrative for Italian excellence.

Technology, too, is redefining “Made in Italy.” Artificial intelligence now guides textile innovation. Blockchain ensures transparency in fashion supply chains. Machine learning optimizes waste reduction, while smart contracts enforce ethical sourcing. Milan’s sustainable revolution proves that innovation and integrity are not opposing forces, but complementary drivers of progress.

From November 3rd to 7th, 2025, students from around the world will gather in Milan for an immersive, cross-disciplinary experience. Designed by SUMAS as part of its commitment to experiential sustainability education, the program takes students beyond theory into tangible, transformative learning moments.

The camp begins with a deep dive into the tourism industry — one of the world’s largest contributors to both economic growth and carbon emissions. Through partnerships with leading sustainability-driven organizations, students will explore how travel can be redesigned for positive environmental impact, from carbon-conscious hospitality to regenerative tourism models.

The next day unfolds in the kitchen — not merely as a culinary exercise, but as a lesson in sustainable gastronomy. Students participate in a hands-on cooking class where they learn about ingredient sourcing, food waste reduction, and local food systems. The Italian table, after all, has long been a metaphor for community, culture, and care — values central to sustainability.

Fashion is Milan’s soul, and sustainability is its new silhouette. Students will attend a Sustainable Fashion Design Masterclass led by Italian industry professionals, exploring the lifecycle of a garment from fabric sourcing to consumer behavior. The day concludes with an exclusive tour of the Prada Fashion House, where art, ethics, and aesthetics merge in elegant precision.

This day takes students into Milan’s lesser-known green lungs — urban biodiversity zones that demonstrate how cities can coexist harmoniously with nature. The Nature Conservation Study brings together ecology, urban planning, and social inclusion, highlighting how biodiversity preservation is essential to the city’s climate resilience.

The final day shines a literal light on sustainability — through sustainable lighting design for events and museums. Students discover how illumination can enhance art and architecture while minimizing energy consumption, learning how aesthetics and environmental stewardship can beautifully coexist.

Each day’s agenda fuses academic insight, practical engagement, and industry collaboration, reinforcing the SUMAS belief that real sustainability leadership begins with experience.

At SUMAS, experiential learning isn’t an occasional field trip — it’s an integral part of the curriculum. The university’s partnerships with industry leaders, international NGOs, and sustainable enterprises provide students with direct exposure to real-world sustainability challenges.

Why does this matter? Because sustainability leadership demands more than intellectual understanding — it requires empathy, adaptability, and systems thinking. Students who work on projects with brands like Migros, MUDEC, Hilton, and Jungle Camps India (as part of SUMAS’ broader academic ecosystem) develop a nuanced understanding of sustainability’s intersections with finance, biodiversity, tourism, and supply chain ethics.

Experiential learning nurtures three critical dimensions for sustainability leadership:

1. Systems Thinking – Understanding how environmental, social, and economic factors are interdependent.
2. Emotional Intelligence – Building empathy and communication skills to lead change across cultures and disciplines.
3. Applied Innovation – Translating creative ideas into actionable, measurable sustainability solutions.

In essence, experiential education bridges purpose and practice, empowering future leaders to not only conceptualize sustainability — but operationalize it.

Italy’s circular economy is among the most advanced in Europe, with Milan leading the charge. The city has achieved remarkable success in food waste reduction, recycling, and urban regeneration. From transforming abandoned industrial zones into green innovation districts to fostering community gardens and urban forests, Milan exemplifies how cities can grow sustainably without sacrificing vitality.

Moreover, the integration of digital innovation into traditional sectors has created a new paradigm of competitiveness — one that is both profitable and planet-positive. Whether in fashion, hospitality, or manufacturing, Italian enterprises are proving that sustainability can be synonymous with sophistication.

For students, this intersection of heritage and innovation provides fertile ground to explore the future of sustainable business — not in a lab, but in a living, breathing ecosystem.

As the SUMAS Swiss campus in Gland sits beside the tranquil Lake Geneva, students are constantly reminded that learning sustainability is not confined to textbooks — it’s embedded in the world around us. And now, with Green Milan, that classroom expands.

Here, the cobblestone streets of Milan tell stories of transformation; its ateliers, kitchens, and gardens reveal lessons in resilience and reinvention. The city becomes an open syllabus — every corner, a case study in Sustainability Management.

Because in the end, the purpose of education is not just to learn about the world — it’s to change it.

The Green Milan Experiential Camp is not simply an academic excursion. It’s a call to action — for future leaders to observe, engage, and innovate within real-world systems. It challenges students to see sustainability not as a constraint, but as a creative frontier where industries are rebuilt, communities revived, and values reimagined.

At SUMAS, we believe that the next generation of leaders must not only understand sustainability — they must embody it. And that begins not in lecture halls, but in places like Milan, where business meets biodiversity, and where style meets substance.

This camp is open only to students enrolled into SUMAS program