Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The expression smart city is spreading more and more and takes progressively a
precise meaning after the recent results carried out in the experimental phase in
different urban contexts.
Over and mis-used expression, it implies a really silent revolution in our cities,
often sat back in wrong habits and not attentive to the cautious management of
resources and consumptions.
On the Internet everything becomes suddenly smart, cars (the 'smart' city car
produced since more than ten years) as well as consumer goods and the adjective
typically recalls something new, easily marketable and cool.
But what is really a ''smart city''? It is a city that bets a lot on the quality of
living and where the citizens are involved as main actors in decision processes
(Dominici 2012 ). At the basis of creating a smart city there is certainly a new and
integrated design process, aiming at a new modulation of the urban functions (both
the traditional and the new ones appearing in everyday life) also thanks to the
digital technology innovation.
In this way, the traffic can be monitored and influenced through smart phones
able to identify the congestion areas and to set alternative routes for city trips: a
true digital traffic officer able to let people move in cities without delays.
The basic condition of such scenario is the existence of adequate infrastructures
able to support such innovations (the design of streets, the presence of an efficient
public transportation network and cycling routes, ICT facilities).
A smart city is thus a city that does not pollute for standard functions
deployment and extensively uses renewable energy sources.
As we will see, indeed, three are the main features of smart cities: smart
mobility, smart energy and smart governance, where the participation and sharing
of opinions takes place. The latter aspect is fundamental to grow public acceptance
of sustainable ways of living the cities. Sharing innovative processes is indeed a
fundamental aspect that cities have set out in different ways. The city of Bari, in
Italy, as an example has ideated a no profit association named Bari Smart City 1 ,
putting together public and private entities with the aim of creating a productive
environment where it is possible to design, together with the representatives of the
society and of the business world, solutions and ideas for a sustainable urban
development model. The associative model should serve as a way to understand
how innovation may re-design the ways of living of citizens.
In these times, an obstacle certainly is the lack of economic resources required
to implement the measures: the municipal administrations indeed, constrained by
everyday emergencies are forced to devise new tools such as the activation of
public-private partnerships to access the financing calls (such as for example the
European Jessica 2
funding scheme, etc.…).
1
The
following
sites
show
the
development
of
Bari:
www.barismartcity.it/ ;
www.
osservatoriosmartcity.it/bari/ ; www.greencityenergy.it/bari/ .
2
JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas - Joint European
Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas) is an initiative of the European Commission in
collaboration with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Development Bank of the
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