Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8
Smart Planning and Intelligent Cities:
A New Cambrian Explosion
Maurizio Carta
Abstract
We live in the society of knowledge, creativity and innovation: true anti-
cyclical factors with respect to the crisis that has overrun the traditional
development protocols and that requires powerful processes of creation and
spread of knowledge. The true innovation has no boundaries, it has to affect
each aspect of institutions and enterprises and operates as a mutagen of society,
requiring a paradigm shift. Startups, fablabs, co-workers, makers and smart
citizens have given rise to a global urban movement and most cities now have a
sizeable colony: a true smart ecosystem for improving social innovation.
Between them they are home to hundreds of accelerators and thousands of
smart places and co-working spaces, and this ecosystem must be highly
interconnected and integrated in a renewed urban metabolism driven by more
adequate planning paradigms and tools. The combination of technological
innovation and urban planning, however, is not only instrumental and
determines changes within the community and its territory too. The ''Third
Industrial Revolution'' and the gradual implementation of e-society have made
it possible to delegate an increasing number of physical and intellectual tasks,
even very sophisticated, to technology. In fact, the goods and ideas produced
are increasingly less tied to a scheduled place and time, in terms of quality and
quantity; the workplace is no longer an independent variable and time is no
longer rigidly synchronized, especially as far as the intellectual work is
concerned. The spreading of sensors, smart devices, electronic networks and
urban life apps has created a proper urban cyber-physical space, consisting of
the constant interaction between physical components and digital networks,
