Rosaria Battarra

Smart energy in the smart city : urban planning for a sustainable future

This paper proposes a re-thought of the concept of urban smartness, particularly referring to the energy component. Recognizing that the new technologies, which are the most popular aspect of smartness, can play a fundamental role in the new approach, it has been suggested that we consider them in an adoptive way rather than in an adjunctive way, as it is commonly intended in the general sense of a smart city. According to this vision, in the first part of the paper, a new concept of smartness is proposed (SmartNESS: Smart New Energy Saving System). This concept is also related to the possibility of identifying some leading urban functions that can play a strategic role in improving urban smartness. In this sense, in the second part, tourism is considered as a drive function able to make cities more efficient and attractive if it will be integrated inside the urban governance process. The third part of the paper highlights how the rationalization and reduction of energy consumption is one of the essential fields to rely on in order to improve the smartness of a city. This part provides an overview of the most significant initiatives that are being developed on energy efficiency, and investigates some cases particularly innovative addressing the issue with an integrated and non-sectorial approach. Through the analyzed experiences, some possible intervention strategies to integrate the issues of energy efficiency in urban planning are suggested in the conclusive part of the paper.

Indicators and Actions for the Smart and Sustainable City: A Study on Italian Metropolitan Cities

In recent years, there has been a wide diffusion of two concepts, the Sustainable City and the Smart City. Considering the several definitions of Smart City, it arises that the two concepts can have many commonalities. For instance, the most obvious refers to the role of ICT—main characteristic of the Smart City—for reaching the goal of sustainability. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to compare the current status of environmental sustainability in some Italian cities with the strategies regarding the “Environment” dimension, which are adopted in accordance with the Smart City concept. In the first part, the paper proposes a brief summary of the cities surveyed from an environmental perspective. In the second part, the methodology implemented during research is illustrated. The third part highlights the results obtained in relation both to the definition of the cities’ status in terms of environmental sustainability and of assessing their propensity towards the implementation of a “smart” approach in the Environmental dimension, thanks also to a detailed analysis of projects underway in the various cities. Finally, the last part is aimed at highlighting the specific experiments underway and challenges identified during the research.

Smart City and Metropolitan Area: the Energy Component in the Case Studies of Genoa and Naples

The Smart City model is now considered one of the opportunities to rethink cities and, in general, the development of urban communities. One of the most relevant themes in the application of the Smart City paradigm is the city/energy relationship and Italian cities are fielding several actions to effectively cope with the energy issues. Nevertheless, actions and projects are often uncritically promoted as ‘smart’, but actually lack innovative contents and methods. Therefore, the aim of this research, of which we present the first findings, is the drafting of a survey, tested through field analysis, of the experimentations of Italian metropolitan areas on the Smart City topic. The in-depth analysis of two case studies, Genoa and Naples, allowed us to compare the actual state of the two cities. We have that they have undertaken a common path in the implementation of strategies to try to transform themselves into Smart Cities, focusing especially on the energy aspects.

Le aree ferroviarie dismesse di Milano e Firenze

The relationship between railways network development and urban sprawl has always been very close. A relationship of synergy and complementarity, which sometimes becomes a difficult cohabitation, between the “city “ and the “railroad” is established: the presence of the service and infrastructure networks can represent a weakness for achieving a balanced development, or even a factor of risk and of environmental pollution. In Italy, in the last decades, the modernization of infrastructures and the reorganization of the railway network led to the abandonment of many areas. This has made possible the setting up of programs aimed at achieving the conversion of the former railway areas to new land uses. Interventions regarding the railway areas may have a double origin: projects inspired by the opportunity to upgrade or to build up a new station that also involve the surrounding areas or programs that cover wide abandoned or being abandoned areas occupied by bundles of tracks, stores and warehouses, etc.. The disused railway areas have characteristics that would allow their reuse within a comprehensive plan based on the possibility of working at the same time on the transport system and on the land use planning. The redevelopment of these areas could be the testing ground of transformation projects involving also the radical re-design of public transport networks. The paper, starting from these assumptions, is focused on the programs developed for the disused railway areas in Milan and Florence. In Milan, many transformation projects start from the abandonment of the railway areas. Here earlier than in other Italian cities, programs aimed at working simultaneously on the reorganization of the transport system and on large real estate development initiatives have been implemented. In 2005, the Municipality of Milan and the Ferrovie dello Stato Group SpA (the Italian Infrastructure Manager) signed a Framework Agreement referred to stations and areas no longer useful for the railway service, located in different districts of the city and covering a total area of about 1.300.000 square meters. The stated objective of the agreements was to organize the urban development of the disused railway areas with the enhancing of the public transportation rail in Milan. Even in the case of the city of Florence, disused railway areas have long been the subject of agreements among local authorities and the Ferrovie dello Stato group. The incoming of the high-speed train in the urban area has been the opportunity to redefine the rail system mobility not only of the entire city but also of its metropolitan area. Within this comprehensive project, in the 2008 a Memorandum of Intent has been signed by the Municipality, the Region, the Province and the Ferrovie dello Stato group, referred to the railway areas, covering a total surface of about 267.000 square meters, mainly located in the center of the city.

Integrazione trasporti territorio nei PUM: esperienze a confronto

Urban transport plan according to the Italian national Law n.340/ 2000 have the specific aim of improving the traffic situation in the cities. Mobility plans consider all modes of transport planned towards a sustainable urban development. The measures implemented are a mixture of material and immaterial interventions with the aim to reach a better traffic environment with reduced traffic volumes and emissions, increased accessibility and safety and an increased quality of life for all citizens. In Italy, according to the principle that the mobility strategies cannot be separated from the land use planning, many cities are developing innovative Mobility Plans that are integrated with urban planning actions. In order to underline these best practices, a comparative study is proposed between five different urban areas in the central and northern Italy. Most innovative plans have within their strategies the following points: – Promote integrated policies to deal with the complexity of urban transport systems, governance issues and the necessary coherence between different policies, for example between urban mobility and cohesion policy, environment policy or health policy. – Help to green urban transport by introducing new, clean vehicle technologies and alternative fuels and promoting smart charging to encourage transport users to change travel behavior. – Support sharing experience and knowledge to enable better access to this information and help stakeholders to capitalize on these experiences and on relevant data and statistics. – Optimize urban mobility to encourage effective integration, interoperability and interconnection between different transport networks. – Improve road safety to achieve a high level of road safety, especially for vulnerable road users such as young people and the elderly. However only some plans have specific actions towards a real urbanmobility integration. For example the Perugia Mobility Plan define the “urban and mobility planning areas” where the land use changes and the new transport infrastructures are planned and implemented at the same time. The Bolzano Mobility Plan defines specific actions for the open spaces and pedestrian networks, that are considered as an integrated part of the multi-modal transport system. Another example is the Reggio Emilia Mobility Plan, that defines specific actions for the Transit Oriented Development of the metropolitan area. These innovative plans are the first examples of a new approach for the integrated transport and land use planning and represent the first step towards an effective integration towards new mobility patterns in cities and sustainable development of urban areas.