2. Observatory on Smart Cities
Politecnico di Milano
Smart cities
and cultural heritage
A preliminary observation
Alessandro Deserti
Politecnico di Milano. Design Department
3. Index
THE OBSERVATORY ON SMART CITIES AT
POLIMI
_the observatory
_the overall vision
_the methodology
THE OBSERVATION ON “SMART CITIES
AND CULTURAL HERITAGE”
_the field of observation
_the interpretation
_the cases (just a sample)
_the interpretation and the trajectories
5. THE OBSERVATORY
Built as a spin-off of a European
research, the Observatory is a multi-
disciplinary structure integrating
competences coming from the urban
planning, design and management
departments of Politecnico di Milano.
The main goal of the observatory is to
explore how cities are facing and solving
contemporary and complex challenges
like those derived from the
environmental, financial or social crises.
The observatory aims at building a web
bank of smart urban experiences and
future scenarios, accessible to cities that
want to explore their smart potentials
and perspectives, understanding how to
boost transformational processes
towards the idea of inclusivity.
6. THE OVERALL VISION
A new perspective on urban planning
The contemporary cities seem quite
affected by the excesses of the economic
perspective, which progressively integrated
the traditional urban planning, based on a
sort of top-down functional view of the city.
As a reaction, many voices are claiming to
bring back a citizen-centered perspective,
adopting a new approach based on the
active involvement of people.
This approach is highly sustained by
knowledge coming from the (product)
design field, where many methods and
tools for the participation of users were
developed, mainly within the frame of User
Centred Design (UCD).
7. THE OVERALL VISION
The eye and the bird-eye level
To us, both “traditional” planning and
UCD seem insufficient: the two
perspectives must be integrated.
On one hand, we should have the
capability of being close to people,
understanding their needs and involving
them in the decisions.
On the other hand, we should have the
capability to build and maintain an
overall vision.
The new urban planning should work at
an eye-level, within a bird-eye frame.
8. THE OVERALL VISION
A “human” approach to smart cities
The usual approach to smart cities is
technology-driven, and based on a sort
of “technological merchandise” that
would be supposed to help the cities in
becoming smarter.
Even if we understand the economic
frame behind this deterministic
approach, we introduce a systemic
perspective, where the primary role of
society and individuals is recognized.
In our approach, cities can be smarter if
they find smart ways of building robust
services and infrastructures responding
to the needs of individuals and society.
We call this “human-driven smart city”.
9. THE METHODOLOGY
The observations
The observations are conceived not just
as interpretations of significant topics, in
the perspective of explaining
phenomena that already occurred, but
also as projections of possible futures,
built in a “designerly” perspective, as
tools meant to be useful to private/
public operators in taking decisions or
developing projects.
The qualitative observation of cases,
performed through a desk and a field
research involving a wide international
network of research partners, is the
methodological base for the
interpretations and the projections.
10. THE METHODOLOGY
The cases
Cases are normally chosen in the
perspective of finding situations where a
specific need was faced in an innovative
way, introducing “small-scale” solutions
that have a potential in terms of
scalability and adoption in different
contexts.
Cases should be seen as a repertory of
weak and strong signs, from which
interesting directions could emerge.
In a designerly perspective, cases can
be considered in most cases as
prototypical situations, that could be
potentially developed and turned into
scalable solutions.
11. THE METHODOLOGY
The scenarios
Projections are based on the
“scenario-building” method, with the
idea of catching relevant tensions that
could bring to possible or desirable
futures.
Scenarios describe issues connected
to the observed topic, shaping both
the frame and the potential solutions
within it.
13. THE FIELD OF
OBSERVATION
The notion of cultural heritage
Since culture can be associated to all
human expressions, the notion of
cultural heritage is blurred and
ambiguous.
Moving from the physical nature of the
human artifacts, it progressively shifted
to the intangible nature of signs,
symbols, values, ways of life,
knowledge; and included the natural
together with the artificial (UNESCO).
14. THE FIELD OF
OBSERVATION
The notion of cultural heritage
We decided to take into account a broad
definition of cultural heritage, including
the intangible nature of many human
expressions.
This choice is coherent with the same
notion of “smart city”, as a mix of the
traditional physical layer and the new
digital infrastructure that can be
overlapped to it.
At the same time, we limited the
observation to the relation between
cultural heritage and urban environment.
15. THE CASES (just a sample)
72hours urban action
The 72 Hour Urban Action is an
international “rapid” architecture and
design festival, born in Israel and now
spreading in different cities all over the
world.
Defined by a lack of time, space and
funds, the efforts are directed to address
the needs of the local community.
16. THE CASES (just a sample)
72hours urban action
The competition, sustained by Public/
Private Partnerships, brings together
120 participants coming from all over
the world to form 10 teams. Each team
has three days and nights to design and
build a project to address a randomly
assigned mission. As part of the festival,
the goal is that finished projects remain
a part of their surrounding urban
community long after the competition
ends.
18. THE CASES (just a sample)
Fuorisalone.it
Fuorisalone.it is a web platform,
developed as a private initiative,
documenting events and installations
occurring during the Milano Design
Week.
Fuorisalone.it is based on user
generated contents, by involving 100
reporters (normally young designers or
design students), instructed and
equipped with a special kit to cover the
many events of the week.
19. THE CASES (just a sample)
Fuorisalone.it
Moving from this basic idea,
fuorisalone.it has become through the
years a platform offering services for
companies and institutions who want to
organize or sponsor events, integrating
advanced ICT technologies.
Fuorisalone.it also generated the “Brera
Design District” initiative, that can be
described as a re-signification of an area
of the city through the inclusion in the
fuorisalone circuit.
21. THE CASES (just a sample)
Urban trekking
Urban trekking is an alternative way to
traditional tourism and is aimed at the
re-discovery of the art cities in Italy at a
slower, more sustainable pace. The
activity is the equivalent of the outdoor
trekking in the urban context, and the
equivalent of the city foot walks without
the daily pressure. In this sense the
urban trekking combines sport activities
with cultural visits to less frequented
cultural heritage places.
Born in Siena, and sustained by Public/
Private initiative, Urban Trekking is
spreading all over Italy, as a way to
integrate tourism with the re-discovery
of cities by residents.
23. THE INTERPRETATION
Citizens and visitors
Dealing with cultural heritage, cities
normally face a tension between the
city/area as a living place and the city/
area as a visiting place. In some
situations we might have a sort of
“Disneyland effect”. In others we might
have residents who never really
experience the cultural treasures of their
cities. In others we might have a conflict
between everyday activities and
tourism.
The perspective of integration, based on
the idea of balancing the interests and
needs of the residents with those of the
visitors, seems the most interesting
scenario.
24. THE INTERPRETATION
Permanent and temporary
Cultural Heritage is traditionally
associated to the idea of permanence. If
we assume a broadened perspective,
shifting from monuments to people, and
from preservation to use, we have to
introduce the idea of temporariness.
Temporary use, “fast”, light and
reversible interventions, are changing
the approach to the valorization of
cultural heritage. While land art opened
a pathway to the temporary
transformation of cities and monuments,
the ultimate interventions tend to include
citizens not just as simple spectators,
but also as actors.
25. THE INTERPRETATION
Virtual and physical
Even if the quality of the virtual spaces is
increasingly high, they do seem to work
as substitutes of the physical experience
as they were imagined at first. Instead,
the most interesting perspective seems
that of the integration between physical
and digital experience.
This might happen sometimes in unity of
time and space, or else by using virtual
spaces as means to enhance the quality
of the physical experience.
26. THE INTERPRETATION
The importance of the business
model
In most cases, initiatives on cultural
heritage take the form of funded
projects.
Though they might be very interesting,
there seems to be a general lack in the
construction of a sustainable economic
frame for their continuation after the
kick-off period.
A basic finding is that the scalability and
transferability of smart ideas are based
on the presence of a solid business
model, in the form of a clear value-
chain, where the interests of different
actors and stakeholders and the
revenue-share principles are defined.
27. THE INTERPRETATION
The importance of the “genius loci”
The field of cultural heritage seems to be
affected by trends and fads not less
than others.
Many interventions are based on the
spread of supposed best practices, with
a high degree of indifference of the
place. This attitude normally generates a
great number of unsuccessful cases.
A basic finding is that the possibility to
transfer and scale good practices is
somehow linked to the “genius loci” of
places.
