Venice: a model for smart cities?

Hello from Bella Italia and in this case from the previous Republic of Venezia. The town has long been a city state and this has helped them in being strategic about its role in a world where more and more policies are pushed back to a city level. Furthermore as we all know Venice has its own environmental problems which we encountered as we were in the city at ‘Alta Aqua’, with some light flooding on the Piazza San Marco.

In its ‘Urbego-Venezia Smart City’ report the Municipality of Venice describes  a process of renovation of the city governance through a science of cities which is able to manage in an integrated way the different infrastructures of the territory.

These infrastructures (energy, mobility, water resources, information technology, waste management and natural heritage) are fundamental aspects for the main urban services (security, sport, culture, education, health, leisure, industry): the improvement of these city infrastructures implies the enhancement of the quality of life of citizens.

One of the strategic objectives of the Municipality is the promotion of projects on innovation and sustainability through the interconnection of the existing technologies already in use such as social network, log, communities and other interaction platforms.

The Municipality is also reconfiguring city services because it believes that the availability and accessibility of data are two determining factors for development and wealth creation.

The success of the process of city transformation depends also on the capacity to exchange experiences, knowledge and issues with other cities, defining common paths and shared solutions.

The City of Venice is meanwhile focusing on six project areas that concur to the holistic approach to a smarter and more liveable economy, smart environment, smart living, smart people, and smart governance.

The focus on implementation issues aimed at the urban redevelopment and improvement of the quality of life, through the smart approach, should become the “natural” evolution of how to address the problems of the city. This is the focus of our daily work.

Paul Budde

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