Observatory on Smart Cities Politecnico di Milano

Smart cities and cultural heritage A preliminary observation

Alessandro Deserti Politecnico di Milano. Design Department

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

THE OBSERVATORY ON SMART CITIES AT POLIMI

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.

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).

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

THE OBSERVATION ON “SMART CITIES AND CULTURAL HERITAGE”

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).

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.

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.

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.

72hours urban action

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.

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.

Fuorisalone.it

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.

Urban Trekking

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you alessandro.deserti@polimi.it