B0081 - GOVERNANCE DELLE SMART CITIES

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide an advanced understanding of the conceptual and analytical tools needed to analyze and interpret the development of “smart cities.”
At the end of the course, students will be familiar with the tools required to examine the relationship between citizens and public administration; they will be able to assess the impacts associated with the use of specific applications; and they will have mastered the process of developing software applications for innovative services in digital city contexts, with particular attention to mobile technologies.

Course contents

The course will address the contemporary challenges of urban transformation by integrating strategic vision, technological innovation, and environmental and social sustainability. Its objective is to train professionals capable of interpreting, designing, and managing smart and inclusive cities, able to combine digitalization, ecological transition, and quality of urban life.

Starting from the paradigms of the Digital, Smart, Green, and Wise City, the course offers a pathway that merges theory and practice, exploring new forms of urban design and the tools for community regeneration. Students will learn to develop a Community Regeneration Masterplan by analyzing the five dimensions of urban sustainability (urban design, environmental, economic, social, and institutional), applied to a case study selected from the 92 European cities involved in the “EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities.”

Through theoretical lessons and case examples, the course will deepen key themes such as urban regeneration, strategic urban design, mobility 4.0 and autonomous driving, smart ecological districts, public housing, and the governance of public space.

The course concludes with the presentation of an individual project work that connects research, design, and the political vision of the contemporary city.

The approach is interdisciplinary and integrated: architecture, urban planning, technology, economics, and social policy converge to build a new culture of urban governance oriented toward climate neutrality, digital innovation, and inclusion.

1. Digital, Smart, Green, Wise City (4 hours)

• Glossary and literature: concepts of Digital, Smart, Green, Wise

• Video interviews with experts

• The 15-minute city and changes to the paradigm of urban planning and management

• Rankings and ratings

2. The Community Regeneration Masterplan: 5 dimensions of urban sustainability (4 hours)

• Research design

• Dimensions of sustainability

• European atlas of 30 selected cities

• Tools and guidelines for Urban Regeneration

• Presentation of the student’s individual work and assignment of topics

3. Urban regeneration and its evolution over time (4 hours)

• History

• Concepts and critical issues

• Projects

4. Strategic Urban Design (4 hours)

• Methodology

• Actions and objectives

• Participation

• The case of Parma

5. Strategic Urban Design: case studies in small towns (4 hours)

• The green heart of the Modena ceramic district

• Albareto

• Sorbolo

• The San Leonardo district in Parma

6. Urban mobility 4.0 and autonomous driving (6 hours)

• Mobility throughout history

• Projects for small stations in Western Emilia

• Autonomous driving and experimental initiatives

7. Smart Eco District (2 hours)

• The Smart Eco District model compared to productive districts

• Case studies

8. Public Housing and the inclusive city (4 hours)

• Research on public housing in Europe

• Case studies

• Tools for design and management

9. Public space and its management (4 hours)

• What is public space

• Qualitative elements

• Critical issues

• Examples

10. Presentation of the individual work (4 hours)

• Students present their individual project work to the class

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Fanfoni