Being Smart: A new challenge for Italian Cities

There is growing interest in Smart Cities and international initiatives in the field, so today it is necessary to define a Smart City and its components. The first aim of this paper is thus to define a Smart City. A review of recent literature finds that there exist various interpretations of the concept, all innovative, but perhaps too general. It is necessary to analyze these concepts in depth for their practical implications for urban policies. The second aim is to compare methods for international Smart City ranking. These rankings are often used for allocation of resources and for attracting investment at local level, so reliability needs to be tested. There is a clear need for a standard ranking system for use in implementing urban environment policy from a smart standpoint. The final part focuses on Smart City projects in Italy. These often bring interesting opportunities as well as difficult but necessary challenges. Starting from the rankings and describing problems of Italian historical city centres, the paper will reflect on limits and opportunities in the application of Smart technologies and, particularly, on social consequences of transformation and intervention. Findings will be applicable for urban policy and policy makers in new and particularly old cities, which today pose problems for sustainability and social development.