What is the situation of
Smart Cities in Italy? What are the cities we can define as “Smart”? This question is certainly not easy to answer, even if, in this paragraph, we will try to provide some ideas. Scholars put the attention on different aspects of the city, from their representation and image
[34][35], to the critical aspects raised by the Smart City itself
[36][37], to the issues of planning
[38][39]. With the historical conformation of the Italian urban texture, it is difficult to think of “dream” cities born from the Blueprint project, and the infrastructural heritage of the built environment and spaces of the existing cities need to be considered
[40][41]. Rather, it is easier to encounter a Brownfield context or a mixed Blueprint-Brownfield context from a Smart perspective, or to intervene from scratch in new neighborhoods, born from the project or from the conversion of areas previously intended for different functions. Such projects and initiatives often suffer from a very strong influence of the private component at the level of investments, and therefore of “orientation” in the political–urban planning choices of the city towards technological solutions
[23][24]. Furthermore, public–private partnerships linked to Smart Cities are often closely linked to technological components, and poorly integrated with urban policies
[25][26]. From the point of view of the denomination, there are many cities that refer to the “Smart City” label within their organization, and with reference to the projects explicitly funded on this item. Furthermore, as often happens, different rankings attribute different weights to different indicators. Among the rankings, the ANCI “Urban Agenda” portal provided updated information on Smart Cities and related projects in Italian cities (the portal has no longer been operational since 2019). In 2021, for the ICity Rank of ForumPA
[42], Florence was confirmed as the most digital capital of Italy for the second consecutive year, followed by Milan (in second place) and Bologna (in third), with Roma Capital City, Modena, Bergamo (on a par with fourth place), Turin, Trento, Cagliari, and Parma to close the top ten. Other rankings, such as that of Ernst and Young
[43], place Trento at the top of the Smart Cities, and the cities of Turin, Bologna, Mantua, Milan, and Bolzano (respectively, in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place) according to the related Smart City Index. Without going into the details of the different rankings, we can identify some elements that recur and unite these cities: belonging to a metropolitan dimension, or, usually, an average urban dimension and a location in the North or Center-North, part of the old or better, new industrial triangle. In urban contexts, economic development seems to be combined with the “technological” sustainability demands of the Smart City, and in the various aspects of the six dimensions of “smartness”
[44][45][46][47]. In particular, the metropolitan dimensions, not only administrative, but functional, of some urban contexts can allow governance and development actions of new solutions and real markets linked to innovative aspects. The urban reconversion of “Citylife”-type areas, as far as it concerns large conversion projects, as well as the development of services based on technological innovation, find an adequate scope of application.