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Urban Smartness: Perspectives Arising in the Periphéria Project

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Abstract

The paper discusses the concept of “urban smartness” starting from the early results of the Periphèria Project. Periphèria is a 30-month pilot B action funded by the European Commission under the CIP ICT PSP Programme and it aims at deploying convergent Future Internet platforms and services for the promotion of sustainable lifestyles in and across emergent networks of “smart” peripheral cities in Europe. Periphèria develops the Living Lab premise of shifting technology R&D out of the laboratory and into the real world in a systemic blend of technological with social innovation. It defines five archetypical “Arenas”—specific urban settings or innovation playgrounds, with defined social features and infrastructure requirements—as the spaces where co-design and service integration processes unfold. The paper is divided into three parts. In the first part, the authors review the concept of urban smartness as it is recently discussed in the literature. In the second part, they present the early results of the Periphèria project paying attention to the city smartness, urban smartness, and perspectives. Finally, in the third part, the spatial dimension of urban smartness is explored.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. DiAP, Politecnico di Milano, Via Golgi 39, Milan, 20133, Italy

    Grazia Concilio

  2. Università del Molise, Campobasso, Italy

    Luciano De Bonis

  3. ATELIER, S.A., Via Matteo Bonello 31, 90134, Palermo, Italy

    Jesse Marsh

  4. DARCH, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Ferdinando Trapani

Authors
  1. Grazia Concilio
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  2. Luciano De Bonis
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  3. Jesse Marsh
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  4. Ferdinando Trapani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Grazia Concilio.

Additional information

This article reflects on the early results of the European Periphèria Projects [CIP ICT PSP Programme (Periphèria Project: grant agreement number 271015)] and mainly refers to the contents of Deliverable D.2.1 Arena Models whose authors, together with Concilio G. are: Francesca Rizzo, Per-Anders Hillgren, Per Linde, and Bo Peterson (MEDEA/Malmö university); Marina Cugurra, Giorgio Da Bormida, Alessandra Risso (Comune di Genova); Jens Eschenbaecher, Stefan Wellsandt (Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH (BIBA), Bremen); Maria Cristina De Araújo Torres Daniel, António Pombinho (Município Palmela); and Ira Giannakoudaki, and Dimitra Tsakanika (DAEM S.A., Athens).

Annex 1. The Starting Urban Smartness Scenarios

Annex 1. The Starting Urban Smartness Scenarios

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Concilio, G., De Bonis, L., Marsh, J. et al. Urban Smartness: Perspectives Arising in the Periphéria Project. J Knowl Econ 4, 205–216 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-012-0088-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-012-0088-5

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