Framing the problem of Smart Cities into the Anthropocene age

The SC issue has a social, economic and technical importance. As argued by many authors we are nowadays in a transition period of evolution where cities are seen as a key point of change (M. Batty et al., 2012; Bonomi & Masiero, 2014;

Hajer & Dassen, 2014; Secchi, 2013). As defined by the EU in last years (Espon, 2012; European Commission Directorate General, 2015; EEA, 2017), cities are the key stones of European well-being as economic strength, wealth and social opportunities for the future¹. The growing of population is, in fact, increasing year-by-year the urban density, leading to the exacerbation of challenges related to sustainability and to urban management. Then, waste management, energetic demand peak, traffic congestion, air and water pollutions, lack of identity, fuel poverty are just some of the main problems asking cities to find solutions on a long term perspective (IPCC, 2013; Richardson, 2012). Indeed, between the challenges, some specific elements are conceived of particular interest for this research:

- the addressing role of European decrees -2010/31/EU- (Econometrics &

Garden, 2013; Parlamento Europeo, 2010, 2012), imposing a substantial reduction of emissions (20% before 2020 and 40% before 2030) and an overall improvement of environmental and energetic urban conditions;

- the pressure of the global market that, despite the general crisis, continuously proposes new ICT technologies and devices for citizens’ life and cities;

- the presence of obsolete buildings and neighbourhoods, causing challenges and problems not only from an energetic point of view, but also for security, network management, mobility issues, resource management, indoor/outdoor comfort risk management and fuel poverty;

- the functionalization of districts and urban sprawl, result of last century planning system, which have produced so-called “dormitory” suburbs, empty during the day, because of the commuters’ conditions of the population;

- the constant and growing use of land exarcebating sprawl, land use and resource depletion and worsing climate conditions;

- the constant rising of resources demand, linked with the increasing of

1 See also the Sustainable Agenda defined by United Nations, 2015.

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population, urbanization and energy consuming fuel-based heating and cooling systems;

- the computerization of society, slightly predictable and controllable, which allows a social life in close contact, through the spread use of social networks, which overcomes physical barriers and changes uses of urban spaces (Wolfram, 2012).

In between these challenges, mitigation and adaptation to climate changes are seen as some of the most challenging issues (IPCC, 2013; Matzarakis, Georgiadis, & Rossi, 2007; Santamouris, 2016; Wolfram, 2012; EEA, 2017), as an effective transition toward low-carbon cities is more and more urgent, being the actual cities’ urban metabolism approaching the non-return level point² . The lack of such a transition is expected to lead cities in increasing problems, such as social, financial, maintenance and fragility risks (European Commission Directorate General, 2015; Hajer & Dassen, 2014; EEA, 2017), as well as natural and environmental risks too (Espon, 2013; EEa, 2017). In fact, actual era is defined as

“Anthropocene³ epoch” by different authors. According to Crutzen studies, the human lifestyle based on fuelled systems and on the large use of non-renewable resources, is having geological impacts on the Earth environment, from the end of XVIII century (Crutzen, 2006; Steffen, Crutzen, & McNeill, 2007)⁴. Into this definition, cities are concerned in a relevant way as well as the built environment inside them beacause, as set by the EU into the Directive 31/2010, buildings are responsible of 40% of total energy consumption and of one third of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and cities are responsible of 70%, as defined by the GHG protocol (UNEP SBCI, 2009; ICLEI, 2014). As a consequence, the EU Directives 31/2010 and 27/2012 set the need to improve, at least, up to 20% the building performances before 2020 and better (the New Covenant of Major set the target of 40% before 2030) before 2050⁵ (Parlamento Europeo, 2010, 2012).

Furthermore, the Sustainable Agenda created by the United Nations (United Nations, 2015) highlights how cities are among the 17 major goals’ areas where

2 see Glossary-Urban metabolism, p. 23.

3 The definition ascends from the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Paul Crutzen, who defined the actual contemporary era with this name due to the impact that industrial life-style has into the environment.

4 see Glossary-Anthropocene era, p. 18.

5 For an overview of EU framework and strategies toward 2050, as well as for the Italian framework, see paragraph 1.3, p. 88

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ICAR 12 Technology of Architecture - Department of Architecture - Alma Mater Studiorum Bologna

target need to be achieved before 2030, in order to become more sustainable and resilient to climate change⁶. Hence, cities are seen as important fields of intervention, where the answer for more sustainable and resilient systems can be met. Besides, cities are also the context for innovation application: the necessity of making them more sustainable and efficient leads to the implementation of several technologies and enablers (both ICT or not), putting the city at the centre of the debate about technological implementation and urban evolution⁷.

Thus, the SC appears as one of the possible answers for meeting these challenges (AA.VV., 2013; Caragliu et al., 2011; Paroutis, Bennett, & Heracleous, 2013). In fact, the birth of the topic in the XIX century, seems to be strictly related with the awareness of sustainability, overlapping some of the most important summits on energy and sustainability, and with some reflections about social, economic, environment crisis (see Annex I.1). In fact, this increased attention into the discourse of sustainability, as one of the main target to be addressed, starts to be evaluated from the United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment of 1972. During the conference, a declaration on environmental issues and on international cooperation was signed by several mandatories.

From this conference, several other important meetings set the urgency of acting

6 Inside the definition of city as one of the 17 major goals, the report focuses on tasks that cities need to meet. These tasks are nine and defined as following: 1)to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services; 2) to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems for all, improving road safety and making the transport system accessible for all; 3) To protect and enhance the cultural and natural heritage; 4) by 2030, significantly reduce the number of deaths and the number of people affected and substantially decrease the direct economic losses relative to global gross domestic product caused by disasters, including water-related disasters, with a focus on protecting the poor and people in vulnerable situations; 5) by 2030, reduce the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management; 6) by 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities; 7) support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, per-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional de-velopment planning; 8) by 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adop-ting and implemenadop-ting integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels; 9) support least developed countries, including through financial and technical assistance, in building sustainable and resilient buildings utilizing local materials (United Nations, 2015).

7 Even if in the following paragraph the definition of SC is analysed in detail, it is currently assumed the strong link among SC and technological application.

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against climate change. Indeed, the concept of sustainability has been seen for the first time in 1987 into the Brundtland Report, made by the World Commision on Environment and Development. Following the studies of (Daly, 1991), the conditions for real sustainability can be summed as following:

- the consumption of resources may not overload their regeneration potential;

- the consumption of non renewables resources may not overcome the time for finding these resources or the time for developing alternatives or substitutive resources;

- the pollutants’ emissions may not overcome the environment absorption capacity.

These are the main three guidelines that may lead the development of resources consumption and, consequently, the development of policies. These factors were defined and actualized during several international meeting on climate change and on sustainability (for a summary table of these main moments, see Annex I.1, p. 326).