Smart City: At launch the first Italian pilot project “Smart Urban Network”

The first Smart Community Pilot Project is kicking off in L’Aquila. A virtual  space where citizens and associations can exchange information and solutions to tackle problems and promote initiatives in the interest of the community.

Symbol of the project, aiming at contributing to the recostruction and the improvement of the social fabric of the city, a square called “Piazza 100”.

The square, both a virtual and physical space, has been recently inaugurated under an ENEA project financed by the Ministry of Education, University and Research and implemented through a Memorandum of Understanding with the local Municipality for a sustainable reconstruction of the city.

The actual square is located in Parco Castello, next to the Auditorium Renzo Piano, where three big screens are to be installed, integrated in tubular structures allowing to watch and share in real time all the initiatives, the events and the activities entered by citizens and associations into the “Piazza 100” Web Portal,  the virtual square. The hub is interconnected with the web portal and the Smartphone App Piazza100 APP: the combined use of these three tools is the first Smart Urban Network project to be conducted in Italy, one of the possible paths leading to the creation of smart communities.

“The idea of creating a physical and virtual space at the same time was born to combine many activities that to this day have been fragmented, creating a single “space” and networking them, a living lab aggregating social networks” Mauro Annunziata, Head of the ENEA Smart Energy Division, explained. “The objective is to contribute to the reconstruction of the social fabric of the city of L’Aquila, promoting the active participation and cohesion of citizens. As of today, already a dozen citizens’associations have been actively involved in this new community.

In addition to the creation of the first Italian Smart Urban Network, under the project “Piazza 100” a training  course  was organized for the students of the Science High school “Andrea Bafile” for the development of social skills;  its inauguration was also  the occasion to announce the winners of the 2015 competition for the best ideas on the future of the city based on its historical identity.

“Piazza100” is part of “City 2.0”, a project financed by the MIUR, for which ENEA is developing innovative technologies for the smart city project  and initiatives for the creation of smart communities.

In L’Aquila ENEA has already developed a “smart ring”, a pilot project of urban development based on a ring road with smart lighting installations, sustainable mobility, energy management of buildings and environmental monitoring.

For more information please contact:

Mauro Annunziato, ENEA Casaccia Research Center, mauro.annuziato@enea.it

Claudia Meloni, ENEA Casaccia Research Center, claudia.meloni@enea.it