Historical Small Smart City Protocol for integrated interventions.

Project Information

HISMACITY-pro

Grant agreement ID: 743837

DOI

10.3030/743837

Project closed

EC signature date 24 February 2017

Start date 1 December 2017

End date 30 November 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 168 277,20

EU contribution

€ 168 277,20

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI ROMA TRE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HISMACITY-pro (Historical Small Smart City Protocol for integrated interventions.)

Reporting period: 2017-12-01 to 2019-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

"The ""Historical Small Smart City"" (HISMACITY) Protocol is a certification system for the ""smartness"" of small historical centers, realized after a two-year post-doctoral work financed by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Programme (IF Fellowship).
It is supported by a dynamic dataset framework on a Geographic Information System (GIS), that can work as a Decision-Making Support System to help local administrators to enhance their urban policies, through 31 indicators included in scoring tables (Fig.1 2).
The criteria evaluate interventions aimed at the territorial sustainable development, as well as at a general technologic improvement (that supports urban security and financial smartness, through the monitoring of the interventions range).
The main issue addressed by the research project is to counteract the phenomenon of depopulation of the internal areas; it is important for society because this problem threatens the survival of small historical towns (Pica, Cerasoli, 2018).
The overall objectives are linked to the reconnection of the interrupted relations between the historical city and the territory, to build new development strategies; some of the objectives are marked by the recent European Directives on energy saving.
One specific goal is to adapt the indoor comfort conditions required to the historic buildings. The goals have been validated through two pilot projects on the centers of Sutri (in the province of Viterbo, Italy) and Berga (Barcelona, Spain).
The conclusions have led to the open-source publication of the Guidelines document on the Web GIS, containing the explanatory input data and results of the calculation models that have originated the composite indicators.

Pica, V.; Cerasoli, M. (2018). A protocol of integrated sustainable interventions for historic small smart cities: the mitigation of disaster risk. In Proceedings of the VI International Conference Heritage 2018, Heritage and Sustainable Development. Barcelos, Portogallo: Green Lines Institute for Sustainable Development, e-ISBN 978-84-338-6261-7.
For more details, see the research reports at the link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Y63x_sBqTGalBT-1XXquZlr5nxEdhAB1?usp=sharing."

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work performed for this research project has followed various stages.
The first phase was devoted to the study of the sources and materials available to the Architecture Department of Roma Tre and the Center for Soil Policies and Valorisation (CPSV) of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.
The second phase involved the analysis of the scientific literature relating to good practices and urban planning tools regarding minor and peripheral historic centers.
In a third phase of the research, the dataset framework was completed and the evaluation criteria were outlined.
The calculation models have been set by the tools of the GIS system to define the composite indicators, that allow establishing and measuring quality standards.
Composite indicators, which define a level of progression of the interventions prescribed by the system, have been integrated with a series of simple indicators, which only make measurements relating to quantities, without inserting the qualitative aspect.
Finally, the validation methods were defined and the dataset was extended to the case study of the municipality of Berga, in Spain, experimenting with scalability, which turned out to be quite viable.
Most of the dissemination activities foreseen by the Grant Agreement have been carried out. One of them has outlined how the <> (Giampino, Todaro, 2015; Salzano, 1999); and in another event, the use of electric mobility has been described.
The main results of this research work can be summarized in the fact that the calculation models of the specific composite indicators (that didn’t exist to date) were designed. They have been sewn in the problems of smaller towns.

Giampino, A. & Todaro, V. (2015) Aspetti critici nell’intervento pubblico-privato per la periferia della città di Palermo, Università di Palermo.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

"Thanks to a general study on the actual conditions of the historic centers, the real estate management in Italy and Spain, best practices and recovery projects, it has been analyzed the state of the art, to deeply know the subject matter of intervention and its context.
It has been observed (ISTAT) that a quarter of the entire Italian residential heritage consists of buildings constructed before 1946.
See fig. 3: the construction quality of the Italian buildings related to their age. ISTAT survey (2011). Source: 2011 ISTAT census. 18 Costruzioni. Retrieved from: https://www.istat.it/it/files/2016/12/C18.pdf.
Recent Italian surveys confirm that young people would prefer to buy a property located inside the minor centers, while the elderly on the contrary is not so well disposed of it (Income Revenue Agency 2017).
The Protocol considers all these factors, and answers the demand for accommodation, particularly of young people and foreigners who can´t afford to buy flats within the big cities. In light of this, we can say that the new fiscal and social policies together with new technologies offer us a great opportunity to ensure a sustainable future for historical centers.
Concerning the analysis of the integrated procedures for a more sustainable scenario, an interesting experimental study has been taken as a reference: the work ""A Smart Project for the Historic Centre of Sutri (Viterbo)"" by Franco Marzal Diaz (2017).
It has been the starting point from which it has emerged that effective redevelopment must use an integrated approach and new technologies to adjust living conditions in a small historic city center to current needs and modern standards of comfort, also concerning public services.
See fig. 4: project layout of the study for the Smart Recovery of Sutri. Source: ""A Smart Project for the Historic Centre of Sutri (Viterbo)"". Franco Marzal Diaz (2017).
This is the general concept of quality which derives from the sustainability requirement provided by the European Quality Assurance Standards (EN- ISO 9000) as the goal which guarantees common wellness and welfare in a determined habitat. This parameter has been included in the Protocol.
The possibility of using certification systems supported by digital technology innovations, such as HISMACITY, may reduce the time required for urban regeneration processes, allowing them to become a series of manageable and measurable variables through monitoring progress with the possibility of making actions more efficient and economically sustainable. Such tools support interaction among public administrations, citizens, and various actors in the territory.

Income Revenue Authority (2017). Gli immobili in Italia. Ricchezza, reddito e fiscalità immobiliare, 6ª ed., Agenzia delle Entrate, Dipartimento delle Finanze (ed.), 2017, p.103.JOSS S. (2015). Sustainable Cities: Governing for Urban innovation. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Marzal Dìaz F., Un proyecto “Smart” para el casco histórico de Sutri. In: ACE: architecture, city and environment [en línia], Vol. 11, Núm. 33. Barcelona, 2017."

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