A city oriented towards digital development that is sustainable, with a better quality of life and, above all, on a human scale. These are the characteristics of the 'Human Smart City' according to EY, which has drawn up an index to identify the cities in Italy that come closest to this model. These are the leading smart cities in Italy in 2022 according to EY.
What is a smart city?
Ecological transition, digital transition and social inclusion are the strengths of a smart city. By cross-referencing data related to the investments and initiatives of Italian cities, a ranking has been drawn up that classifies Italian cities based on their transformation process into "people-friendly" cities. The data measures how ready the cities in question are (readiness) to redesign spaces and times around people's needs with the behaviour of citizens (understood in the broadest sense as workers, consumers, tourists, commuters, students, entrepreneurs, etc.) on the three strategic axes of ecological transition, digital transition and social inclusion. The result is a snapshot of the Italian urban ecosystem that is not yet mature, but is in full evolution and with wide margins for improvement.
Smart Cities in Italy
Milan, Bologna and Turin are on the podium of smart cities in Italy on a human scale. The distances between metropolitan cities and smaller centres are decreasing, but a strong difference between North and South remains.
With respect to the two components of the Human Smart City Index, Milan is confirmed as the city at the top of the ranking for both readiness (86.83 on a scale of 1 to 100) and citizen behaviour (83). Milan's strength is mostly linked to the digital transition, both in terms of infrastructure (fast broadband, 5G) and citizens' skills and use of online services.
Bologna follows, thanks to its supremacy in terms of social inclusion (especially for social spending and citizens' involvement in the public life of the city), with a particularly high readiness score (86.70).
Turin consolidates its presence on the podium - although dropping from second place in 2020 to third in 2022 - thanks to the component linked to citizens' behaviour (82.32), especially in terms of ecological transaction. 5 medium-sized cities follow: Trento, Parma, Bergamo, Padua and Brescia, and Venice and Florence close the top ten. Rome is in twelfth place and gives up 5 positions compared to the 2020 ranking. What penalises the capital above all is a marked delay in the ecological transition process.
The first small city with less than 80 thousand inhabitants in the ranking is Pordenone (21st place), while the first three southern cities are Cagliari (19th place), Naples (34th place) and Bari (36th place). Enna, Barletta and Carbonia close the ranking.
North-South gap in smart cities
The geographical distribution of cities shows a significant 'human smart divide' between North and South. In fact, the regional ranking (based on the average value of the Human Smart City Index among provincial capitals) shows a clear predominance of the Centre-North: Trentino South Tyrol, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Lombardy. The southern regions are at the bottom of the ranking, with Molise, Apulia and Calabria in the last three places.
Among the 40 cities in the South, only three metropolitan cities are in the first bracket: Cagliari, Naples and Bari. Conversely, in the North, of the 47 cities, 29 are in the first bracket of the ranking and only 6 in the third bracket. In the Centre, however, the situation appears more balanced: 5 cities are in the first bracket, 12 in the second and 5 in the third. In fact, the size of cities has always been a determining variable in the implementation of the smart city and even this year, metropolitan cities prevail over medium and small cities.
The best cities in Europe 2024: Rome ranks fourth
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