The city as an interface between citizens and public administrations

Abstract

The widespread of ICTs has been transforming the physical city. This process has been definitely influencing people’s experiences within the urban environment creating new public spaces of interaction, affecting the physical and social urban structures. So, the city can be considered as an interface embedding different relational systems. In this perspective, Public Administration may benefit from the emergence of new interaction patterns for reinforcing the relationship with citizens. In effect, as the success of any public initiative appears to be strongly influenced by human aspects, Public Administrations should use the city interface to facilitate the communication and the collaboration with citizens. This paper aims to reflect on the interactive systems connecting citizens and Public Administration within the public sphere, and on the emergence of new perspectives and relations among people and urban places, in order to suppose new types of public touchpoints and interfaces supporting a sustainable city development.