The ‘Dark Side’ of the Smartness

Abstract

Even if there is not a universally shared definition, the term “Smart City” recalls a sustainable, hyper-technological city that is self-sufficient in terms of energy; this type of city uses communication systems between the various technologies to optimize the efficiency of services and to better connect all citizens. Its huge acceptance, both by the scientific community and the urban governance institutions, highlights how the time of reinterpretation of the city had arrived. The smart city, correlated by the transition of the old to the new economy, is based on innovation aimed at achieving maximum efficiency in the urban system through the synergy between traditional functions attributable to the tangible part of the city (residences, services, infrastructures, etc.) and new functions attributable to the intangible one (IoT, virtual and augmented reality, etc.). Reaching these goals drives cities into a circle of continuous evolution, which implies, like all changes, both positive aspects, and side effects, i.e., a ‘dark side’. Aim of the paper is to highlight this aspect and its implications. This is found in economic-social dynamics, such as gentrification, filtering and sprawl, environmental and geo-political dynamics, related to finding the resources needed to support digital urban technological innovation and to guarantee high standards of quality of life, and governance dynamics, linked to the capacity of changing the ways of administrate the change and changing radically - thanks to technology - the way of addressing the daily - as well as the strategic - problems and challenges of the city.