1.3 Le nuove tecnologie per uno sviluppo urbano inclusivo

TECNOLOGIA E PARTECIPAZIONE. L'ESPERIENZA PILOTA CROWDMAPPING MIRAFIORI SUD

Serena Pantanetti - Politecnico di Torino, DIST (Riccardo Stefanelli -Politecnico di Torino, iXem Labs)

A partire dall'esperienza pilota partecipativa del progetto Crowdmapping Mirafiori Sud, finanziato con fondi 5x1000 del Politecnico di Torino per la progettualità studentesca, il paper in particolare vuole evidenziare le interazioni tra aspetti tecnologici ed esigenziali e come questi siano complementari e necessari quando si affrontano progetti con un coinvolgimento diretto della popolazione. Il paper indicherà quindi lo stato attuale di concepimento e sviluppo di tali progetti, evidenziando come l'esperienza proposta si ponga rispetto ad esso e come essa intenda apportare implementazioni ed ottimizzazioni, grazie anche alla collaborazione tra due gruppi di ricerca del Politecnico di Torino, che hanno contribuito con le loro conoscenze territoriali e tecnologiche: il CRD-PVS, Centro impegnato a livello internazionale nello studio e nella sperimentazione di metodi e tecnologie “appropriate” per intervenire in contesti urbani marginali, in crisi identitaria ed in profonda trasformazione e per la parte digitale Ixem Labs, laboratorio di telecomunicazioni esperto di sistemi e reti wireless.

AN EFFECTIVE STRATEGY TO DEVELOP EFFICIENT SERVICES FOR A DIGITAL-DIVIDED POPULATION

Riccardo Stefanelli -Politecnico di Torino, iXem Labs (Abel Rodriguez de la Concepcion, Elisa Pievanelli – Politecnico di Torino, iXem Labs)

The digital separation of an area or a group of people may be caused by several reasons. It can be generated by lack of infrastructure, affects the whole population. But there are cases where the digital seclusion is mainly cultural and caused by lack of know-how and confidence with modern technology. In the countryside, the absence of job opportunities forces young people to emigrate, aging the population. In this case, even if the infrastructure is present, a very limited number of citizens is able to access modern communication facilities.

Starting 2010, we have developed a suitable implementation model for the construction and maintenance of ICT infrastructures in the countryside, which is based on:

enrolment of the local administration to support the ICT education of the end users and the assistance/communication with them
enrolment of local stakeholders for the maintenance of the infrastructure
development of additional services which may become strategic for the people and help increasing the confidence in smart technology
use of dedicated low cost technology to minimize the cost barrier and facilitate the “beginning phase”

The experiment is carried out in the Municipality of Verrua Savoia, in the Monferrato region, a huge hilly area in North-Western Italy, not far from the city of Torino. The territory covers about 16 square kilometers, where about 1400 inhabitants live, with half of the population aging more than sixty-five years old. Very few factories and commercial activities are present; the economy is mainly agricultural, for ninety percent devoted to family needs. Most of the people aging between 15 and 60 years old are commuters and study or work far from the village, staying outside for a large part of the day.

In such a scenario, we have implemented a radio network that provides connectivity for free to all the families. Over the network we have started implementing user friendly services, like elderly people assistance on demand, co-assisted house and domotics management, and also courses to promote the use of ICT technology, by extreme simplifications.

OPEN RICOSTRUZIONE

Christian Quintili - Referente Territoriale per l'area di Bologna ActionAid Italia

Il progetto: Open Ricostruzione è un programma italiano che mira a garantire una ricostruzione trasparente e dell’Emilia Romagna sconvolta dal sisma del maggio 2012 attraverso l’uso delle tecnologie digitali e la collaborazione dei cittadini. Open Ricostruzione nasce a seguito degli eventi sismici che hanno sconvolto l’Emilia Romagna nel 20012 ed è frutto di una collaborazione inedita fra istituzioni e organizzazioni della Società Civile: Regione Emilia Romagna, ANCI, Anci Tel, Wikitalia Open Polis e ActionAid. La prima fase del progetto è stata realizzata grazie ad una donazione di Cisco Italia.

Fase 1 – la piattaforma web (www.openricostruzione.it): strumento che raccoglie dati su danni, finanziamenti, donazioni e schede di dettaglio di 372 opere pubbliche situate in 43 Comuni del Cratere sismico in costante aumento. I dati sono raccolti dai Comuni, validati da ANCI ed inviati in una piattaforma di servizio prima di essere raccolti e visualizzati da Open Ricostruzione. L’aggiornamento dei dati è periodico e costante. Il codice sorgente dell'applicazione è open source rilasciato con licenza Gnu-Gpl V3 e scaricabile su GitHub. A breve avverrà anche il rilascio dei dati in formato aperto con Licenza CC BY 3.0 IT.

Fase 2 – i laboratori con i cittadini (http://blog.openricostruzione.it/): programma formativo volto al rendere i cittadini in grado di collaborare con le istituzioni nel monitoraggio dei cantieri e delle procedure di appalto. Il programma si compone di 4 visite e segue le fasi di realizzazione di un’opera pubblica individuata assieme all’amministrazione. Ad una prima visita di presentazione seguono 3 visite formative svolte rispettivamente a seguito delle fasi di: 1) programmazione, 2) aggiudicazione, 3) esecuzione. In ciascuna visita i cittadini possono iscriversi a tre laboratori: 1) formazione giuridica, 2) Data Journalism, 3) crowd-photography. Al termine dei laboratori è prevista la realizzazione di una mostra fotografica e di un rapporto di monitoraggio.

GEOGRAPHIES FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION. MAPPING AND PREVENTING VIOLENCE AND POST-ELECTORAL DISORDERS IN NAIROBI SLUMS: AN ICT4D PARTICIPATIVE PROJECT

Elisabetta Demartis - Università di Torino, Scuola di Scienze Giuridiche, Politiche ed economico – sociali, Dipartimento di Economia e Statististica "Cognetti de Martiis"

The general purpose of this paper is to understand how ICTs can improve the social issues of Developing Counties. In particular my research will be focused on a participative project of Map Kibera that operates in three slums of Nairobi: Kibera, Mathare and Mukuru. They used a Ushahidi crowdmap platform to monitor the elections and prevent post-election violences and disorders.

The methodologies and approaches used are a combination of semi structured questionnaire addressed to Map Kibera members, interviews of Kibera CBOs and Ngos, focus groups coupled with the author’s previous research on ICT4D and Kenya politic.

The research lead me to discover the driving forces behind the work of the association and the project's impact on the community, especially on Kibera citizens.

In particular, my research is focus on some objectives that aim to understand:

What is the background of the members of the Map Kibera and how they are integrated within the territory of the slum
How can a participatory mapping project to prevent riots and post-election violence
How many people were really involved in the project and how
Can this project be considered a success which confirms the positive role of ICT in emergency cases such as elections
How the project may involve slum dwellers and influence them positively

The implications are significant in light of the ICT4D scenario and researches, aimed to understand how a technology can be used in the best way to impact positively on a social issue.

At the core of this idea is the belief that behind the crowdmap there is not just the software that allows the creation, but that set of social, spatial and human values that connect people with their own territory, in this case with one of the largest slums in Africa.

TECHNOLOGY AND URBAN PLANNING: WHAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR CITIES OF THE SOUTH?

Jean-Claude Bolay- (Abigail Kern- Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Centre Coopération & Développement)

The communication will deal with technologies, considered as catalysts for change, and their links to urban development.

One of the main questions to be investigated for the next decades, in relation with the spatial and demographic growth of cities in Southern countries, is to know if we could discern appropriate technologies adapted to the specific urban contexts, affordable for users, socially acceptable, and efficient in order to improve concretely the present and future situation tackled by urban population, stakeholders and authorities.

Particularly for developing and emerging countries, technological breakthroughs create wonderful opportunities but they may also convey risks that should not be overlooked. This leads to crucial questions on the nature of technological innovation and its capacity to fulfil the specific needs of these societies, characterized, in a lot of cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America, by limited financial and human resources. In a prospective approach, we shall try to identify priority sectors fostering a sustainable urban development, 4 at the initial moment of our research process: habitat; energies; water and sanitation; transport.

The aim of the communication will be: addressing the question of the existence of exclusively-urban technologies; exploring the framework conditions allowing the implementation of appropriate technologies in Southern cities; assessing the criteria allowing an access for all inhabitants to urban infrastructures and services; defining key elements we shall have to find in instruments used to translate the urban information in real applicable tools of urban planning, with a focus on “poor cities”.