Smart furniture and smart city

"S [m2]ART, looking at the city by metro" is an industrial and development research project funded by the MIUR under Smart Cities and Communities and Social Innovation projects on social inclusion and welfare and security topics. Politecnics of Turin and Milan are partners of the project together with Telecom Italia (coordinator), Reply, Metalco, Thema Progetti Group and an ICT company of the ICT industry. The project aims at experimenting with a scalable system of smart urban furnishings, integrated into the city as a network “node”, offering innovative services to the inhabitants and at the same time providing the municipal administration with a network of sensors capable of monitor phenomena and dynamics of the urban environment. The role of the research group within the project was to define specific contributions in two areas: the definition of innovative services to be delivered to citizens through S[m2]ART urban furnishings and the definition of requirements relating to the sustainability of materials and materials technologies for the construction and furnishing of furniture. The paper presents the results of the research, describing, in particular, the involvement and collaboration between stakeholders (public administration and end users) and industrial partners. The research results are the framework for the definitive and executive design of intelligent urban furniture that could be installed and monitored later in the cities of Turin and Milan. The research has practical and socio-economic implications [1]. The project is designed in the light of a balance between a service offering able to meet innovative needs [2]and business opportunities of private partners involved with the goal of defining a sustainable business plan[3]. In addition, a network of sensors for the monitoring of urban environment data is envisaged, enabling public administrations to collect useful data to improve the quality of services provided to citizens.