Cagliari is changing and increasingly smarter. The intelligent digital platform for urban governance is nearing completion.

Cagliari is changing and increasingly smarter. The intelligent digital platform for urban governance is nearing completion.

An greener, smarter and more sustainable citiesThis is the objective of the project "Cagliari smart city: integration of urban governance with the mitigation of urban heat islands" financed with PON Metro 2014-2020 REACT EU funds and currently nearing completion.

The project, that was made with Fastweb as a technology partner in collaboration with Abinsula and WiData, and the scientific support of the DICAAR of the University of Cagliari, is financed with European funds for an amount of approximately 4 million euros and is based on the creation of an intelligent digital platform designed to collect data and images coming from the territory through use of IoT (Internet of Things) sensors and innovative cameras. The data thus collected and stored in the Cloud flow through the Administration's fiber optic network into a Control Room, set up in the Municipality headquarters, which is able to use the information to support the strategy of interventions on the city, for a better and more efficient service management.

La Smart City Control Room will allow visualization and representation of data from multiple sources, even if of a heterogeneous nature, to share a homogeneous analysis model and their evaluation, to identify and implement rapid, contextual and clear procedures for making decisions, both predictive and real time.

“Cagliari is even smarter from today. With this project financed with European funds PON METRO REACT EU and nearing completion – stated the Mayor Paul Truzzu – we can rightly be included in international best practices. It is a system of urban governance, which already has immediate repercussions on the lives of citizens. Thanks to this infrastructure, in fact, we have expanded the video surveillance network, especially in sensitive points, such as nightlife and school areas, even in function of combating phenomena such as drug dealing or petty crime, and this will allow us to better control the territory, guaranteeing citizens greater safety. Furthermore, the coverage of the fiber optic network has been increased in areas of the city not yet covered. At the same time, the perimeter of Internet access services through public Wi-Fi hot-spots was extended. The project reflects the Administration's desire to use innovative technologies and systems to resolve fundamental issues relating to the environment, urban safety, usability of the city, with a view to overall development and growth. Cagliari today is one of the first cities in Italy to equip itself with such an advanced integrated system: currently i data collected and processed will serve as a valid support for territorial governance but in the future, hopefully in the near future, we would like to make them available to every citizen, on every smartphone, to be able to experience the city with greater awareness and safety".

“Our system – states the Councilor for technological innovation, environment and marine policies Alessandro Guarracino – allows the city to evolve towards conscious governance of the territory. Thanks to the application of the new intelligent devices of IOT technology, we are able to predict the phenomena that impact the urban environment and therefore to implement all the planning activities aimed at improving the quality of life of citizens, both from the environmental and safety. In the future, hopefully in the near future, using an App connected to the system, we will be able to provide citizens with the possibility of having advanced information and services relating to the territory directly on their devices, such as: real-time representation of the traffic status to facilitate mobility, data on crowding or air pollution”.

And we come to the project structure. In essence, sensor systems have been positioned on the infrastructure poles present in the area or in some cases on newly installed poles, connected to the digital platform, and designed to collect a series of data useful for sustainable mobility, for creation of a safe and interconnected city, for the provision of local services, for the control of tourist flows, for the detection of air quality and the presence of pollutants and for the monitoring of the microclimate. The system also becomes a tool for increasing the areas covered by the wi-fi connection as well as ensuring greater safety for citizens thanks to the installation of video surveillance cameras. The objectives also include using sensors to study phenomena such as heat islands, which have a significant impact on health, urban comfort and quality of life in general.

The entire technical infrastructure of the project was created by Fastweb. The company has in fact implemented the digital platform which will connect all the access points for wi-fi, cameras and IoT sensors in a single centralized Cloud system to make the real-time collection of data and information directly from the various areas more effective. of the city.

“With this project the Municipality of Cagliari is aiming to become a real Smart City through the creation of a digital ecosystem serving its citizens - he has declared Onofrio Pecorella, Head of Local Government Sales at Fastweb – Thanks to new technologies, which allow the widespread collection of data across the territory, it will be possible for the administration to implement public policies aimed at improving the quality of life of the people who live in the city every day and continue like this on the digital transformation path that Fastweb has always promoted within public administrations for the development of innovative services for the benefit of the community".

For the supply of sensors for the environmental detection and measurement of people flows, Fastweb made use of the collaboration of Abinsula and WiData who also developed the software platform for data representation and control, also integrating the information coming from the video surveillance system.

Scientific partner, the University of Cagliari, which thanks to an implementation agreement signed between the Smart City Service of the Municipality and the DICAAR of the Faculty of Engineering, in particular with the research group coordinated by prof. Mauro Coni with the teachers Giorgio Querzoli, Maria Grazia Badas, Chiara Garau, Francesca Maltinti, has the task of monitoring the conditions of the urban environment in real time and studying the information collected, with particular focus on urban heat islands.

The phenomenon of heat islands afflicts our cities, which suffer from a higher temperature level than rural areas, as a result of climate change and extreme anthropisation. The methods of contrasting and mitigating the phenomenon require knowledge and study of the territory, to arrive at better planning of interventions.
Precisely in this framework is the collaboration of the DICAAR of the University of Cagliari with the Municipality, aimed at real-time monitoring of the conditions of the urban environment and the study of the information collected.

Hundreds of intelligent sensors installed in numerous streets and in the most diverse contexts allow the acquisition of a series of anonymous data, also necessary for the constant monitoring of the urban microclimate. The DICAAR research group has the task of examining them and making them usable through software and modeling, to establish the areas at risk and the material and planning interventions to be implemented. The University then carries out the analyzes needed to transform the "raw data" into useful information for the planner and decision maker, identifying the areas of the city in which the temperature is actually higher and the possible corrective interventions. These include, for example, green and blue infrastructures, cold roofs and pavements, vegetal coverage, interventions on new neighborhoods with street alignments functional to better exposure.

“On these issues – says Prof. Mauro Coni, professor of Road, Railway and Airport Construction and coordinator of the Civil Engineering Course - many cities around the world are already starting to intervene and Cagliari in Italy is one of the first, aligning itself, in this way, with international good practices. The University is fundamental in the valorisation of the data collected by the Administrations, to transform the information into more effective actions and the collaboration with the Municipality also represents an opportunity to update teaching, linking it to public activities and transforming the city into a real widespread laboratory for engineering students, in a virtuous cycle between research and activities conducted by the Public Administration".