Smartness, Sustainability and Resilience: Are They Related?

Abstract

In the imminent future, cities have to face not only an increasing urbanization but also the negative consequences of natural and human disasters. From this point of view, a city should be considered as vulnerable to climate change and other natural negative events. Thus, the challenge of a city consists in remaining on a sustainable development path. To reach this object the concepts of smartness, sustainability and resilience for a city should be intertwined. Starting from the analysis of a bright city as an integrated approach, the aim of this study consists in propose a first framework of an index which should include sustainable, smartness and resilient indicators. Integrating and measuring these three concepts in a unique index allows city’s policy makers to understand and manage natural and anthropogenic risks. Comparing dimensions/indicators with the common characteristics of the bright city concept, efficiency, diversity, and networking are the main characteristics while technology, governance, and social vulnerability are the prevailing dimensions. Flexible and resilient actions should be developed by cities to prevent and implement initiatives against negative environmental events which will be becoming common in the next years.