Following the success of the 2020 edition (40 hours of lessons streamed on Facebook with an average of over 500 views each in real time and over 10000 total views, 20 sponsors, 30 selected participants, 4 interdisciplinary projects), the 2021 edition of the International Smart Cities School (ISCiS) is coming. The ISCiS, an initiative of the Tomorrow’s Cities Lab and of the Fondazione di Sardegna, aims to address several aspects of the issue of smart cities from different points of view, proposing a specific theme each year.

The focus of 2021 is “Cities in the post-pandemic ‘new normal’ era”. The Covid-19 pandemic has indeed dramatically highlighted the delays of cities in terms of reducing the digital divide among its citizens and with respect to other countries, in addition to the problems deriving from a digital transition which is still in the early stage. This last requires integrated and interdisciplinary solutions able to take advantage of the most of the possibilities offered by new technologies without making them the final goal but, rather, considering them as a means to support sustainable development processes. However, local governments still focus exclusively on “injecting” technology into their cities, with the aim of simply providing it, rather than using it properly.

In this framework, the International Smart Cities School, lasting ten days in remote mode aims at deepening theoretical principles, operational tools and governance models useful to make cities that, starting from the construction of shared strategies, integrate technological and social innovation into urban development processes to ensure a better quality of life for citizens within the framework of global intergenerational sustainability. Therefore, the School aims to promote the development of smart, sustainable and resilient cities, through the most suitable technologies according to a strategic and systemic vision. The creation of an ecosystem of academies, institutions and companies to develop new solutions for cities is another important objective of the 2021 edition of the ISCiS.

The School adopts a transdisciplinary and multistakeholder approach to the main topic, providing participants with those tools and skills recognized as necessary to operate in the city of tomorrow. Furthermore, in line with the purpose to create a comprehensive network, the School integrates its activities within a framework of ongoing initiatives, including the “Smart Cityness” Festival” and the “Geosmartcampus Academy”.

Didactic Plans

The didactic plan of the 2021 edition includes an interdisciplinary theoretical-practical path, on aspects and issues that characterize the main topic, divided into lectures (34 hours), co-working lab (28 hours), and a final conference.

The Lectures, also streamed on Facebook, address the topic from four points of view: imagination (the strategic level), planning (the project level), governance (the institutional level), and tools (the technical level). The webinars will combine the theoretical aspect with the practical one, also through the critical analysis of case studies. Lectures can be listened to in Italian or in English through a simultaneous translation service. Lectures registrations will remain available on the school website for a greater dissemination of contents.

The Co-working Laboratory is conceived as a moment of interdisciplinary planning and design between participants and lecturers. Participants will be divided into teams of maximum 5 people. Each team will have to design an area / neighborhood of a case study in smart terms, in line with a strategic and shared vision. The main data and information of the context will be provided in the first hours of the co-working lab. With the support of lecturers and tutors, participants will develop their projects in a context of confrontation and open discussion.

The final conference will give visibility to the work done by the participants (through a presentation and awarding of the most deserving project) and to put the academic world in contact with the institutional and business one (through three key notes followed by a round table) .

The course, free but on a selective basis, provides university and professional training credits, 9 CFP from Caglari Association of Engineers, 10 CFP from Cagliari Association of Architects .

At the end of the course, an open access book in English will be published by Unica Press in the “Tomorrow’s cities” series, which collects all the lessons and projects developed by the participants.