It is widely acknowledged that cities are the main drivers of economic growth, but they are not yet sustainable in a broad sense. Indeed, they face many wicked problems - economic deprivation, social exclusion and air pollution just to name a few. Furthermore, most Europeans live in urban areas.
Thus, the paradigm “smart cities” is front and center when debating innovative public policies.
This factsheet presents:
• the strategic framework of the policies supporting this paradigm, both at the EU and the Italian levels,
• main public financing streams aimed at improving urban assets and policies.