According to the United Nations, today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. Given the rapid urbanization, governments, public and private organizations have to cope with the changes by anticipating the needs of the population. Thanks to the advances in technology, they have the opportunity to analyze problems in depth, search for and apply innovative ideas. From the technology perspective, a city can be defined as "smart" if we have great use of Information and Communication Technology, ICT, to manage critical infrastructure components and services. At the origin of the Smart Cities, there is the need to drive economic growth in a sustainable manner and improve the quality of life, allowing local development from different points of view such as health, finance or economics. This is possible through the use of new technologies and the digital revolution has a direct impact and consequences in all fields. The use of mobile applications can make a good opportunity to create a dialogue with local authorities about the environment or security. It can improve trust amongst citizens through better interaction with Public Administrations and at the same time, for local governments, it can enhance the decision-making process. On the other hand, many cities around the world are moving through a number of initiatives to implement the so-called "city dashboards", as an opportunity for a new quality of urban life in terms of knowing and governing cities. Focusing on new technologies of the last few years, the blockchain has experienced a breathtaking evolution leading to hundreds of applications within smart cities. As the name suggests, a blockchain is composed of blocks, a growing list of records, chained in chronological order and managed by a peer to peer network. Therefore, a record within the blockchain can not be modified retroactively because of its structure. Due to the recent success of the Ethereum blockchain and other platforms that allow the execution of smart contracts, blockchain represents a promising alternative to the classic databases managed by central authorities and is likely to have a wide range of applications also in industry. Currently, there are hundreds of blockchain uses within smart cities. The blockchain is gaining attention at all levels, especially political and institutional; this technology can support the digital revolution that is already underway, especially in a smart city. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the use of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Smart City, and more specifically the use of the blockchain, as one of the new promising technology breakthroughs. In particular, this work wants to investigate how technology can be applied, to some fields, for making a city smarter. The following aspects are tackled: •For the e-governance area, we investigate the use of the city dashboards in response to users’ needs, residents’ well-being and city sustainability, but also the use of a particular mobile application to create a dialogue between citizens and public administrations. •In the e-health field, we analyze the use of the blockchain applied to a specific case of a teledermatology system. We discuss the benefits by using a blockchain system compared to traditional solutions. •Focusing on the economic area, we examine the supply chain management problem with the use of blockchain. We propose both the application of a public and a private blockchain applied to an agri-food supply chain.This technology can have a positive impact on the economic domain promoting tourist attraction.
Enabling technologies for the development of smart cities
BARALLA, GAVINA
2019-06-24
Abstract
According to the United Nations, today, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. Given the rapid urbanization, governments, public and private organizations have to cope with the changes by anticipating the needs of the population. Thanks to the advances in technology, they have the opportunity to analyze problems in depth, search for and apply innovative ideas. From the technology perspective, a city can be defined as "smart" if we have great use of Information and Communication Technology, ICT, to manage critical infrastructure components and services. At the origin of the Smart Cities, there is the need to drive economic growth in a sustainable manner and improve the quality of life, allowing local development from different points of view such as health, finance or economics. This is possible through the use of new technologies and the digital revolution has a direct impact and consequences in all fields. The use of mobile applications can make a good opportunity to create a dialogue with local authorities about the environment or security. It can improve trust amongst citizens through better interaction with Public Administrations and at the same time, for local governments, it can enhance the decision-making process. On the other hand, many cities around the world are moving through a number of initiatives to implement the so-called "city dashboards", as an opportunity for a new quality of urban life in terms of knowing and governing cities. Focusing on new technologies of the last few years, the blockchain has experienced a breathtaking evolution leading to hundreds of applications within smart cities. As the name suggests, a blockchain is composed of blocks, a growing list of records, chained in chronological order and managed by a peer to peer network. Therefore, a record within the blockchain can not be modified retroactively because of its structure. Due to the recent success of the Ethereum blockchain and other platforms that allow the execution of smart contracts, blockchain represents a promising alternative to the classic databases managed by central authorities and is likely to have a wide range of applications also in industry. Currently, there are hundreds of blockchain uses within smart cities. The blockchain is gaining attention at all levels, especially political and institutional; this technology can support the digital revolution that is already underway, especially in a smart city. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the use of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Smart City, and more specifically the use of the blockchain, as one of the new promising technology breakthroughs. In particular, this work wants to investigate how technology can be applied, to some fields, for making a city smarter. The following aspects are tackled: •For the e-governance area, we investigate the use of the city dashboards in response to users’ needs, residents’ well-being and city sustainability, but also the use of a particular mobile application to create a dialogue between citizens and public administrations. •In the e-health field, we analyze the use of the blockchain applied to a specific case of a teledermatology system. We discuss the benefits by using a blockchain system compared to traditional solutions. •Focusing on the economic area, we examine the supply chain management problem with the use of blockchain. We propose both the application of a public and a private blockchain applied to an agri-food supply chain.This technology can have a positive impact on the economic domain promoting tourist attraction.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
