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Genta et al. / Qualità dell’ambiente urbano – XI Rapporto (2015)
ISPRA Stato dell’Ambiente 63/15 pagg. 866 - 914
Abstract
Environmental sustainability of urban areas is one of the most complex and urgent
challenges of our century. Cities and metropolitan areas, due to their high population
density and the concentration of economic activities, are the main source of pollution
and pressure on the eco system. Nevertheless, within the current development
model, they are also indispensable for the economic growth. The local institutional
communication plays a strategic role, facilitating the participation of citizens,
necessary to the success of environmental policies of sustainability. The importance
of websites and mobile communication is widely acknowledged, as they allow citizens
to interface with the city at any time. Specifically, through the website, citizens can
find out about the environmental initiatives carried out by the administration (waste
recycling, traffic, sustainable mobility, environmental education initiatives, etc.), but
also consult daily bulletins on air quality and other environmental data, access online
services, download documents and publications on environmental issues, contact the
offices involved in urban environment. We are living in the mobile revolution era,
characterized by the advent of smart phones: the municipality today should also follow
the citizens in the most popular “virtual places", using the social networks and
creating useful apps.
A set of indicators was created to study the websites of a sample of Italian
municipalities: SICAW (Tools of Environmental Information and Communication on the
Web), INN7, NAV5, CONT4 and three new indicators dedicated to Social Networking,
Applications and Open data. The high rate of innovation is the reason of the constant
changes to the indicators.
Keywords
Environmental institutional communication, Smart cities, Local sustainability
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