CRISALIDE – Concept of Corporative Information System for Governance and Management of Digital City

Corporative Information Systems (CIS) is a tool for decision making support for rather big business companies. Such systems were introduced approximately twenty years ago and have shown good results forbusinesses optimization since. The present-day demand is to move cities to a digital era. Considering this demand, let us take a look at a digital city governance and management from CIS ideology point of view. CIS approach based on proposed methodology provides means for development and support of decision making process for different levels of governance and management. Governance and management should notbe centralized, it should be distributed with weak feedback links. In this paper, we present our experience in this field based on "Aqueduct" systems (product of SPIIRAS– HTR&DO Ltd.) implementation for different subject domains and ideas for digital city localization

Crowd Flow Analysis for Measuring the Impact of Urban Transformation Actions in City’s Heritage Areas

In the past years, cities have become more and more interested in shifting from the traditional ideology-based approach to an evidence-based process of policy and decision making. Subsequently, much attention has been given to new tools and technologies for enhancing data collection on the urban transformation practices. With the help of these new tools and technologies, big social, economic and spatial data are collected which allow a more accurate analysis of urban processes in order to create more livable, inclusive and attractive cities. This paper outlines a data-guided approach shaped by evidence for cultural-led urban regeneration in creative and knowledge cities, tested in the framework of a H2020-funded project (GA 730280), ROCK (www.rockproject.eu). Its elementary concept is based on developing an innovative, collaborative and circular systemic approach for regeneration and adaptive reuse of historic city centres, transferring the circular economy model to the transformation process of urban historic environments. In this project, transformative actions such as adaptive reuse, temporary structures and events are used to transform public spaces and buildings that have heritage value. By these actions, it is aimed to increase the quality, raise awareness of people and attract more visitors to these places. This paper focuses on how the large-crowd location-based monitoring tool (LBA sense1) is contextualised in two of the Role Model Cities involved in the project: Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and Turin (Italy) in order to understand the impact of transformative actions in heritage districts. In a highly dynamic urban environment, people’s flow remain the only constant, expressing the lively dimension of changes in the urban fabric (M. Castells, 2000). The paper is based on a systematic analysis on data collected over time in the two cities, using a set of locally-deployed WiFi sensors and providing real-time insights on activity and mobility patterns within the monitored area. It highlights the accessibility dimension to specific contextual data on crowd flows (during ordinary days and extraordinary/ exceptionally events) in different CH locations in the city, related both to traditional heritage spots, as well as to the empty and underused spaces stock, as potential new locations for creative and cultural purposes. The method used follows an origin-destination matrix approach, aimed at comparing various crowd flows during different times in the two cities in relation to specific events/ happenings impacting the usual/ conventional use of space. Throughout the comparison, the paper showcases many similarities (such as situational-driven people movement between certain locations), despite the self-evident distinction ofhotspots spatial distribution within the two cities and the different urban planning and design background and culture. Finally, the analysis proposes a set of policy measures based on informed documentation of the actual use of the urban space during ordinary and extraordinary events impacting the urban environment

Agro-Cities as a Way to Counteract Urban Poverty

Monterusciello represents a case of urban poverty induced by a natural disaster: the bradyseism of 1983 which shocked and drastically changed the lives of citizens residing in the historic center of Pozzuoli. The political and technical response to the natural disaster emerged through the realization of a new town providing housing for displaced persons. Monterusciello was designed as a new town alternative to the construction models of the late 70s and early 80s: in here, there are no high-density buildings or a lack of public spaces. This new town had high ambitions in terms of planning the new housing settlement, inspired by a classical forma urbis and a human scale architecture. Despite the intellectual and political effort to find an effective solution to a collective drama, which affected most of Pozzuoli's population, many things did not work. The current public administration is making an ambitious attempt to face and solve the many open issue linked to this serious context of urban poverty. The city of Pozzuoli (Metropolitan area of Napoli) is the only city on South-Europe that succeeded to get, in the first round of the extremely competitive call for proposal, the EU financing named UIA (Urban Innovative Action). The project has the courage to propose ground-breaking solutions for very serious and persisting problems linked to urban poverty in the Monterusciello neighborhood. Innovation is embedded in applying the methodology of the permaculture to regenerate the public land available in between buildings of Monterusciello. Thirty hectares of Municipal open areas will be transformed into farmland, developed the innovative techniques of permaculture in order to spearhead an economic process and urban growth as a means to combat poverty. This Urban Agriculture led regeneration is based on a solid participatory planning process that aims to solve the many existing problems on the ground through learning and training actions (schools and youngster as priority target groups), experimentation of production chains at km zero, use of innovative and ecologic techniques in producing goods, design of cooperativistic a business model for the financial sustainability, relevant investment in advanced design of available public land and space, with a special focus on urban landscape related questions. This paper is presenting the urban regeneration adopted strategy in terms of ongoing and experimental planning practices, built up governance relations and creation of a sustainable (economic, socio-cultural; and environmental) development narrative for present and future development in Monterusciello

New results on solar neutrino fluxes from 192 days of Borexino data

We report the direct measurement of the ^7Be solar neutrino signal rate performed with the Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso. The interaction rate of the 0.862 MeV ^7Be neutrinos is 49+-3(stat)+-4(syst) counts/(day * 100ton). The hypothesis of no oscillation for ^7Be solar neutrinos is inconsistent with our measurement at the 4sigma level. Our result is the first direct measurement of the survival probability for solar nu_e in the transition region between matter-enhanced and vacuum-driven oscillations. The measurement improves the experimental determination of the flux of ^7Be, pp, and CNO solar nu_e, and the limit on the magnetic moment of neutrinos

The Borexino detector at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso

Borexino, a large volume detector for low energy neutrino spectroscopy, is currently running underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy. The main goal of the experiment is the real-time measurement of sub MeV solar neutrinos, and particularly of the mono energetic (862 keV) Be7 electron capture neutrinos, via neutrino-electron scattering in an ultra-pure liquid scintillator. This paper is mostly devoted to the description of the detector structure, the photomultipliers, the electronics, and the trigger and calibration systems. The real performance of the detector, which always meets, and sometimes exceeds, design expectations, is also shown. Some important aspects of the Borexino project, i.e. the fluid handling plants, the purification techniques and the filling procedures, are not covered in this paper and are, or will be, published elsewhere (see Introduction and Bibliography).Comment: 37 pages, 43 figures, to be submitted to NI