MiraMap: A We-Government Tool for Smart Peripheries in Smart Cities

Increasingly over the last decade, there has been attention and expectations on the role that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions can play in increasing accountability, participation, and transparency in the public administration. In addition, attention to citizen participation is more and more at the center of the debate about smart cities. However, technological solutions have been often proposed without considering the first citizen's needs and the sociotechnical misalignment within the city, i.e., in peripheral area. This paper outlines the design and implementation process of a we-government IT tool, called MiraMap. The project has been developed in the Mirafiori District in Torino (Italy), a neighborhood, which is characterized by the problems of marginality and by several undergoing urban transformations with a very high potential for social and economic development in the next few years. This makes Mirafiori Sud a valuable case study environment to experiment new methods and IT solutions to strengthen the connection between citizens and public administration. The object of MiraMap, indeed, is to facilitate communication and management between citizens and administration in reporting of issues and claims but also in submitting proposals. Collecting and handling of this information in an efficient way are crucial to improve the quality of life in urban suburbs, addressing more targeted and better performed public policies. In order to achieve those results, we combined First Life, a new local social network based on an interactive map, with a business process management system for easing reports about claims and proposals to be handled. The research process involves an interdisciplinary team, composed by architects, computer scientists, engineers, geographers, and legal experts, with the direct participation of local administrators and citizens.