Are the Urban Parks becoming Cyberparks? The Developing of Public Open Spaces: ICT tools to support the landscape planning process.

Il lavoro presentato in questa tesi riguarda lo studio, l'analisi e lo sviluppo dei Cyberspaces partendo da un punto di vista teorico per poi passare alla sua implementazione diretta, sottolineando anche il miglioramento che un concetto di Cyberpark pu portare all'umanit. Da un punto di vista teorico, il lavoro svolto stato quello di studiare l'evoluzione storica dalle città intelligenti a quelle sensibili, con l'obiettivo di comprendere le dinamiche che hanno reso possibile l'aggiornamento da un modello classico a un modello di pianificazione urbana. Tale sforzo stato necessario per capire come tali modelli possono essere applicati al reale ambiente urbano che siamo chiamati a trattare, cioè quali sono gli strumenti (teorici) che possiamo usare per interpretarlo correttamente. In seguito, diversi casi di studio sono stati implementati in scenari urbani re- ali adottando soluzioni ICT in grado di fornire informazioni agli utenti e, allo stesso tempo, raccogliere le informazioni dell'utente da analizzare dai pianificatori. Soprattutto, tre casi principali sono stati di particolare importanza nella nostra ricerca, ognuno con uno scopo specifico ma tutti mirati a uno comune: la comprensione di come gli strumenti ITC possono aggiornare un POS alla dimensione di un Cyberspace. Entrando nel dettaglio, il primo caso di studio stato l'implementazione di un'esperienza AR per rendere gli utenti pi consapevoli di ci che li circonda. Il secondo mirava a confrontare gli approcci classici di analisi dei comportamenti spaziali umani a una piattaforma di raccolta dati innovativa finalizzata allo stesso compito. La terza e l'ultima 1 hanno riguardato l'implementazione di un'architettura completa basata su dispositivi mobili nel contesto di un parco urbano, in grado di fornire in- formazioni contestuali agli utenti e, allo stesso tempo, di raccogliere i loro dati. L'esito di quest'ultimo caso di studio stato quindi analizzato e visualizzato mediante un GIS dedicato, che si dimostrato la soluzione pi preziosa a disposizione dell'architetto del paesaggio per migliorare il processo di progettazione di un POS.

Nowadays, given the growing complexity of the city systems, the quality of human life depends considerably on the quality of the urban environment. One of the core components of the cities are the POS, that should be more accessible to all on equal terms, by creating a synergistic balance between grey, green and social components. Technology can play a pivotal role for this ambitious task, since it already generates interest and attraction for many people in their everyday life. However, even if there are relevant cases where the adoption of ICT made the use of POS more smart, the recognition of possible interrelation and added values is still not very elaborated so far. There is thus the need to upgrade POSs to the quality of Cyberspaces, defining them as particular outdoor places where the use of ICT creates a synergy between humans and the environment. This is the logical step forward of the progress that we can see in our every day life, since these new technologies have a twofold contribution: in one hand, they provide users with new instruments to enhance their experience of visiting and discovering a place. On the other, they represent a valuable source of information that should be used for the planning process. Hence, this innovation can bring landscape planners to take into account new forms of interactions, generating an endless process where the user become himself the planner. The reason of this relies on one fundamental thing that must be underlined: the modern technology used in the method we will propose creates synergy between the two categories of users and planners, joining them in a unique entity and so allowing the users to be involved in the planning process (which is one of the Cyberpark concepts). In this light, there is the need to understand what can be the real contribution of the ICTs in the planning process, and this will be achieved by performing a comparison between an approach that includes them and an approach, that we can define as a classic one, which doesn't. In addition,also the way users experience the space will be taken into account. The innovation is offered by the possibility to collect a great amount of data in the same period of time and in a smarter way: the citizens are involved in the urban planning project by the mean of a mobile application, in which they can give real-time feedbacks to the planners. What is relevant for the planners is to analyse the human spatial behaviour, which is essential for a good understanding of multiple aspects (political, economic, tourist, social and cultural) of a modern city. Given the above, in line with recent research trends, the work presented in this thesis deals with the study, analysis and development of Cyberspaces by starting from a theoretical point of view for then passing to its direct implementation, also highlighting the enhancement that a Cyberpark concept can bring to the mankind. From a theoretical perspective, the work performed was to study the historical evolution from smart cities to senseable ones, having the aim of understanding the dynamics that made possible the upgrade from a classical to a Cyber model of city planning process. Such effort was necessary in order to understand how the given models can be applied to the real urban environment we're called to deal, i.e. what are the (theoretical) tools we can use to correctly interpret it. Afterwards, different cases of study have been implemented in real urban scenarios by adopting ICT solutions able to provide information to the users and, at the same time, to collect user's information to be analysed from the planners. Especially, three main cases were of particular importance in our research, each one having a specific purpose but all aimed to a common one: the understanding of how ICT tools can upgrade a POS to the dimension of a Cyberspace. Going into detail, the first case of study was the implementation of an AR experience to make users more aware of their surroundings. The second one was aimed at comparing classical approaches of analysing human spatial behaviours to an innovative data collection platform aimed to the same task. The third and last dealt with the implementation of a complete mobile based architecture in the context of a urban park, able to provide contextual information to the users and, at the same time, to collect their data. The outcome of this last case of study was then analysed and visualized by means of a dedicated GIS, which proved to be the most valuable solution at the disposal of landscape architect to enhance the design process of a POS. The research is backed by the framework of CyberParks project - Fostering knowledge about the relationship between Information and Communication Technologies and Public Spaces, a multidisciplinary European COST action that, among others, discusses various ICT tools and presents a methodology that can be adopted for the future development of cyberspaces, useful for both planners and users. The main contribution and novelties of this research thesis can be in conclusion summarised in the following items: i) outlining a step forwards in the research domain of smart cities; ii) renovating the landscape design process by adopting the theoretical approach called the scientific rationalities; iii) the definition of a well established pipeline of work, applied in real case studies and iv) the analysis, by using innovative tools, of the human spatial behaviour according to the landscape perspective, based on real data. With the proposed approach, we make a step forward, making the planning process based on users' needs: "Through smartphones the cities are now burgeoning and unfolding inside every pocket. Every citizen has a tool in which to perceive and process the city peering through his digital lens is an intensely personal experience."