Tourism and City. Reflections about Tourist Dimension of Smart City

Abstract

The city of the future seems to be forcibly "intelligent" both in physical and in the functional aspects. This paper starts from the consideration that the diffusion of new communication technologies (ICTs) are significantly changing the urban supply system of tourist services giving rise to new ways of enjoying the city. As tourism can be assumed as an urban activity, by a town planning point of view, the study of tourism is meaningful to identify development trajectories of the present cities oriented toward sustainable and smarter models. As a matter of fact, almost all the projects to get a "smart city" are based on the idea of joining the potentialities of ICTs and the needs of urban management through people living or using the city. In such a vision, "tourist dimension" of the city becomes fundamental in promoting urban image as well as in improving efficiency of the city. This efficiency also depends on the capability of each city to share historical and cultural heritage as "common good". As tourist demand has deeply changed also driven by technological development, this paper tries to investigate how will change the urban supply to meet the rising demand of quality and efficiency. The transition to smart tourist destination currently seems to be strongly connected with the number and the variety of apps to improve the "experiential component". A lack of interest there seems to be in finding strategies and politics oriented to plan the urban supply of services tourist or not. This consideration, if shared, opens up new perspectives for research and experimentation in which city planning could have a key-role also in proposing an holistic approach to city development towards smart city