Digital Transformation, Small Town, Experimentation: Membrana Smart Research Project

Abstract

In his book Me++ (2004), Mitchell, when ascertaining the concrete effects that digital information is capable of producing in the various sectors and with regard to aspects that were once extraneous to it, states that binary code is the most powerful tool we have for expressing our projectuality and translate it into concrete actions. However, the changes that digital transformation is able to produce to the structure, organisation and logic of operation of the city and territory have been taken into consideration, primarily, with reference to the large urban scale, or to specific and circumstantial aspects such as, for example, low-income communities. And yet, what kind of link exists between digital transformation and the smaller centres that characterise Italy and Europe? How can the disciplines of the project interpret it profitably? And, conversely, what are the risks that arise from a deontological and ethical perspective?

In light of these reflections, this contribution aims to illustrate some of the results related to the "Membrana smart" research project, in collaboration with a partnership of companies operating in the Calabrian territory, funded under the POR CALABRIA FESR-ESF 2014 -2020, Axis I "Research and innovation", Specific objective 1.2 "Strengthening of the regional and national innovative system", Action 1.2.2 " Support for the realisation of complex research and development projects on a few thematic areas of relief and the application of functional technological solutions to the realisation of the S3 strategies".

This is accomplished by starting from the realisation of a technological device that is i) advanced, with the capacity of self-identification, localisation, status diagnosis, data acquisition, elaboration and implementation; ii) interactive, as it responds to people's stimuli/actions and the changes in the surrounding environment; iii) modular, to be assembled so as to form multisensory and artistic surfaces; iv) intelligent, as it makes use of the latest wireless technology, network scale-up (broadband), downsizing of mobile transmission/reception devices, augmented reality, Internet of things (IOT); v) open source, open to the proposition of different options for which users are left with the decision on which to evolve and not. The authors, after having examined the different implications of membrane smart in everyday life, draw the attention towards the different structural criteria with which this medium/instrument allows the organization of communication and the enjoyment of the city and the territory, highlighting how its value lies precisely in the type and quality of the relationships it establishes with the surrounding environment; therefore, membrane smart does not present itself as an object in space but, rather, as a tool for the construction of space, as an element for the staging of a city and a territory of which it is a part. Evidently, this field of investigation finds reasoning in that part of the scientific debate that stimulates us to reimagine and reconstruct the places by starting from the relationships between the material and the virtual world, and to reconsider the implications that such modifications have on the disciplines of the project. As is known, this debate has been maturing since the second half of the 90’s due to the concomitant competition of technical issues (simultaneous application of information technology, electronics and cybernetics), disciplinary issues (definition of Mitchell's City of bits, computerisation of the space, etc.) and interdisciplinary issues (media art, land art, etc.). The research project finds concrete expression in the proposal of four initiatives for the use of membrane smart for the well-being of communities located in smaller centres. They pertain to i) the regeneration of urban spaces and architectural artefacts that have lost their original function over time; ii) the identification, expansion and protection of latent resources; iii) the valorisation of heritage valued as collective wealth, accessible to all; iv) the entrepreneurial potential of digital technologies, especially with reference to teleworking and youth and women’s entrepreneurship.

In the fragile and scarcely investigated smaller centres, membrane smart’s expected results aim at constructing/activating the contexts of interaction design through which to awaken broad social participation. More generally, this project aims to add new tools to those that already form the designer's repertoire. No longer just hard tools, like the ones we are used to, but also those made up of bits, connections and software.