The concept of a smart city may bring to mind scenarios imagined in science fiction: robots collecting trash and cleaning streets; bright screens on building facades and in subways; new and extremely fast urban transportation systems. The only limit is the imagination. Although high-tech metropolises are moving in this direction, in Switzerland a smart city is above all a more sustainable city that is better able to deal with complexity.

Whether it is energy or water consumption, public participation, facilitating citizens' access to useful documents, or streamlining procedures, Swiss cities are making an effort to improve their services. Digital technology is not the end goal, but rather the vehicle for this change, in which the needs of the population are the compass that guides the work of local authorities.

We discuss this with:

Paolo Camponovo, IT manager for the city of Mendrisio;

Albedo Bettini, researcher at the SUPSI Institute for Sustainability Applied to the Built Environment and head of CAS Smart City.