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Despite great efforts in adopting technologies for tourism development, few results have been achieved. A lot of experiences are mostly based on pilot projects or on never completed prototypes. Nations with a large tourism vocation lack... more
Despite great efforts in adopting technologies for tourism development, few results have been achieved. A lot of experiences are mostly based on pilot projects or on never completed prototypes. Nations with a large tourism vocation lack of a serious national tourism portal. A different approach has been adopted in Matera (southern Italy), where a volunteered way has been adopted in mapping all tourist services and related information. All data related to cultural heritage, services, transport, etc. have been collected by voluntary actions of students and citizens and shared using cloud-gis web service. These data have been linked with other information already existing on the web (movies, pictures, Wikipedia, historical documentations, etc.), producing a sort of local mini-portal for tourism development. After this first phase a strong interaction with citizens has been created using a blog and social networks in order to complete and correct the whole dataset.
European Regional Policy produced several generations of programmes at both National and Regional levels. Such a complex framework tends to increase multi-level governance in the period 2007-2013, promoting a wider participation of... more
European Regional Policy produced several generations of programmes at both National and Regional levels. Such a complex framework tends to increase multi-level governance in the period 2007-2013, promoting a wider participation of stakeholders (including Public Administration, Local Communities, Enterprises, etc). This process has been usually accompanied by e-tools for the management of bottom-up processes, with several instances related to common
The concept of participation is very difficult to clearly define, because of the complex framework and the experimental nature of any participatory process. These processes are more difficult to implement in small and isolated communities... more
The concept of participation is very difficult to clearly define, because of the complex framework and the experimental nature of any participatory process. These processes are more difficult to implement in small and isolated communities because of the particularities social structure. I several cases technologies can help citizens in participating in these activities, but the result is strongly related to the predisposition of a communities to use theses ICT tools. “Hack my town” was an “hackathon” among Universities in order to find solutions to “smart villages and territories” problems. It took place in Glorenza, a small medieval village located in the North of Italy, in Val Venosta, near to Swiss boundary. The introduction of smart solutions in a small rural context could be not very easy: Glorenza is, in fact, characterized by a limited predisposition for both technological and social innovation. Participants experienced how a small mountain village can become a smart village through the synergy between students and their professors, stimulating from one side scientific discussion and from another side a creative environment, where new con-ceptual solutions can be found.
The concept of participation is very difficult to clearly define, because of the complex framework and the experimental nature of any participatory process. These processes are more difficult to implement in small and isolated communities... more
The concept of participation is very difficult to clearly define, because of the complex framework and the experimental nature of any participatory process. These processes are more difficult to implement in small and isolated communities because of the particularities social structure. I several cases technologies can help citizens in participating in these activities, but the result is strongly related to the predisposition of a communities to use theses ICT tools.
“Hack my town” was an “hackathon” among Universities in order to find solutions to “smart villages and territories” problems. It took place in Glorenza, a small medieval village located in the North of Italy, in Val Venosta, near to Swiss boundary. The introduction of smart solutions in a small rural context could be not very easy: Glorenza is, in fact, characterized by a limited predisposition for both technological and social innovation. Participants experienced how a small mountain village can become a smart village through the synergy between students and their professors, stimulating from one side scientific discussion and from another side a creative environment, where new con-ceptual solutions can be found.
During the last decades immigration phenomenon reached a considerable importance, not only in research sector but also at public opinion level. Migration is a complex phenomenon demanding a system analysis which goes beyond demographic... more
During the last decades immigration phenomenon reached a considerable importance, not only in research sector but also at public opinion level. Migration is a complex phenomenon demanding a system analysis which goes beyond demographic and economic considerations. The purpose of this study was to investigate the spatial structure of foreign presence in Italy in order to identify its geographical demarcation line among different interpretations. Traditional statistical analysis suggests different conventional indices allowing to quantify immigration phenomenon. Traditional indices, as Location Quotients and Segregation Index, have been compared to innovative indices including spatial statistics elements, as well as global and local indicators of spatial association. Such indicators have been created on the basis of available data for the case study, but also considering information which can be easily found in great part of national contexts.
In last decades a key problem in adopting technologies in planning process was a chronic lack of data. But in recent times, such problem was inverted due to the overabundance of data produced in different periods, with various purposes,... more
In last decades a key problem in adopting technologies in planning process was a chronic lack of data. But in recent times, such problem was inverted due to the overabundance of data produced in different periods, with various purposes, at multiple scales and with different cognitive models. This situation generated three types of barriers to data interoperability: bureaucratic, technological, semantic. While the first two issues have been solved taking various initiatives, the last one could be solved using ontologies. Concepts are the cornerstone of the ontology, but it is not easy to define a concept without any ambiguity, discordance or vagueness. A concept can be clear or not; ambiguity occurs when a concept is not much clear; while discordance arises when an agreement is missing. If the concept definition can present some incoherence, the broad boundaries model can be useful in Ontology representation. This model is an extension of the 9-intersection model used for the topological relationship among geographical objects. The model with broad boundaries deals with uncertainty in spatial data taking into account ill defined aspects. This model is based on the definitions of inner and broad boundaries. Using this model in Ontology field, the inner boundary is the edge of the part of a concept without doubts and the broad boundary is the grey zone, with a certain level of uncertainty, useful to represent ambiguity, discordance and vagueness. Topology rules represent the relationship among concepts. If two concepts are identical, the “equal” rule can be used; if they share some parts, the “overlap” rule is suitable. If two concepts are completely different, the “disjoint” rule can be applied. If a concept is a subset of another, there are several rules which can help us (“covers”, “covered by”, “contains” and “inside”). In case all concepts are clear, these relationships can be modelled using the 9-intersection model. The way to define the part of concept included inside the inner boundary and the other one included in the broad boundary can be achieved using rough set theory. All the aspects of a concept classified in the same way represent the indiscernible part of the concept and are included inside lower approximation (inner boundary). The remaining part represents an uncertainty zone and it falls within the upper approximation (outer boundary). The measure of the degree of uncertainty inside the upper approximation can be modelled using fuzzy set theory. This approach has been tested with several concepts particularly suitable to verify the hypothesis. 
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Despite great efforts in adopting technologies for tourism development, few results have been achieved. A lot of experiences are mostly based on pilot projects or on never completed prototypes. Nations with a large tourism vocation lack... more
Despite great efforts in adopting technologies for tourism development, few results have been achieved. A lot of experiences are mostly based on pilot projects or on never completed prototypes. Nations with a large tourism vocation lack of a serious national tourism portal. A different approach has been adopted in Matera (southern Italy), where a volunteered way has been adopted in mapping all tourist services and related information. All data related to cultural heritage, services, transport, etc. have been collected by voluntary actions of students and citizens and shared using cloud-gis web service. These data have been linked with other information already existing on the web (movies, pictures, Wikipedia, historical documentations, etc.), producing a sort of local mini-portal for tourism development. After this first phase a strong interaction with citizens has been created using a blog and social networks in order to complete and correct the whole dataset.
Research Interests:
This paper reports about an experience concerning the implementation of a WEBGIS, a BLOG and an ontology. WEBGIS and BLOG allow to promote a spread of spatial data knowledge, to consult planning documents in the Internet, increasing... more
This paper reports about an experience concerning the implementation of a WEBGIS, a BLOG and an ontology. WEBGIS and BLOG allow to promote a spread of spatial data knowledge, to consult planning documents in the Internet, increasing transparency level of programming choices and involving different stakeholders participation. The ontology is intended as an in progress powerful tool, increasing knowledge rationality. Ontologies can help the community by defining and explicating a shared language and strengthening the efficacy of direct interactions. The case study has been applied to Marmo Platano–Melandro PIT (Territorial Integrated Projects), an area with high potentialities in the North-Western part of Basilicata Region (Italy), responsible for the accomplishment of POR (Regional Operative Program) Basilicata 2000-2006 and for the elaboration of a common and shared strategy to manage an integrated program of interventions for local development.
European Regional Policy produced several generations of programmes at both National and Regional levels. Such a complex framework tends to increase multi-level governance in the period 2007-2013, promoting a wider participation of... more
European Regional Policy produced several generations of programmes at both National and Regional levels. Such a complex framework tends to increase multi-level governance in the period 2007-2013, promoting a wider participation of stakeholders (including Public Administration, Local Communities, Enterprises, etc). This process has been usually accompanied by e-tools for the management of bottom-up processes, with several instances related to common problems of participation processes. Communication between “programmer” and categories of beneficiaries always presented weakness due to the ineffective system of management knowledge within the process. Relevant issues in the framework of regional development programmes are: Do stakeholders understand the meaning of general and sectoral policies? Are citizens aware of technical instruments implementing such policies? Are they conscious of ex-ante comprehensive context analysis and/or can they share possible future scenarios? A way to tackle these problems is the use of ontologies. In this work we present the structural elements of the ontology of regional development programmes analyzing major steps of the ontology design and nodal phases of the ontology building (i.e. consensus on relations and restrictions, switch from glossary to taxonomy). The result of such an application is an ontology of regional development containing more than one hundred classes.
European Regional Policy produced several generations of programmes at both National and Regional levels. Such a complex framework tends to increase multi-level governance in the period 2007-2013, promoting a wider participation of... more
European Regional Policy produced several generations of programmes at both National and Regional levels. Such a complex framework tends to increase multi-level governance in the period 2007-2013, promoting a wider participation of stakeholders (including Public Administration, Local Communities, Enterprises, etc). This process has been usually accompanied by e-tools for the management of bottom-up processes, with several instances related to common problems of participation processes. Communication between “programmer” and categories of beneficiaries always presented weakness due to the ineffective system of management knowledge within the process. Relevant issues in the framework of regional development programmes are: Do stakeholders understand the meaning of general and sectoral policies? Are citizens aware of technical instruments implementing such policies? Are they conscious of ex-ante comprehensive context analysis and/or can they share possible future scenarios? A way to tackle these problems is the use of ontologies.In this work we present the structural elements of the ontology of regional development programmes analyzing major steps of the ontology design and nodal phases of the ontology building (i.e. consensus on relations and restrictions, switch from glossary to taxonomy). The result of such an application is an ontology of regional development.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
La programmazione dello sviluppo regionale europeo rappresenta un dominio privilegiato per la ricerca e la sperimentazione di soluzioni innovative sul profilo metodologico orientate ad una maggiore efficienza delle procedure e degli... more
La programmazione dello sviluppo regionale europeo rappresenta un dominio privilegiato per la ricerca e la sperimentazione di soluzioni innovative sul profilo metodologico orientate ad una maggiore efficienza delle procedure e degli strumenti operativi.
Il paradigma della complessità del piano, in queste applicazioni, esprime una domanda di strumenti multilivello per la gestione della conoscenza con soluzioni e approcci multidisciplinari e che includano le dimensioni dell’ICT.
Il volume descrive i risultati della ricerca maturati dall’autore nell’ambito del corso di dottorato e le applicazioni sviluppate attraverso le sperimentazioni condotte presso il Laboratorio di Ingegneria dei Sistemi Urbani e Territoriali.
L’approccio ontologico, proposto dall’autore, rappresenta una evoluzione dell’esperienza del progetto “towntology” (2007) proiettata verso la ricostruzione del quadro dei legami logici che sottendono all’elaborazione dei Programmi Operativi Regionali.
La ricerca, accanto alla trattazione teorica, si caratterizza per l’impegno dedicato all’implementazione dell’ontologia sulla piattaforma Protegè con importanti ricadute sul piano pratico. L’applicazione propone una forma di organizzazione del sapere circa i modi dell’implementazione dei POR e dell’uso dei Fondi Strutturali EU all’interno di una struttura robusta orientata alla valutazione.
Il lavoro apre la via per un approccio rigoroso alla formazione di una strumentazione analitica che assicuri forme di valutazione della programmazione nel quadro della formazione degli strumenti operativi per l’attuazione della Nuova Politica di Coesione Europea.
"Differenti famiglie di strumenti e approcci compongono la tradizione italiana della programmazione dello sviluppo. Il volume considera, in una trattazione speditiva lontana da pretese di completezza, i tratti caratterizzanti delle... more
"Differenti famiglie di strumenti e approcci compongono la tradizione italiana della programmazione dello sviluppo. Il volume considera, in una trattazione speditiva lontana da pretese di completezza, i tratti caratterizzanti delle stagioni della programmazione socioeconomica nazionale con una proiezione rispetto alle nuove istanze proprie delle politiche regionali europee.
Le considerazioni proposte precisano meglio il tema della complessità dell’approccio programmatorio in materia di sviluppo passando in rassegna i primi strumenti del secondo dopoguerra, i ‘libri dei sogni’, la ‘questione meridionale’, fino alle stagioni della programmazione europea e la Nuova Politica di Coesione.
Al fine di appassionare il lettore all’approfondimento critico in materia di programmazione regionale, l’autore propone un estratto dalla “Bozza di una Strategia per la Regione Basilicata”: rapporto tecnico di indirizzo per la formazione dei documenti della programmazione operativa per il settennio 2014-2020 nella proiezione regionale delle politiche europee."