Technology for democracy in Smart City planning

In recent history the relationship between technology and urban planning has been variously taken into account (and possibly also undervalued), but lately it has come into focus with the maturation of the concept of the Smart City. Building on an analysis of documents dealing with the issue and current experiences, this paper tries to determine which opportunity factors the new technologies are offering for the improvement of urban planning. In particular it considers how these technologies are being integrated into the processes of participatory planning thus supporting the development of direct democracy. The resulting complex framework suggests four main fields of application where the new technologies can contribute to addressing contents and governance of the plan for an urban organisation that enhances virtuous behaviours and steers the town’s residents towards adopting them.