Mapping Smart Regions. An Exploratory Approach
Abstract
The paper presents the results of an exploratory approach aimed at extending the ranking procedures normally used in studying the socioeconomics determinants of smart growth at the regional level. Most of these studies adopt a methodological procedure which essentially consists of the following steps: a) identification of the pertinent elementary indicators according to the study objectives; b) data selection and processing; c) combination of the elementary indicators by multivariate statistical techniques aimed at obtaining a robust synthetic index to rank the observation units. In the procedure a relational dimension is mainly subsumed in the system oriented perspective adopted in selecting the indicators which would best represent the system determinants depending on the goals of the analysis (step a). In order to get deeper insights into the smartness profile of the European regions, this study makes an effort to account of the relational dimension also in steps b and c of the procedure. The novelties of the proposed approach are twofold. First, by computing region-to-region distances associated with the selected indicators it extends the conventional ranking procedure (step c). Second, it uses a relational database (step b), dealing with the regional participation to the FP7-ICT project, to modify the distances and investigate its impact on the interpretation of the regional positioning. The main results of this exercise seem to suggest that regional collaborations would have a positive role in regional convergence process. By providing an opportunity to get contacts with the areas endowed with a comparatively more robust smartness profile, regions may have a chance to enhance their own smartness profile.Downloads
References
Annoni, P., Dijkstra, L. (2013) EU Regional Competitiveness Index, RCI 2013, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Security and Protection of the Citizens, Luxembourg.
Batty, M. (2013) The New Science of Cities, MIT, Cambridge, US.
Charron, N., Dijkstra L., Lapuente, V. (2014) Regional Governance Matters: Quality of Government within European Union Member States, Regional Studies, 48:1, 68-90, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2013.770141.
ESPON (2014) ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme (draft). Retrieved from http://www.espon.eu/ main /Menu_Programme/ Menu_ESPON2020Programme/index.html.
European Commission (2013) ICT research projects under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), 2007-2012. Rertieved from http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/download-data.
European Commission (2014) Mapping smart cities in the EU, Directorate-General for Internal Policy, IP/A/ITRE/ST/201. Retrieved from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2014/507480/IPOL-ITRE_ET(2014)507480_EN.pdf.
Hollanders, H., Rivera L., Roman L. (2012) Regional Innovation Scoreboard, European Union. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/ innovation/files/ris-2012_en.pdf.
IRES (2013) Relazione annuale sulla situazione economica sociale e territoriale del Piemonte. Le ICT nei percorsi di trasformaizione del sistema regionale: da fattori abilitanti a generatori del cambiamento,, cap. 3.1. Retrieved from http://www.regiotrend.piemonte.it/site/images/stories/relazioni/2012/RelazioneIres2012_navigabile.pdf.
Occelli S. (2012). Socio Technical Systems and Policy Activity: Some Evidence From the Piedmont Region. International, Journal of E-Planning Research, 4, 59-72. Retrieved from www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-planning-research-ijepr/44994.
PICTO. (2013). Le ICT nei percorsi di innovazione del sistema regionale. Rapporto 2012. Torino, IT: Ires Piemonte. Retrieved from www.osservatorioict.regione.piemonte.it.
Occelli S. Poggio E., Sciullo A. (2013), “Investigating regional diversity and integrative patterns in ESPON collaboration networks” in Science in Support of European Territorial Development and Cohesion - 2nd ESPON Scientific Report, Luxembourg
Portugali, J. (2000) Self-organization and the city, Springer, New York.
Soete. L. (2011) Regions and innovation policy: the way forward, in OECD Reviews of Regional Innovation: Regions and Innovation Policy, pp 16-18. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org /innovation/ oecdreviewsofregionali nnovationregions andinnovationpolicy.htm.
OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH PROJECTS IN THE ICT DOMAIN 2012
ICT statistical report for annual monitoring (StReAM).
Copyright (c) 2014 Tema. Journal of Land Use, Mobility and Environment
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following:
1. Authors retain the rights to their work and give in to the journal the right of first publication of the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons License - Attribution that allows others to share the work indicating the authorship and the initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors can adhere to other agreements of non-exclusive license for the distribution of the published version of the work (ex. To deposit it in an institutional repository or to publish it in a monography), provided to indicate that the document was first published in this journal.
3. Authors can distribute their work online (ex. In institutional repositories or in their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges and it can increase the quotations of the published work (See The Effect of Open Access)