e-coop

 

With a population of 120.00 and and extension of  211 km2 , Terni is the second largest city located in the South edge of Umbria, a region famous for its well preserved tourist destinations and landscape and for housing the highest artificial fall (Marmore), at once a piece of hydraulic engineering work created by the Romans and later on part of the 1800s Romantic Grand Tour. According to the Italian Financial daily Sole24h Terni’s territory fared 20th in the 2009 “List of Best Italian territories with highest GDW” (Gross Development Welfare, index inspired by the theories of John Stiglitz). It also fared 4th in the 2012 List of Italian cities with the best and diffused cultural offer.

 

In administrative terms Terni Council is divided in 12 technical and administrative Divisions with a total personnel of 900. Its major competences range from town planning, health and social welfare, refuse collection, green urban renewal and regeneration, public transport and mobility, education and culture in particular integrated extracurricular activities for primary and secondary schools (non formal education). The Council has one of the most advanced IT and virtual library (BCT) with several events taking place each year. The Council owns directly a number of public pharmacies and has a large share in several public-private companies such as Audiovisual and Multimedia Agency (CMM), the Municipal Energy and Multi-Service Consortium (ASM) that manages also refuse treatment.

 

Where are we from?

 

The past

 

Since 2000 Terni has joined most innovative experiments funded by the Italian Government and aimed at strengthening e-government and online services. Terni has often preceded law enforcement being among the first Public Administrations in Italy to adopt a digital archive, digital signatures, certified e-mails, as well as mapping of major administrative flow/procedures in order to digitalize and provide e-services to citizens/business or favouring data exchange among administrations. From 2007 Terni has taken part in various initiatives contributing to setting digital standards, reusing of results at national wide level in order to allow inter-operability among Public Administrations. In the frame of the specific Digital PA national programme, Terni has been beneficiary and lead applicant of two projects coordinating an extended partnership of cities from various regions, provinces, IT consortia. In both initiatives the main topic has been improving through ICT cooperation inter-operability among public authorities (Councils; Tax Agency etc.) regarding cadastral info and data exchange as well as all tax issues.

 

The present

 

More recent projects include new WI-FI infrastructure (using optical fibres owned by a private-public consortium CENTRALCOM) and the implementation of public hot spots with free access. At present hot spots are largely available at Council’s multimedia library and other important venues - such as the city’s main museums and the CAOS multicultural centre - while connection has been activated in 3 major public piazzas. Projects were largely financed through national/regional and EU bids (in primis 2007-2013 OP-ERDF of the Region Umbria under the budget line “Sustainable development of built up areas”).

 

The future

 

Though hot spots the Council is bind to contribute to a newer experiment of providing dynamic info and a larger share of on-services to citizens/business/administration, a trend that is taking a foothold in most Italian Public Administrations as highlighted by a 2011 article of the Italian daily Corriere della Sera (Free WI-FI for Councils and Poste Italiane – Jan. 15, 2011). At present, however access in Italy is strictly ruled by registration to comply with anti-terroristic and anti-paedophile legislation.

 

Finding new digital intermediation paradigms, form part of the Council’s Digital Agenda and is a clear objective of Terni 2010-2020 Strategic Plan setting a 10 year perspective of future development for the city and its territorial role within the national and Eu context. The Council’s policies meet wider goals set by the Digital Agenda of Umbria Region primary focused on: 1) improving ICT infrastructure and access; 2) improving citizens and users ITC skills to overcome digital divide; 3) increasing recourse to open government tools; 4) improving availability and use of ICT tools in business and commerce especially among SMEs; 5) rethinking and reengineering of governance through the concept of smart cities and communities.

 

Why are we here?

 

E-coop will accelerate a process that in Italy is now high in the national, regional and local agendas: founding new innovative paradigms of governance and communication among citizens/business/administrations in order to repositioning middle cities and rural communities in a wider competitive arena as well expressed by Smart Specialization which is bound to become a core application in post 2013 cohesion policies.  Wiith the E-coop and thus an EU wide Interreg collaboration the Council could put at disposal of other partners the results of the WI-FI access as well as experimenting on some important online services already available to local communities.

 

In the frame of E-Coop and in close collaboration with the other 3 project partners, TERNI will design and implement a digital platform through which citizens can exercise a kind of creative participation: a virtual space on which citizens can post individual and/or collective ideas in multimedia form about the territory’s main needs, general expectations, identity and different cultures present in the region.  These contributions will come in the form of various expressive modalities (traditional and innovative) with citizens called each time to express their own opinion about topics that the local government wants and needs to share with the local community. Such tool will certainly open an active debate and a collective participation thus strengthening local governance and territorial cohesion.