Industry 4.0 Technologies and Italian Urban System: Between Smart Development and Increasing Inequalities

The growing diffusion of new digital technologies are leading to profound changes and disruptions in various areas of human life (personal, social, economic, environmental, …). The scale and intensity of these changes call for an analysis of their impact both towards development opportunities, and negative effects related to potential spatial inequalities. The aim of this paper is to understand how much the 4.0 technologies (IoT, 5G, sensors, robotics, AI, Big Data, etc.) have penetrated the Italian urban system, and whether this technological enhancement involves a widespread improvement in general conditions or, on the contrary, precedes an increase in the gap between smart cities and struggling cities. In addition to undoubted advantages coming from big data availability for waste management, air pollution control, energy efficiency, mobility management and overall urban planning, it is important to assess economic, social and territorial disparities, as possible effect of incorrect planning, lack of investments, inadequate policies and/or linked to specific geographic characteristics and different urban visions. After an initial theoretical framework on the Italian urban system, characterized by a high number of small and medium-sized cities with different responses to smart policies, the paper focusses on the distribution of 4.0 technology patents acquired in Italy between 2016 and 2021, considered at a NUTS 3 level. This methodology allows on the one hand to consider how responsive cities are and on the other to compare this response with general KPIs of the urban contexts.