Smart Circular City: un modello di integrazione tra sviluppo sostenibile e sviluppo digitale

Making urban environments more liveable - while balancing sustainability, efficiency, and inclusion - is a complex challenge that public institutions are increasingly called to address. Technological progress offers promising responses, particularly through the development of Smart Cities, where the interconnection of urban elements via the Internet of Things (IoT) and the real-time collection of data enable more efficient and citizen-centred public services. This efficiency can be further enhanced by the predictive capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In response to pressing environmental and social challenges, the concept of the Smart City is evolving toward a more integrated model: the Smart Circular City. This model combines digital technologies with circular economy principles, aiming to replace the traditional linear model of extract-produce-consume-dispose with systems based on reuse, recycling and resource sharing. Unlike the traditional Smart City, which often emphasises technology, the Smart Circular City promotes a multidimensional approach that integrates technological innovation with sustainable development and intergenerational equity. This work explores the legal and regulatory implications of urban digitalisation, analysing both opportunities and critical issues. Key themes include the use of AI-based decision-making systems in public administration, data privacy protection, digital accessibility as a right, environmental impacts of ICT, and strategic tools available to public authorities to foster innovation and sustainability. The ultimate aim is to identify potential corrective mechanisms that reframe technology as a means - not an end - shifting the focus back to human rights and sustainability, within an anthropocentric and future-oriented vision of the city.