Page 51 - Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

The structure system encompasses the non-human physical elements existing in the city, and this
system is, in turn, subdivided into three subsystems: environment, infrastructures, and territory,
each with its own attributes and indicators.

• The environment describes the natural conditions existing in the city and where it develops. It
is composed of nature, animals and plants, plus the three basic elements of biodiversity: air,
land and water.
• The infrastructures encompass the set of physical elements that allow citizens to obtain the
resources they need or that allow their management within the city. The most representative
infrastructures are telecommunication networks, the water cycle, energy, the materials cycle,
mobility and nature understood as information about non-human living elements at all scales.

• The territory defines the public and private structures where citizens live (house, building, block,
neighborhood, etc.) and the public space that surrounds them (streets, squares).

The Society system refers to individuals and the way in which they organize and relate, as well as
to their government.

• The citizen’s subsystem encompasses people in the broad sense as individuals: citizens or
visitors and their social structure, families, private organizations, businesses, and so on.

• The government subsystem refers to the political-administrative structure of the city and is
responsible for the policies and regulations that facilitate the development of the city. In this
case, the term “governance” is used to evaluate the effectiveness of government.

Interactions are the activities that society carries out with structures, and that can be analysed and
measured as information flows.

• Urban functions, including work, commerce, leisure, health, education, culture, sports and
security.

• The economy, including the activities of production and distribution of wealth, competitiveness,
innovation, and entrepreneurship.
• Culture, including the non-material assets of the city, values and traditions.

• Information, including indicators, processes and operating models and data, as well as their
management, dissemination and sharing (interoperability).

Although conceptually the semantics defined above permit the describing of society’s relationship
with the environment, the number of possible interactions and, therefore, possible intelligent
solutions, is vast and heterogeneous. These can range from simple applications such as temperature
monitoring to much more complex ones such as integrated traffic management based on
environmental and/or congestion criteria.

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