Towards a more “open” Formia

Finding new resources pursue “smart” projects for the city. This is the goal of Formia, an “intelligent” city able to respond to the needs and requirements of its inhabitants. The interview with Claudio Marciano, Councilor for Urban Sustainability and Smart Cities of the Commune of Formia.

What objectives did the commune of Formia pursue and how much time did it take to achieve them? 

At the beginning of the terms, the local Council passed a resolution which defined the objectives of the commune’s digital agenda (attachment 1): it was the result of the guidelines of the communal Council and the discussion of the general policy guidelines. Basically, the results to be attained within five years include covering the whole area of the commune by fiber broadband, the activation of free wi-fi points at all the squares of the commune, the creation of an e-gov service platform for the inhabitants, the application of ICT in the complex systems, particularly when it comes streamlining of the systems of waste, mobility, energy and security.

Then we went on to talk with the government (through INFRATEL), the region (by means LAIT and FILAS), and the province, about embracing possible manners of cooperation with the view of achieving the results and receiving available financing; we constituted a specific sector with the ICT articulation and the communal digital agenda, we reinforced the commune’s resources aimed at the actions to be performed within this sector, we secured the EU funds and we started to undertake some initiatives.

The main actions include the open data project and the environment, Formia Smart City, Formia WI FI in the quarters and along the seafront: the first one obtained financing from FILAS of EUR 168,000, earmarked for the creation of a platform with open data on the environmental issues such as waste, mobility, pollution and other assets (currently being published); the second project obtained financing from the Region-EU of EUR 1,380,000 and its assets encompass, among others, energy, mobility, transportation, etc.