Sustainability according to MEET

Back from the great success of the Exhibitionist with Guy Bigwood evening dedicated to sustainability as a value for events and fairs and promoted by Fondazione Fiera with Meet the Media Guru, let’s try to summarize the point of view of MEET on this topic.

For MEET, promoting sustainability means first of all redesigning our way of life starting from the opportunities the digital age offers us. We, people of MEET are convinced that increasing the digital culture of a community increases the collective well-being and, in a virtuous circle, the benefits that come from innovation. Cities seem the perfect terrain for experimenting with new models. It is here that about 55% of the world population lives and it is expected that by 2050 this percentage will have risen to 70% of humanity.

The World in 2050 by IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis) is very interesting in this regard. in collaboration with SDSN (Sustainable Development Solutions Network) and SRC (Stockholm Resilience Centre). The project was born to support the sustainable development goals of the 2030 UN agenda. You can view them here.

As stated in the report: “The processes of innovation and digitalisation of a country as a whole and of its local communities reach technological, economic, social, ethical, managerial and cooperation logic aspects”. In other words it’s not just about technology, but also society, culture and even ethics.

To put it another way, a sustainable Smart City cannot do without an efficient and clean transport and waste collection system, high quality health services, universal access to broadband connection, electricity or clean water, processes that enable smart working by reducing labour mobility and advanced big data management systems. Besides all this, a Smart City, to be really smart, needs a Smart Community. And how can we create a Smart Community?

We MEET people think that it is possible to do this by developing intelligent systems that enable and promote interaction and social inclusion. The competence that comes into play is essentially design, in the broadest sense of the word. By properly designing technologies and digital resources to enable participation and sharing, in the broad sense of social well-being, as so far had been impossible. To start these dynamics we need resolute governance capable of initiating processes of understanding and awareness on the Digital Revolution. This is exactly the role of MEET: we work as agents of a non-notional, holistic Digital Literacy working with policy makers, associations and local companies.

The opening photo is about the meeting Meet the Media Guru with John Thackara (credit: Martina Acquistapace)