OBJECT. The capillary gathering of data and its processing in order to generate an overall configuration, in the case that we have represented, has followed a path from the bottom up. Bottom-up procedures of data gathering and processing represent the frontier to be expanded with the next information territorial systems. These are potentially applicable, with the aid of digital technology, to a multitude of urban phenomena – the use of electricity, water, and gas, waste collection, information exchange, the transportation of people and goods, the mobility of people and vehicles – whose processes are essential to the functioning of the system. The object of our observation is the contemporary city, its complexity and dynamics. One of the many prospects that this work is oriented towards is that of contributing to the construction of the intelligent cities of the future, that is to say the utilization of the technologies that we have and the development of the potential to understand how our communities use the environment. Monitoring urban dynamics and designing the smart city means learning to know the functioning of the city and, on the basis of the information acquired, coordinating our actions in order to improve the accessibility of spaces and services, rationalize the use of resources, optimize modes and times of mobility, increase the integration of functions, and live in more efficient systems.
INTENSITY OF DAILY ACTIVITY 24 hours/ typical workday The map describes how the activity of the population that lives in the metropolitan area is actually distributed in space. The three-dimensional effect and the chromatic scale visually demonstrate the weight of each unit, measured in thousands, compared to the overall activity registered in the entire metropolitan area.