QUALITY IN PUBLIC SPACES: MONITORING GREEN AREAS IN MILAN

Abstract. The city of Milan gained a lot of experience in management and conservation of urban green spaces: the set goal is to come to a high quality standard of the green areas, to be realized not only downtown, but all over the city.

All the activities related to this issue has been outsourced to a specific Consortium through three-yearly contracts based on a Global Service model and the management structure implemented since 2004 has been set up on GIS technologies and open source applications: this structure has evolved over the years following an increasingly integration of the different operative phases and paying close attention to the update of the geographical data. With the contribution of the academic world and the support of technical experts in webGIS applications field, Milan today can count on a management system in which cartographical aspects are perfectly integrated with maintenance activities executed by operators on site and check inspections carried out by municipal controllers, ensuring a high level of the geo-database updating.

The focus now is on the arrangement of a performance monitoring system, aimed to control the achievement of the quality standard fixed by contract with the Consortium. In the research here introduced we want to describe how the unification of the workflows – related to the upkeep schedules on the one hand and to the control activities on the other hand- together with the use of GPS technologies contributed in improving efficiency in practical intervention in case of warnings sent by controllers, in daily works and data update, producing as a consequence an enhancement of the maintenance service provided.

In this way the "Green GIS" can now be used for further qualitative upgrade in management of green areas in Milan, with new challenges related to the concept of "smart city".