When it comes to artificial intelligence, the debate often focuses on algorithms. Much less on what surrounds algorithms: people, relationships, communities, and territories.
Yet this is where a decisive part of the digital future is played out.
In the article I wrote for MagIA, I start from the conviction I’ve developed working in research, public administration, and social innovation: the challenge is not just to develop more powerful technologies, but to build infrastructures of “us,” as I’ve repeatedly emphasized.
Spaces where citizens, administrations, associations, universities, and businesses can participate in defining problems and solutions.
This is why I wanted to share some experiences I’m familiar with:
– participatory mapping for gender-sensitive urban planning in Emilia-Romagna;
– territorial co-design processes;
– the use of digital civic technologies in the regeneration of marginalized territories;
– the role AI can play in making visible needs, relationships, and resources that often remain under the radar of public policy.
These are topics I had the opportunity to explore both at the final EDIH-PAI event in Piedmont and at the ASviS – Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development event dedicated to Goal 5 on gender equality.
Because the sustainability of digitalization isn’t just about technological efficiency, it’s about the ability to build more aware, inclusive, and participatory communities.
