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Pioneers of urban sociology Park and Burgess defined the concept of urban neighborhood in this way: "Proximity and neighborly contact are the basis for the simplest and most elementary form of association with which we have to do in the organization of city life [...] The neighborhood is a social unit which, by its clear definition of outline, its inner organic completeness, may be fairly considered as functioning like a social mind. " Emphasis has been highlighted on three fundamental aspects: spatial proximity, recognizability, and autonomy. The intuition of the two pioneers of urban sociology deserves to be tested today after a century characterized by a sequence of shocks that have transformed the face of cities, both exogenous (conflicts, socio-economic transformations, technological revolutions, global economic crises and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic) and endogenous (gentrification, deindustrialization of urban centers, etc.). This paper will explore how the concept of the neighborhood has changed from a sociological point of view over time since Park and Burgess, and will present different types of Milan's neighborhoods subdivision according to administrative definitions as a way to understand this evolution.

The smart city paradigm, a focus of local governments for over a decade, aims at harmonizing urban growth with sustainability and enhancing citizens' quality of life. This paradigm, evolving since the early 2000s, has shifted from a technology-centric to a more citizen-centric approach, emphasizing sustainable and eco-friendly practices and inclusive governance. With ongoing urbanization, cities face increasing demands for resources, necessitating new governance models. The smart city concept has evolved to address these challenges, initially emphasizing technology's role in optimizing urban systems, later shifting towards citizen engagement and sustainability. However, climate change, exacerbated by urbanization since the Industrial Revolution, poses new challenges to this paradigm. Cities are now pivotal in promoting decarbonization and energy transition. This special issue, originating from the 2022 Bozen conference, explores smart cities in a climate-neutral scenario, focusing on urban sustainability. It includes seven contributions discussing smart city challenges and adaptations for policymakers in decarbonization and environmental sustainability. The issue examines various aspects, from technology and governance to social justice and energy transition, and emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in creating sustainable urban environments. It concludes with insights on the complexity of smart cities, the role of local governance, data ownership, and climate management, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary research and innovation in developing resilient cities.

Cities are facing the greatest challenge of their whole lifecycle: choosing their own destiny. Cities are the main contributors to climate change, as much of the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere comes from them. Understanding how cities can transform into “circular cities” is key to fostering change. However, empirical studies in this direction are still scant. In this paper, we address this research gap by answering the following research question: how are current “cities of waste” transitioning to “circular cities”? We do so by means of an empirical study involving several stakeholders located in the town of Pavia (Northern Italy). We find that some actors have implemented virtuous circular economy (CE) practices; however, the transition to CE is overall conducted in a fragmented manner, with a lack of orchestration and planning among private actors as well as lack of synergies between private and public actors. We conclude our study by advancing future avenues of research, highlighting our theoretical and managerial contributions, and advancing policy implications.

The subject of place attachment represents a field of study very relevant in urban sociology and in other social sciences, such as environmental psychology. The relationship that individuals have with their own significant places promotes the creation of an emotional bond. This article presents the results of the first wave of an Italian national panel survey (ITA.LI - Italian Lives) on a representative sample of 8776 individuals. An exploratory analysis has been set organizing the variables based on a tripartite level: a macro level (geographical area and size urban area of the municipality of residence), a meso level (linked to the neighborhood of residence) and a micro level (individual characteristics). The multiple regression models offer a much broader overview on the understanding of place attachment predictors, showing how a tripartite setup of variables allows an increasingly explanatory capacity. Finally, among the types of variables included in the models, the predictors belonging to the meso level (neighborhood satisfaction, perceived urban safety, housing satisfaction) appear to be associated significantly more intensely with the dependent variable than with territorial or individual characteristics.

The article explores the concept of walkability in urban neighborhoods, providing a way to calculate an objective walkability index (WI), based on five constructs related to the urban environment (such as population density, land use mix, connectivity, proximity to services and greenness) and a subjective soft mobility index (SMI), based on survey methods. The study has been conducted analyzing two neighborhoods of the city of Milan, with strong socio-spatial differences. A logistic regression has been run to explore the association among WI index, controlled by sociodemographic variables, and the SMI index. The outcomes show on the one hand different levels of WI and SMI, as hypothesized, but the association among the indexes seem to be very weak; on the other hand the effect provided by sociodemographic variables appears stronger, such as the length of residency.

In this paper we present various 4dN = 1 dualities involving theories obtained by gluing two E[USp(2N)] blocks via the gauging of a common USp(2N) symmetry with the addition of 2L fundamental matter chiral fields. For L = 0 in particular the theory has a quantum deformed moduli space with chiral symmetry breaking and its index takes the form of a delta-function. We interpret it as the Identity wall which identifies the two surviving USp(2N) of each E[USp(2N)] block. All the dualities are derived from iterative applications of the Intriligator-Pouliot duality. This plays for us the role of the fundamental duality, from which we derive all others. We then focus on the 3d version of our 4d dualities, which now involve the N = 4 T[SU(N)] quiver theory that is known to correspond to the 3d S-wall. We show how these 3d dualities correspond to the relations S2 = −1, S−1S = 1 and STS = T−1S−1T−1 for the S and T generators of SL(2, Z). These observations lead us to conjecture that E[USp(2N)] can also be interpreted as a 4d S-wall.

It is an interesting question whether a given infra-red duality between quantum field theories can be explained in terms of other more elementary dualities. For example recently it has been shown that mirror dualities can be obtained by iterative applications of Seiberg-like dualities. In this paper we continue this line of investigation focusing on theories with tensor matter. In such cases one can apply the idea of deconfinement, which consists of trading the tensor matter for extra gauge nodes by means of a suitable elementary duality. This gives an auxiliary dual frame which can then be manipulated with further dualizations, in an iterative procedure eventually yielding an interesting dual description of the original theory. The sequential deconfinement technique has avatars in different areas of mathematical physics, such as the study of hypergeometric and elliptic hypergeometric integral identities or of 2d free field correlators. We discuss various examples in the context 4dN = 1 supersymmetric theories, which are related to elliptic hypergeometric integrals. These include a new self-duality involving a quiver theory which exhibits a non-trivial global symmetry enhancement to E6.

The paper aims to highlight the role of the territorial dimension in the diffusion of social innovation initiatives, specifically the case of “Rete 3B”, developed within the URBANA event, an event promoted by the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the University of Milan Bicocca. The specific reason for the interest in this topic has been inspired by the growing centrality of universities in the diffusion of a knowledge-based approach to urban development. Starting from the peripheral positioning in the city of Milan, Bicocca University, leader of the initiative, involved Politecnico di Milano and Università IULM to take part at the event. The sharing of the same territorial experiences and the same reasons that led to its genesis, allowed to encourage the creation of a network between the three universities. Since the Covid-19 pandemic occurred just before the kick-off of the activities, “Rete 3B” has been put on stand-by and none activity has been yet organized. Another complication come from the total exclusion of students in the Italian universities, which lasted until few months ago. For these reasons, the paper is not intended to offer data about the effects put in place by the universities’ activities, but to offer an in-depth overview of the processes underlying the connections between the three academic institutions by using qualitative data collected during the event “URBANA 2019”. The sharing of the same type of positioning in the urban context and the strong connection with the neighborhoods made possible a smooth collaboration within Bicocca, Politecnico and IULM, casting the right path to start, as soon as possible, the setting-up of shared activities of local social innovation.

Cet article vise à retracer, dans un premier temps, les caractéristiques de la ville moderne qui participent à la formation d’une communauté urbaine fondée sur la différence, que nous appellerons cosmopolite. Dans un second temps, l’analyse se concentrera sur les transformations de la ville contemporaine, qui semblent remettre en cause les possibilités de réalisation et d’existence des communautés urbaines ainsi conçues. Pour finir, nous proposerons quelques pistes de réflexion concernant le rapport entre les contextes urbains contemporains et les dynamiques communautaires mises en place dans le but de créer un espace-temps susceptible d’accueillir et représenter toutes et tous et de créer, en même temps, les conditions propices aux rencontres et aux relations entre les différents habitants de la ville.