Smart working paradox (Sala knows he's wrong)

With today's words at SkyTG24, the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, confirmed that we had read his statements on smart working well when, in mid-June and a few weeks after the end of the lockdown, he came out with that "now let's go back to work ”which caused a sensation. A stir in itself, however, in most cases: many ripping off their robes in the face of such heresy, in defense of a horizon that was certainly not very defined and regardless of how difficult the path to reach it was. The reality is - you know - always much more complex than it can be in a tweet and behind the "cave effect" described by Sala there was actually a universe of complexities gravitating around the gravitational center of gravity of the problem: the sense of city.

The paradox of smart working

Giuseppe Sala can now make it clear without fear, without half words, without those unspoken soaked in modesty that had characterized the first release. According to Sala, in fact, smart working cannot and should not be considered the "new normality" and this not so much because the Mayor has something personal against new ways of working, but because these new ways undermine the very project of the city from Milan. And no city feels unscathed, it is clear, although the busy Milan is more exposed than others: if commuting decays, if you don't use the subways, if you don't walk through the shopping streets, then the bases themselves fall on which the center is built, the periphery has grown and the means of communication have been designed.

Suddenly the paradigm of the cities change , but the city can not change just as quickly: too much has been made in another direction in order to change the infrastructure, habits, flows, and mentality in such a short time. The shock is likely in short, to be heavy, much heavier than you can imagine. Room put modesty aside to throw on the plate, all of his fears: “the city can not change so fast”, hence the appeal to come back quickly to think about the pre-Covid as the starting point from which to start. Evolution? Yes, there can be, as long as it tears the fabric of the city is not able to cope with. Because if the tear will be, the consequences will be severe for all.

smart working is likely to be the paradox to be addressed in order to understand how fast may be the development. The work modes are not the problem in itself, but exactly are the point of contact between that which was and that which shall be: if the evolution of the work, i.e. the element of identity of our Republic, then all the other things will go below. How “smart” we can absorb without negative side effects? Bars, restaurants, events, car-sharing, integrated mobility, rentals, real estate market, and many others look in the same direction of the Room and the Mayor may not worry of all: evolution is neutral , but this neutrality could be tremendously cruel.

The innovation needs to be managed

some of the verses of his, in addition to being a program of the Mayor, is a sort of manifesto in view of a hypothetical re-election. Room has probably guessed that Milan is facing a fork in the road without any certainty about which way to take: to reinvent the city, or to resist change? Both, in a complicated exercise of balancing political, economic, and leadership. The problem of the Room is to be the first, the problem of the other is not realize that after Room it will be all.

The paradox of the city, however, must make the accounts with the national policies that, inevitably, must deal with years of neglect of the province. Broadband is the second paradox in this sense: after years of investments in wiring up the city it makes you suddenly realize that you could also work at a distance, without traffic jams on the roads, without unnecessary multiplication of fine dust particles without clogging up the circuits, if only the data traffic was uniform on all parts of the country. After years of digital divide in the suburbs, you realize that those investments (which is still not ready yet, to be clear) would have probably solved most of the problem. The offices are emptying in favor of the “work agile” (even if today often is simply “teleworking”), but you are to deal with the bandwidth low, the organization is fragile and the infrastructure of connectivity is absent.

But all this was not clear why the fascination with innovation has often turned the latter into an end instead of a means. Now this is not to rethink the city, or tearing the dress in front of the shiny defense that a Mayor is working for his city (even at the cost of sing out from the choir). Here it is really understand what can innovation do for us and how we can rethink the politics of the territories and of the communities .

the Room has no reason, but Hall knows that he has not reason. However, the Room has a role and knows what to impose its role. Innovation does not discount, and Milan likely to pay then an account salty without the possibility to defer the bills. The room is good to remember, because innovation is an end in itself, if a Country has not the capacity to govern the world.