GIS application in urban district maintenance

The focus of the research concerns the development of an information system model to manage urban maintenance. The relevance of this theme is confirmed by experiences like the urban maintenance system developed for the city of Venice, called “Insula Venezia” or by normative references like UNI 11447:2012 regarding urban facility management. The connection between maintenance and urban environment is possible through the integration of theories and practices belonging to building maintenance and urban planning and thanks the direct implementation on field of theoretical evidence. The model is called “District information model for urban survey” and is organized as a relational database that can be filled, during the survey campaign, using a mobile application developed for this purpose. The system was applied to the Quartiere Affari in San Donato Milanese, a town near Milan, presented here as a case study. It has been also verified the possibility to be integrated with a GIS, in order to enhance spatial representation and interoperability by progressive addiction of thematic modules. The application of the system revealed that maintenance, if applied to cities, must cope with the great complexity of urban environment. This can be possible thanks to the implementation of flexible and modular IT solutions. Moreover, the implementation of different layers of information can contributes to implement a system of knowledge of the city, in order to provide a more sustainable and resilient environment.