SMART TERRITORY, INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE AND SUSTAINABILITY: THE NECESSARY EVOLUTION OF 'SMART' AFTER COVID-19

Abstract

Society, industry, and particularly engineering are currently immersed in a profound technological change, oriented towards the optimization of processes and the improvement in the management of existing resources. From this point of view, it is interesting to incorporate systems capable of improving the operation and efficiency of the built environment. The study aims to address the current state of development of the different methodologies that make it possible to solve the need to move the focus away from the city to the territory that arose after the COVID-19 pandemic; with the consequent evolution of the concept of Smart City to Smart Territory. Methodologically, a review of the state of the art of the different currents is carried out, within the reference framework of Industry 4.0, which focuses on implementing intelligent systems for sensorisation and monitoring of infrastructures that enable more sophisticated, efficient, and optimal maintenance strategies. As a result, it should be noted that the current trend is obligatory since it is not so imperative to build new infrastructures in developed countries but rather to explore the possible extension of their useful life and to advocate a new approach to engineering based on sustainability criteria. Key Words: Smart-territory, maintenance, intelligent infrastructure, monitoring, Smart-city.