Urban Ambient Environment and Sustainability

In the last decade, a technological tendency is observed related to the integration of the digital objects in the daily routine of people. Latest technology achievements as wireless networks, tangible interfaces, embedded interaction and in general the diffusion of computing power in small units through space, reveal that the boundaries between physical and digital space are blurring. From contemporary technology applications, turns up that digital spaces can be easily adapted to our everyday life in the urban environment. That way a new perspective for architects appears: to manage simultaneously digital and physical urban space. This paper aims at indicating cases where digital tools help sustainable development in the urban environment and highlighting a potential research field for architecture that combines AmI, built environment and sustainability, by analyzing them. Through ambient or pervasive computing with specific applications and examples that will be extensively presented, it is shown how digital technology can be used for sustainable urban environments especially in the field of architecture, with respect to the local conditions of place.