Vast metropolitan areas include both urban areas and rural outskirts. Between these areas, there are strong links to the point which they cannot be examined separately. There is a contemporary presence of residential function and working activity in the rural outskirts, as well as in the typical sector of agriculture. Therefore, the production of goods and services for the city requires a combined analysis, due to the large territory which it has to consider. The evolution of the population of such a large territory can be studied in great detail, with reference to the single census area and with the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This means that such a demographic development produces an effect on the values of the urban real estate. This work demonstrates the existing interconnections between urban areas and rural outskirts. Data collection on trends of the population living in the Naples metropolitan area and the house prices associated with this area, and the post spatial processing of such data, allows for the establishment of thematic maps according to which a model capable of interpreting the population development is defined. A study of the statistical correlations shows the consequences that the population dynamics produce for property prices. In addition, the diachronic analysis of the sales prices of residential buildings demonstrates that economic functions, exclusive of certain urban or rural territories, end up distributing and integrating.

Making Cities Smarter is the challenge of the new millennium, even in a context of profound structural crisis like the present one. In fact, there is an urgent need to rethink the models of socio-economic development to make them more consistent with the new social needs, in particular related to the territorial liveability and social inclusion. In the literature produced in recent years and that has stimulated reflections, ideas, research and projects for a smart urban development, a “smart city” is generally meant as a city capable of joining “competitiveness” and “sustainability”, by integrating different dimensions of development (economic, mobility, environment, people, living and governance). However, the actions have been largely focused on ICTs and their impacts on urban development.This contribution starts from a reflection, already begun by the authors, on the theme of “Smart City” as “Senseable city”, which means that we need to focus the discussion no more on “how cities can be smarter” but on “how intelligent technologies can lead us to rethink the patterns of urban development by making them fair and inclusive, as well as efficient and sustainable”. In this paper, the attention is focused on another aspect that in recent years is becoming increasingly important in terms of the development of smart cities, that is the social innovation, understood as innovative practice with the aim of creating a positive impact for society that is as wide as possible. The direct and indirect impact that the creation of social innovation can exercise in terms of urban development will lead us to talk about different models of Smart Cities as “Social Cities”. Finally, investigating the Italian experience, the article shows how, despite the efforts, the current approaches to the problem are still very far from considering a Smart City as a local system focused on innovation, a system in which the application of new technologies is not random but responds to a strategic project that starts from the bottom, from the real needs of the citizen.