From theory to empiricism. The challenge to the future of Sapienza University at Solar Decathlon Middle East

This chapter analyzes the concrete case of ReStart4Smart in the context of the international Solar Decathlon competition and in the light of the wider context provided by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 program. The European Union, with the Horizon 2020 project, aims to favor safe, innovative and inclusive societies, which progressively reduce energy consumption. In this context, the international Solar Decathlon competition, adopting the values of sustainability and energy efficiency, has launched a challenge between universities for the construction of an energetic self-sufficient sustainable house. The Sapienza University has taken up this challenge by presenting its ReStart4Smart project, a revolutionary 4.0 architectural model of Smart Solar House, equipped with the most advanced technologies and able to meet the requirements of efficiency, safety, comfort, affordability and sustainability typical of the 20th century. The Restart4Smart case represents the empiric example of our study. The evolution of society towards a smart perspective has reoriented the needs of individuals, politics, the community and home. The ReStart4Smart smart home – usable by smart people – will be integrated into a social context able to amplify its functions, in a framework that tends to establish a relationship of dialogue with the society and its social structure. This case study allows to critically analyze the relationships between all the aspects previously investigated. It therefore represents a real laboratory in which to experiment practices related to the facets of the "smart" phenomenon, not only in their individuality, but also in their mutual correlations: in particular, to consider the practices linked to the actions of the smart people within the context of a smart home; in relation to the dimensions of the smart community and of the smart politics, within a smart society as a whole.