The term platform has been so far mainly used in the ICT domain, it has been recently also adopted in the business domain, in order to define recently invented business models that thrive on a circular, reinforcing feedback loop, where producers and consumers mix up to become “prosumers” in an iterative, interactive, interdependent system, where all participants contribute to increase the value of each transaction and of the entire platform. Nowadays, business platforms come in a variety of shapes and sizes, although as a consequence of digital transformation, the opportunity to include more players in the game has turned into a quasi-monopoly in many industries. As regulators, mainly in Europe, are trying to keep the game open and inclusive, many advocates and experiment with the mission to turn the pyramid upside down, and give back to society to the notion of an inclusive, a level playing field.
As the debate and the experimentation moves forward, some have started to associate the term platform to cities, again mainly referring to the possibility to go beyond the notion of a smart city by bringing to citizens the benefits of an open platform that interconnects and exchange flows of open data that inform and engage the community in the attempt to turn a territory into an asset whose value is shared by everybody living in it.