Smart City Initiatives, public real estate strategic management and new venture creation

During the last decade, scholars have been involved in an interesting debate around the development of the so called Smart City Initiatives, based on the following pillars: ICT, human capital, mobility, environment etc. This chapter focuses on the role played by public property assets within the framework of the Smart City initiatives, with a specific focus on those programs that aim to develop entrepreneurial ecosystems. It provides a theoretical framework that could be a useful reference for decision – making concerning the public property portfolio management, moreover in a period of strong financial constraints, might stimulate the birth of innovative firms, the growth of those ones already existing, as well as enhance the cities attractiveness for start-ups coming from different geographical areas. At this regards, this study shows some successful cases from the Mediterranean Area.