How smart is the Italian domestic environment? A quantitative study

The market for smart home products in Italy appears to be growing quicker than in other European countries. Continuous technological advances have lowered the price for entry products, allowing more families to acquire smart solutions. Meanwhile, after the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of the domestic environment as a hybrid space where to conduct different activities that require smart and connected appliances has significantly grown. Ultimately, economic and social instability has produced a higher awareness of energy consumption, bringing many users to question their lifestyle choices and look for smarter and greener solutions. The evolution of living conditions through the growth of smart technology in houses and apartments must be explored by interaction designers, to provide effective user experiences of smart artifacts, that need to seamlessly connect with one another and function together, within a complex, multimodal environment. Considering this, the paper presents the results of a quantitative study carried out at the end of 2021, through an online survey that was completed by 135 respondents. Data are analysed by grouping the respondents in 3 categories: single tenants, couples or roommates (unrelated to each other), and families (at least one parent with their offspring). Different visualizations highlight which rooms are "smarter"-although Italian households appear to be less technological than expected. The main findings concern the relationship between wider technological ecosystems and larger groups of tenants living together, and how the ownership of a smart product leads to the acquisition of other products-thus building a complex network of non-human players.