Can Big Data Support Smart(er) Evaluation?

Abstract

In the last decade, the value of big data for social sciences is declared to be high for its social impact. This kind of data is currently applied to create a wealth of constantly updating information that in the spatial domain are generally used to support decision making. This chapter falls under this heading, and it presents the results of a research program developed by an interdisciplinar research team of the Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning of Politecnico di Torino for the Autonomous Province of Trento in which the Territorial Integrated Evaluation methodology was applied for evaluating regional development and designing territorial scenarios. According to the results of the research, TIE methodology proposes a smart approach to territorial evaluation as it links the strategic dimension of evaluation to the regional planning process. Starting from the TIE methodology, the chapter aims to represent a small step in the theoretical discussion on the big data in social sciences discussing its potential role for territorial evaluation.