CREATING OPEN COMMUNITIES TO DESIGN INITIATIVES FOR NEXT GENERATION SMART CITIES

Part III – Experiences around the world

A very important topic for smart cities is to find a working way for interaction between individual stakeholders  with a focus on mobility, a strategy for the digitalization of the urban/community environment, the use of new technologies, urban economic opportunities and especially, real citizen engagement.

Let’s reverse the perspective – when a city is too big and cosmopolitan, it is easier to be a “smart city”. However, we want to make it possible for small cities to be “smart”.

Currently, there are various studies and ranking systems ( such as studies by the “Institute for Management Development” at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, “IMD Business School”, “Smart City Index” 2021, etc. ), which present a kind of ranking of leading cities around the world – the same ones that have successfully implemented and are engaged in working “smart city” ecosystems. For example, according to the “Smart City Index” 2021,  Sofia is in 107th place out of a total of 118 ranked cities.

It is clear that cities such as New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, London, and Paris are at the top of the rankings, but of real interest are much smaller cities such as Singapore, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Taipei, Dubai, Helsinki, Barcelona, ​​Zurich, Oslo, and others.

Good practices in this direction are very indicative, as follows:

• Dubai  – currently has over 90% digital e-government, a working blockchain trading system directly related to the purchase and sale of real estate. Equipped with their Emirates ID number, every citizen can access hundreds of services, for example, to pay utility bills, learn the best route or view important medical information. In terms of citizen services, the authorities’ goal is for all 100 million documents generated in Dubai annually to become digital – something that will not only facilitate public services, but also save over 144 tons of carbon emissions per year.

The United Arab Emirates is also at the top of the UN’s “World Happiness Report” – for this purpose, all government websites, applications and devices have so-called happiness meters that measure the level of satisfaction and happiness of citizens. The country also tops the “Philips’ Future Health Index”, which measures the accessibility and integration of modern connected health services.

• Amsterdam  – uses information technology to solve environmental challenges, and is expected to soon become the first carbon-neutral city by 2025. Particularly impressive is the special position of their “Technical Policy Directorate”, which monitors the implementation of smart initiatives. The city has over 80 pilot projects affecting various areas of urban life. One of them helps garbage trucks collect garbage with the fewest possible stops, and another replaces paid parking meters with payment by phone.

The “Smart Citizen” project allows citizens to monitor noise and air pollution levels in different neighborhoods of the city. The “Smart Work@IJburg” module enables residents of Amsterdam’s newest district to use an alternative shared workplace instead of commuting to offices and causing traffic jams in narrow streets. The “Climate Street” module helps commercial areas become more environmentally friendly, and “Quby” is a smart home energy system that is already used in other parts of Europe and in Japan. As part of “Vehicle to Grid,” electric vehicle batteries collect energy generated during the day and use it during peak hours in the evening.

• Taipei is pushing the trend that despite the government’s belief through the “Taipei Smart City Project Management Organization”  “smart platform”, they will never achieve the same success if they try to control and regulate everything. They are providing a “hub/center” (equivalent to our “Community Councils”) for sustainable investments to be made, and then, they will be the catalyst for the private sector and NGOs to come together and add value. They will sponsor innovative hackathons, city labs, cooperative technology platforms, etc. as a permanent part of their smart ecosystem.

Taiwan has a fairly comprehensive technological urban infrastructure. Not only related to the functioning of the city, in transportation and garbage collection, but also in healthcare, education and the movement of people.

• Helsinki  – they are world leaders in the ideas related to mobility as a service in transport, their smart tourism strategy and their energy sustainability programs. The small Norwegian city takes an impressively consistent approach to implementing new technologies in a wide range of urban services and development projects.
• Singapore, the city-state, is special in many ways and has the ambitious goal of becoming the world’s first smart nation. Almost every aspect of Singapore’s daily functioning is monitored by sensors that collect a huge amount of data. The information is processed by a software platform called “Virtual Singapore”, which allows authorities to find the most effective solutions for managing the city of 5 million.

These solutions range from typical smart city initiatives such as efficient street lighting, waste collection and parking management, to innovations such as “nursing home sensors” that alert medical staff and loved ones if a person stops moving for a long time. “Tele-Health” is another innovative system that allows patients to see a doctor without ever leaving their home.

The main challenge facing Singapore today is how to strike a balance between collecting information and protecting the privacy of its residents. Recently, the authorities have recognized the need for greater transparency and have given citizens the opportunity to learn in detail what exactly the collected data is used for.

• Barcelona, ​​the Spanish city, is one of the most energy-efficient in the world. Barcelona has much higher levels of sunlight than most large developed cities, and it takes advantage of this in the best way possible. Already in the past decade, it has been required that all large buildings in the city provide their own hot water and use solar panels. Such solutions have also been implemented in cities such as San Francisco and London, through “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design” (LEED) certified buildings around the world. A new law requires all newly constructed buildings to allocate at least 15 percent of their roof space to solar panels.

Barcelona’s public transport is one of the most environmentally friendly in the world, thanks to its hybrid buses. The city also has a cycling initiative that provides access to 400 stations where you can rent a bike for an annual subscription or pay by phone.

Barcelona residents can benefit from a number of mobile applications  that help them live more efficiently: “Transit” uses real-time traffic camera footage to plan the most convenient and fastest route, and “Bustia Ciutadana” is a feedback platform for passengers and drivers, where they can report potholes or broken lights. All collected data goes to a central database to help with the future development of the city. Through “Barcelona Urban Lab”, Barcelona also has a policy of attracting young companies to implement pilot technologies in the city.

to be continued…