Author | Esther FuldauerIn a time of austerity with extreme measures and budget cuts, we would imagine that the last thing we want to do is spend more on technological investments with dubious outcomes. The past has showed us that technology becomes obsolete in a blink of an eye. We wouldn’t want to invest in proprietary technology that risks becoming locked in and rapidly becomes obsolete.Besides problems are so complex that they are beyond the mere use of technology. The whole of society must become involved. So beyond the glittery smart technology, what is smart city all about?Our cities are growing faster than ever. Cities already hold 54% of the world’s population, are expected to increase 66% by 2050, 90% of that growth happening in Asia and Africa. Current municipal infrastructures and services are no longer capable of dealing with challenges which are becoming harder to solve.Just as the challenges in sustainability, congestion and wider use of public transport, traffic management and energy management are becoming more complex, cities can also offer more opportunities to solve these issues, because their larger concentration of talent and resource gathering potential leads to more technological innovation, new business models and services.By using open innovation models originally developed for business, citizens and public servants with diverse fields of knowledge can now co-create new municipal services solving severe problems, impossible to solve from a centric top bottom approach.Moreover, data can now be collected from sensors or crowdsourced from citizens, and shared as open data to find out how changes in the system are affecting the whole. New models can be quickly tested within a fraction of the time and cost of traditional structures. There are two other benefits of increasing the number of data-gathering networks and analyzing their data, the ability to visualize new applications by collating data and to forecast new outcomes.Circular economy business models are also bringing more savings in efficiency in terms of infrastructure maintenance and savings in consumption of raw materials. Peterborough (UK), named Smart City of the Year 2015, has a collaborative approach to citizen involvement that is an excellent example of the bottom-top vision of a smart city.If you ask them what makes them succeed they say, “Certainly technology is helping cities meet their challenges quicker, but the real motor of it all is their engaged citizens. Having successful programs that encourage people coming together, testing their ideas with technology and sufficient funding for their programs. Thus the Innovation Challenge Fund and Test Bed Fund have allowed us to support the great ideas of 11 startup businesses and SMEs in Peterborough.” The outcome is a city that is compassionate, creating new business opportunities as it becomes more sustainable and efficient with a higher quality of life.Image | Dystopos/Flickr

Related content

Africa and smart cities: from castles in the sky to a tangible reality

Hyperlocal growth: a new form of urban planning

What is smart governance?

Local government weathering the storm: how to ensure long-term sustainability

Smart urban development: can sustainable suburbs be created?

Las Condes' Journey to Becoming a Smart City

Are Proprietary Solutions Delaying Smart Cities' Development?

What is Smart Prague about?

Is Barcelona a Smart City?

Anibal Gaviria, Antioquia | A Planetary Goal for Equity

Global Study on Smart City Governance

Engaging Citizens for a Collective Future

Crowdsourcing: 6 examples of public participation in urban management

André Guimaraes, Ubiwhere | Cities as Living Organisms: Activating the City Nervous System

Madinah City: When Tradition and Culture Meet Innovation and Tech

Smart City Institute Japan: A Shift Towards Sustainability & Wellbeing

Sorigué: A New Water Mining Project to Upgrade Cities Infrastructure

Pontus Westerberg, UN-Habitat: Internet Connectivity in a World with 3.7B People Still Offline

Tatiana Gallego, Inter-American Development Bank: Adaptive Housing and Construction Decarbonization

Jeff Merritt, World Economic Forum | How Can Cities Improve Their Technological Governance?

Berlin & Amsterdam | Designing the City from The Bottom-Up

Amparo Marco, City of Castelló | Creative Ideas and Solutions to Urban Challenges

Hayes Culleton Group | How Collaborative Governance Influences City Success

Five towns shaped by entrepreneurs
Opening the Future of Cities through SusHi Tech from Tokyo

Transforming cities: towards greener, innovative and fairer urban futures

Collaborative Governance for a Shared Future

Africa and smart cities: between a necessity and an emergency

Haiti and its cities: a history of failure and resilience

Why do some smart cities fail?

Innovative experiences in social services - social innovation and new tecnologies
Madinah, where technology meets tranquility

Island countries: small countries with major challenges

Smart growth vs new urbanism

Smart cities in the United States: which ones are making it to the top and their peculiarities

Israel's Smart Cities: Celebrating & sharing employees' and residents' innovation globally

Smart growth: principles and examples of smart urban planning

Why Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympic Games

Ten keys to understand the post-COVID city

Transport Operations Platform: A smart city data platform by Accenture and Microsoft
MUSE by Citegestion unifies the city stakeholders around a digital patform

SAS For Flood Prediction & Preparedness: Improves real-time situational awareness allowing for a proactive response

Kenya's Konza Techno City: Is the project well planned?

Columbus, the smart city leading by example

Innovation and e-governance: which countries are at the forefront of digital government development?

There’s no smart city without a smart government

As cities fill tech gaps, power of smart cities unleashes

Augusto López-Claros | Keynote Session | Lessons from COVID-19 and the Future of the SDGs

Activating Strategic Alliances

Better Together: Partnerships for the Planet
Recommended profiles for you
Remember to activate your profile to network!
Activate profileEF
Ericka Farías
Private
Junior
NA
Nuzul Farisya Ahmad Fadzil
Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA)
Assistant Vice President
FK
Furkan Esad Köroğlu
Atık Nakit Geridönüşüm Ltd. Şti
Co-Founder
JI
Jon Iturgaiz
BcomeDigital
xc
xue chang
Huawei
Marketing Manager
JT
Jenny Tello
Ministerio
Gobierno
JC
Joan Comas
Particular
Freelance
SS
Sylvia maulani Sylvia
Collage
Student
JB
Jordi Bastida Pau
EIC
Coordinator

patricia de los angeles mancuello
Gobierno Ciudad Buenos aires
Coordinator of Descentralized Cooperation at Undersecretary Strategic Planning Unit
NP
Natalija Pavluha
Investment and Development Agency of Latvia
Senior Project Manager, Technology department. (Smart specialization ecosystems coordination)
EB
Enaya Banna
The Arab Center for Alternative Planning
Urban Planner - Professional Manager
CB
Christian BARDON
VotreCity Monaco
CEO
CC
CITA ISABEL CHAVEZ ESTRELLA
EMPRESA PÚBLICA METROPOLITANA MERCADO MAYORISTA
SECRETARIA GENERAL

Thank you for registering to Tomorrow.City. You can now start exploring all the content for free!