How to buy / sell smart cities

Worthwhile read by James Blackman.

Some of my observations / suggestions:
1) too much top-down: it doesn't focus (enough) on the end user / citizens who should play the central role in any smart city activity

2) page 4 'how to monetise the data from cities': cities do not own data they only store data that is owned by its citizens

3) page 5 'In Europe, most projects retain central government funding' and 'Governments typically offer subsidies, grants or tax breaks' Mr Citron hasn't looked at the Amsterdam Smart City model I am afraid, where governments in the Amsterdam Region invest instead of subsidise

4) page 10 who owns the data that goes through the 'smart light poles' ? Will US citizens be as enthusiastic when a foreign (for example Russian or Chinese) carrier would deploy the smart light poles in a city?

5) shift from this single silo approach (lighting) to a more holistic approach

6) regarding platform approach: Shouldn't all these developments be open source to prevent the vendor lock-in? There is no one size fits all platform nor in different parts in a city nor in different cities. One should choose little tailored made open platforms also from the perspective of a potential vendor lock-in

If you use the approaches mentioned in the article and local governments do nothing, platform companies will control the different smart cities chains from user to supply

Positives for local governments of these approaches are:
+ Developments will come naturally
+ best offer wins
+ government has little to do (one tender)

Negatives could be
- vendor lock-in
- Huge investment, high risk
- Market is still too uncertain  no room is left for failure and uncertainty
- Might loose control and steering as a local government

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2 Comments

Frans-Anton Vermast on December 9th 2018 - 15:30

This addition (in Dutch) is supporting somehow my suggestions:

Het heeft zin om kritisch te zijn’

Meer focus en meer impact staan boven aan het to-dolijstje voor 2019 van Dorien Zandbergen: sociaal ondernemer, wetenschappelijk onderzoeker aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam én zenleraar. Zandbergen deelt haar agenda voor 2019 in De Wereld in 2019.

Ben Laarhoven on December 6th 2018 - 08:57

We do have a "Smart City Portal", with best practice processes.
These processes are for free, in the case a city created it and there are processes from commercial partners.

In our vision, it's a better idea to start off with the invenarization of the processes and functionality you need and convert them into a software solution.

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AMS Institute, Re-inventing the city (urban innovation) at AMS Institute, posted Apr 16th

Do you want to learn from and network with the best researchers and scientists working to tackle pressing urban challenges?

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Herman van den Bosch, professor in management development , posted Apr 14th

A previous post made it clear that a 15-minute city ideally consists of a 5-minute walking zone, a 15-minute walking zone, also a 5-minute cycling zone and a the 15-minute cycling zone. These three types of neighbourhoods and districts should be developed in conjunction, with employment accessibility also playing an important role.

In the plans for 15-minute cities in many places around the world, these types of zones intertwine, and often it is not even clear which type of zone is meant. In Paris too, I miss clear choices in this regard.

The city of Melbourne aims to give a local lifestyle a dominant place among all residents. Therefore, everyone should live within at most 10 minutes' walking distance to and from all daily amenities. For this reason, it is referred to as a 20-minute city, whereas in most examples of a 15-minute city, such as Paris, it is only about the round trip. The policy in Melbourne has received strong support from the health sector, which highlights the negative effects of traffic and air pollution.

In Vancouver, there is talk of a 5-minute city. The idea is for neighbourhoods to become more distinct parts of the city. Each neighbourhood should have several locally owned shops as well as public facilities such as parks, schools, community centres, childcare and libraries. High on the agenda is the push for greater diversity of residents and housing types. Especially in inner-city neighbourhoods, this is accompanied by high densities and high-rise buildings. Confronting this idea with reality yields a pattern of about 120 such geographical units (see map above).

Many other cities picked up the idea of the 15-minute city. Among them: Barcelona, London, Milan, Ottawa, Detroit and Portland. The organisation of world cities C40 (now consisting of 96 cities) elevated the idea to the main policy goal in the post-Covid period.

All these cities advocate a reversal of mainstream urbanisation policies. In recent decades, many billions have been invested in building roads with the aim of improving accessibility. This means increasing the distance you can travel in a given time. As a result, facilities were scaled up and concentrated in increasingly distant places. This in turn led to increased congestion that negated improvements in accessibility. The response was further expansion of the road network. This phenomenon is known as the 'mobility trap' or the Marchetti constant.

Instead of increasing accessibility, the 15-minute city aims to expand the number of urban functions you can access within a certain amount of time. This includes employment opportunities. The possibility of working from home has reduced the relevance of the distance between home and workplace. In contrast, the importance of a pleasant living environment has increased. A modified version of the 15-minute city, the 'walkable city' then throws high hopes. That, among other things, is the subject of my next post.

Rosaria Battista, Intern at Placemaking Europe, posted Apr 12th

Get ready for an exciting experience at the 7th Annual Placemaking Week Europe (PWE) in Rotterdam, Netherlands, from September 24-27, 2024! 🚀

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This year’s festival revolves around four compelling themes:
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2. Climate Adaptation: Together Towards Change
3. Living with Water: The Flow of the City
4. Local Power & The Battle for Space

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You can find all the open call info and application instructions here.

More information about PWE'24 on our official website.