Do cities need to get smarter about collaboration?

Having started my career in the utilities sector, the phrase “Nothing 'smart' happens without electricity” resonated with me (from the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers' latest report on smart cities).

The vision of future cities – better places to live, work and play by harnessing the power of technology and data – depends on power. Yet the Institution makes a convincing case that the escalating power demands of the Internet of Things (IoT), connected devices and sensors – as well as system requirements for 24/7 reliability and resilience – have not been factored into planned investment in infrastructure.

City governments must cast a wider net and collaborate effectively with groups including utilities, technology, transport, real estate and mobility businesses.

This is a real world barrier that local governments are coming up against as they seek to build smarter, more resilient cities.

What's needed is greater collaboration. City governments must cast a wider net and collaborate effectively with groups including utilities, technology, transport, real estate and mobility businesses. Most importantly, they must collaborate with citizens themselves.

 So what does it take to build effective collaboration? What have we learned so far from smart city initiatives? 

Making collaborations work

Seoul is a prime example of a high tech megacity. But guess who nearly scuppered the city's plans to overhaul its public transport? Newspaper vendors.

 When Seoul launched its ambitious revamp of public transport, buses were a key piece of the puzzle. The city simplified its complex bus routes, upgraded its aging bus fleet, created median bus-only lanes and restructured fares – all at the same time. Despite investing in awareness-raising campaigns, the changes resulted in public resistance and confusion.

 The message is clear: we have to think more comprehensively about the myriad groups affected by smart city projects, and involve them from the beginning

One vocal group was the bus drivers and people whose livelihood depended on curb side buses: newspaper vendors. Overcoming this took an intensive amount of consultation and compromise – but the end result was a bus system that everyone bought into: less congestion, faster journeys, fewer bus-related accidents and cleaner air from lower emissions.

 The message is clear: we have to think more comprehensively about the myriad groups affected by smart city projects, and involve them from the beginning.

 More agile models 

 Another lesson is to wean cities off of grand “master plans” and onto more agile approaches. Enthusiasm for smart city projects has often led to different departments working at cross purposes on different initiatives, or duplicating efforts. Better governance is needed, and more fluid models that recognize how quickly disruptive technologies are moving on.

One idea is to use online platforms as centralized “meeting houses” for innovators, governments, businesses and citizens. The Amsterdam Smart City platform, coordinated by 12 public, private and university/research organizations, has helped the city to develop and rapidly test innovative smart city ideas. The city has identified six themes (infrastructure, energy, etc), and their rapid cycles of prototyping and moving on with the best ideas has resulted in over 80 projects. 

 In the energy sector, Amsterdam has ambitions to run entirely on clean energy. Already it converts much of its waste into electricity, urban heating and construction materials, with the local electricity company generating 900kWh per 1000kg of waste. The Smart City platform is supporting a consortium of 23 partners, who are exploring how to integrate clean energy solutions into current infrastructure and the way its residents live.

Driving it forward

Freeing up city data and making it accessible to the public free of charge is another way to encourage collaboration and drive innovation. London, Helsinki and Nice are just a few of the cities to launch open data platforms for people to analyze, combine or turn the data into web-based or mobile applications.

In Nice, the city has implemented 'Connected Boulevard', an open IoT platform used to manage and optimize all aspects of city management, including parking and traffic, street lighting, waste disposal and environmental quality. As a result, they've seen a 30% reduction in traffic congestion, 25% decrease in air pollution and a rise in parking income of 35%.

So why isn't everyone doing it? Administrative and legal barriers often prevent open data platforms, says George Atalla, EY Global Leader for Government and Public sector. Data is fragmented across too many users and channels, or there are legal obstacles to sharing it.

Collaboration: the way forward  

To create better cities of the future, ones that harness the potential of smart technology and are more resilient to climate change, cybersecurity attacks and so on, more collaborative models are needed. We need to involve partners from utilities to transport to innovators to citizens from the beginning, to create sustainable approaches that improve our cities. Collaboration is also needed to create new ways of financing smart city initiatives, such as social impact bonds. 

Today’s biggest innovations rely on expertise in analytics, cloud services, wireless connectivity, software, and security – something few organizations hold under one roof. Collaboration is essential to success – not just for cities but for businesses as well.

 We are all having to change our models and approaches – and collaboration can help us all to get further, faster. We just have to get better at it.