Prishtina 4.0 – Foundations of a Smart & Digital Prishtina

With 97% of the population having access to the internet and a booming ITC industry, a young population consisting of millennial entrepreneurs and professionals with a disruptive vision, is Prishtina embracing these resources and aligning its course to becoming a digital & sustainable city?

Initial Situation – Why Digital Prishtina?

Climate change and finite natural resources disrupt decision-making in every industry worldwide, consequently disrupting our way of living and everyday choices. Therefore, many global organizations have committed to adapting their choices, processes, and materials to resource-friendly and sustainable ones to protect the planet. The UN Sustainable Development Goals were established to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. These are just some facts and trends illustrating why Prishtina should approach these global initiatives pro-actively as they represent the future.

Secondly, a smart city can be described as part of a digital economy. Smart Cities are not an isolated phenomenon but are part of a broader transition towards the digital economy. Cities are the new engines of growth in the global economy, responsible for 80% of global GDP. So, developing an innovative digital Prishtina contributes to creating a prerequisite infrastructure to the future of the economy and business.

So, what is a Digital and Smart Prishtina?

Many organizations described Smart Cities with keywords, including sustainability, technologies like data, digital systems, citizens, services, and quality of life. A key feature of smart city operating models is the availability of digital assets (data) on a real-time, open, and interoperable basis.

Citizens, SMEs, and social entrepreneurs can use city data to form (two-way) public services and create new value. Smart city operating models enable externally-led, collaborative innovation by citizens, businesses, and civil society by exposing city data and services.

Smart and Digital Prishtina would promote internally driven city-led innovation to provide citizen-centered and sustainable services. With this in mind, it would establish a city-wide governance and stakeholder management process to support and evaluate these changes. In addition, it would provide citizens and businesses with all-in-one public services that can be accessed through multiple channels. This particular operational model also directly involves citizens, businesses, and communities in creating user needs!

"Smart city is a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital and telecommunication technologies for the benefit of its inhabitants and business" - European Union

Challenges – What are our main Problems?

There are many types of urban problems. Water issues (supply or sewerage), traffic issues (traffic congestion or parking spaces), environmental issues (pollution or energy issues), and human-related issues such as education, housing, and crime are the most typical urban issues.

Solutions – Are we the only ones with these problems?

As we live in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, technology can provide good opportunities for different parts of the city. As a result, the characteristics of the town have moved towards a "city for citizens." In short, the goal of services and applications in the city is to improve the quality of life of local citizens.

Existing city management methodologies address city-related issues primarily by focusing on solving problems by building new infrastructure or adding human resources. On the other hand, intelligent cities solve problems by collecting and analyzing information from various parts of the town, investing resources as needed, and efficiently utilizing existing resources.

Each city is unique, but each has the same problems, and technology can provide solutions to most urban issues. Additionally, there are plenty of successful success stories that have addressed many urban problems of cities and consequently can provide solutions to many Prishtina problems.

Traffic Problem Solution – Successful Case Studies

Traditional cities suggest constructing new parking lots as a solution to the problem. However, in smart cities, through data monitoring and analysis, real-time alarm services or car-sharing services, which permit to reduce the number of traffic-related issues, will be offered as a solution to the problem. In addition, there are several other applications related to this service.

Water Management Solution – Successful Case Studies

In the case of water leak problems and water management systems, traditional cities lack information on leaks and don't have an adequate water management system. As a result, the inefficiency of the water system persists. However, in smart cities, sensors detect leaks immediately, and information is sent through the system. There are many examples of leak response systems. For instance, Qatar (Doha), Brazil (Sao Paulo), and China (Beijing) have prevented 40-50% of leaks from these systems.

Air Pollution Solution – Successful Case Studies

Air quality signal lights, CO2 absorbable building materials, vertical gardens are just some solutions to this problem. Additionally, air quality monitoring by UAVs and drones in industrial zones is dynamic very cost-effective. The videos below provide more available solutions to this problem implemented by smart cities around the world.

Smart City Models

Considering that Prishtina is the capital of Kosovo, a developing country in the Balkans, there won't be needed any wheel re-invention for us to go digital. We have to select the most appropriate solutions available to our problems and evaluate the best approach to practical implementation.

Smart City Planning

Every city has pockets of underused and underutilized land or distressed and decaying urban areas. They are usually the result of urban growth and changing productivity patterns. To address the problems of urban problems, cities around the world have designed complex urban renewal processes.

There are four phases: scoping, planning, financing, and implementation to determine the set of measures required for the rehabilitation process. The master plan is a substep of "planning."

The ultimate goal of smart cities is to act as a model for urban development through cross-industry partnerships to mobilize sustainable financing. Public-private partnerships help governments raise money in the face of a credit crunch and budget constraints.

When the budget is tight, the need for private funding and management becomes politically explicit. The results suggest that PPP often outperforms public deliveries to be more efficient with solid incentives. In addition, private sector technical and expertise is another advantage that can be used. There are various arrangements for smart city PPP (Public-Private Partnership).

PPP is primarily understood as a private financial contribution to public projects. However, it should be understood as a flexible institutional arrangement between the public sector and private sector stakeholders, based on the introduction of innovations into the service delivery of more traditional local governments.

Care to know more?