When will municipalities embrace the SDGs

It was great to be part of the Nordic Edge last week in Stavanger, Norway, the largest smart city event in the Nordics. My take-aways of this innovative congress: It is in the genes of the Nordics to closely work together in creating people-friendly smart cities. Trust is the common denominator of the Nordic societies as well as social innovation: the Nordics show that it is not so much about ‘cities’ but about ‘societies’. And how cool, Norway has a minister of Digitalization. When will the Netherlands follow?

I wondered last week, how come the Nordic countries are ahead of smart city innovation? Apart of their pragmatism (which we Dutch share), they are tech-savvy countries. However, the success of smart cities doesn't rely on technology as much as it relies on its citizens. So I was happy to hear the many views on social inclusion, and social diversity of future cities.

Secondly, the Nordic cities have (according to themselves) the ‘best’ preconditions to be global leaders in smart city development as a result of their democratic societies that have high social trust. This is a big advantage, especially since data is crucial to advance in smart city development. And (maybe not) surprisingly, the people of the Nordic countries seem to have less trouble in sharing their data for smart city purposes. 

To create sustainable cities we need to share knowledge and best-practice. 

Another reason I was pleasantly surprised, is that for the first time since I have attended smart city related meetings, I witnessed the Nordics also include the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to build smart municipalities. Several Norwegian municipalities, like Asker, have already adopted the SDGs as a framework for the new Asker municipality. I would love to see that the Dutch municipalities embrace the SDGs and develop SDG action plans. So, let’s share ideas and practices the Dutch can learn from.

Last but not least, I’d like to repeat the call: It is time for the municipalities to take up their leadership role and take action ! 

#sustainablecities #sdgs #smartcities #dutch Future Living #NordicEdge #digitaltransformation