From 2GreenEnergy Intern Fabio Porcu: The Human Aspects of a “Smart City”
Often when we talk about Smart City, the focus falls on the role of technological factors: innovations in energy efficiency, communication and information platforms, and so forth. However, this list often omits the human factor: aspirations, interests and abilities of the people in an intelligent city, many of whom work for companies whose products help meet the global challenges of modern society. In this context, we’ll investigate the “smart citizens” who populate a Smart City, focusing on the human factors that characterize it.
We will introduce a new way of thinking about the citizen as an entity able to generate and share ideas and new technologies in their own local context and transfer them to the rest of the world. The citizen is the main subject able to transform an idea or a technology, in a customized design for a Smart City. The terms “Smart People” or “Intelligent Citizens” include those who:
- have technological skills;
- are able to work and use information and communications technology (ICT);
- live in a society that guarantees them access to education and training and that promotes creative and innovative capacity.
An intelligent citizen is able to provide input to the community in different areas: manipulating and customizing data, for example through analysis tools and basic technological support, to make decisions, to participate actively in the selection and evaluation of services and to create cleantech products.
A Smart City populated by “Smart People” is a city in which the decisions made by the government institutions are open to participation. This requires a direct relationship between citizens and institutions based on mutual trust in such a way that they can work together to create services for technical and social innovation.
In a “Human Smart City” (as a Smart City from the point of view of the people who live there), citizens and communities are the main actors of urban intelligence. In this kind of context, citizens are not obliged to use technologies that have been selected and purchased by local governments; rather they are encouraged to compose, create and co-design their own services, using available technologies or inventing new ones. In this way, the services that are used are not simply existing or made available to a particular community, but they are born from the real needs of the people living within the city. The Human Smart Cities are therefore those cities where governments:
- involve their citizens,
- are able to guarantee and coordinate the processes of joint planning towards social and digital innovation.
All this requires an equal relationship with the citizens, based on mutual trust and cooperation.
These dynamics are of utmost importance especially in this historical period, in which the availability of people to collaborate in the construction of the future represents a resource of enormous value for smart and sustainable urban development. Moreover, after several experiments aimed at finding solutions to collective problems resolved exclusively at the local government level, these public sector institutions are becoming increasingly aware that these entities need to redefine their roles.
In this sense, the concept of smart people in a Smart City is a mix of education, training, culture, arts, entrepreneurship and economic initiative. A Smart City is a city made up of people who have the opportunity to exploit their human potential and live a creative life by focusing on their education. As defined by some authors (Winters, 2010), a Smart City should be full of a skilled workforce and thus highly educated individuals. The concept refers to the level of the employee, defined as knowledge worker, one who works in knowledge industries, sensitive technology, and that aim to make the communities in which they operate highly liveable. The availability and quality of infrastructure is not the only indicator to define a city “smart.”
A smart community should be thinking that technologies alone cannot transform and improve a city. To do this it is necessary that these technologies (be they related to fields such as transport, industry, the environment, “livability,” etc.) should interface with a citizenry prepared to use them as best as possible. You need a very strong approach to public awareness, education and training of citizens so that they can consider the technological solutions, applied in various areas, as an accessible opportunity and not as an impediment to their daily lives.
Learning and training remove the gap between those who stay behind in the use of modern technology and those (often younger) who are very familiar with advanced solutions (be it a Smartphone, the management of an app, or use of a personal computer). This can be achieved through actions aimed at developing skills for those citizens less prepared to make use of advanced services, or those who may be wary of them. Schools, universities, research centers and industry groups produce innovative technologies that, if properly supported, can help the urban community in this smart growth providing tools, knowledge, meeting points, training and learning methods.
All that comes to mind when the term “Smart City” is mentioned is generally made of advanced technology applied to any purpose or use. However, it is important to remember that all the existing technology in an intelligent city is conceived, developed, designed and constructed by the human mind.
The technology and the services can change from city to city depending on the needs of the population, but the common point that every Smart City must offer is people playing an active role in the improvement of city life. “Play an active role” means that people not only use the technological services but proactively look for new services that can make all citizens’ lives more convenient and fulfilling.
