What Exactly Is A Smart City?

Having worked in the smart cities space for several years now, I am encouraged by the growth of the sector and the pace of technological advancements being developed for urban environments. However, I believe that the smart-cities movement is being held back by a lack of clarity and consensus around what a smart city is and what the components of a smart city actually are. While some people continue to take a narrow view of smart cities by seeing them as places that make better use of information and communication technology (ICT), the cities I work with (and most of the participants in the #smartchat, a monthly Twitterchat about smart cities held on the first Wednesday of each month) all view smart cities as a broad, integrated approach to improving the efficiency of city operations, the quality of life for its citizens, and growing the local economy. Later this year, I’ll publish my annual rankings of smart cities here on Co.Exist. Step 1: Create a Vision with Citizen Engagement

Urbanscale | Design for networked cities and citizens The Urban Technologist | A personal view of emerging technology and Smarter Cities Human Scale City Next City Tom Sanchez | Professor, Virginia Tech Urban Affairs and Planning Saskia Sassen Urbano Humano Agency Macro.Meso.Micro Think Tank that performs research on Regional Politics and Social Innovation, and it has been recognised by Social Innovation Europe. web: Co-director and curator of #OPEN_madrid, Seminar about citizen urbanism and social innovation, with Medialab Prado and Rey Juan Carlos University. web: Founder and coordinator of “Think Cities”, a research and training project centered on Urban Innovation. web: Founder of SentientID a mobile app startup web: Founder and coordinator of “Think Commons” a web platform promoting network thinking about commons, collaborative culture, social innovation. web: Co-founder of Meipi startup: collaborative geotagging web platform web: 2013/current Strategic and Social Media consulting for a new Learning Project called “ApreHender la Ciudad” web: 2013 (two months) 2013 (one week)

“Urbanismo social”, individuo y vanidad. By Reyes Gallegos. Oil money. Autores desconocidos. Imagen extraida de: www.visualcomplexity.com Este post pretende ser una llamada a la reflexión sobre la dificultad que conlleva salirse de “las esferas” (1) de la sociedad y el urbanismo capitalista y reinventar nuevos modelos acordes a otros ideales, sin que se acaben repitiendo los mismos patrones más propios de la condición humana. En este sentido, y a partir de mi propia experiencia en la búsqueda de un urbanismo más social, me pregunto si está el urbanismo de la participación, tal y como lo estamos construyendo y demandando a través de las “redes sociales”, blindado contra ese individualismo vanidoso, o estamos asistiendo a una encubierta y silenciosa manifestación de los mismos síntomas en dicho terreno. (2) Habría que ampliar ese lugar de excelencia “espacio virtual” a “espacio social”, o podríamos estar creando en estas plataformas nuevas ISLAS de técnicos a los que nos falta más experiencia de participación a pie de calle. Algunas recomendaciones:

Digital Urban A Science of Cities