Future of SMART cities

National and local governments are focusing on the development and challenges regarding smart cities. Smart cities will solve challenges regarding climate change, air pollution, and congestion for example, but information about how to develop and implement such a smart city lack. This article will give you more information about the development of smart cities, including an Input-Output model to make informed design choices.

Smart cities can help to solve the problem of economic growth, providing smart growth and ecological modernization resulting in decreased environmentally harmful output. Although the notion of a smart city is more popular, the facets of a smart city, the design to develop a smart city and the input-output (IO) model is still very unknown. The IO model will point out the key facets of smart cities, which can be used by policymakers and practitioners in the decision-making process. Besides smart cities such as Dubai, Barcelona, and Masdar, Amsterdam is also working towards becoming a smart city.

After studying literature reviews and conducting interviews, smart cities are positioned, and their key facets are pinpointed. The main related concepts to smart cities are data, IoT, cloud computing, energy, data analytics, security, and privacy. These concepts are further reviewed to create the model. The developed Input-output model can be used for cities in an institutional environment in which the local government wanted to develop a smart city. It provides a guideline to implement a smart city, from input through throughput to output and a feedback loop back to the input. A smart city can be developed in different ways, a standard one doesn’t exist.

Figure 1: Graphical conceptualization of the IO model for the Smart City development process (source: Input-Output Modeling for Smart City Development.)

Input

Inputs in this model refer to the domains of the smart city for which goals are formulated and resources are made available. The key resources needed to build a smart city, are:

• Human resources and entrepreneurship. This refers to taking advantage of the expertise of human resources and their entrepreneurial initiatives to implement creative ideas and innovation. Although modern ICT is a keyenabler of a smart city, humans are needed to make the smart city effective, stimulate creativity, and provide innovation.
• Data. The competitive advantage of a smart city is related to the level of access to data and information. The higher the level of access to data, thehigher the ability to control and build up the future. Data can only be seenas a key resource if it is processed, and made useful, reliable, and manageable. Data can be aggregated through sensors and buildings for example, but platforms should be used to communicate useful data withinthe smart city. The physical infrastructure will be integrated into the digital and communicative infrastructure after which a platform should connect with the stakeholders.
• Modern ICT infrastructure. A smart city must be able to deal with technology and interconnect between technology and people. The availability and quality of ICT infrastructures have become one of the main resources to achieve information and knowledge sharing, forecasts, and integration. State-of-the-art ICT infrastructures are crucial in smart cities to develop a platform to aggregate information and data and enablean improved understanding of how a city function. Platforms are needed to transform the large amounts of real-time data (mostly collected through IoT) into trustworthy and reliable information delivering the right information to the right person at the right time.
• Financial Resources. Financial resources are needed to build modern infrastructures. IoT sensors and actuator devices are used to aggregate data after which data is transferred to a platform. Besides, costs in research and development, branding, and trainings are made in the process to develop smart cities.

Output The output is seen as the results of smart city policies for which goals are formulated and input resources are made available. The outputs are:

Throughput

Throughput is seen as the process to manage assets and making decisions about how to transform them into outputs to achieve goals. One of the most important capabilities is the ability to turn data into value, providing reliable information. Knowledge and innovation will contribute to this involving human resources. Besides, financial asset management should focus on both fundings as well as the non-financial aspects, sustainable finance concerning long term value creation (responsibility for the future city). Governance and leadership throughput refer to the importance to govern the development of smart cities. It is important to involve different organizational layers, coordinate among actors, and use different leadership capability to form the body of decision-making in different ways.

Output

The output is seen as the results of smart city policies for which goals are formulated and input resources are made available. The outputs are:

• Smart applications. As result, smart cities will consist of smart applications, such as smart mobility, energy, healthcare, government, andcitizens. Mobility includes all aspects of smart traffic systems, such as smart parking, dynamic traffic lights, and reduces vehicles. Smart citizens are interactive citizens who benefit from the information to accelerate smart solutions. One of the main strategies to achieve a smart city is to connect these citizens and technologies on a common platform. In this way, a smart government is used to transform traditional government and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of governance structures and operations through advanced use of information.
• Externalities. Smart cities are having two externalities: sustainability and ahigh quality of life. Smart cities create a better place to live, work, and play covering social, economic, and environmental sustainability that coincide with the quality of life.

In conclusion, the model will help to support the decision-making process for developing a smart city based on its key facets. The model shows how the key resources and throughputs result in the given outputs. Looking for example at Smart city Dubai, the importance to work with start-ups and attract innovative companies is one of the most important things to boost the innovative atmosphere in developing smart cities.

Do you want to learn more about how a platform can be used by the government and structure the data to provide insights in a smart city? Request a free demo.

Based on the following research: Noori, N., de Jong, M., Janssen, M., Schraven, D., & Hoppe, T. (2020). Input-Output Modeling for Smart City Development. Journal of Urban Technology, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2020.1794728