Data driven approaches for smart city planning and design: a case scenario on urban data management

Purpose Because of the use of digital technologies in smart cities, municipalities are increasingly facing issues related to urban data management and are seeking ways to exploit these huge amounts of data for the actualization of data driven services. However, only few studies discuss challenges related to data driven strategies in smart cities. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to present data driven approaches (architecture and model), for urban data management needed to improve smart city planning and design. The developed approaches depict how data can underpin sustainable urban development. Design/methodology/approach Design science research is adopted following a qualitative method to evaluate the architecture developed based on top-level design using a case data from workshops and interviews with experts involved in a smart city project. Findings The findings of this study from the evaluations indicate that the identified enablers are useful to support data driven services in smart cities and the developed architecture can be used to promote urban data management. More importantly, findings from this study provide guidelines to municipalities to improve data driven services for smart city planning and design. Research limitations/implications Feedback as qualitative data from practitioners provided evidence on how data driven strategies can be achieved in smart cities. However, the model is not validated. Hence, quantitative data is needed to further validate the enablers that influence data driven services in smart city planning and design. Practical implications Findings from this study offer practical insights and real-life evidence to define data driven enablers in smart cities and suggest research propositions for future studies. Additionally, this study develops a real conceptualization of data driven method for municipalities to foster open data and digital service innovation for smart city development. Social implications The main findings of this study suggest that data governance, interoperability, data security and risk assessment influence data driven services in smart cities. This study derives propositions based on the developed model that identifies enablers for actualization of data driven services for smart cities planning and design. Originality/value This study explores the enablers of data driven strategies in smart city and further developed an architecture and model that can be adopted by municipalities to structure their urban data initiatives for improving data driven services to make cities smarter. The developed model supports municipalities to manage data used from different sources to support the design of data driven services provided by different enterprises that collaborate in urban environment.acceptedVersio

Empowering citizens towards the co-creation of sustainable cities

Urban ecosystems are becoming one of the most potentially attractive scenarios for innovating new services and technologies. In parallel, city managers, urban utilities and other stakeholders are fostering the intensive use of advanced technologies aiming at improving present city performance and sustainability. The deployment of such technology entails the generation of massive amounts of information which in many cases might become useful for other services and applications. Hence, aiming at taking advantage of such massive amounts of information and deployed technology as well as breaking down the potential digital barrier, some easy-to-use tools have to be made available to the urban stakeholders. These tools integrated in a platform, operated directly or indirectly by the city, provide a singular opportunity for exploiting the concept of connected city whilst promoting innovation in all city dimensions and making the co-creation concept a reality, with an eventual impact on government policies.This work would not have been possible without the contribution of the OrganiCity team, which has been partially funded by the European Union, under the grant agreement No. 645198 of the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program

Hearing the voice of citizens in smart city design:The CitiVoice framework

In the last few years, smart cities have attracted considerable attention because they are considered a response to the complex challenges that modern cities face. However, smart cities often do not optimally reach their objectives if the citizens, the end-users, are not involved in their design. The aim of this paper is to provide a framework to structure and evaluate citizen participation in smart cities. By means of a literature review from different research areas, the relevant enablers of citizen participation are summarized and bundled in the proposed CitiVoice framework. Then, following the design science methodology, the content and the utility of CitiVoice are validated through the application to different smart cities and through in-depth interviews with key Belgian smart city stakeholders. CitiVoice is used as an evaluation tool for several Belgian smart cities allowing drawbacks and flaws in citizens’ participation to be discovered and analysed. It is also demonstrated how CitiVoice can act as a governance tool for the ongoing smart city design of Namur (Belgium) to help define the citizen participation strategy. Finally, it is used as a comparison and creativity tool to compare several cities and design new means of participation.status: publishe

Factors influence the development of information system strategies in Finnish smart cities

This study is initiated by the global phenomena of growth of smart cities based on urbanization and the accompanying prediction for digital changes in cities, demographic of the population and in information system strategies related to future cities. The aim of the study is to study the phenomena trough the achievements of the Innovatiiviset kaupungit (INKA) and Kuutoskaupungit (6AIKA) projects previously implemented in Finland to increase and evaluate the understanding of the strategic factors that influences the development of information systems of Finnish smart cities. The research will focus on exploring the issue through stakeholders that are influencing smart city planning. A similar development of urbanization is predicted to follow Finland as well, it is estimated that by 2040, most of the Finnish population 90% will live in urban agglomerations. At the same time the digitalization in the world will continue, urbanization, ecological and public sustainability gaps will require more attention in the future as well as reorganization. In this thesis we study the factors that influence the planning of information systems strategies for Finnish smart cities. Planning that guides the work of different actors in the future, how to support citizens that live in cities more involved in development and what methods are used to manage the knowledge of a smart city. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that effect in the information system strategies of a smart city. Information systems pretend to be designed to meet strategic objectives. Who are involved in the planning and what is their role? In this thesis, we start the examination from the phenomena of smart city development in Finland. The study has been carried out as a traditional literature review, supplemented by a qualitative and an interpretative case study and interviewing 6AIKA city representatives, system suppliers and technology experts. A comparison of INKA and 6AIKA projects which were previously project for Finnish cities, has been used as ground source of data. Literature research has been complemented by researching international smart city studies and information system strategies. Information systems being formal socio-technical organizational systems for collecting, processing, storing, and sharing information, have a role in organize the actions, from a socio-technical perspective, information systems consist of tasks, people, structure, and technology. Information system scanning is defined as the integration of components for the collection, storage and processing of data, the data of which is used to generate data, add data, and use digital products that facilitate decision-making. The research has brought following implications: cities operate primarily in the role of enabler and not directly produce the necessary information systems themselves, instead outsource the production to selected partners of their choice, often to solve single use cases rather than resolve larger systems. The internal autonomy of the city departments tends to decentralize information systems more than combine them, one single design model was not found to be in use, instead several information systems were found in use. Another founding is the lower-than3expected level of participation of urban residents in the co-creation of services for them. The fourth argument is the disconnection of different expert areas, even though the strategic objective is to achieve the same outcome that is stated in the city strategy. KEYWORDS: Smart cities, information systems, strategies, stakeholders, urbanizationTämän tutkimuksen alullepanija on maailmanlaajuinen kaupungistumisen kasvu ja sen mukana tuomat tietoyhteiskunnan muutostarpeet. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena on tutkia Suomessa aikaisemmin toteutettujen Innovatiiviset kaupungit INKA ja Kuutoskaupungit 6AIKA projektien saavutuksia ja lisätä ymmärrystä niistä yksittäisistä strategisista tekijöistä, jotka vaikuttavat Suomalaisten älykaupunkien tietojärjestelmien kehittämiseen. Tutkimuksessa keskitytään tutkimaan asiaa älykaupunkien tietojärjestelmien suunnitteluun vaikuttavien sidosryhmien kautta. Kaupungistumisen ennustetaan kehittyvän myös Suomessa. On ennustettu, että vuonna 2040 suurin osa 90 % Suomalisista tulee asumaan kaupunkimaisissa taajamissa, samaan aikaan maailman digitalisaatio kehitys jatkuu ja samalla sekä kaupungistuminen, ekologinen että julkinen kestävyysvaje nähdään vaativan enemmän huomiota ja osittain uudelleen järjestämistä. Tässä tutkielmassa tarkastellaan niitä tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat Suomalaisten älykkäiden kaupunkien tietojärjestelmien strategioiden suunnitteluun. Suunnitteluun, jolla ohjataan eri sidosryhmien työtä tulevaisuudessa. Miten kaupungeissa asuvat kansalaiset saadaan kiinteämmin osallistumaan kehitykseen ja millaisilla tekijöillä älykkään kaupungin tietoa hallitaan. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoite on tuoda esiin niitä lähtökohtia, joista tulevaisuuden älykaupunkien tietojärjestelmät voidaan suunnitella vastaamaan strategisia tavoitteita, ketkä suunnitteluun osallistuvat ja millaisissa rooleissa. Tässä opinnäytetyössä tutkimme asiaa Suomessa yleisesti käynnissä olevan älykaupunki kehityksen kautta. Tutkimus on toteutettu perinteisenä kirjallisuustutkimuksena, jota on täydennetty kvalitatiivisella haastattelututkimuksella tapaustutkimukseksi, haastattelemalla 6AIKA kaupungin edustajia, järjestelmätoimittajia ja teknologia asiantuntijoita. Lähdeaineistona on käytetty Suomalaisista kaupungeissa aikaisemmin toteutetuista INKA ja 6AIKA hankkeista julkaistuja raportteja. Kirjallisuustutkimusta on täydennetty ajankohtaisilla kansainvälisillä älykaupunkitutkimuksilla. Tietojärjestelmät ovat muodollisia Sosioteknisiä organisaatiojärjestelmiä tiedon keräämiseksi, käsittelemiseksi, tallentamiseksi ja jakamiseksi. Sosio-teknisestä näkökulmasta tietojärjestelmät koostuvat tehtävistä, ihmisistä, rakenteesta ja tekniikasta. Tietojärjestelmäskannaus määritellään tietojen keräämiseen, tallentamiseen ja käsittelyyn tarkoitettujen komponenttien integraatioksi, jonka tietoja käytetään tiedon tuottamiseen, tiedon lisäämiseen sekä päätöksentekoa helpottavien digitaalisien tuotteiden käyttämisellä. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin seuraavia keskeisiä vaikuttimia, 1) kaupungit ovat ensisijaisesti tilaajan roolissa ja eivät itse suoraan tai harvoin toteuta tarvittavia tietojärjestelmiä. Vaan toimeksi antavat ne valitsemilleen kumppaneille, usein ratkaisemaan ensisijaisesti 5 yhtä käyttötapausta. 2) Samaan aikaan kaupungin sisäinen hallinnon autonomia eri osastojen välillä hajauttaa tietojärjestelmien suunnittelua enemmän kuin yhdistää niitä, myöskään yhtä standardisoitua suunnittelumallia ei havaittu olevan tutkimuksen aikana käytössä, sen sijaan havaittiin useassa tapauksessa käytössä olevan useita suunnittelu malleja ja tietojärjestelmiä. 3) Havaintona on myös kaupunkilaisten oletettua matalampi osallistumistaso heitä koskevien palveluiden suunnitteluun. 4) Havainto on eri asiantuntija alueiden toisiinsa kytkeytyminen tai irrallisuus huolimatta siitä, että tavoitteena on palvella samaa strategista lopputavoitetta. Näistä syistä tutkimuksessa keskitytään strategisiin syihin, jotka vaikuttavat tietojärjestelmien suunnitteluun. AVAINSANAT: Älykkäät kaupungit, strategia, sidosryhmät, tietojärjestelmät, kaupunkikehity

Exploring knowledge management perspectives in smart city research: a review and future research agenda

There is a growing body of literature calling for work on the emerging role of smart cities as information hubs and knowledge repositories. This article reviews the existing smart city literature and integrates knowledge management perspectives to provide an overview of future research directions. By demonstrating the multi-stakeholder relationships involved in smart city development, it takes a crucial step towards looking into the role of knowledge management in future smart city research. Eighty-two peer-reviewed publications were analyzed covering smart city studies in various research domains. The systematic review identifies five different themes: strategy and vision, frameworks, enablers and inhibitors, citizen participation, and benefits. These themes form the basis for developing a future research agenda focused on knowledge sharing and co-learning among cities via three research directions: socio-technical approaches, knowledge sharing perspectives and organizational learning capabilities. The paper also proposes a series of knowledge-driven policy recommendations to contribute towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Citizen-Centric Data Services for Smarter Cities

Smart Cities use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to manage more efficiently the resources and services offered by a city and to make them more approachable to all its stakeholders (citizens, companies and public administration). In contrast to the view of big corporations promoting holistic “smart city in a box” solutions, this work proposes that smarter cities can be achieved by combining already available infrastructure, i.e., Open Government Data and sensor networks deployed in cities, with the citizens’ active contributions towards city knowledge by means of their smartphones and the apps executed in them. In addition, this work introduces the main characteristics of the IES Cities platform, whose goal is to ease the generation of citizen-centric apps that exploit urban data in different domains. The proposed vision is achieved by providing a common access mechanism to the heterogeneous data sources offered by the city, which reduces the complexity of accessing the city’s data whilst bringing citizens closely to a prosumer (double consumer and producer) role and allowing to integrate legacy data into the cities’ data ecosystem.The European Union’s Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme has supported this work under grant agreement No. 325097

ICT-enabled co-production of public services: Barriers and enablers. A systematic review

ABSTRACT: Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are being heralded by governments and international organizations as a means of augmenting co-production of public services and a number of major initiatives are being rolled out around the world. In parallel to these activities, a body of scholarly work is emerging that investigates the extent to which ICTs enable, or, pose a barrier to, public service co-production. This paper performs the first systematic review of this emerging literature, and provides insights into the main structural and cultural factors which act as an enabler of, or barrier to, ICT-enabled co-production across government and citizens world-wide.The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 726755

(Re)prioritizing citizens in ‘smart cities’ governance: Examples of smart citizenship form India

By examining the community-focused informatics work of Transparent Chennai (TC) (India) we seek to contrast the Smart Cities agenda — with its focus on the consumption and commercialization of digital technologies and infrastructure — to citizen-driven approaches, what we term, Smart Citizenship. A Smart Citizenship approach engages citizens in complementary digitally mediated and face-to-face processes that respect local knowledge systems. We devise a framework for understanding Smart Citizenship and link this to our case study of Transparent Chennai. Our research identifies how information and communication technologies (ICTs) can serve to spotlight overlooked or undervalued urban infrastructural, planning and environmental issues — such as the need for access to safe and clean public toilets; road safety and pro-pedestrian planning. We conclude by suggesting that a locally grounded Smart Citizenship agenda can reprioritize the needs and interests of local communities and neighbourhoods in urban governance, rather than those of exclusivist private commercial interests