Over the past seven years, the smart city approach has changed fundamentally in terms of the strategies that cities and communities have chosen as a pathway for transformation. Driven by technology providers in the early years, governments as leaders of the smart city movement have later understood that technology is “only” the enabler for reaching governmental, economic and societal goals.
Today, smart city strategies still consider technology as an enabler, but governments have learned that top-down initiatives are not a prerequisite for success. Drivers for success are collaborative and participative human-centric approaches. If a city or community wants to become smarter, it should take the needs and problems of its customers – most of all their citizens – into account.
The shift in the smart city evolution has been discussed often and we believe it is an important insight. One recent article on this topic has been written by Dustin Haisler for GOVTECH.com on the latest trends discussed at Smart Cities Connect Conference 2017.
At bee smart city we agree with the necessity of a shift towards human-centric approaches. In our article Smart City Evolution: A Review of Becoming a Smart City we cover the evolutionary phases of smart cities. Often, a human-centric smart city is also referred to as a "senseable city". Based on this evolution and our professional experience, we believe there is the need for a new paradigm in smart city development. You can read more about it in our article Towards a New Paradigm of the Smart City.
Key takeaways are from our perspective:
- Recognizing the need for citizen-centric approaches in smart cities
- Shifting the focus from technology to utilizing collective intelligence as the most relevant success factor
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Read related Articles:
- Rise of the Smartivist: The Importance of Smart Citizens in Smart Cities
- How Smart Citizens accelerate Smart City Development
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