4 Key Principles for Smart City Solutions

Selecting the right smart city solutions is difficult. There are a lot of new, innovative and exciting technologies being developed around the world. The challenge lies in seeing past the dazzling tech and selecting solutions that give the most value and provide the best return on investment from financial, economic and political points of view. In this blog post we run through 4 key principles to help select solutions right for your city.  

Improvements in the urban experience will be accomplished by implementing smart solutions that are aligned with these four key principles:

1. Smart cities are experience-oriented: Citizens only show up to have an experience or receive a service, not to plan it or purchase it.
2. Smart cities adopt a solutions-oriented approach: Cities build on the lessons of the past and apply technology specifically to address problems, instead of investing in IT for IT's sake, or projects which never get at the issues to be solved.
3. Smart cities are fully digitized: All services and infrastructure are optimized for a mobile-first population, with physical backup services for those without digital access.
4. Smart city services and infrastructure are seamlessly interconnected: Services are accessed through mobile device apps using deeplinking APIs and software development kits (SDKs). This will connect ecosystems of best-of-breed city services breaking down service/operator silos, and is facilitated by infrastructure providers and cities sharing data and linking services for the benefit of all.

Whatever final form smart cities take, these are principles that will make smart city solutions work for their inhabitants.

The process has already begun in different cities around the world, both for adapting existing infrastructure to smart uses and completely rethinking how traditional systems can be implemented in a new urban area. Examples of these can be found in the paper: Smart City Principles to Prepare for 2050: A Guide to Assessing Smart City Solutions