Smart Cities, Made by Citizens

Crowdsourcing Smart Ci1es ______________

Olga Gil

Ciudades Inteligentes Construídas con ciudadanos ______________

@OlgaG [email protected]

INDEX ____________________________

Mapping Water Car Sharing Appliances and Gadgets Sharing Crowdfixing UK City Management Apps Beijing Crowdmaking Policy CrowdbudgeLng and Opening up Decision Making Planning Traffic Management Rethinking ciLes with the ciLzens How to run a people–centred smart city pilot The four flaws with the smart city vision Lessons for city governments

Olga Gil

Mapping… i.e. urban flooding and air polluLon ____________________________

Olga Gil

Mapping ____________________________

•  People are using digital technology to measure and map their ciLes.

•  Individuals and community groups can use low–cost kits and upload the data to create crowdsourced maps.

•  This data could be used to supplement professional networks in the near future.

Olga Gil

Water ____________________________

A real– Lme map of flooding in the city created by crowdsourcing flood reports from TwiXer.

Olga Gil

Car Sharing ____________________________ In Seoul, South Korea, the city government is helping residents make beXer use of the things they own with the Sharing City Seoul iniLaLve.

hXps://www.socar.kr

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Appliances and Gadgets Sharing ____________________________ In Seoul, South Korea, the city government is helping residents make beXer use of the things they own with the Sharing City Seoul iniLaLve.

hXp://billiji.com

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Crowdfixing UK ____________________________

Residents can use the app to report issues such as broken streetlights and potholes to the city governments. hXps://www.fixmystreet.com

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City Management Apps Beijing ____________________________

In 2012 Beijing launches new city management app: Beijing Bureau of City Administra1on and Law Enforcement launched an iPhone applica1on that allow residents of the city to par1cipate through a mobile plaJorm, Song Gang, the bureau’s Director of Informa1on Systems and Equipment Services. The Bureau’s law enforcement responsibili1es cover a wide spectrum: environment management, river management, pollu1on control, sanita1on, street vendor management, outdoor adver1sement, car park management, dispute resolu1on and ‘low-‐level crimes’. All of these are closely related to the daily life and livelihood of the 20 million residents in the metropolis. The app, called “I love Beijing” (我爱北京), is an extension of the GIS-‐based integrated service plaJorm (hXp://map.bjcg.gov.cn). Both channels allow residents to locate nearby city administra1on agencies and law enforcers, correct errors in GIS map, make complaints and reports, as well as provide advices and sugges1ons. The Bureau has established a three 1er structure for city management and law enforcement covering the municipal, district and neighbourhood levels. It has also built close working rela1onships among frontline law enforcement agents, neighbourhood offices and resident councils. This is integrated with the web (and now mobile) engagement channel as well as a hotline. The aim is “to ensure that the city is ul1mately managed by the residents themselves.” Allows to include informa1on on informal markets with opening 1mes, new markets and what type of goods they sell.

Olga Gil

Crowdmaking Policy ____________________________ BeXer Reykjavik enables ciLzens to voice, debate and prioriLze ideas to improve their city, creaLng open discourse between community members and city council and also giving the voters a direct influence on decision making. hXps://betrireykjavik.is

Olga Gil

CrowdbudgeLng ____________________________ In Paris, ‘Madame Mayor, I have an idea’ is a crowdsourcing and parLcipatory budgeLng process that lets ciLzens propose and vote on ideas for projects in Paris. The process will allocate 500m Euros between 2014 and 2020.

hXps://idee.paris.fr/

Opening up decission making

Olga Gil

Planning ____________________________ In Bangalore, local NGO the MOD InsLtute enabled residents to create a community vision for the future of the Shanthingar neighbourhood of the city by encouraging online debate.

hXp://www.mod.org.in

Bringing people into the planning process

Olga Gil

Traffic management ____________________________ In Jakarta, residents can use TwiXer to organise shared car journeys to work.

Jakarta

hXps://twiXer.com/nebengers

Olga Gil

Traffic management ____________________________ In Jakarta, the Nebengers TwiXer account has 83,000 followers and re–Tweets 1,000 requests for ride shares each day. This could contribute to easing traffic woes in the city if the plagorm conLnues to grow.

Jakarta

hXp://www.nebengers.com

Olga Gil

Rethinking ciLes with the ciLzens ____________________________

How can ciLes effecLvely harness the power of ciLzens through digital technologies? Four emerging methods are helping city governments to do this, powered by: •  the growing ubiquity of smartphones, •  the increasing preference for online transacLons, •  the emergence of low–cost hardware and peer–to–peer

technologies.

Olga Gil


• The collaboraLve economy: ConnecLng distributed groups of people, using the internet and digital technologies, to make beXer use of goods, skills and space. This is important in ciLes where resources, parLcularly space, are limited.

Four emerging methods

Olga Gil


• Crowdsourcing data: People can use low–cost sensors to measure and create crowdsourced maps of their environments. City governments can crowdsource data from social media sites and sensors in mobile phones, as a supplement to city–wide Internet of Things networks.


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• CollecLve intelligence: Decision making and problem solving are usually lel to experts, yet ciLzens know a huge amount about their ciLes. New digital tools make it easier for people to get involved in policymaking, planning and budgeLng, and this could help ciLes make smarter and more democraLc decisions.


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• Crowdfunding: People can connect with each other online to collaboraLvely fund community projects and city governments can use crowdfunding to make spending decisions that more accurately reflect the needs and wishes of ciLzens.


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• The collaboraLve economy • Crowdsourcing data • CollecLve intelligence • Crowdfunding


Olga Gil

How to run a people–centred smart city pilot ____________________________ 1. Set up a civic innovaLon lab to drive innovaLon in collaboraLve technologies

Primary goal should be genera1ng evidence about which models can most effec1vely harness the power of collabora1ve technologies– an area of work that is currently underdeveloped. Examples: The Seoul Innova1on Bureau Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM), two examples of how a civic innova1on lab could work. Na1onal governments should also consider seang up a civic labs network, to support knowledge sharing between individual labs.

hXp://english.seoul.go.kr/policy-‐informa1on/key-‐policies/city-‐ini1a1ves/4-‐social-‐innova1on/ hXp://newurbanmechanics.org/boston

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How to run a people–centred smart city pilot ____________________________ 2. Use open data and open plagorms to mobilize collecLve knowledge Support open source collaboraLve technologies, such as those developed by OpenPlans, rather than developing proprietary tools from scratch. This will contribute to the crea1on of common tools that all ci1es can draw on. Open up problem solving to ciLzens, using online tools that let people debate ideas and decide which of them get implemented rather than simply asking for sugges1ons. BeXer Reykjavik is an example of how to do this. Open up data to the public to help generate innovaLve soluLons to urban challenges, but pay equal aXen1on to finding produc1ve uses for the data. For example, the Open Data Challenges bringing businesses, community groups and city governments together to develop new ways of using city data. Involve smaller companies and civil society organisaLons in smart city pilots, as they are oeen behind some of the most inspiring digital solu1ons. The UK’s Small Business Research Ini1a1ve (SBRI) helps small innova1ve companies access public R&D projects and such ini1a1ves could be used in smart city pilots.

Olga Gil

How to run a people–centred smart city pilot ____________________________

3. Take human behaviour as seriously as technology

The smart city vision olen fails to recognise the role that behaviour and culture play in the way ciLes work. New technologies and data streams will only be beneficial if they are accompanied by changes in culture – a greater willingness to engage with data, incorporate new technologies into tradiLonal workflows and to embrace the potenLal of ‘boXom–up’ soluLons. Unsustainable paXerns of living – such as the heavy use of resources or private transport – undermine data and technology–led efforts to make ciLes more sustainable. Alongside investments in hardware, city governments should promote the collaboraLve economy, where people can access the things they need, but only occasionally use. City governments should look to the example of Seoul, which has supported a range of collaboraLve economy iniLaLves.

Olga Gil


Peerby, a website and app that launched in 2012 to enable people to request and share items with their neighbours. The company has over 100,000 users a month, mainly in Amsterdam, London, Brussels and Berlin.

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How to run a people–centred smart city pilot ____________________________ BlockPooling, a social network for communi1es in Singapore, set up in 2013 with a grant from the Government, to enable neighbours to share belongings and offer or ask for services. The service has the twin goals of strengthening communi1es in Singapore and making more efficient use of resources.

Olga Gil


4. Invest in smart people, not just smart technology

Without the ability to interpret data and understand how and why it is collected, there is a serious risk that it will be misinterpreted or ignored by city government employees. City governments should invest in training to give all staff a baseline understanding of data handling as well as hiring data specialists with advanced skills. A smart ciLes pilot should also invest in digital skills for ciLzens. Successful programmes include: CoderDojo, a global movement of community–based programming clubs for young people, and ‘hackathons’ organised by the Singapore Government, which teach people how to use open data.

Olga Gil


5. Spread the potenLal of collaboraLve technologies to all parts of society Collabora1ve technologies require connected ci1zens. However not everyone uses a smartphone, has internet access or the 1me to engage with their city governments.

Communi1es that are underserved by these technologies are usually the elderly, the young, the sick and the poor. When suppor1ng and pilo1ng collabora1ve technologies, ci1es should explore ways to expand their poten1al to these communi1es. Working with intermediaries including community groups, chari1es and NGOs could be one way to do this.

Olga Gil

The four flaws with the smart city vision ___________________________

StarLng with technology rather than urban challenges Work on smart ci1es oeen begins with the ques1on: what uses can be found for cuang edge technologies? This is because the primary goal of smart city pilots is oeen economic development: suppor1ng companies to create and commercialise technologies that can be sold to ci1es around the world. Insufficient use or generaLon of evidence Despite the huge sums invested in smart ci1es worldwide, there is liXle published evidence showing that the solu1ons they offer help ci1es address real–world challenges. Installing sensors on infrastructure throughout the city or using data to predict traffic paXerns might make ci1es more efficient and sustainable. Alterna1vely, it might cost more than it saves, especially when maintenance is factored in. Ci1es currently have no clear guidance regarding what technologies to invest in, and this will remain the case un1l smart city pilots start sharing their findings. Lack of awareness of how others are trying to improve ciLes The smart ci1es field is oeen too insular, with technologists talking to each other, but not linking to the work that others groups are doing to address urban challenges, such as those working within city government in areas from transport and planning to economic development and public par1cipa1on. LiXle role for ciLzen engagement Many smart city strategies offer ci1zens liXle chance to engage in the design and deployment of new technologies. While ci1zens tend to be the implied beneficiaries of smart city projects, they are rarely consulted about what they want and their ability to contribute to making the city work beXer is oeen ignored.

Olga Gil

Lessons for city governments ___________________________ Implement websites and apps that allow ci1zens to send feedback and report issues to the city government. Keep in mind that ci1zens will quickly become disengaged if they feel their input is being ignored. To make sure this doesn’t happen, ci1es should develop feedback func1ons in their repor1ng apps. Explore ways to crowdsource data from social media as a supplement to city–wide sensing networks. Successful examples include PetaJakarta’s crowdsourced flood map. People that engage are usually the most affluent, educated and connected segment of a city’s popula1on. More experimenta1on and evidence is needed to iden1fy the best ways to increase par1cipa1on from a broader group of ci1zens that are more representa1ve of the whole community. The use of these technologies alone is not enough. The difficult work is not crea1ng the technology but incorpora1ng it into their exis1ng workflow.

Olga Gil

Crowdsourcing Smart Ci1es ______________

Olga Gil

Ciudades Inteligentes Construídas con ciudadanos ______________

@OlgaG [email protected]

Thank you

Smart Cities, Made by Citizens

Government & Nonprofit

Transcript of Smart Cities, Made by Citizens