Smart  Cities:  myths  and  realities    

Elisabet  Viladecans-­‐Marsal    

UB  Smart  City  Chair  Barcelona  Institute  of  Economics  -­‐  Universitat  de  Barcelona  (IEB-­‐UB)  

         

INTERNATIONAL  SUMMER  SCHOOL  “SMART  GRIDS  AND  SMART  CITIES”  

Barcelona,  6-­‐8  June  2017  

   

         

       

       

           

 

What  does  it  make  a  city  ‘smart’?      Is  it  having  Open  Data?    Is  it  about  education?      Is  it  smart  parking  bays?      Smart  lighting?    Efficient  energy?    Having  its  government  services  online?    Intelligent  transport  cards?  Free  WIFI?  UBER?  …..      

All  of  the  above?  None?    What   is   clear:   ‘Smart   cities’   is   a   multidisciplinary   topic   regarding:   engineering,  information   technology,   architecture,   environmental   science,   economics,  geography,…    

   

ROAD  MAP:    0)  Why  do  we  care  about  cities?  Are  cities  that  important?    

 1)  The  origin  of  the  ‘Smart  City’  concept  (or  when  a  big  tech  company  did  a  terrific  marketing  campaign)  

 2) The  current  definition  (one  of  them):  what  is  a  ‘smart  city’  ?  

 3) Can  we  measure  the  ‘smartness’  of  a  city?  (Methods,  Indicators  &  

Rankings)    4) Big  Data  &  Smart  cities:  the  current  challenge  

 5)  Conclusions  &  Policy  implications  

       

 

0  –  Why  do  we  care  about  cities?  Are  cities  that  important?      Cities  are:   “our  greatest  invention(s)”  really  have  the  potential  to  make  us  all  “richer,  smarter,  greener,  healthier  and  happier”      

 Edward  Glaeser  in  ‘The  triumph  of  cities’  (2011)  

 What  determines  cities’  growth?      “workers  are  more  productive  in  big  cities”  (Duranton  &  Puga,  2014)    

Why?  City  workers/inhabitants  enjoy  AGLOMMERATION  ECONOMIES:      

1) sharing  resources    2) efficient  matching  (firms  –  workers)  3) learning:  human  capital  &  knowledge    

 Resercah  on  cities:  Duranton,  Henderson  &  Strange  (2015)  what  is  new…    

0  –  Why  do  we  care  about  cities?  Are  cities  that  important?      THE  URBAN  PHENOMENA:  Grade  of  urbanization  (%  of  people  living  in  urban  areas)  

   1955  

 1975  

 1995  

 2015  

 2030  

               

31.6    

37.7    

44.7    

54.0    

60.0              Africa   16.1   24.7   33,1   40,4   47,1  Asia   19.3   25.0   34,8   48,2   56,3  Europe   54.3   65.4   70,5   73,6   77,0  Latin  America   45.2   60.7   73,0   79,8   83,1  North  America   67.0   73,8   77,3   81,6   84,2  Oceania   64.8   71,9   70.6   70,8   73,5              Number  of  cities:            >  300,000   354   627   1,061   1,692   >2,000  >  10  Million              (Megacities)    

2   4   14   29   ‘41’  

Source:  World  Urbanization  Prospect.  2014  Revision.  United  Nations.    

0  –  Why  do  we  care  about  cities?  Are  cities  that  important?      But  cities  could  have  also  (very)  negative  aspects:    • The  slums  of  Mumbai  and  Rio  de   Janeiro   (in   the  past,   life   in  Victorian  London,  and  New  York  150  years  ago)  

• Crime,  congestion,  pollution,  sanitation  issues…  • Concentration  of  poverty,  inequalities,  segregation,  gentrificaton…    What  about  sustainability?      1)  Cities  consume  60-­‐80%  of  energy  worldwide  +  are  responsible  for  large  shares  of  GHG  emissions  (UN  2012)  

 2)  The   lower   the  urban  density,   the  more  energy   is  consumed   for  electricity  and  transportation:  the  emissions  pc  drop  with  the  increase  of  urban  areas  density.    

This  complicated  scenario  requires  to  find  ways  to  manage  new  challenges:  What  is  the  contribution  of  the  ‘smart  cities’?  

1-­‐ The  Origin  of  the  ‘Smart  City’  concept  (or  when  a  big  tech  company  did  a  terrific  marketing  campaign)  

   • Mid   1990s:   (from   the   newspapers)   The   ‘smart   city’   term   first   appeared:   cities  randomly   labeled   themselves   as   ‘smart’   when   they   introduced   ICT  infrastructure,  e-­‐governance,…    Main  idea:  optimization  and  automation  of  urban  infrastructures  

 • 2008:   the   IBM’s   CEO   gave   a   talk   entitled   ‘A  smarter  planet:   the  next   leadership  agenda’  including  the  term  ‘smart  cities’  

 2009:   the   company   officially   files   the   term   ‘smart   cities’   and   the   trademark   was  officially  registered  as  belonging  to  IBM  (November  2011)          

1-­‐ The  Origin  of  the  ‘Smart  City’  concept  (or  when  a  big  tech  company  did  a  great  marketing  campaign)    The  marketing  language  of  IBM:  ‘to  became  smarter,  the  world  (or  the  city)  needs  to  be  instrumented,  interconnected  and  intelligent’    

ALL  IS  ABOUT  TECHNOLOGY!    IBM   strategy:   after   2004   concentrate   all   the   efforts   on   consultancy   and   software  (Sold  the  PC  division  to  the  Chinese  company  Lenovo)    

 For   IBM:   cities   as   a   huge   untapped  market   (2016:   40   bilion  USD)   and   became   the  market   leader   in   the   business   of   smart   urban   technologies   in   terms   of   sales   and  strategy    Some  literature  appeared:  Against  the  Smart  City  (2013)  or  its  corporate  view:    

‘Siemens  and  Cisco  aim  to  be  the  electrician  and  the  plumber  […]  and  IBM  their  choreographer,  superintendent,  and  oracle  tolled  into  one’    (Townsed,  2013)  

2. The  current  definition  (one  of  them):  what  is  a  ‘smart  city’  ?    MAIN   IDEA:   The   concept   of   smart  city   is   no   longer   limited   to   the   diffusion   of   new  technologies  BUT  it  looks  at  people  and  community  need:  technology  is  the  tool  not  the  result    The  concept  has  been  applied  to  different  domains:      

Hard  domain   Soft  domain  -­‐  Buildings  -­‐  Energy  Grids  -­‐  Natural  resources  -­‐  Water  and  waste  management  -­‐  Mobility  -­‐  Logistics  

-­‐  Education  -­‐  Culture  -­‐  Policy  innovations  -­‐  Social  inclusions  -­‐  Government  

ICT  has  a  decisive  role   ICT  not  decisive                                                                        Source:  Neirotti  et  el  (2014)          

Actors  involved:  1)  firms,  2)  institutions/  public  administrations,  3)  people  

Smart  city  characteristics:    

Smart  Governance   Transparency  and  open  data.  Use  of  ICT  and  e-­‐government  in  participatory  decision-­‐making  and  co-­‐created  e-­‐services  

Smart  Economy   e-­‐business   and   e-­‐commerce   (increased   productivity),   ICT-­‐enabled  innovation,  as  well  as  new  products,  new  services  and  business  models:  smart  clusters  and  eco-­‐systems    

Smart  Mobility   ICT  supported  and  integrated  transport  and  logistics,  clean  and  often   non-­‐motorised   options.   Real-­‐time   information,  improvement    commuting  efficiency,  save  costs  and  reduce  CO2  

Smart  Environment  

Smart  energy:  renewables,  ICT  enabled,  energy  grids,  metering,  pollution   control,   green   buildings   and   urban   planning,   re-­‐use  and  resource  substitution  which  serves  theabove  goals.  

Smart  People   e-­‐skills,   working   in   ICT-­‐enabled  working:   access   to   education  and   training,   human   resources   and   capacity   management,  inclusive   society   that   improves   creativity   and   fosters  innovation  

Smart  Living   Healthy   and   safe   living   in   a   culturally   vibrant   city   and  incorporates   good   quality   housing   and   accommodation.   It   is  also  linked  to  high  levels  of  social  cohesion  and  social  capital.  

Source:  Mapping  Smart  Cities  in  the  EU  (2014)  

3)  Can  we  measure  the  ‘smartness’  of  a  city?  Methods,  Indicators,  Rankings    

 Many  indexes,  rankings  and  methodologies….      1) The  EU  Project  Mapping  the  Smart  Cities  in  Europe  (2014):  sample  of  

European  cities  2) The  Intelligent  Community  Forum:  Smart  21  Communities  3) The  Global  Power  City  Index  4) The  Economist  5) The  IBM  Smart  City  Index  6) The  University  of  Vienna  7) Forbes/IESE  8) …….  

       

3)  Can  we  measure  the  ‘smartness’  of  a  city?  Methods,  Indicators,  Rankings      

City   Economy   People   Govern.   Mobility  Environment   Living   Total  

Luxembourg     1   2   13   6   25   6   1  Aarhus  (Dk)   4   1   6   9   20   12   2  Turku  (FI)   16   8   2   21   11   9   3  Aalborg  (DK)   17   4   4   11   26   11   4  Odense  (DK)   15   3   5   5   50   17   5  Tampere  (FI)   29   7   1   27   12   8   6  Oulu  (FI)   25   6   3   28   14   19   7  Eindhoven  (NL)   6   13   18   2   39   18   8  Linz  (AT)   5   25   11   14   28   7   9  Salzburg  (AT)   27   30   8   15   29   1   10  Source:  University  of  Viena.  2016.    Cities  100.000-­‐500.000  inhabitants  (70  European  cities,  excluding  the  biggest  ones)    

An  alternative  ranking  for  the  biggest  cities  in  the  world,  2017:  

 

 

 

     

Source:  Forbes  &    IESE  Cities  in  Motion  Ranking  (2017)  

   

4)  Big  Data  &  Smart  cities:  the  current  challenge    

 

   

Interest  over  time  (2013-­‐2017,    100  represents  the  peak  search  interest)  

   

 

   

 

 

4)  Big  Data  &  Smart  cities:  the  challenge    

 Big  Data:  ‘any  data  that  cannot  fit  into  an  Excel  spreadsheet’  [one  million  rows  and  a  much  lesser  number  of  columns]    There   is   a   overlapping   between   smart   cities   &   big   data:   people   in   cities   generate  tones  of  information  captured  by  sensors  in  real  time  +  geo-­‐positioning      Examples:  transportation,  energy  and  utility  flows,  …,  smart  devices:  ‘WE  PRODUCE  INFORMATION  EVERY  SECOND’    • Data,  when  collected  and  shared  properly,  can  create  opportunities,  services,  and  insights  that  can  solve  any  number  of  problems.    

 • However,  can  often  be  the  biggest  challenge:    1) privacy  and  confidentiality  2) availability  of  the  data  (again  big  tech  companies’  business)  3) technical  problems  of  treatment  

 

4)  Big  Data  &  Smart  cities:  the  challenge      Opportunities  for  research  and  city  management:    1) The  "microscope"  for  cities  

 2) Answer   old   and   new   questions   through:   More   detail   in   space   and/or   time        

(e.g.  transit  data)    3) Better  measurement  of  known  phenomena  (e.g.  WalkScore)  

 4) Reflect  new  questions  (e.g.  Internet  usage  patterns)  

 5) "Always-­‐on"   observatory   →   the   city   as   a   lab   (policy   experiments):   fast  

information,  better  reaction  to  fix  the  problems          

5)  Conclusions  &  Policy  Implications    • Urbanization/cities   represents   huge   advantages   but   also   several   diseases  (pollution,  traffic,  congestion,  waste  and  social  exclusion)  

• Local  governments  are  committed  to  face  and  solve  these  problems  to  improve  the  attractiveness  of  their  city  and  the  quality  of  life  for  citizens.    

In  terms  of  public  policies:  SMART  CITIES  NEED  SMART  CHOICES    

• Will  smart  policies  create  smart  cities  and    solve  urban  problems?  – Potentially  to  improve  productivity  /  reduce  costs    

• Cities  will  still  need  to  make  good  choices:    

– ‘Smart’  won’t  always  be  the  right  choice  – Which  infrastructure  investments?  – How  to  improve  public  service  provision?  

     

5)  Conclusions  &  Policy  Implications    

• More  research  is  needed  to  evaluate  the  impact  of  ‘smart’  policies!      

• Scholars  do  not  agree  on  whether  policies  targeted  at  very  narrow  geographical  areas   cities/neighborhoods     (i.e.,   the   so-­‐called   ‘place-­‐based’   policies)   are  effective  in  solving  these  problems.    

 • Some  policies  work  depending  on  the  needs  and  capabilities  of  each  city  and  also  on  the  specific  policy  design  used:  heterogeneous  effects  

 • So,   in   order   to   find   ‘what   works   for   urban/cities   development’,   we   need   to  perform  systematic  impact  evaluations  of  different  sorts  of  policies  implemented  in  different  types  of  places.