Cities should engage more their citizens in their change process of becoming smarter
It’s high time that cities started involving their own citizens in designing their future together, propose experts at Smart cities conference – here’s why.
We are headed to a new era of urbanisation. More than half of people in the world are now living in urban areas and it is predicted that by 2050 about 75% of the world’s population will live in cities. To meet the challenges of urban population growth, cities around the world are seeking to reinvent themselves, aiming to be able to respond to their citizens needs.
Citizens are usually involved late in the process of smart city development, mainly invited to verify requirements, designs, and prototypes that have already been produced or used as sensors or data collectors. Designers are the ones who govern and drive the process, whereas citizens have a rather passive role.
An improved approach should consider citizens as active agents (actors) within the development process of a Smart City. They can collaborate in co-creating Smart Cities together with the private sector, governments and knowledge institutes following the quadruple helix approach. Citizens can bring a lot of value to the table when they are part of the design and innovation process, taking innovative initiatives, communicating them to their city government and developing them together.
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CO-CREATING SMART CITIES TOGETHER WITH CITIZENS – Bax & Company
