Smart City = Community Digital Disruption at scale?

These days, I was wondering what a smart city is and why we should be getting involved. A friend of mine said that for her smart city was an IT project, not an Economic Development priority. she went on to list the typical topics that Cisco, IBM and other international ICT companies are advocating for. She referenced things like smart parking, LED lighting, sensors and public safety cameras that are commonly identified as smart city technologies.

While this made me realize that for most people the Smart Community, Smart City or Smart Region was about IT, Infrastructure services or even sustainability outcomes. Indeed, Smart cities is about all of those things above, but as far as I am concerned, smart city is also an Economic Development priority.

The implementation of the Smart City is about digital disruption at scale for our local community, city, region. Just as Google redefined our searching patterns through internet, Facebook initiated a social media revolution, Netflix let our online video access much easier and Xero changed our traditional accounting models, now it is time for us to challenge how our communities and cities are operated, managed and accessed.

So what is in Smart City for our community?

• increased land and leasing values
• expanded revenue streams
• cost reductions in service delivery and maintenance
• improved business environments and the community quality
• capital works decision making improvement and service selection facilitation through big data
• genuine real time information for decision making and safer communities

Above all else, on the one hand, it becomes a question of investment attraction. On the other hand, as the digital revolution is disrupting both the social and economic paradigm, the challenge is to design smart community digital disruption solutions to deliver to both social “infrastructure” as well as economic needs for the benefit of the community as a whole, thus we should think about it:

Will our community have the capacity to draw new investment and jobs expansion if it is not competitive, agile and responsive to the rapidly changing digital economy? If we don’t adapt and integrate smart technologies and digital economy solutions will we have the capacity to hold investment and jobs? or maintain the social services which make us a community?

Moreover, I think one of the advantages Smart City brings us is attitude. Smart Cities will help foster, attract and retain innovation. Entrepreneurs will thrive in a city that embraces the fundamental elements of being ‘smart’ and that has the tools and skill sets to help them achieve their goals. A truly smart city will implement these tools to attract the skill sets to generate growth, opportunity and prosperity for the whole community.

Indeed, it is a period of unparalleled disruption for Smart Cities, and it is time to Rethink Everything!