The digital urban challenge. Intelligent response and smart governance of cities.

Abstract

This book argues and demonstrates that intelligent responses of cities (or urban agglomerations) to the multiplicity of urban challenges in our century need evidence-based and well informed smart strategies and initiatives. Contemporaneous digital communication technology will not only enhance the quality of life and of governance in modern cities, but will also provide a positive contribution to broader spatial - sometimes even global - connectivity advantages of cities. Modern city life is clearly increasingly influenced by the far-reaching potential of digital technology. This new trend has not only impacted the management of urban services, but also spatial behavior of people. In the digital era people tend to become more mobile and footloose. Despite the currently popular ‘death of distance’ concept, the current trend in geography and demography is rather the opposite: a rising share of the people on our planet chooses urban agglomerations as their home. The concept of ‘smart cities’ has recently become a new fashion in urban sciences and policies. Smart cities aim to offer the highest possible performance in terms of the economy, ecology, social inclusion and accessibility of the city. A necessary vehicle for a city to become a smart city is an intensive tailor-made use of ICT, in particular digital technology. This holds for sustainable energy policy, smart waste treatment, an innovative business climate, and intelligent transport management and logistics. Such smart or intelligent cities should make a difference! This is where cyber technology will play a prominent role in the future, as this will affect the policies for urban agglomerations, not only in terms of e-democracy but also in terms of management of public spaces in the city. Smart cities will call for new and advanced functionalities. This book argues that a intelligent and smart approach supported by ICT will become a critical complementary vehicle for pro-active strategic urban policy and planning that is solidly grounded in empirical realities in a global urbanized environment. The use of volumes of ‘big data‘ supported by intelligent systems - for instance, so-called ‘urban i-dashboards’ - may help to identify and explore important patterns and trends in urban evolution. The intelligence approach advocated in the present study offers a convincing case for a novel view on the need for quantitative assessment instruments so as to map out the broader action arena of the ‘century of cities’.