Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation: Case Studies, Current Trends, and Future Steps 0128188863, 9780128188866

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Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation

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Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation Case Studies, Current Trends, and Future Steps

Edited by

Hyung Min Kim Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Melbourne, Australia, [email protected]

Soheil Sabri Research Fellow in Urban Analytics, University of Melbourne, Australia, [email protected]

Anthony Kent Lecturer in Sustainability and Urban Planning, RMIT University, Australia, [email protected]

Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AS, United Kingdom 525 B Street, Suite 1650, San Diego, CA 92101, United States 50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions. This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein). Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-0-12-818886-6 For information on all Academic Press publications visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com/books-and-journals

Cover image designed by Dr. Seungbum Kim, Director, VWL Inc. Publisher: Brian Romer Acquisitions Editor: Graham Nisbet Editorial Project Manager: Danielle McClean Production Project Manager: Swapna Srinivasan Cover Designer: Victoria Pearson Typeset by SPi Global, India

Contents Contributors xiii

1.

Introduction: Being smarter for productivity, livability, and sustainability Soheil Sabri 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Asia-Pacific 1.3 Africa and the Middle East 1.4 Americas 1.5 Europe 1.6 Conclusion References

2.

1 2 4 5 6 7 7

Smart cities as a platform for technological and social innovation in productivity, sustainability, and livability: A conceptual framework Hyung Min Kim, Soheil Sabri, and Anthony Kent 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The evolution of cities from being ordinary to being smart 2.2.1 Defining smart cities 2.2.2 A historic overview of smart cities 2.2.3 Objectives of smart city making initiatives 2.2.4 Smart city making initiatives vs smart city status 2.3 Technological innovation 2.4 Social innovation 2.4.1 Social innovation: Genesis and concept 2.4.2 Citizens, social innovation and governance 2.4.3 Social innovation and smart cities 2.5 Smart city drivers and actors 2.5.1 Key drivers of the smart city making 2.5.2 Key actors of smart city making 2.6 Conclusion References

9 10 10 12 15 16 18 19 19 20 20 22 22 23 25 25

v

vi  Contents

3.

The smart city in Singapore: How environmental and geospatial innovation lead to urban livability and environmental sustainability Tian Kuay Lim, Abbas Rajabifard, Victor Khoo, Soheil Sabri, and Yiqun Chen 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 Government digital transformation in Singapore: Smart nation initiative 3.1.2 SLA’s 3D National Topographic Mapping project 3.1.3 Human-centric urban solutions for urban planning 3.2 Motivation to develop a multiscale urban microclimate tool for Singapore 3.2.1 UHI and climate change 3.2.2 Quantitative urban environment simulation tool 3.3 Intelligent environment decision support system—A 3D geospatial open standard platform 3.3.1 Outdoor thermal comfort 3.3.2 Smart urban mobility 3.3.3 Flood level impact assessment 3.4 Conclusion Acknowledgments References

4.

29 30 30 33 34 34 35 43 43 44 45 46 48 48

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities: A critical review of the Sejong smart city plan Junyoung Choi and Hyung Min Kim 4.1 Introduction 51 4.2 Development paths of Korean smart cities 52 4.2.1 Technological and urban development contexts 52 4.2.2 Earlier initiatives 53 4.2.3 Institutional evolution 55 4.3 Conceptualizing Korean smart cities 58 4.4 Sejong 5-1: The making of a Korean smart city 60 4.4.1 A background of the Sejong 5-1 Neighborhood 60 4.4.2 Plans for Sejong 5-1 61 4.4.3 Seven strategic themes 62 4.5 Critical evaluation of the Sejong 5-1 plan 66 4.5.1 Is it value for money? 66 4.5.2 Is ICT an ultimate solution for urban challenges? 67 4.5.3 Is the plan flexible enough for future technological evolution? 68 4.5.4 Are smart cities only for smart people? 68 4.5.5 Is the role of government and private sectors collaborative? 69 4.5.6 Is the new smart city on a greenfield site sustainable? 69 4.6 Conclusion 70 References 70

Contents vii

5.

Japanese smart cities and communities: Integrating technological and institutional innovation for Society 5.0 Brendan F.D. Barrett, Andrew DeWit, and Masaru Yarime 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Development of Japanese smart cities/communities 5.2.1 Government-led smart cities 5.2.2 Joint venture smart cities 5.2.3 Fujisawa sustainable smart town 5.2.4 Kashiwa-no-ha smart city 5.2.5 Aizuwakamatsu smart community 5.2.6 Hamamatsu smart city 5.3 Policy framework—Core supports 5.4 Institutional framework—Key actors 5.5 Discussion 5.6 Conclusions References Further reading

6.

73 75 77 78 80 80 81 81 82 85 89 91 92 94

“Being first comes naturally”: The smart city and progressive urbanism in Australia Ian McShane 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Theorizing smart cities and smart infrastructure 6.3 Australian government and smart city policy 6.3.1 The Australian government’s smart cities plan 6.4 An Australian first? The City of Adelaide’s smart city project 6.4.1 Setting the scene 6.4.2 From Citylan to the 10 gigabit city 6.4.3 Adelaide’s City Deal 6.4.4 Selling innovation 6.5 Conclusion References

7.

95 97 98 99 101 101 103 105 107 110 111

Understanding stakeholder perceptions in smart cities: Applying a Q methodology to the Smart Gusu project in China Joon Sik Kim and Yanru Feng 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Smart city practice in China 7.3 Case study: Smart Gusu project 7.4 Research method: Q methodology 7.5 Implementation of Q methodology 7.5.1 Identification of the “concourse” 7.5.2 Definition of Q statements 7.5.3 Implementation of Q sorting

115 118 119 121 123 123 123 125

viii  Contents 7.6 Q analysis and research findings 7.6.1 Factor analysis 7.6.2 Interpretation of the factors 7.7 Conclusions Acknowledgment References

8.

126 126 126 130 131 132

Urban form, the use of ICT and smart cities in Vietnam Ha Minh Hai Thai, Hung Tan Khuat, and Hyung Min Kim 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Location, formality, and smartness 8.3 Smart city missions in Vietnam 8.4 Smart devices and e-commerce in Vietnam 8.5 (Case study 1) Old Quarter: Living in hidden locations and smart homestay businesses 8.6 (Case study 2) new urban area: Social media platforms and the peer-to-peer economy 8.7 (Case study 3) regional area: Binh Duong Smart City, a branding trick? 8.8 (Case study 4) a traditional rural village: Revitalization via mural paintings, community-stay, and social media 8.9 Conclusion Acknowledgments References

9.

137 139 141 142 143 145 147 150 153 153 154

Smart urban development strategies in Africa? An analysis of multiple rationalities for Accra’s City Extension Project Prosper Issahaku Korah 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Ghanaian urban and economic growth trajectory 9.2.1 Urbanization and complex challenges confronting Ghanaian cities 9.2.2 Analytical framework 9.3 Study context and methodology 9.3.1 Overview of the Accra City Extension Project (ACEP) 9.3.2 Methodology 9.4 Understanding the emergence of ACEP 9.4.1 Discourses and rationale for ACEP 9.4.2 Stakeholder participation and ownership of ACEP 9.4.3 Resources for the ACEP 9.4.4 Implementation and governance 9.5 Discussion and conclusion References

157 160 162 165 166 166 167 169 169 170 173 175 176 178

Contents ix

10. Smart Dubai IoT strategy: Aspiring to the promotion of happiness for residents and visitors through a continuous commitment to innovation Soheil Sabri 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Platforms and initiatives to facilitate technological and social innovation 10.3 Formalization: Historical development paths of the smart city in Dubai 10.4 Change process: Dubai’s city-wide transformation into a smart city 10.5 Social outcomes: Becoming the happiest city on earth 10.6 Discussion and conclusion References

181 183 186 187 189 189 191

11. The circulation of the Smart City imaginary in the Chilean context: A case study of a collaborative platform for governing security Martin Tironi and Camila Albornoz 11.1 Introduction 11.2 The emergence of the idea of smartness 11.3 Being and doing smart through experimentation and pilot projects 11.4 The circuit of the Smart City in Chile: An ambiguous and polysomic catalyst 11.4.1 The Smart City as technological enterprise and innovation in the city 11.4.2 A Smart City with a citizen air 11.4.3 The Smart City from the state 11.5 Platform-based ecosystem of security: The Case of SoSafe 11.5.1 SoSafe: A platform for coordinating urban safety 11.5.2 Programmers’ work: Projecting urban life 11.5.3 Negotiation with municipalities 11.5.4 The users: What happened with my report? 11.6 Final remarks: The emerging of platform urbanism? Acknowledgments References

195 197 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 207 208 208 211 213 213

12. Smart city technologies in the USA: Smart grid and transportation initiatives in Columbus, Ohio Matthew Cocks and Nicholas Johnson 12.1 Introduction 12.2 History and context of smart urbanism in the U.S. 12.2.1 Strategic planning for smart cities 12.2.2 Governance and funding for smart cities

217 218 221 221

x  Contents 12.3 The smart grid 12.3.1 Background 12.3.2 Internet of things 12.4 Case study: Columbus, Ohio 12.4.1 Smart grid funding and implementation in Columbus 12.5 Conclusion References

225 225 227 228 228 238 239

13. Building the future city Glasgow Julie T. Miao 13.1 Introduction 13.2 The development of smart thinking in the UK 13.3 National policy towards smart cities in Scotland 13.4 Glasgow future city program 13.5 Conclusion References

247 248 250 253 260 263

14. Autonomous vehicles and smart cities: A case study of Singapore Vincent Ng and Hyung Min Kim 14.1 Introduction: Why do autonomous vehicles matter? 265 14.2 Issues: Will AVs bring social innovation or disorder? 267 14.2.1 Safety 267 14.2.2 Livability: Congestion, comfort, and cost 269 14.2.3 Productivity: Car parking and economic restructuring 270 14.2.4 Environmental sustainability 272 14.2.5 Governance and public policy: Data privacy, ethical issues, and public transport integration 273 14.3 AVs in practice: A case study of Singapore 274 14.3.1 Policy and legislation 275 14.3.2 Technology and innovation: AV trials 277 14.3.3 Infrastructure: Integration with public transport networks 278 14.3.4 Consumer acceptance: Society-wide economic benefits and industrial restructuring 279 14.4 Prospects for AV development 280 14.4.1 Test: Pilot projects 280 14.4.2 Public acceptance: Introduction to transport systems 280 14.4.3 Widespread 281 14.4.4 Matured: Dominant AVs 281 14.5 Conclusion 281 References 282

Contents xi

15. Diversified development paths of smart cities Hyung Min Kim and Anthony Kent 15.1 Introduction 15.2 A wide scope of smart city approaches 15.2.1 Technological perspectives 15.2.2 Institutional perspectives 15.2.3 Problem-solving perspective (I): Natural disasters 15.2.4 Problem-solving perspective (II): Energy alternatives and the SDGs 15.2.5 Comprehensive exemplar approach 15.2.6 Planning system perspectives 15.3 Social issues of smart cities 15.3.1 Equity 15.3.2 Contradictions of target geographies 15.4 Conclusion References

289 290 290 291 292 292 293 294 295 295 296 297 297

16. Smart cities beyond COVID-19 Hyung Min Kim 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Steps for future smart cities 16.2.1 Rights to innovation 16.2.2 Land value capture in smart city development 16.2.3 Beyond rigid institutional path dependency 16.2.4 Incentives to innovation 16.3 Lessons from COVID-19 16.4 Conclusion References

299 300 300 301 302 303 303 306 307

Index 309

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Contributors Numbers in parenthesis indicate the pages on which the authors’ contributions begin.

Camila Albornoz (195), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile Brendan F.D. Barrett  (73), Center for the Study of Co*Design, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan Yiqun Chen  (29), Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Junyoung Choi  (51), Department of the Smart City Research, Seoul Institute of Technology, Seoul, Korea Matthew Cocks  (217), Department of Economics, Principia College, Elsah, IL, United States Andrew DeWit (73), College of Economics, Department of Economic Policy Studies, Graduate School of Business Administration, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan Yanru Feng  (115), Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China Nicholas Johnson  (217), Center for Sustainability, Principia College, Elsah, IL, United States Anthony Kent (9,289), Centre for Urban Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Victor Khoo (29), Singapore Land Authority, Singapore Hung Tan Khuat (137), Faculty of Architecture, Hanoi Architectural University, Hanoi, Vietnam Hyung Min Kim  (9,51,137,265,289,299), Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Joon Sik Kim (115), Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China Prosper Issahaku Korah (157), Cities Research Institute and School of Environment & Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia Tian Kuay Lim (29), Singapore Environment Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore Ian McShane (95), RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

xiii

xiv  Contributors Julie T. Miao (247), Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Vincent Ng (265), The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Abbas Rajabifard (29), Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Soheil Sabri  (1,9,29,181), Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Ha Minh Hai Thai (137), School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Martin Tironi (195), Design School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile Masaru Yarime (73), Division of Public Policy, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong; Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Graduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Chapter 1

Introduction: Being smarter for productivity, livability, and sustainability Soheil Sabri Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Asia-Pacific 1.3 Africa and the Middle East 1.4 Americas

1 2 4 5

1.5 Europe 1.6 Conclusion References

6 7 7

1.1 Introduction This book aims to develop a framework in which the smart city experiences in different jurisdictions across the Asia Pacific, the Americas, Europe and the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and Africa can be examined. The framework, detailed in Chapter 2, is developed to understand drivers, actors, and policy outcomes as well as technological platforms that underpin the innovations that have enhanced productivity, sustainability, and livability. While the scale of smart city initiatives varies in different geographical contexts, it is important to see how it is encouraged by technological innovation and how it stimulates innovation in the entire city. This book identifies the key drivers of current smart city practices in multiple locations. It also outlines key actors and their roles—governments, private industries, information and communication technology (ICT) firms, citizens, and end-users in each context. The identification of key drivers, actors, and outcomes in an organized fashion provides important insights for other jurisdictions on how to better revise or formulate their current and future policies and plans toward technological and social innovation movements. To achieve this aim, the book is comprised of 16 chapters. This chapter summarizes the book’s content and argues that it is important to investigate different geographical locations and scales to better provide knowledge and insight for evidence-based policymaking. Chapter 2 builds a coherent conceptual framework that brings together key ideas on smart cities as they relate to technological Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00001-0 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1

2  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

aspects, but also its underestimated and somewhat conflicted social innovation potential. Chapters 3–14 then present the case studies. Eleven nations and cities from six different geographical regions are surveyed. Chapter 15 evaluates and compares different experiences and paths taken in the case studies and outlines the differences and similarities of smart cities initiatives. This chapter also aligns the case studies with the framework formulated by Kim, Sabri, and Kent in Chapter 2. Finally, Chapter 16 provides concluding remarks and implications of findings for future developments using smart cities as a platform. Given that the publication of this book is concurrent with the global outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Chapter 16 explores the role of ICT infrastructure in the global phenomenon of social distancing and new working patterns emerging from this global economic and health crisis.

1.2 Asia-Pacific For more than two decades, several countries across the Asia-Pacific region have adopted technological innovation and undertaken smart city initiatives in their national and local policies. Singapore and South Korea have been implementing innovative technologies since the early 2000s. Over the last decade, other countries in this region have also fast tracked the adoption of smart cities, which attracted corporate high-tech businesses moving to the Asia-Pacific, where digital infrastructures such as Internet of Things (IoT) and multicloud architecture have been established with reasonable cost. Singapore is a pioneer in adopting new technologies in all aspects of citystate management and operation. As an example, the concept of whole-ofgovernment (WHOG) was adopted to provide multiagency collaboration in government. One of the major developments in the WHOG initiative is using accurate and realistic urban data for communication and decision making. As such, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) took leadership of developing and maintaining accurate and multidimensional (2D and 3D) data for land, buildings, infrastructure, and vegetation. Having reliable and up-to-date 3D data enables different government agencies to examine their policies and future scenarios, ensuring the livability of residents, increasing productivity, and minimizing or eradicating environmental impacts. In Chapter 3, Lim et al. illustrate how such data can be used in interagency collaboration with the support of an innovative platform developed by the Centre for Spatial Data and Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA)a at The University of Melbourne to address environmental challenges of urban redevelopment. The example of Singapore demonstrates how adopting a novel spatial data infrastructure enables multiagency collaboration and community engagement to address environmental, social, and economic challenges.

a. http://csdila.unimelb.edu.au/.

Being smarter for productivity, livability, and sustainability  Chapter | 1  3

The second high-tech investment in Singapore is autonomous vehicles (AVs). Singapore is regarded as a world leader in providing policy, technology, and infrastructure for AVs. Ng and Kim, in Chapter 14, explore the case of AVs and outline how the Singapore government facilitated this technological innovation to achieve social, environmental, and economic outcomes. The South Korean smart city initiative is another example, which started in the early 2000s with the incorporation of ICT infrastructure to enhance the quality of life and improve urban competitiveness (Kim and Kim, 2013). The South Korean approach played a fundamental role in adopting several smart city projects including Sejong smart city and Busan Eco-Delta City. In Chapter 4, Choi and Kim explore the historical development paths of South Korean smart cities in the context of technological adoption in urban development. They also see Sejong 5-1 Neighborhood pilot project from the lens of sustainability, livability, and productivity. This experience is unique in its kind as Sejong is a new city (73 km2 and target population of 500,000 by 2030) incorporating smart technologies with public services and the knowledge economy. Choi and Kim show how smart mobility, healthcare, public safety and education leverage innovative technologies. Incorporating smart technologies in city operations in Sejong has as its objective reduction of the environmental footprint. Examples are a “zero-energy” city plan through Virtual Power Plants (VPP) and renewable energy generation facilities in public buildings of Sejong. Choi and Kim critically evaluate the smart city initiatives in Sejong in light of economic impacts, urban equity, readiness for adopting new technologies in the future, and the role of key actors in addressing future urban challenges. Chapter  5 introduces the core drivers of Japan’s ongoing transformation. Barrett, DeWit and Yarime cover Japan’s urban policies dealing with natural disasters (after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011), population decline, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One recent initiative is the Society 5.0 industry policy, a 5-year strategy beginning in January 2016, which outlines the fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan. Japan moved from stateled strategies focusing on effectiveness and efficiency on sustainable energy production and consumption to societal challenges due to natural disasters. The new program of Society 5.0 plans to address a broad spectrum of challenges through the adoption of innovative technologies, including IoT, 5G, and artificial intelligence (AI). Contrary to Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, as shown by McShane in Chapter 6, Australia’s pace of materializing smart cities has been slower. As one of the most highly urbanized countries, there is interest in moving toward smart technologies. The Australian Government released the Smart Cities Plan in 2016 as their first national policy to support the application of innovative technologies in enhancing livability, productivity, and sustainability (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016). Accordingly, the government funded AUS $90 million in 2 rounds for 80 projects in the areas of smart infrastructure, smart precincts, smart services, and communities. The larger Australian ­cities such as Melbourne

4  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

and Sydney have leveraged the government’s support in addressing infrastructure, traffic, and environmental challenges, whereas the small- and middle-size cities such as Adelaide used these incentives to recover from economic and population decline. Most smart city policies, plans, and projects have emphasized the adoption of digital technologies in providing services and managing infrastructures. However, in Chapter  7, Kim and Feng present a different view, introducing Smart Gusu in Suzhu, China. Here, the emphasis is more on social and cultural concerns. In fact, the Smart Gusu’s precedent plan, Digital Gusu (2013–2015), considered the adoption of information technology and infrastructure, which turned to the social side of innovation in the next development strategy. The authors explain the extent to which the perceptions of stakeholders, including residents and government, vary or find commonality in considering digital technology that supports different social and cultural innovations. They show how participatory planning for smart and sustainable development can inform future developments and highlight the role of community engagement in understanding how digital technology and infrastructure could facilitate necessary services to end-users. In Chapter 8, Thai, Khuat, and Kim continue this theme in their work on Vietnam, conveying the crucial role of residents in delivery of services through the smart city platform. They demonstrate how information can be leveraged including in informal economies, through four case studies: a historical city center, a modern neighborhood, an urbanized village, and a high-tech area. Thai et al. draw our attention to the role of the smart city in offering inclusive economic development and in mitigating socioeconomic inequality.

1.3  Africa and the Middle East The extent of implementation of digital infrastructure and smart city development across Africa and the Middle East varies greatly. This is because of the extreme variability and instability in economic and political conditions in these regions. Over the last decade, many African countries, especially in Northern Africa including Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Sudan experienced political turmoil. Some of these countries are part of the Middle East, where their instability generated a series of geopolitical challenges, including the Arab Spring as well as war in countries such as Syria, Iraq, and around the borders with Turkey and Iran (Aboueldahab et al., 2017). These geopolitical challenges have damaged even the primary physical and social infrastructures in parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, despite the issues in political, economic, and environmental aspects of the MENA region, other states including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, and other Gulf countries have leveraged four decades of economic growth to put in place policies and strategies adopting innovative technologies for social welfare and sustainability. In addition, while West African countries have had

Being smarter for productivity, livability, and sustainability  Chapter | 1  5

fewer political issues, rapid urbanization has been one of the major challenges to be addressed in the last two decades. In Chapter  9, Korah outlines the emergence of smart city solutions in an African context. Highlighted are the key actors in policymaking and strategic planning addressing the urban growth challenges of Accra, Ghana. Conceptualizing the smart city in the context of a broader urban development strategy, Korah analyzes Accra’s City Extension Project (ACEPT) to highlight the visions, key motivations, and social and economic implications. The author examines the extent to which smart city planning in Ghana has been successful in creating an inclusive, livable urban environment, although with mixed results. In distinction with Ghana, addressing human well-being, inclusiveness, and livability requirements in the UAE is facilitated by oil reserves resulting in significant income for the government. In Chapter 10, Sabri shows how the seven Emirates have invested significantly in innovative technologies and contributed to digital city transformation. Dubai’s commitment to smart city measures and innovation emphasizes the promotion of happiness and a sense of satisfaction for residents and visitors. While Dubai’s commitment to digital city transformation started in 1995 (Bishr and Lootah, 2016), the government’s response to the political challenges and instabilities in the MENA region was to improve public satisfaction through the adoption of policies and visions, including the ambitious objective “to become the happiest city on earth.” As an example, a Happiness Meter is used to deliver a city-wide view of people’s happiness. Developed as a mobile and desktop application, the Happiness Meter captures the live city sentiment and the data can be used for generating the map of happiness at the city level. The measurement, monitoring and reporting of people’s level of satisfaction can be disaggregated to particular industries and areas. Chapter 10 investigates the pathway, drivers, and key actors of technological innovation programs in Dubai through the lens of social innovation, with three dimensions of formalization, change processes, and social outcomes. Sabri investigates the historical development paths of the smart city in Dubai to highlight the formalization dimension. Furthermore, to outline the change process, Dubai’s city-wide transformation into a smart city is explored. Ultimately, the social dimension is viewed through the results of Dubai’s vision of “Becoming the Happiest City in The Earth.”

1.4 Americas Understanding the concept of smart cities in American countries is important if for no other reason than that many fast-growing economies such as Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina have significantly contributed to Gross World Product (GWP). These countries, along with more developed economies such as the United States and Canada, represent the Americas in the G20 (Group of Twenty), where policies on the promotion of international financial stability are discussed and planned. Accordingly, these countries, along with emerging economies such

6  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

as Chile, have been progressively adopting smart technologies in different sectors including infrastructure, finance, mobility, big data and analytics, 5G and IoT, and cybersecurity (Smart Cities World Forums, 2020). The Smart Cities World Forum in 2017 estimated that the cybersecurity market in South America will reach US$13.49 billion by 2022 (Smart Cities World Forums, 2017). Accordingly, as an important urban discourse and practice, the smart city plays a crucial role in urban planning and management in many of the abovementioned countries. In Chapter 11, Tironi and Albornoz discuss the Chilean experience in the adoption of a smart platform for governing safety and security. The authors explore the concept of the smart city as a sociotechnical imaginary in the context of Santiago de Chile. Tironi and Albornoz define the sociotechnical imaginary as “a set of visions sustained by infrastructures, practices, and more or less shared meanings of social life which in turn reveal futures that are desirable for a society.” The experience of Santiago is presented through a mobile application called SoSafe, which interconnects different departments responsible for emergency and public safety including police, firefighters, and private healthcare providers. The study indicates a mere example of how smart city technology plays a crucial role as a catalyst for innovation and enterprises as well as a platform for public-private partnership in coordinating urban safety. Besides the important role of the sociotechnical aspects of smart cities in South America, it is crucial to investigate the role of private industries in investment and development of smart technologies in the world. The United States can be considered one of the major locations in this respect, where the private sector has invested heavily in research, development, and implementation of smart technologies. In Chapter 12, Johnson and Cocks show that three out of five global smart city vendors are from US companies. They include very formidable brands such as Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and IBM. The authors identify the trajectory of smart city adoption across the United States. The roles of the public and private sectors in implementing energy efficiency through the smart grid of Ohio, Columbus are investigated, and it is shown how a public-private partnership in a smart city platform delivers technological, environmental, and social benefits.

1.5 Europe There are many world-renowned examples of smart city initiatives across Europe. Perhaps most of the literature about smart city cases centers on the experience of European countries (Batty et al., 2012; Caragliu et al., 2011; De Falco, 2019; Kourtit et al., 2012). The European Commission has always been a key actor and supporter in implementing smart technologies across its member states. The Europe 2020 strategy, released in 2010, has focused on smart growth and inspired many countries across Europe to invest in digital technologies to address requirements, including education and research innovation, low-carbon economies, and job creation to name a few. Accordingly, the United Kingdom formed its policies and leveraged established initiatives such as the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), whose role is to align investments and policies toward

Being smarter for productivity, livability, and sustainability  Chapter | 1  7

achieving the Europe 2020 strategy, and many other national agendas, toward smart development. One of the first smart city pilot projects in the United Kingdom was planned and implemented in Glasgow. In Chapter 13, Miao introduces the Future City Glasgow Program (FCGP, 2013–15) and considers the international, national, and local drivers for initiating such policy. The example of Glasgow highlights how the smart city as a platform, shaped by the exogenous and endogenous factors, can attract global attention to its technological development. Furthermore, there are lessons for local councils on how to leverage technological innovations for social change and citizen engagement. The final two chapters consolidate the experiences and evaluate the recent trends based on the development paths of smart cities. In Chapter 15, Kim and Kent provide an account of different internal and external factors leading to smart city implementation as well as desired and/or expected social innovation outcomes. In Chapter 16, Kim provides concluding remarks on the way forward for smart cities in the face of uncertainty. The author discusses the rights to innovation, land value capture in smart city development, disruptive institutional breakthroughs, and incentives for innovation. In a saddening and frightening new situation, the final chapter finds as its unwanted context the global health crisis of COVID-19. It considers the role of preexisting ICT infrastructure in response to social distancing and quarantine requirements involving a mass shift to online work, dramatically enlarging the window for virtual social and economic interaction.

1.6 Conclusion In the wake of uncertainty on the role of the smart city and digital technology investments for the changing social, economic, and environmental landscape of cities, this book aims to enlighten on different experiences worldwide. Developing a conceptual framework, it considers the experience of cities in using technological platforms to enhance productivity, sustainability, and livability. It investigates the role of exogenous and endogenous factors as drivers of smart city implementation in 11 cities across several continents/regions including the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, the Americas and Europe. These changes can be seen in interagency collaboration, social behavior and community engagement in the delivery of urban services. With the broad spectrum of smart technology applications covered comes a comprehensive insight on key drivers, actors, and outcomes of innovative technology adoption in different political, economic, and social contexts.

References Aboueldahab, N., Yousef, T.M., Pinto, L., Kabbani, N., Ghafar, A.A., Swart, M., Fathollah-Nejad, A., Alaaldin, R., Milton-Edwards, B., Pethiyagoda, K., 2017. The Middle East and North Africa in 2018: Challenges, Threats, and Opportunities, Brookings. Available from: https://www. brookings.edu/opinions/the-middle-east-and-north-africa-in-2018-challenges-threats-and-opportunities/. (Accessed 13 April 2020).

8  Smart cities for technological and social innovation Batty, M., Axhausen, K.W., Giannotti, F., Pozdnoukhov, A., Bazzani, A., Wachowicz, M., Ouzounis, G., Portugali, Y., 2012. Smart cities of the future. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 214 (1), 481–518. https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst%252fe2012-01703-3. Bishr, A., Lootah, W., 2016. Smart Dubai towards Becoming the Happiest City on Earth. Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Available from: https://www.itu.int/net4/wsis/forum/2016/Content/ AgendaFiles/document/13267dca-e1af-4833-a722-dccef7630f27/Towards_Becoming_The_ Happiest_City_on_Earth.pdf. (Accessed 6 December 2019). Caragliu, A., Del Bo, C., Nijkamp, P., 2011. Smart cities in Europe. J. Urban Technol. 18 (2), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/10630732.2011.601117. Commonwealth of Australia, 2016. Smart Cities Plan. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Available from: https://cities.dpmc.gov.au/htmlfile. De Falco, S., 2019. Are smart cities global cities? A European perspective. Eur. Plan. Stud. 27 (4), 759–783. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2019.1568396. Kim, H.M., Kim, T.S., 2013. U-City development for economic competitiveness in an advanced ICT era. In: Boscarino, G., Notte, D. (Eds.), Economic Developments and Emerging Markets of the 21st Century: Global Practices, Strategies, and Challenges. Nova, New York, pp. 245–264. Kourtit, K., Nijkamp, P., Arribas, D., 2012. Smart cities in perspective––a comparative European study by means of self-organizing maps. Innovation 25 (2), 229–246. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 13511610.2012.660330. Smart Cities World Forums, 2017. Cybersecurity Market in South America Estimated to Reach 13bn by 2022—Smart Cities World Forums, Smart Cities World Forums. Available from: http:// www.smartcitiesworldforums.com/news/smart-cities-south-america/cybersecurity-sa/226cybersecurity-market-in-south-america-estimated-to-reach-13bn-by-2022. (Accessed 13 April 2020). Smart Cities World Forums, 2020. Smart Cities: South America—Smart Cities World Forums, Smart Cities World Forums. Available from: http://www.smartcitiesworldforums.com/news/ smart-cities-south-america. (Accessed 13 April 2020).

Chapter 2

Smart cities as a platform for technological and social innovation in productivity, sustainability, and livability: A conceptual framework Hyung Min Kima, Soheil Sabrib, and Anthony Kentc a

Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, bCentre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, cCentre for Urban Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 2.1 Introduction 2.2 The evolution of cities from being ordinary to being smart 2.2.1 Defining smart cities 2.2.2 A historic overview of smart cities 2.2.3 Objectives of smart city making initiatives 2.2.4 Smart city making initiatives vs smart city status 2.3 Technological innovation 2.4 Social innovation

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2.4.1 Social innovation: Genesis and concept 2.4.2 Citizens, social innovation and governance 2.4.3 Social innovation and smart cities 2.5 Smart city drivers and actors 2.5.1 Key drivers of the smart city making 2.5.2 Key actors of smart city making 2.6 Conclusion References

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2.1 Introduction By reviewing the evolution of cities, this chapter establishes a conceptual framework to better understand smart cities from an innovation perspective. Smart cities are broad in concept and definition. Among the broad approaches to defining smart cities, here this chapter stresses that technology, in particular, Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00002-2 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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i­nformation and communication technology (ICT), is a core element in current smart city practices. The term “smart cities” did not originate from the literature on smart urban growth in the early 1980s. Rather, it emerged in the wake of new technological advancements such as digitalization, the world wide web, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI), and the proliferation of smartphones in the late 2000s. There are many shreds of evidences worldwide that indicate the role of technological innovations in implementing social (inclusive) urban policies. As an example, many city councils use web-based geographical information systems (GIS) to communicate future urban development projects and engage with communities in providing better urban services. This chapter formulates a framework with the idea of smart cities as not only the outcome of technological and social innovation but also the platform to facilitate technological and social innovation. The objectives of these innovations in smart cities are to enhance productivity, sustainability, and livability. It is important to understand how smart built environments further facilitate innovation systems in the city. Current literature and practices convey the impression that smart cities are a static end status. However, there is little research available on how smart cities can be a dynamic platform that can lead to technological and social innovation. While it is unclear whether technological innovation is a precondition for social innovation, it is undeniable that these two innovations are interlocked with each other. There are important drivers and actors involved in smart city making. Globalization of smart city ideas and its seemingly promising prosperity may push central governments to establish national-level policy and entrepreneurial local governments to support, implement, and invent smart city projects. New interdisciplinary business models developed by ICT firms, as leaders in new technologies, can cover almost all fields of urban activities including housing, networks, mobility, energy, and infrastructure to name a few. Real estate developers and urban planners/designers are keen to integrate these technologies into built environments. Residents in the city are end users of the realized technology and they become, in turn, new inventors for further innovation. The chapter will explore both the technological and social dimensions of smart cities and investigates the major drivers and actors for initiating and running smart city programs in different jurisdictions. It concludes with formulating a framework for further study on smart cities as a dynamic platform for deriving technological and social innovations.

2.2  The evolution of cities from being ordinary to being smart 2.2.1  Defining smart cities Many cities have embraced ICT as an important input for their urban development and adopted digital infrastructures as a fundamental requirement for

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­ rban management, productivity, and future urban form (Kitchin, 2014). ICT is u becoming a more important urban infrastructure, fostering i­ nnovation-driven urban economies, efficient governance, and more. Angelidou (2015) believes that smart cities are the outcome of urban future movements, knowledge and innovation economies, technology push, and application pull. While there is no one-size-fits-all definition due to the wide scope of smartness and the complexity of cities (Albino et al., 2015), some practitioners, international institutions, and government sectors have attempted to define what smart cities are. A Smart City is a place where traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital and telecommunication technologies for the benefit of its inhabitants and business. European Commission (n.d.) A Smarter City is connecting the physical infrastructure, the IT infrastructure, the social infrastructure, and the business infrastructure to leverage the collective intelligence of the city. Harrison et al. (2010, p. 2) Smart City initiatives can help overcome the limitations of traditional urban development that tends to manage urban infrastructure systems in silos. The siloed system leads to poor information sharing between systems, functions and stakeholders, such as citizens, businesses, government and civil society organizations. Smart City initiatives leverage data and services offered by digital technologies, such as cloud computing, open data sets, or the Internet of Things to help connect city stakeholders, improve citizen involvement, offer new or enhanced existing services, and provide context-aware views on city operations. A city-wide digital infrastructure can help integrate different urban infrastructure systems including energy, water, sewage, or transport, and enable efficient management, control and optimization of such systems. These initiatives also address environmental and human-capacity issues. Estevez et al. (2016, p. v)

In these attempts to define smart cities, the following three aspects have been stressed which are interrelated. First, technological input is a core driver of smart cities. Digital infrastructure, ICTs, and data-driven urban solutions are key elements. Second, smart cities emphasize “ubiquitousness” or services “everywhere” due to the inherent advantages of ICT (Greenfield, 2006). The significance of geographical expansion has been expressed in networks, interconnectedness, and information sharing beyond geographically bounded nodal points. Third, smart cities cover a wide array of urban functions including urban infrastructure systems and human, environmental and corporate benefits. The wide scope of smart city initiatives has appeared in the New Urban Agenda, with UN-Habitat committing to adopt smart city initiatives to reduce environmental footprints, increase the capabilities of public service providers to be

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more engaged with communities, and to support sustainable economic growth (UN Habitat, 2015). Some confusion has arisen due to the use of the term “smart.” In many cases, the definition of smart cities is mixed up with smart growth management (or New Urbanism) although these two urban approaches originate from different contexts (Luque-Ayala and Marvin, 2015). They might share similarities due to their objective to respond to emerging urban challenges. However, the smart growth movement emerged in the early 1980s when urban sprawl was recognized as a major urban issue associated with environmental degradation (Weitz and Waldner, 2002; Wey and Hsu, 2014). Key policies in smart growth management focused on the density, diversity, and design of cities (Cervero and Kockelman, 1997). On the contrary, smart city initiatives, which are mainly ICT-based as discussed, have been accelerated by ICT devices manifested by smartphones that have become pervasive since the late 2000s (Batty et  al., 2012). This book adopts both a narrow scope and broad-scope of smart city initiatives. The former refers to technology-, digital infrastructure-, and dataoriented, but the latter includes all possible efforts to tackle urban challenges in “smart” ways, calling for the inclusion of nontechnical approaches. Nevertheless, as Kitchin (2015) argues, the current narrow-scope approaches to understand smart cities have drawbacks. He believes that other scholarship, while being more critical and providing essential conceptual and political grounds, still carry four limitations: “the lack of detailed genealogies of the concept and initiatives, the use of canonical examples and one-size-fitsall narratives, an absence of in-depth empirical case studies of specific smart city initiatives and comparative research that contrasts smart city developments in different locales and weak collaborative engagement with various stakeholders” (Kitchin, 2015, p. 131). These perspectives will be further discussed by reviewing the evolution of cities.

2.2.2  A historic overview of smart cities How are “smart” cities different from unsmart cities? In fact, cities are spatial manifestations of human settlements with a wide range of social and economic activities. “Since their inception, cities have been brilliant ‘machines’ for social interactions and exchange” (Han and Hawken, 2018, p. 2). Although the origin of cities is rather obscure, they have become primary loci for human activities as confirmed by increasingly high urbanization rates worldwide (The World Bank, 2018). Glaeser (2012) has declared “The triumph of the city” in human history. Urbanism has accelerated since the industrial revolution in the late 18th century and by the early 20th century, it had become a new way of life (Wirth, 1938). Technological advancement, exemplified by the invention of steam engines, was a key driver to the creation of modern cities. Rural peasants left rural areas for cities where productivity was enhanced by these new inventions. Railways were constructed by using newly invented steam engine technologies

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linking key cities, nodal points for access to natural resources and transport nodes such as ports. These railways also facilitated human mobility. In the wake of this first industrial revolution, the urban population increased unprecedentedly, first in Europe and later in the United States. Industrialization remains a primary driver of urbanization and economic growth in most developing countries, notably in Asia and Africa. Cities are important because people in cities are important. People are primary sources of innovation and growing numbers live geographically together in cities. The concentration of people in small geographical areas infers frequent, active interactions between them, positive/negative externalities within the city, and opportunities/threats for the residents. People have established social, technological, political, economic, and natural infrastructures in cities that can support, strengthen, and stimulate human activities in response to present problems they face and in search of new values. These societal advancements have been achieved through technological and social innovations by people. Although inspirational thoughts for innovation are not necessarily spatially bounded, cities have been the font of innovation (Shearmur, 2012). These innovations are made by people and made largely for people and these people stay in cities (Florida, 2002). Technological innovation is a pivotal input to the transfiguration of cities. Technology-oriented thinkers stress the present distinctive technological evolution due to the unprecedentedness of (1) velocity, (2) breadth and depth, and (3) systems impact (Schwab, 2016). However, these technological aspects are tightly interlocked with social systems which are outcomes of historically and culturally accumulated social innovations. The stance of this book is that smart cities are the outcomes of these interlocked technological and social innovations produced by people with “creative audacity” (Mumford, 1961, p. 4) and, in turn, smart cities spur new technological and social innovations. The smart city is not an end status, but a dynamic platform to guide, support and/or expedite new urban changes via innovations. When the smart city is conceptualized in this manner, any human settlements or cities can be smart. Historically, “smart” inventions have been embedded in cities. While the smartness of cities is valid in any historic time because people in the cities are intrinsically creative and innovative, the current debates center on the strength, capability, or degree of smartness. These discussions are tied up with (technological) innovation explicitly and implicitly (Han and Hawken, 2018; Albino et al., 2015). How modern cities, borne of the industrial revolution, have adapted to the changes in surrounding macro- and micro-environments reflects evolutionary trajectories of cities via innovation from being “smart” to “smarter” and the interlocked nature of technological innovation with social innovation. Before European cities had established urban infrastructure, the industrial revolution triggered rural-to-urban migration, causing a series of urban issues. There was limited housing stock and the new urban residents were unable to afford decent housing. Consequently, their livability was sacrificed by slum conditions, ghettos, and squatter settlements with poor sanitation. New technology was mainly

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used for manufacturing such as textiles that produced pollution. Chimneys of factories were symbols for economic vitality. The dominant laissez faire economic and political thinking left these urban issues as they were, hoping the “invisible hand” of the free market would bring prosperity for all. However, the economic benefits of technological innovation were not fairly shared with new urban dwellers and the built environments in these cities remained desolate. Technological innovation seemed to bring human-made disasters as exemplified by the Great Smog of London in the early 1950s. However, disastrous urban outcomes inspired thinkers and policymakers to respond by social innovation. In the urban realm, Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City (Howard, 1902) and Le Corbusier’s Radiant City (Le Corbusier, 1935) were outstanding examples that attempted to tackle these issues by proposing ideal cities. Ebenezer Howard asserted that the marriage of urban life with the countryside would mitigate chaotic urban issues arising from sudden population increases in cities. The garden city movement left an important legacy in a way that emphasized public infrastructure including green space, public transport networks, and community centers. The ideas were partly implemented in new town developments and offered the lesson that urban planning can solve the problem. Le Corbusier’s contribution included important planning principles such as intensive land use through high-rise buildings, a job-housing match, and a social mix. Later his ideal city model offered justification for urban consolidation, mixed-use development, and the preservation of green spaces. Technological advancement facilitated mass production represented by car manufacturing in the early and mid-20th century, labeled Fordism. In the view of Schwab (2016), this was the second industrial revolution. Widespread car ownership, sped up by the rise of middle-income households and lowered car manufacturing costs, not only provided the freedom of mobility but also generated new urban problems. Along with ever-growing car ownership, the government constructed new roads that connected far and wide. The combination of car ownership and highway construction expanded the geographical scope of motor vehicles for both regular commutes and irregular leisure activities (Hall, 2002). The enhanced freedom of mobility through Fordist production meant the spatial expansion of residential location choice into suburban areas. Urban sprawl has destroyed walking and transit-oriented cities and created automobile-oriented cities predominantly in the United States and Australia and to a lesser extent in Europe (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999; Mees, 2009). The consequence of suburbanization was long-commuting patterns, mundane and homogeneous suburbs, and high dependency on motorized vehicles. Urban planning has responded to this unsustainable form of urban growth by introducing a wide range of policy measures and movements such as urban growth management, new urbanism, compact cities, complete streets movement, and smart growth since the 1980s (Downs, 2005). Here the term “smart” was first employed in the field of urban management. The smart growth approaches centered on the idea that urban problems can be or should be managed

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by juxtaposed planning measures such as urban growth boundaries, transit-­ oriented development (TOD), socially mixed housing development, and mixeduse complexes. Urban planners have pointed out that sedentary life patterns due to high car dependency are detrimental to human health and proposed healthy communities encouraging active transport like walking and cycling (Srinivasan et al., 2003). As briefly reviewed here, modern planning has responded to new urban challenges, but many of these challenges have been the unintended outcomes of technological innovation. Without these social approaches (or social innovation), technological innovation alone is unable to achieve problem-free smart cities. Hence, cities are sociotechnical systems (Lim et al., 2018, p. 97). Albino et al. (2015) also identified two domains for smart cities: “hard” elements, ICT, and “soft” elements, social structure (Albino et al., 2015). Batty et al. (2012) have asserted that core functions of smart cities are holistic beyond technological aspects; they include competitiveness, quality of life, social and natural resources as well as new ways of community-government or participatory connections and new methods of access to public services. From the broad-scope of smart city perspectives, any city can be smart and any effort for better city functions can be smart city making initiatives. However, in this highly generalized understanding, ambiguity and vagueness are inevitable. Accordingly, attempts have been made to clarify current smart city debates by focusing on technological input (here labeled the narrow scope of smart city initiatives) in dealing with challenges and creating new values (Kitchin, 2015; Albino et al., 2015). Unprecedented technological advancement has offered new hope that ICT can support almost all types of human activities, including urban management (Lim et al., 2018). ICT connects the world through virtual platforms and digital technology, creating local opportunities while still being global, encouraging face-to-face communications and locationbased services as “what happens online does not stay online” (The Economist, 2012, p. 2). There is no doubt that the state-of-the-art of technology is an important source for smart cities.

2.2.3  Objectives of smart city making initiatives The purpose of citywide efforts can be described with the following three fundamental objectives: (1) productivity, (2) livability, and (3) sustainability. (1) Productivity: Driven by neoliberalism, corporate strategies to seek out more productive sites are now a common practice relatively free from geographical boundedness in comparison with the past. In knowledge-based economies, ICT infrastructure has become increasingly pivotal, as most advanced producer service firms collect, process, and produce data and information rather than manufactured tangible products. Technological innovation has long assisted to improve productivity. The enhanced productivity is derived from lowering costs and/or enlarging benefits. This can

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happen both at individual and institutional levels. For instance, commuters can save travel time by real-time information from an urban traffic information system (UTIS) and a smart grid can minimize energy loss in transit. Improved productivity means end users can produce higher values that can be reflected in citywide economic growth. When cities attract skilled knowledge workers, they can bring new ideas, innovation, and prosperity (Florida, 2002). (2) Livability: Livability is in the interest of all key actors. Residents benefit from enhanced livability (Kim and Cocks, 2017); ICT firms sell all kinds of products to end users who look for better living conditions; urban planners aim to design livable cities; and real estate industries can make a profit by developing more livable properties (Kim, 2020). Although livability is broad in concept, safety, quality of built environments, walkability, the convenience of public facilities, access to transport and natural environments are keys to livability (Southworth, 2003). ICT has a high potential to enhance almost all subsectors of cities as technology is intrinsically evolved to bring convenience for people. E-government administrative facilities are examples of ubiquitous public services that can possibly improve livability for residents. Another example is a control center that monitors a number of closed-circuit televisions (CCTVs) (despite concerns about privacy issues), widely adopted by local governments to improve public security, as seen in the smart city making projects such as Songdo, South Korea (Kim and Han, 2012) and Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town, Japan (see Chapter 5). (3) Sustainability: ICT solutions can support environmental sustainability in multiple ways. Managing ecosystems assisted by new technological inventions can benefit both human beings and nature. Outstanding fields are energy sectors such as renewable energy sources and smart grids. Environmentally keen local governments, such as the City of Melbourne, Australia, have managed street trees combined with geospatial data. Singapore has employed a quantitative urban environment simulation tool (QUEST) implemented on a web-based multidimensional GIS platform to examine the thermal comfort index and urban heat islands effects of urban redevelopment projects (Lim et al., 2017; Sabri et al., 2019).

2.2.4  Smart city making initiatives vs smart city status It is rational to distinguish smart cities as an end status from smart city making initiatives. Smart cities refer to the well-functioning status of cities, assisted and spurred primarily by technological innovation and inevitably by social innovation as will be explored later in this chapter. This means smart cities are both (1) achieving high levels of productivity, livability and sustainability, and (2) facilitating new innovations as a platform. Smart cities have not only innovative technologies but also the ability to innovate. Fig. 2.1 depicts the self-reinforcing

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FIG. 2.1  Dynamics of smart cities. The shaded cell stresses the core element of smart cities.

structure of smart cities. When cities become smart, they are in a position that sustains, strengthens, and magnifies urban functions via innovation. The innovation makes cities smarter. Smart city making initiatives refer to all kinds of efforts to enhance the function of the cities, including governmental, corporate, individual, and institutional approaches. While smart city making initiatives aim to enhance the function of the city in a smart way, the smart city cannot be an end status because there is always room for further innovation. In this sense, the smart city is and should be a city as a platform for innovation. Smart city-making is multifaceted and interconnected. Multiple factors influence their courses, such as global city functions, the size of cities and sustainability features. De Falco (2019) examined the interrelation of global cities with a strong presence of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and smart cities in Europe. He concluded that “the technological dimension is totally superimposable upon the global dimension; in fact, all current global cities are also smart cities, but the technological character of these cities has not yet acquired a full global dimension” (p. 774) Borsekova et  al. (2018) have discovered the size of cities matters in smart city rankings in Europe. Parks and Rohracher (2019, p. 51) have pointed out the focus on sustainability in smart city discourses by noting “… even when smart city discourses are appropriated by actors in existing sustainable city assemblages, the discursive shift might eventually allow smart city assemblages to colonize existing institutions and socio-material practices. But the shift does not take place through explicit controversy between two discourse coalitions and it therefore remains important to further investigate the conditions that allow for a change in dynamics from appropriation to colonization.”

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2.3  Technological innovation Technological innovations have been at the forefront of the incremental changes in human life and expressed in cities. Skyscrapers in modern cities were impossible without the development of steel construction technology and the invention of elevators that enabled vertical movement in high-rise buildings. Since what is labeled the fourth industrial revolution (Schwab, 2016), technological aspects have been leaders in most smart city initiatives. The following are notable examples that might have significant implications in urban management. ●

● ●

● ● ●

IoT through the deployment of sensors on a wide array of devices (Roche, 2017) Analytics platforms (Chen et al., 2020; Rajabifard et al., 2016) Fast-growing application of AI and machine learning (ML) in the process of decision-making and providing services (Jafar et al., 2010) Digital Twins for simulation on virtual cities (see Chapters 4 and 10) Big data Personalization of ICT

IoT has played a crucial role in urban management including parking, lighting, and traffic controls (Plautz, 2018). In addition, the IoT sensors enable real-time monitoring to inform environmental attributes including pollution, heat, and rainfall for emergency management (ANZLIC, 2019). The advancements in streaming data types enabled developed analytics platforms, which allow harmonization and integration of spatial and nonspatial data for livability (Chen et al., 2020). These technological advancements are enriched with optimization methods assisted by AI, and ML, to further enable the analysis of big data in multidimensional platforms such as Digital Twins. As an example, the Australian government has developed the spatially enabled Digital Twins strategy to modernize the planning, development, and monitoring of the built and natural environments using IoT, AI, ML, and multidimension spatial data (ANZLIC, 2019). Technology-oriented smart city initiatives acknowledge the presence of unmet demand, identify unused resources, and attempt to seek answers from technology for desired outcomes in every aspect (Yigitcanlar et  al., 2018). However, there is a fundamental question: How strong is our trust in technology in dealing with the complexity of urban challenges? This question is not new. The early 20th century saw technological advancements in science and mass production, with Taylorism as a major influence. There was a conviction that scientific approaches could predict the future and therefore, optimize urban functions. However, scientific urban modeling approaches have failed to forecast future changes despite their valid logics, due to unrealistic assumptions and unexpected political, economic, and technological circumstances that were unforeseen. Technologies evolve over time. The key to smart cities is to create an urban system where new technological inventions “plug and play” into the city effortlessly. The system is likely to be strengthened by social systems.

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2.4  Social innovation Social innovation concerns the adaptation of norms, values, and behavior to achieve some desired state or to improve upon a less desired condition. It requires cooperation, inclusiveness, and trust and is a collective endeavor. From a Schumpeterian perspective, innovation in business is a process of adoption and diffusion (Schumpeter, 1939). Social innovation aims to generate social benefits rather than individual benefits bringing new values for society. While social innovation is an extremely broad concept in scope, this chapter addresses urban-focused social innovation. The social dimension is significant in the literature on smart cities too. New technologies, including the proliferation of smart devices and associated digital infrastructures, have brought a new paradigm of space and distance as seen in social media and crowdsourcing. Innovation, however, has retained its spatiality (Shearmur, 2012); as Alfred Marshall stated in 1890 in reference to the efficacy of industrial clusters, “if one man [sic] starts a new idea, it is taken up by others and combined with suggestions of their own; and thus it becomes the source of further new ideas” (Marshall, 1890, p. 225). There are three interrelated dimensions of social innovation in relation to smart cities. First, technology provides an increasing array of and subscribed to social platforms for interaction. From this angle, social innovation is about socializing. Second, there is also the positive externality of bringing people together, virtually or face-to-face. This leads to other agglomeration benefits such as labor market matching and the exchange of information. Third, there is an acknowledgment of the implications of inherently unequal cities for the application of smart technology. Rather than a conventional “public good,” the introduction of smart technology can reflect unequal relations, which conflicts with key values of social innovation, particularly the importance of community well-being and control over one’s environment and life.

2.4.1  Social innovation: Genesis and concept Ideas and practices under the heading of social innovation have emerged in response to the failure of the market and in some cases government to deliver services. More specific events, often economic in nature, have signposted surges of interest in social innovation. Postindustrial decline and more recently, the Global Financial Crisis are examples (Baker and Mehmood, 2015; Ardill and Lemes de Oliveira, 2018). Now, the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) presents the worst health crisis since the Spanish Flu and the worst economic and welfare crisis since the Great Depression. These crises promote interest in “the social and solidarity economy for welfare provision” (Ardill and Lemes de Oliveira, 2018, p. 208). Clear definitions are elusive (Choi and Majumdar, 2015). Ardill and Lemes de Oliveira (2018, pp. 208, 217) describe “a quasi-concept with hybrid characteristics adaptable to different situations…it is necessary that a conceptual meaning of social innovation be better defined and agreed if social innovation

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is to provide a framework for the positive transformation of cities.” The common, broad themes are change and betterment: “in social relations, political arrangements and/or governance processes that lead to an improvement in a social system” (Castro-Arce et al., 2019, p. 2256), as well as “attitudes, behavior or perceptions of a group of people joined in a network of aligned interests…[leading to] collaborative action” (Neumeier, 2017, p. 2) that “tackle social challenges…that simultaneously meet social needs” (Morrar et al., 2017, p. 14).

2.4.2  Citizens, social innovation and governance It has been argued that the social innovation approach engenders a fundamental realignment of the relationship between citizen, state, civil society, and market. Partnerships, rather than top-down government, are promoted. Citizens work more interactively with government and can supplement and take on activities traditionally the role of the state. Citizens become active partners and “embedded urban resources,” working with government to develop and deliver solutions (Ardill and Lemes de Oliveira, 2018, pp. 218–219). This process makes democracy and governance “more horizontal, participatory, and inclusive – i.e. an adaptive governance system” (Castro-Arce et  al., 2019, p. 2259). Publicprivate partnerships also play a key role, particularly in the delivery of services (Baker and Mehmood, 2015). For social innovation, notions of collective action and redistributive mechanisms are core. There are three key elements: “satisfaction of the interests of actors; changes in socio-political arrangements; and empowerment of the participating actors” (Castro-Arce et al., 2019, p. 2259). Social innovation represents the power to change, but above all, the power to change collectively. ICT has great potential to re-shape the way of conventional communication and decision-making.

2.4.3  Social innovation and smart cities Authors have differing views on the relationship between social innovation, industry, and technology. Some are ambivalent: “The innovation paradigm of the industrial society perceives technical innovations such as products and processes as the only avenue for societal development….[authors] foresee the rise of a social innovation paradigm with the transition from an industrial society to a service and knowledge-based society” (Choi and Majumdar, 2015, p. 11). Others argue there is no inconsistency between technological and social innovation: “Industry 4.0 pave[s] the way to a new age of digitalization, ‘smarter’ networking of production systems, and interlinked business processes…there is a mutual relationship between the technical and social innovation…” (Morrar et al., 2017, p. 16). The focus of social innovation is on the civic and neighborhood level. There are many examples. Here, some pertinent cases are provided to clarify the nature of these initiatives. Oliveira and Campolargo (2015) are well aware of the

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gap between smart cities (represented by technological management) and human smart cities (represented by neighborhood solidarity), but the gap, it is argued, is being filled. Their example of the My Neighborhood program, implemented in four European cities, shows that through the use of neighborhoodspecific websites, local communities can exchange information and ideas with each other and with local government authorities to improve their neighborhood. The generation of new and better ways of doing things can be considered and shared among citizens. One such outcome has been the parklets initiative, small green spaces in unlikely locations. The Smart Citizen App was applied in Pisa, Italy so that citizens could identify the availability of services and resources and collect and share daily experiences about life in the town, including quality of life issues such as environmental conditions (air quality, weather, other pollution) (Delmastro et al., 2016). Holderness and Turpin (2015) show how Jakarta residents uploaded the location of flooding to Twitter, critical information that has never been coherently provided by government. In Philadelphia, The Digital On-Ramps app attempts to link the unemployed with training and job opportunities (Wiig, 2016). Arribas-Bel et al. (2015) show how the geography of cultural diversity can be established through the language used in Twitter messages. As Letaifa (2015, p. 1416) suggests, “Smart people are the result of ethnic and social diversity, tolerance, creativity, and engagement.” There are also “networked publics” of do-it-yourself urban design proposals and virtual visions of local park planning (Hollands, 2015), maintenance requests and community consultation, and use of social media to participate in graffiti, flash mobs and yarn bombing (Foth et al., 2016). However, there are contradictions between the ideals of social innovation and the characteristics of smart cities. These can be seen in the dissemination of “fake news” often shared across the “echo-chambers” of affiliated groups, which does not enhance civil society and democracy nor serve the public good (Allcott and Gentzkow, 2017). To this can be added cyberbullying, information and location leakage, fake profiles, and fake photos. Given the nature of the mediums, they are difficult to control and when they are controlled, it is usually for reasons of political censorship, not in the name of public decency or fairness (King et al., 2013). There are further concerns that use and control of data is not subject to public scrutiny and debate, let alone control, and is used for repressive police surveillance (Bass et al., 2018; Wood and Mackinnon, 2019; Lebrument and de La Robertie, 2019; Caprotti, 2019; Sadowski and Pasquale, 2015; Krivý, 2018). David Harvey (2005) wrote of “accumulation by dispossession,” by which he meant shifting ownership of assets such as housing from individuals to financial investors. He was also concerned, in a tone not unlike that of social innovation, with the “right to the city,” “an active right to make the city different, to shape it more in accord with our heart’s desire” (Harvey, 2003, p. 941). To paraphrase Harvey, there is a danger with the smart city of a new form of dispossession—of individual privacy, but similarly, of alienation of spaces once considered separate from the public realm or from government surveillance.

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It has to be said that the social innovation literature has not considered privacy as a central concern or objective. Social innovation ideas are concerned with improving and empowering underprivileged groups. With smart cities, there are also concerns over the uneven application and control of benefits and applications (Glasmeier and Christopherson, 2015). Social innovation has an organic view of society, with the government as benevolent, capital as helpful and citizens as willing and able, all trusting and working together in “constructive cross-sectorial partnerships” (Baker and Mehmood, 2015, p. 214). This “dissolving of traditional boundaries” takes an ironic turn when we consider the concerns over enhanced and unaccountable surveillance. Moreover, this is said to be achievable in an era where neoliberal priorities have enhanced the role of the market while curtailing the distributive mechanisms of government. At the time of writing, the world is confronted with an unprecedented economic and health emergency—COVID-19. While shut down in “hibernation,” citizens are connecting digitally as never before. This is a conjoining of, on the one hand, greatly expanded use of digital technology and on the other, the need for “the social and solidarity economy for welfare provision” (Ardill and Lemes de Oliveira, 2018, p. 208). In the post-COVID-19 recovery process, social innovation will be necessary. This makes the need to integrate and reconcile the ideas and practices of social innovation with smart cities all the more profound.

2.5  Smart city drivers and actors 2.5.1  Key drivers of the smart city making The political, institutional, and historical context should be considered to holistically understand the emphasis on smart cities. This framework suggests that the smart city is an outcome of historical paradigm changes in cities. Current smart city practices have been accelerated within broad economic and political settings. Key drivers include: (1) National and local policies: These embrace new technology in infrastructure development. Ironically, although ICT is aiming to be ubiquitous, infrastructure is spatially selective (Kim and Kim, 2013). Both nonspatial and spatial public policy measures have been in place for smart city making. (2) Business opportunities and market demand: There is the ever-growing size of ICT industries and ICT is seen as a sector producing imperatives in almost all other sectors, including education, manufacturing, retail, logistics, and even the arts and performance. The penetration of ICT into a wide array of industries and daily life for professionals and ordinary citizens has pushed smart city actors to expand ICT at the city scale. (3) Globalization: Transport networks have shrunken travel time and far-­ reaching ICT has triggered the process of “time-space compression”

Smart cities as a platform for technological and social innovation  Chapter | 2  23

(Harvey, 1990, p. 240), beyond national boundaries. Globalization has yielded new business opportunities theoretically everywhere, but phenomenally so in global cities, with economic and political command-andcontrol functions (Taylor and Csomós, 2012). Most global cities aspire to smart city status (De Falco, 2019). Now cities learn from, compete against, and collaborate with other cities. Stories about the success of smart cities are easily shared with other cities motivating them to become smart. (4) Political push: The prevailing of neoliberal thinking has been a driver to capitalize on all available sources for economic growth and market efficiency since the 1980s. Central governments have privatized infrastructure fully or partially and local governments have become entrepreneurial, to enhance the competitiveness and the image of their city (Storper and Scott, 2009). ICT may seem to be free from political conflicts as a neutral, objective, and scientific tool, although it involves complicated political decisions in practice. Efficiency-seeking infrastructure operators have actively adopted ICT solutions such as a smart grid for energy and the UTIS.

2.5.2  Key actors of smart city making Smart cities have been led and often promoted by multiple actors. Smart cities should create new values for stakeholders (Lim et  al., 2018). The key actors include: (1) Central and local governments: In response to new technological opportunities, governments have attempted to utilize ICT in urban development and management. Governments aim to achieve a smart city status with an ambition to realize futuristic images primarily via formulating urban policies, investing in ICT-embedded infrastructure, and guiding urban development with new technologies. Governmental approaches are efforts for smart city making in a wide range of sectors (Anthopoulos, 2017). In a narrow scope, governmental approaches include administrative services for citizens such as e-government and inner- and intergovernmental facilities such as e-conference facilities (Hur et al., 2019). Infrastructure is an essential component under government control. Efficiency-seeking government departments, local governments, and government agencies endeavor to exploit benefits from ICT in the provision and management of infrastructure. While ICT can be set in all fields, tangible infrastructure, such as transport, energy, and waste management has attracted more attention. In a broad scope, governments direct new urban development projects and urban renewal projects by incorporating ICT facilities for citizens. Their role can be passive as a regulator and/or active as an agent or a developer (Shin et al., 2015). Governments inevitably invite private sectors with ICT skills and serve the public in their smart city making approaches. (2) ICT firms: ICT firms are primary suppliers of ICT-related products. As Hollands (2008) points out, current smart city initiatives are largely

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e­ ntrepreneurially driven. By virtue of their expertise in ICT and raison detre as a for-profit private sector, ICT firms overemphasize ICT solutions and attempt to enlarge the scope of these ICT solutions to larger geographical areas to the community, local, city, regional, national and even cross-national levels. Larger geographical coverage means large project size, but also, enhancing the global reputation of the firm by generating larger impacts. In fact, current smart city initiatives in many cities have not been academically driven, but industry-driven, by ICT firms such as Apple, Google, IBM, Facebook, and Samsung. In tandem with the increasingly growing significance of ICT in urban management, their role is also growing and expanding in the process of urban planning and management. However, their focus is to incorporate their products into urban systems as a profit-seeking stakeholder. (3) Urban professionals: Urban planners are broad in scope (Levy, 2013). They liaise with many other urban professionals such as architects, surveyors, demographers, economists, and developers who contribute to the changes and plans for urban space. As such, urban planning inevitably requires an understanding of local areas and skills to communicate with spatial information like maps and spatial data. ICT elements can be embedded into sectorial planning such as transport planning, infrastructure planning, and community planning and lead long-term strategic planning. Urban planners coordinate the planning process and negotiate with stakeholders including ICT professionals, developers, landowners, and residents. Most planning processes are driven by the public sector, requiring approvals and endorsement from the public authority. Another important group of urban professionals is developers. Much of urban development is realized by real estate investment which is a major role played by developers who directly invest or attract investors (Kim, 2020). Developers and real estate investors seek out higher rates of return as a private sector. Input from ICT products can offer distinguished urban products that can possibly increase the value of the property. When a smart city initiative comes down to the urban scale for implementation, it becomes a real estate development project with the customary issues of that sector, including housing affordability, pocketing windfall gains, social/spatial inequality, and struggles for land ownership. (4) Residents and end users: People are or should be the primary beneficiaries of ICT. Smart cities should support coordination and collaboration for citizens (Han and Hawken, 2018). Growing significance on participation in the planning process is a push to employ ICT solutions that can support interactions between residents, public sectors, and ICT professionals. End users include all kinds of interest groups such as individuals, firms, and retailers. They can be passive users of ICT facilities in their local areas and can be proactive in raising their voices through a formal public consultation and informal comments. When the level of satisfaction in ICT facilities is high, the abovementioned key players are motivated to respond.

Smart cities as a platform for technological and social innovation  Chapter | 2  25

As shown in the discussion above on social innovation, the extent that such programs are people-oriented depends, in part at least, on who controls them.

2.6 Conclusion In summary, the intention of this chapter is by no means to oversimplify the definition of smart cities. Instead, it acknowledges the broad scope and identifies a number of contentious issues. Smart cities are the spatial outcome of technological and social innovations and in turn, they are platforms to facilitate innovations. Cities are, by definition, a center for human settlements and economic activities. Historically, new technologies have been nurtured in cities even when the origins of these ideas lie outside the city itself. In general, the key drivers of smart cities can be exogenous and endogenous. The current literature has highlighted a series of parameters such as national and local policies, growing demand for the ICT industry, a new global pattern of fast movement of goods and information, as well as political interests as important factors. The weightage of these drivers varies, depending on the jurisdictions and services that smart city initiatives offer. Accordingly, the key actors, who can be different levels of governments, ICT firms, urban professionals, and even end users have different approaches, interests, contributions, and demands. As such, it is crucial to explore smart cities in multiple geographical, socio-cultural, economic, and political contexts.

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28  Smart cities for technological and social innovation Oliveira, Á., Campolargo, M., 2015. From smart cities to human smart cities. In: 2015 48th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. IEEE, pp. 2336–2344. Parks, D., Rohracher, H., 2019. From sustainable to smart: re-branding or re-assembling urban energy infrastructure? Geoforum 100, 51–59. Plautz, J., 2018. San Diego Outlines Smart Sensor Installation Plans in Major IoT Push. Available from: https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/san-diego-outlines-smart-sensor-installationplans-in-major-iot-push/542238/. (Accessed 20 April 2020). Rajabifard, A., Ho, S., Sabri, S., 2016. Urban analytics data infrastructure: critical SDI for urban management in Australia. In: Spatial Enablement in A Smart World. GSDI Association Press, Gilbertville, IA. Roche, S., 2017. Geographic information science III: spatial thinking, interfaces and algorithmic urban places–toward smart cities. Prog. Hum. Geogr. 41, 657–666. Sabri, S., Chen, Y., Rajabifard, A., Lim, T., Khoo, V., Kalantari, M., 2019. A multi-dimensional analytics platform to support planning and design for liveable and sustainable urban environment. In: 14th 3D GeoInfo Conference 2019, pp. 75–80. Sadowski, J., Pasquale, F.A., 2015. The spectrum of control: a social theory of the smart city. First Monday 20, 1–23. Schumpeter, J.A., 1939. Business Cycles: A Theoretical, Historical, and Statistical Analysis of the Capitalist Process. McGraw-Hill, New York. Schwab, K., 2016. The Fourth Industrial Revolution. World Economic Forum, Geneva. Shearmur, R., 2012. Are cities the font of innovation? A critical review of the literature on cities and innovation. Cities 29, S9–S18. Shin, H., Park, S.H., Sonn, J.W., 2015. The emergence of a multiscalar growth regime and scalar tension: the politics of urban development in Songdo New City, South Korea. Environ. Plann. C Gov. Policy 33, 1618–1638. Southworth, M., 2003. Measuring the liveable city. Built Environ. 29, 343–354. Srinivasan, S., O’fallon, L.R., Dearry, A., 2003. Creating healthy communities, healthy homes, healthy people: initiating a research agenda on the built environment and public health. Am. J. Public Health 93, 1446–1450. Storper, M., Scott, A.J., 2009. Rethinking human capital, creativity and urban growth. J. Econ. Geogr. 9, 147–167. Taylor, P.J., Csomós, G., 2012. Cities as control and command centres: analysis and interpretation. Cities 29, 408–411. The Economist, 2012. A sense of place. De Economist. The World Bank, 2018. Urban Population (% of Total). The World Bank. UN Habitat, 2015. Habitat III Issue Papers 21—Smart Cities. New York, NY. Weitz, J., Waldner, L., 2002. Smart Growth Audits. American Planning Association, Chicago, IL. Wey, W.-M., Hsu, J., 2014. New urbanism and smart growth: toward achieving a smart National Taipei University District. Habitat Int. 42, 164–174. Wiig, A., 2016. The empty rhetoric of the smart city: from digital inclusion to economic promotion in Philadelphia. Urban Geogr. 37, 535–553. Wirth, L., 1938. Urbanism as a way of life. Am. J. Sociol. 44, 1–24. Wood, D.M., Mackinnon, D., 2019. Partial platforms and oligoptic surveillance in the smart city. Surveill. Soc. 17, 176–182. Yigitcanlar, T., Kamruzzaman, M., Buys, L., Ioppolo, G., Sabatini-Marques, J., da Costa, E.M., et al., 2018. Understanding ‘smart cities’: intertwining development drivers with desired outcomes in a multidimensional framework. Cities 81, 145–160.

Chapter 3

The smart city in Singapore: How environmental and geospatial innovation lead to urban livability and environmental sustainability Tian Kuay Lima, Abbas Rajabifardb, Victor Khooc, Soheil Sabrib, and Yiqun Chenb a

Singapore Environment Institute, National Environment Agency, Singapore, bCentre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, c Singapore Land Authority, Singapore

Chapter outline 3.1 Introduction 29 3.1.1 Government digital transformation in Singapore: Smart nation initiative 30 3.1.2 SLA’s 3D National Topographic Mapping project 30 3.1.3 Human-centric urban solutions for urban planning 33 3.2 Motivation to develop a multiscale urban microclimate tool for Singapore 34 3.2.1 UHI and climate change 34

3.2.2 Quantitative urban environment simulation tool 3.3 Intelligent environment decision support system—A 3D geospatial open standard platform 3.3.1 Outdoor thermal comfort 3.3.2 Smart urban mobility 3.3.3 Flood level impact assessment 3.4 Conclusion Acknowledgments References

35

43 43 44 45 46 48 48

3.1 Introduction Singapore is a small tropical island state with no natural resources. One of the key drivers of its growth has always been a continuous investment in the people. Since its independence in 1965, Singapore has converted many of its challenges Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00003-4 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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30  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

into strategic opportunities to improve the vibrancy, competitiveness, and livability outcomes for its residents.

3.1.1  Government digital transformation in Singapore: Smart nation initiative With the global order today undergoing rapid transition, we also face challenges and disturbances such as technology disruption and climate change. In the next phase of development, Singapore endeavors to harness data, info-comm technologies (ICT), and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve living, create economic opportunities, and build closer communities in its transformation toward a smart nation. In the transformation toward a smart nation, Singapore leverages and strengthens the nexus between academia, industry, and government, making strategic investments in frontier technologies, and forming strong relationships with the international community. With digital economy, digital government, and digital society as the key pillars that support Singapore’s smart nation goals, various major national projects have been launched, in areas such as digital infrastructure (SLA’s 3D National Topographic Mapping project, City GML, BIM, Virtual Singapore, etc.) and service delivery, and involving the public, private and people sectors to jumpstart widespread transformation in key domains, namely: health, education, transport, urban solutions, and finance (Smart Nation and Digital Government Office, 2018). The Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2 NIC) is another multiagency effort led by the Ministry of National Development (MND) and the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore. Started in 2013, L2 NIC leverages research and development (R&D) to create and optimize Singapore’s space capacity for future sustained growth, while supporting a highly livable environment for Singapore’s people. From a social innovation perspective, this multiagency collaboration is set to change behavior of all actors joined in Singapore’s smart nation network. The initiative is planned to lead new and improved ways of collaborative action within involved agencies and beyond. According to Soma et al. (2018, p. 1) “Social innovation can contribute to changing behaviour across different institutional settings, across markets and public sectors, and to enhancing bottom-up responsible inventiveness towards integration of social, economic and environmental objectives.” On the basis of this definition, Singapore’s smart nation aims to achieve long-term sustainable development but with benefits accruing in the short term, which promotes cooperation, inclusiveness, and trust to benefit from the values of technological investments through innovative social changes.

3.1.2  SLA’s 3D National Topographic Mapping project Singapore’s goal is to be a leading digital economy that continually reinvents itself. A government that is “Digital to the core and serves with heart” is

The smart city in Singapore  Chapter | 3  31

i­ mperative to thrive in the digital economy. To seize new opportunities provided in the digital economy, the Singapore Digital (SG:D) movement was introduced to encourage government, companies, organizations, and individuals to work together. The Singapore government has put in place the Digital Government Blueprint that aims to build on the foundations laid by previous e-Government masterplans. The blueprint laid out Singapore’s ambition to better leverage data and harness new technologies to build a digital economy and digital society, in support of the Smart Nation. Six strategies have been identified to build a digital government. This entails: ● ● ● ● ● ●

●

Integrating services around citizen and business needs; Strengthening integration between policy, operations, and technology; Building common digital and data platforms; Operating reliable, resilient, and secure systems; Raising digital capabilities to pursue innovation; Co-creating with citizens and businesses and facilitating the adoption of technology Digitalization.

3.1.2.1 Digitization Digitalization is vital to government and businesses in terms of raising productivity, driving growth, reaping value in adjacencies, harnessing new ecosystems, and accessing new markets overseas. It takes more than just using the latest technologies; it involves transforming business models and rethinking operating approaches to take full advantage of the capabilities that digital offers. The value of digitalization is immense. Digitalization in the area of geographical information is core and critical in many of the government’s operations and functions. Geographical information or geoinformation is fundamental information that enables services to be integrated and innovation to be implemented. The geoinformation in digital format will improve productivity, strengthen operation, allow automation, enhance decision making, provide insights, and boost innovation. Digital geoinformation in the form of map data is commonly known as the 2D GIS layers. With the advancement of digital technology in data capturing, data processing, and visualization, 3-dimensional (3D) datasets are now easier and cheaper to produce and maintain. Digital geoinformation in the form of location is also critical in enabling various smart nation applications. In this case, the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) location information is used in many smart applications together with accurate and reliable map data both in 2D and 3D. 3.1.2.2  Driver for 3D digital map Singapore’s urban built environment has become more complex with increased multilevel land use below and above the ground. To optimize space, extensive

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development has gone deep underground (e.g., rock cavern development) and high above ground in Singapore. Traditional 2-dimensional (2D) maps are increasingly inadequate to support the needs in managing this city. To address the issue, Singapore Land Authority (SLA) leads a whole-ofgovernment (WHOG) initiative to create and maintain a geometrically accurate 3D national topographic map of Singapore. The primary aim of this initiative is to satisfy the increasing needs of government and agencies in operation, development planning, policymaking, and risk management. The mapping initiative simultaneously utilizes several cutting-edge mapping technologies such as airborne LiDAR, oblique aerial imagery, mobile laser mapping system, and real-time differential global navigation satellite system (GNSS) in 3D data capturing. The outcome of the mapping exercise is high-quality 3D datasets that capture fundamental as-built 3D information of buildings, terrain, and roads. These datasets serve as the authoritative base map which can be shared across government agencies to support the development and operation of a smart city. To enable “collect once, use by many”, datasets modeled and created are as open and interoperable as possible to support a wide variety of 3D applications (Fig. 3.1). Essentially, the mapping program produced three fundamental datasets: ● ● ●

Digital Terrain Model (DTM); 3D Buildings; and 3D Roads

This 3D mapping initiative has extensively adopted the OGC’s City GML standard. City GML 2.0 consists of 10 core thematic modules, although other domains can still be further developed using the application domain extension (ADE). Those thematic modules are buildings, relief, vegetation, city furniture, transportation, water bodies, bridges, tunnels, and land use, out of which Singapore has implemented eight themes. To ensure that 3D mapping and 3D modeling efforts in Singapore are consistent and interoperable, SLA and Gov Tech co‑lead the 3D standards subgroup to develop a national standard for 3D city modeling. The 3D city standards effort aims to establish a comprehensive representation of the 3D information model based on the OGC City GML open standard. A 3D information model is a conceptual model that captures real-world information of the city in terms of thematic classes, attributes, and relations. Modeling requirements

FIG. 3.1  Fundamental datasets created in 3D mapping program.

The smart city in Singapore  Chapter | 3  33

and ­recommendations on basic geometries were discussed to form the foundational knowledge of good modeling practices. Feedback was sought from local industry players as well, to ensure that the eventual technical specifications and recommendations were feasible and appropriate. Nine core city themes were examined and further refined to address the needs of the local context. A new theme to represent underground built structures was also developed and implemented as an ADE in this effort (Soon and Khoo, 2017).

3.1.3  Human-centric urban solutions for urban planning In the coming 5–15 years, Singapore will be undergoing a rapid pace of development as new housing estates and growth areas (Jurong Lake District, Bidadari, Tampines North, Tengah, Woodlands Regional Centre, Marina Bay Area) are planned for development to meet population and economic needs by 2030 (Sim, 2017). As the built environment contributes to the generation and trapping of heat, UHI effects, it is essential that the microclimatic impacts of these upcoming developments, as well as the long-term effects of climate change, are assessed early during the planning process. This early assessment of climate change implication is necessary for appropriate design and mitigation measures to be incorporated upfront in the plans. By leveraging current smart nation’s efforts and technologies, it is time to develop a customized, scalable, and innovative platform with a suite of planning and design tools to support the development of human-centric urban solutions to support and enhance livability, productivity, and sustainability for urban planning and design. This platform facilitates the collaboration of end-users in place-based development, which is a critical requirement for social innovation (Ardill and Lemes de Oliveira, 2018). An operational and integrated quantitative urban environment simulation tool (QUEST) has been developed to function as an automated and seamless enabler that is operation-ready for end-users, such as planners, architects, engineers in relevant agencies, and potentially even industry, to refine upcoming land use and development plans for maintaining good thermal comfort in both the immediate and longer-term future (Lim et al., 2017). SLA’s 3D data including building information model (BIM), City GML, and other geospatial data (e.g., building footprints, land use, and population) were processed, organized and adapted as a service. Using open geospatial standards including web services, such as web feature service (WFS), web map service (WMS), web processing service (WPS), and associated application programming interfaces (APIs), for data publishing and visualization, the QUEST platform was further developed into an open-sourced platform: the intelligent environment decision support system (IEDSS). As the first phase, QUEST was implemented using proprietary GIS software, which includes the outdoor thermal comfort tool, and was transferred into R code to be used in this 3D open-sourced geospatial platform. The second

34  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

phase was built on the results of this tool, which referred to smart mobility. The second tool was called the walkability analysis and was developed based on the connectivity of road networks, as well as on the built (e.g., points of interest and attractiveness of destinations) and natural environment (e.g., temperature, vegetation) aspects of urban areas. Finally, the third phase was a flood level impact assessment and severe storm impact assessment in an urban landscape. Along with the results of flood modeling, BIM was used to simulate and assess the impact of flooding over different timeframes.

3.2  Motivation to develop a multiscale urban microclimate tool for Singapore 3.2.1  UHI and climate change The urban heat island (UHI) effect is attributed to the differences in heat fluxes between urban and rural areas, with urban areas typically absorbing and storing more sensible heat than rural areas (Oke, 1982). The UHI intensity increases as the population of the city increases, while UHI intensity decreases as wind speed increases (Oke, 1973). These have been confirmed by more recent studies as well (Bokaie et al., 2016; Kotharkar and Surawar, 2016; Li et al., 2016; Ward et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2019). Several factors contribute to increase the UHI effect, such as diminishment of green space; low wind velocity due to poor urban ventilation and wind speed in urban canyons due to turbulent dissipation of the kinetic energy of wind; and release of the anthropogenic heat and increased absorption and storage of solar radiation because of the widespread use of construction materials (Oke, 1973, 2002; Takahashi et al., 2004; Chen and Wong, 2006; Chong, 2012; Kleerekoper et al., 2012; Santamouris et al., 2016; Soltani and Sharifi, 2019). Studies have shown that the UHI intensity varies within a city, depending on local land use or land cover patterns, urban form, and materials (Hart and Sailor, 2009). Studies have concluded that the increased use of construction materials was the main cause of increasing the UHI effect in Manchester, United Kingdom (Levermore et al., 2018). Literature indicates that diurnal heat stress peaks in hard-landscape urban settings, while it may decrease in urban parklands (Soltani and Sharifi, 2019). Several available UHI mitigation strategies revealed that in general, urban greening can significantly mitigate the UHI intensity, both directly and indirectly, resulting in the decrease of global air temperature and of mean radiant temperature up to 4°C and 4.5°C, respectively (Aflaki et al., 2017). These include the use of cool materials to reflect heat back into the atmosphere, urban ventilation to facilitate good wind flow around buildings, and the reduction of anthropogenic heat to reduce the amount of heat transferred into the environment and the environmental impacts of urban vegetation (green roofs, green facades, vertical greeneries, and green pavements).

The smart city in Singapore  Chapter | 3  35

The UHI effect is interrelated to climate change. First, our warming climate will increase already higher temperatures in heat island areas. Second, mitigating and cooling strategies to reduce heat islands can help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change, as well as lower the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Even if the national pledges made in 2015 at the 21st meeting of the Conference of Parties in Paris are fulfilled, it is projected that by 2100, global average temperatures will rise by 2.7–3.5°C, depending on the assumptions for post-2030 emissions. Under the second Vulnerability Study Phase 1, the Centre for Climate Research Singapore conducted a study (Marzin et al., 2015) on the impact of climate change on Singapore under different Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios. For both RCP 4.5 and 8.5, there were significant increases in the number of warm days experienced and an increase in temperatures of 1.4°C and 1.8°C from 2046 to 2065 and from 2018 to 2100, respectively. Various studies suggest that continuing current patterns of urban development without intervention would produce degraded urban climates with further exacerbated urban temperatures (Smoyer-Tomic et al., 2003; Harlan et al., 2006; Coates et  al., 2014). With the enhanced greenhouse effect and global warming, UHI is an extremely important issue to be addressed as the growing urban population could be further exposed to elevated temperatures. Current planning strategies for future urban development often target issues such as housing, transport, water, and infrastructure; but few strategies comprehensively consider the urban climate and its interaction with the built environment (Coutts et al., 2010). With improved understanding of the interactions between the built environment and urban climates (Sailor, 2011; Santamouris et al., 2015), many opportunities exist for those involved in urban planning and development to adopt this knowledge. Appropriate design and mitigation measures can then be incorporated upfront to minimize the risks of developing unfavorable urban climates (Eliasson, 2000; Fehrenbach et al., 2001; Coutts et al., 2010) and to improve the thermal comfort and health of residents in maximizing the use of outdoor spaces, leading to enhancing sustainable urban livability. QUEST provides the simulation of the microclimate for the development of UHI mitigation strategies and intervention at various urban scales such as at district level master planning and building-level development control guidelines, which can also help communities adapt to the impacts of climate change, as well as lower the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

3.2.2  Quantitative urban environment simulation tool QUEST is a collaboration involving various agencies and institutions such as Urban Redevelopment Authority, National Environment Agency, Singapore Land Authority, National Parks Board, Building Control Authority, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, among others (Lim et al., 2017).

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Supported by the Ministry of National Development (MND) and National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2 NIC), this tool couples high-resolution atmospheric modeling with urban-scale computational fluid dynamics modeling, to generate wind, temperature, and thermal comfort simulations at different planning scales. This would help planners better understand how micro-climate, UHI, and thermal comfort may change with future urban development and climate change and consider suitable interventions. QUEST is an automated, operation-ready, and seamless simulation tool for end-users, such as planners and architects, to refine upcoming land use and development plans with the objective of maintaining good thermal comfort. QUEST would provide end-users with a user-friendly graphical user interface for them to specify the targeted locality/region to generate a set of baselines and future scenarios based on development plans. QUEST, as a simulation tool, automatically triggers a set of simulation workflows to generate the various parameters, namely temperatures, wind, and thermal comfort index, for the targeted locality. QUEST consists of different components and work packages, as illustrated in Fig. 3.2.

Quantitative urban environment simulation tool (QUEST) IMEUM

Geospatial data

• Downscaled temperature,wind,humidity, • Prepare and ingestgeospatial data for etc.from global to site-specific for whole Singapore from Singapore Land • Singapore.[A] Authority (SLA) LIDAR survey. • Climate baselines (past to present), climate change projections,etc.

Calibration and validation with sensors • On-site field measurements

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) • Air temperature, wind from [A]. • Solar radiance. • 3D building greenery, water body, terrain, anthropogenic heat • Generate urban wind and temperature

Thermal comfort index • Considers Singaporeans’ perceptions of thermal comfort(in relation to temperature and wind speed).

Modeled areas

• Whole Singapore (approx. 700 km2). • Temperature, wind, thermal comfort, humidity, precipitation, mean sea level pressure, etc. • For baseline climate, future climate scenarios, etc. FIG. 3.2  Methodology for different components of QUEST.

The smart city in Singapore  Chapter | 3  37

The development of the simulator for QUEST is based on the integrated multiscale environmental urban model (IMEUM) proposed by Lim et al., 2017. The IMEUM couples global-regional spectral model to mesoscale-spectral model and uses the model output statistics approach (MOS), a multidimensional statistical model, to estimate weather variables (wind, air temperature, and humidity) at the precinct level. This model supports urban planning and design for the management of urban heat islands and global warming, thermal comfort, tree failure risk, and also for building energy analysis.

3.2.2.1  QUEST—A smart cities platform to support and enhance livability, productivity, and sustainable innovation Technological progress in computer modeling and sensing capability and the development of GIS have made it possible to link human and urban systems. In 2011 UNESCO, through the mechanism of the recommendation for historic urban landscapes, created an imperative for the overt recognition of the role of culture and environmental changes, including those resulting from disasters, in sustainable urban planning. However, the intensity and speed of present changes are challenging our complex urban environments. Concern for the environment, in particular for water and energy consumption, calls for approaches and new models for urban living, based on ecologically sensitive policies and practices aimed at strengthening the sustainability and the quality of urban life. Many of these initiatives, however, should integrate natural and cultural heritage as resources for sustainable development. For sustainable urban planning and design, the development of QUEST leverages existing technologies and efforts such as (i) Smart Nation Singapore; (ii) MND’s and NRF’s Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge Initiative; (iii) SLA’s WHOG 3D National Mapping project; and (iv) IMEUM’s coupling of the high-resolution atmospheric model with urban MOS and CFD models with urban morphology variables (comprising urban morphology and greenery conditions) to (i) assess the combined impacts of the UHI phenomenon and rising global temperatures due to climate change in Singapore and (ii) to enable appropriate UHI mitigation measures to be incorporated upfront in the design process, consecutively bridging the gap between global and building scale. Fig. 3.3 depicts the workflow in simulating and optimizing UHI and climate change mitigation strategies. 3.2.2.2  QUEST—UHI mitigation measures, urban greenery, to be incorporated upfront in urban development and design process to enhance livability As Singapore needs to meet its population and economic needs by 2030, QUEST has been used to study and assess the effectiveness of UHI mitigation measures such as urban greenery to be incorporated upfront in urban development and design process for one of Singapore’s growth areas, Jurong Lake District (JLD).

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FIG. 3.3  Simulation and optimization of UHI and climate change mitigation strategies to enhance livability.

Fig. 3.4A, shows the existing land use and greenery over a potential area of JLD for urban development. Fig. 3.4B uses QUEST to show the microclimate over the potential area for urban development. Based on the existing land use, in Fig. 3.4B, cooler spots are observed in the middle of the shaded courtyards. There is also evidence of the cooling effects of urban greenery.

(A)

(B)

FIG. 3.4  QUEST results for microclimate simulation over Jurong Lake District (JLD). (A) Jurong Lake District. (B) Temperature 2 p.m. on 7 November 2015.

The smart city in Singapore  Chapter | 3  39

Potential area for development

Development of a 36 storey building

Park (greenery)

FIG. 3.5  QUEST—Simulation and optimization of UHI mitigation strategies, urban greenery, to enhance livability.

Three simulation scenarios were undertaken to examine the urban microclimate and the effectiveness of urban greenery to mitigate UHI for the development of the potential area in JLD. Fig. 3.5 shows the three scenarios, namely: (a) Existing scenario, no development and it is based on the existing land use only; (b) Scenario 1, which is based on the existing land use and the development of a 36 storey building at the potential area for development; and (c) Scenario 2, which is based on the existing land use and the development of a 36 storey building and a park (urban greenery). Fig. 3.6 depicts the urban microclimate over the JLD potential area for development. For Scenario 1, with the development of a 36 storey building only, there is an increase in the surface temperature by about 0.5°C around the new building. For Scenario 2, with the development of a 36-storey building and a park (greenery), there is a decrease in the surface temperature by about 1°C around the new building.

Potential area for development

Development of a 36 storey building

Park (greenery)

FIG. 3.6  QUEST—Simulation and optimization of UHI mitigation strategies, urban greenery, to enhance livability. Microclimate simulation over potential area for development, JLD.

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At the micro-climate level, the benefits of greenery to the built environment can be implemented to reduce the UHI severity and enhance livability. Greenery dissipates the incoming solar radiation on the buildings through its shading; it reduces longwave radiation exchange between buildings due to the low surface temperatures emanated by the shading from the greenery; and it also reduces the ambient air temperature through evapotranspiration.

3.2.2.3  QUEST—UHI mitigation measures, urban ventilation, to be incorporated upfront in urban development and design process to enhance livability Urban ventilation is another important strategy of UHI mitigation. Better urban ventilation helps to facilitate good wind flow around buildings, as well as reducing anthropogenic heat and thus the amount of heat transferred into the environment. Fig. 3.7 shows that there is an increase and decrease of air temperatures over areas which have a reduction and increase of ventilation respectively with the construction of new buildings over the JLD. 3.2.2.4  QUEST—Socio-economic and community-based urban planning and design To achieve the desired socio-economic objectives of the community, it is crucial to include citizen-based collaboration upfront in the urban planning and design process (Sabri et al., 2015). By leveraging the development of QUEST to include citizen-based collaboration as well as environmental changes, including those resulting from disasters, an open source IEDSS, developed at the Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructuresa and Land Administration at The University of Melbourne, has been adopted for applications on smart mobility and environmental risk assessments for flood level and severe storm impact. Fig. 3.8 depicts the drivers and actors involved in Singapore’s smart city planning and design which facilitates technological and social innovation. Through the adoption of online, open source platform technology, partnership building capability could be established to facilitate citizen-based collaboration in urban planning, design and resource allocation. With inclusive citizen-based collaboration in urban planning, involving the consideration of intangibles across diverse socio-economic groups within the community, there is a potential for enhancing the quality and management of the planning and design process to tackle social problems and realize more sustainable, equitable and livable cities.

a. https://csdila.unimelb.edu.au/.

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FIG. 3.7  QUEST—Simulation of urban ventilation as a strategy for UHI mitigation to enhance livability. Microclimate simulation of wind flow over JLD.

FIG. 3.8  The drivers and actors involved in Singapore Smart City Planning and Design. (Adapted from Kim, H.M., Sabri, S., Kent, A., 2021. Smart cities as a platform for technological and social innovation in productivity, sustainability, and liveability: a conceptual framework. In: Kim, H.M., Sabri, S., Kent, A. (Eds.), Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation: Case Studies, Current Trends, and Future Steps, first ed. Elsevier Academic Press.)

The smart city in Singapore  Chapter | 3  43

3.3  Intelligent environment decision support system—A 3D geospatial open standard platform The major component of IEDSS was developing a prototype based on open source technologies and geospatial standards as a GIS platform, in which the QUEST tool, as well as other urban analytics and planning tools (e.g., walkability and flood level impact assessment), could be used to conduct scenariobased modeling and simulation (M&S) (Sabri et  al., 2019). For instance, walkability analysis can be based on the connectivity of a road network, as well as on the physical, environmental, and amenity characteristics of an urban environment. In the flood level impact assessment, along with the results of flood modeling for direction, velocity, and strength of the water’s movement, BIM data can be used to simulate and assess the impact of flood in different timeframes. One of the major capabilities of this platform is the multiscale analysis, which covers buildings, neighborhoods, cities, and regions. The data is collected, processed into appropriate formats, and integrated into the 3D platform based on modeling and simulation services. The functionalities of IEDSS are prioritized to facilitate the local community’s satisfaction on urban quality of life, to increase the social interaction, and address sustainability challenges. In this section, three application tools are briefly explained: (1) Outdoor thermal comfort assessment (2) Smart urban mobility (3) Flood level impact assessment

3.3.1  Outdoor thermal comfort An outdoor thermal comfort tool has been developed to facilitate inclusive, citizen-­based collaboration in urban planning, design and resource allocation such as for the optimal use of outdoor spaces. This tool adopts the thermal sensation vote (TSV) index (Ignatius et al., 2015) to predict and evaluate people’s thermal sensation in Singapore under certain outdoor thermal conditions (Fig. 3.9). The TSV model was based on a very large-scale survey from more than 2000 users of different outdoor urban spaces like parks, gardens, riversides, squares, university campuses, etc. Air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, global temperature, and solar radiation were measured at the surveyed sites. Considering the large sample size and sites involved and the high R square for the regression model, the TSV model can be applied for other outdoor urban spaces in Singapore. This tool automatically and seamlessly triggers a set of simulation workflows to generate the various parameters, namely: temperatures, wind, and thermal comfort index for the targeted locality or region (Fig. 3.9).

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TSV index categories of outdoor theremal comfort.

TCl_TMax-07112015_1400hrs Value High : 1.90937 Low : 0.539004

TSV range

Perception

–3 to –2 –2 to –1 –1 –0 0 –1 1 –2 2 –3

Cold to cool Cool to slightly cool Slightly cool to neutral Neutral to slightly warm Slightly warm to warm Warm to hot

FIG.  3.9  Simulation and evaluation of outdoor thermal comfort to facilitate inclusive, citizenbased collaboration in urban planning, design, and resource allocation. Red indicates higher thermal discomfort, as is more likely in the spaces between buildings. Blue indicates higher thermal comfort, as is more likely closely adjacent to buildings.

3.3.2  Smart urban mobility The smart mobility tool was developed to examine the impact of environmental factors including temperature, humidity, and wind on the mobility of population. This tool considers physical factors including the road network and access to green spaces. In addition, some demographic variables, including the population density in each census block and the population composition (e.g., age and gender), can be considered to develop and run agent-based modeling and simulations. The tool, which is called the walkability model, uses origin-destination (O-D) trip generation method and, as mentioned above, some physical and ­demographic factors are considered in the configuration of the model. To assign the O-D in the tool, the points of settlements refer to origins (e.g., settlements, offices), and points of interest refer to destinations (e.g., MRT stations, bus stops, shopping areas, restaurants). Several factors were considered for building different scenarios in this tool: (1) The QUEST outputs (for environmental settings) (2) The percentage of population moving from each census block at each time (3) The possibility of pedestrians to walk to more than one destination The walkability output visualizations, as shown in Fig. 3.10 include: (1) Origin points on map (settlements, offices) marked A (2) Destination points on map (e.g., blue symbols, marked B)

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FIG. 3.10  Visualizing the walkability analysis results.

(3) O-D lines. The greater the width, the more people (4) Walking speed and time distribution (in tabular format) (5) Road network usage heat map (red/dark gray lines in print version; orange/ light gray; yellow/lighter gray). The heat map is generated based on an agent-based simulation and indicates the number of times each road segment is being used by pedestrians.

3.3.3  Flood level impact assessment In the flood level impact assessment tool, the question is that if the height of rainfall for a particular location is known (e.g., 200 mm), what will be the impact of this amount of water on surrounding buildings? The platform uses a digital elevation model to map the depth of water in the area of interest. Then the 3D model (e.g., converted BIM or City GML to 3D Geotiles) can be queried to estimate the impact of water on buildings. As such, water depth and observation location are two major parameters for running this model. It should be noted that the rainfall data is calculated in the QUEST model with 50 m resolution. The model determines the extent of flood and depth, which can be loaded through user interfaces with WMS (Fig. 3.11). As such, using the detailed information stored in the 3D building model makes the impact assessment for decision makers and analysts possible. It is important to mention that the light blue color under the building shows lower water depth and dark blue depicts higher depth.

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FIG. 3.11  An illustration of flood extent and depth around a sample building. The tonality of blue color (gray in print version) determines the depth. Visually, this result can be seen in the patchwork effect, particularly to the front and right-hand side of the building. Dark blue (dark gray in print version) shows deeper waters, visible in particular to the right-hand side of the building.

3.4 Conclusion This chapter has showcased the capability of IEDSS as an open source 3D geospatial smart cities platform which facilitates technological and social innovation in conducting multiscale urban microclimate analysis for urban planning in Singapore. The method has considered multivariables ranging from climatic parameters (such as temperature and wind) to urban morphology factors (such as buildings, pavement, and vegetation). Comparison analysis of the model output with the in situ sensing data has shown a good agreement, in which the model is able to create the similar temperature profile of a specific urban area within 50 m radius of influence. Ultimately, the feasibility and applicability of the 3D data models in this platform have been evaluated from three perspectives: ● ● ●

3D data visualization Developing 3D modeling and simulation services for decision making 3D data storage and query

From a technical perspective, to ensure that 3D mapping and 3D modeling efforts in Singapore are consistent and interoperable, SLA and government technology agency co‑lead the 3D standards subgroup to develop a national standard for 3D city modeling. The 3D city standards effort aims to establish a comprehensive representation of the 3D information model based on the OGC City GML open standard. A 3D information model is a conceptual model that captures real-world information of the city in terms of thematic classes, attributes, and relations. Modeling requirements and recommendations on basic geometries were discussed to form the foundational knowledge of good modeling

The smart city in Singapore  Chapter | 3  47

practices. Feedback was sought from local industry players as well to ensure that the eventual technical specifications and recommendations were feasible and appropriate. Nine core city themes (buildings, relief, vegetation, city furniture, transportation, water bodies, bridges, tunnels, and land use) were examined and further refined to address the needs from the local context. A new theme to represent underground built structures was also developed and implemented as an ADE in this effort. This chapter highlighted the potential for developing a functional open GIS 3D platform for scenario-based modeling and simulation to support urban planning and design. This platform is an example of multiagency collaboration, which manifests in developing social innovation for developing urban spaces as indicated in Ardill and Lemes de Oliveira (2018). The drivers and actors of this technological innovation are presented in Fig.  3.3. The collaboration of government, industry, and academic agencies has played a crucial role in developing and delivering such an infrastructure to facilitate urban livability. In addition, with the motivation for sustainable development and to better adapt to climate change, this study showcased the development of IMEUM with its capability to incorporate multiscale modeling from global to local scale in an urban environment. Singapore will be undergoing a rapid pace of development in the coming 5–15 years, as new housing estates and growth areas are planned for development to meet population and economic needs by 2030. As the built environment contributes to the generation and trapping of heat, it is essential that the microclimatic impacts of these upcoming developments, as well as the long-term effects of climate change, are assessed early during the planning process, and for the appropriate design and mitigation measures to be incorporated upfront in the plans. IEDSS has been developed to function as an automated and seamless simulation tool that is operation-ready for end-users such as planners, architects, engineers in relevant agencies, and potentially even industry, to refine upcoming land use and development plans for maintaining good thermal comfort in both the immediate and longer-term future. It would provide the end-users with a graphical user interface for them to specify the targeted locality/region and the past/current/future climate conditions to generate a set of baselines and future scenarios based on urban planning methodology, geospatial data on land-use, urban redevelopment of buildings, etc. Based on these specifications, IEDSS, as a simulation tool, would automatically and seamlessly trigger a set of simulation workflows to generate the various parameters, namely: temperatures, wind and thermal comfort index for the targeted locality/region, and is not limited to an energy study, which has been showcased in this paper. For the IEDSS, two options of dry day and wet day were considered to generate the raster outputs for maximum, minimum, and average temperatures. Depending on data availability, this tool can be extended to generate wind, heat stress risk, and CFD results in the future.

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Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank members of the staff at the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the National Environment Agency (NEA), and the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) for their support to the work. Lim Tian Kuay also wishes to thank Mr. Ronnie Tay (former CEO, NEA), Mr. Richard Hoo (former Deputy CEO, URA), Prof. Raj Thampuran (A*STAR), Dr. Vijay Tallapragada (NOAA’s NCEP/EMC) and Prof. Wong Nyuk Hien (NUS) for their support and encouragement.

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The smart city in Singapore  Chapter | 3  49 Marzin, C., Rahmat, R., Bernie, D., Bricheno, L., Buonomo, E., Calvert, D., Cannaby, H., Chan, S., Chattopadhyay, M., Cheong, W.-K., Hassim, M.E., Gohar, L., Golding, N., Gordon, C., Gregory, J., Hein, D., Hines, A., Howard, T., Janes, T., Jones, R., Kendon, E., Krijnen, J., Lee, S.-Y., Lim, S.-Y., Lo, C.F., Lowe, J., Martin, G., Marzin, C., McBeath, K., McInnes, K., McSweeney, C., Mizielinski, M., Murphy, J., O’Neill, C., Palmer, M., Redmond, G., Roberts, C., Sahany, S., Sanderson, M., Scannel, C., Sexton, D., Shaw, F., Slingo, J., Sun, X., Tinker, J., Tucker, S., Wang, C., Webster, S., Wilson, S., Wood, R., Zhang, S., 2015. Singapore’s Second National Climate Change Study – Climate Projections to 2100, Singapore. Available from: https://ccrs.weather.gov.sg/Publications-Second-National-Climate-Change-Study-Science-Reports. Accessed 6 January 2020. Oke, T.R., 1973. City size and the urban heat island. Atmos. Environ. 7, 769–779. Oke, T.R., 1982. The energetic basis of the urban heat island. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. 108, 1–24. Oke, T.R., 2002. Boundary Layer Climates, Boundary Layer Climates. Routledge. Sabri, S., Chen, Y., Rajabifard, A., Lim, T.K., Khoo, V., Kalantari, M., 2019. Multi-dimensional analytics platform to support planning and design for liveable and sustainable urban environment. ISPRS - Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spat. Inf. Sci. XLII-4/W15, 75–80. Sabri, S., Pettit, C.J., Kalantari, M., Rajabifard, A., White, M., Lade, O., Ngo, T., 2015. What are essential requirements in planning for future cities using open data infrastructures and 3D data models? In: CUPUM 2015 - 14th International Conference on Computers in Urban Planning and Urban Management. Sailor, D.J., 2011. A review of methods for estimating anthropogenic heat and moisture emissions in the urban environment. Int. J. Climatol. 31, 189–199. Santamouris, M., Cartalis, C., Synnefa, A., Kolokotsa, D., 2015. On the impact of urban heat island and global warming on the power demand and electricity consumption of buildings - a review. Energy Build. 98, 119–124. Santamouris, M., Kolokotsa, D., Kolokotsa, D., 2016. Valuing green spaces as a heat mitigation technique STEVEKARDINALJUSUFANDWONGNYUKHIEN, Routledge, London, 55–80. Sim, R., 2017. Imagining the future: what would Singapore be like in 2030. Politics News & Top Stories - The Straits Times [WWW Document]. Politics. URL https://www.straitstimes.com/ politics/imagining-the-future. (Accessed 1 June 2020). Smart Nation and Digital Government Office, 2018. Transforming Singapore [WWW Document]. Smart Nation Digit. Gov. Off. URL https://www.smartnation.sg/why-Smart-Nation/transforming-singapore. (Accessed 1 June 2020). Smoyer-Tomic, K.E., Kuhn, R., Hudson, A., 2003. Heat wave hazards: An overview of heat wave impacts in Canada. Nat. Hazards 28, 463–485. Soltani, A., Sharifi, E., 2019. Understanding and analysing the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect in micro-scale. Int. J. Soc. Ecol. Sustain. Dev. 10, 14–28. Soma, K., van den Burg, S.W.K., Hoefnagel, E.W.J., Stuiver, M., van der Heide, C.M., 2018. Social innovation – A future pathway for Blue growth? Mar. Policy 87, 363–370. Soon, K.H., Khoo, V.H.S., 2017. CITYGML modelling for Singapore 3D national mapping. ISPRS - Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spat. Inf. Sci. XLII-4/W7, 37–42. Takahashi, K., Yoshida, H., Tanaka, Y., Aotake, N., Wang, F., 2004. Measurement of thermal environment in Kyoto city and its prediction by CFD simulation. Energ. Buildings. 36, 771–779. Wang, Q., Wang, Y., Fan, Y., Hang, J., Li, Y., 2019. Urban heat island circulations of an idealized circular city as affected by background wind speed. Build. Environ. 148, 433–447. Ward, K., Lauf, S., Kleinschmit, B., Endlicher, W., 2016. Heat waves and urban heat islands in Europe: a review of relevant drivers. Sci. Total Environ. 569–570, 527–539.

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Chapter 4

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities: A critical review of the Sejong smart city plan Junyoung Choia and Hyung Min Kimb a

Department of the Smart City Research, Seoul Institute of Technology, Seoul, Korea, bFaculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Development paths of Korean smart cities 4.2.1 Technological and urban development contexts 4.2.2 Earlier initiatives 4.2.3 Institutional evolution 4.3 Conceptualizing Korean smart cities 4.4 Sejong 5-1: The making of a Korean smart city 4.4.1 A background of the Sejong 5-1 Neighborhood 4.4.2 Plans for Sejong 5-1 4.4.3 Seven strategic themes 4.5 Critical evaluation of the Sejong 5-1 plan

51 52

52 53 55 58 60

60 61 62

4.5.1 Is it value for money? 66 4.5.2 Is ICT an ultimate solution for urban challenges? 67 4.5.3 Is the plan flexible enough for future technological evolution? 68 4.5.4 Are smart cities only for smart people? 68 4.5.5 Is the role of government and private sectors collaborative? 69 4.5.6 Is the new smart city on a greenfield site sustainable? 69 4.6 Conclusion 70 References 70

66

4.1 Introduction Smart cities are perceived as a core spatial expression of the fourth industrial revolution as well as a new driver for urban and economic growth with South Korea being an important national example. South Korea has been a pioneer in the making of smart cities since the early 2000s as manifested in “Ubiquitous City” (or U-City) initiatives (Kim and Kim, 2013). With the ­proliferation of Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00004-6 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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s­ martphones, big data and artificial intelligence (AI), South Korean cities have seen opportunities to tackle urban challenges by making smart cities in collaboration with a wide array of stakeholders including central and local governments, planning agencies, state-owned enterprises, information and communications technology (ICT) firms and citizens. The most recent smart city making initiatives are reflected in the Sejong smart city and the Busan eco-delta city that are testbeds for new ICT-assisted planning approaches. These projects are excellent platforms to experiment and implement smart city ideas by integrating technological innovation into urban spaces. This chapter will review one of the pilot projects, the Sejong 5-1 Neighborhood smart city (hereafter Sejong 5-1) that can shed light on how technological input is connected (or disconnected) to social innovation.

4.2  Development paths of Korean smart cities 4.2.1  Technological and urban development contexts An emphasis on Korean smart cities is a combined outcome of confidence in ICT and accumulated know-how on new town development. Owing to colonization (1910–45) and the Korean war (1950–53), Korean modernization and industrialization only started from the mid-20th century (Kim and Han, 2012). As South Korea followed a so-called “developmental state” model (Hill and Kim, 2000), export was a primary focus for economic development from the outset of industrialization. It stressed labor-intensive light manufacturing from the 1960s and moved onto heavy manufacturing in the 1970s and 1980s and eventually knowledge-intensive manufacturing in the 1990s. Semiconductors, computers, and screen-based products are key examples where production expanded. Then, creativity-oriented industries have attracted attention as seen in the popularity of Korean media products, such as K-POP, movies, dramas, and entertainment TV programs (Kim and Han, 2012). With the invention of the Internet and smartphones, the development of Korean ICT has accelerated. The advancement in technologies has been fueled by a strong emphasis on human capital development as best illustrated by a very competitive university entry exam that has been in place for many years (Sorensen, 1994). Accumulated manufacturing skills and aspirations for personal development have further encouraged specialization of both hardware and software ICT. The significance of ICT was expressed in national digitalization strategies aspiring to cyber-Korea (1995–99), e-Korea (2000–04) and u-Korea (2005–09). One of the earlier approaches when employing ICT was the formulation of e-government through which administrative services are provided and aggregated statistical data are shared with the public (Kim et  al., 2007). Although investment in ICT has come late, South Korean private and public sectors have gained a reputation as manifested in the fastest Internet connection speed in the world (Belson, 2017), and the top rankings in the ICT development index (ITU, 2016) and the e-government index (UN, 2014).

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities  Chapter | 4  53

About city development, after the Korean war, South Korea saw an unprecedented process of urbanization with migration from rural and regional areas to the largest cities notably, Seoul, resulting in an exponential increase in Seoul’s population from 1.6 million in 1955 to 10.6 million in 1990 (Kim and Han, 2012). Seoul struggled with a wide array of urban challenges including informal settlements, housing and land shortage, environmental degradation, and the lack of essential infrastructure. In response to these challenges, from the 1990s, one of the comprehensive approaches was to build new towns on the outskirts. These new towns were government-led, large-scale, and planned with superior physical infrastructure in comparison with the older part of Seoul. These projects have attracted nationwide attention due to their significant impacts on urban functions, residential choice, and regional economies. The central government announced a development plan for the first five new towns in 1989 including Ilsan, planned for 30,000 residents and Bundang 400,000. These plans were implemented at full speed by the mid-1990s. In 2003, the central government kicked off the second set of new towns with 10 on the periphery of Seoul and two in regional areas. Again in 2019, the central government initiated the third set. In addition to these three sets of new town development projects, the Korean government has developed greenfield sites, such as Songdo in the Incheon Free Economic Zone (Kim and Choi, 2018) and Sejong in central South Korea within which administrative functions are newly located (Kwon, 2015). Despite public criticism largely due to locational disadvantages as a greenfield site far from existing urban centers (Jun and Hur, 2001; Lee and Ahn, 2005), these new development projects have been driven by the government resulting in the changes in the function and the structure of the cities. When designing these greenfield sites, new planning ideas and principles have been incorporated, e.g., job-housing balance, transit-oriented development (TOD), urban greening, and social mix. These new town makings have also been an excellent opportunity to bring in smart city ideas into the cities. Owing to the conjunction of smart cities largely with new town development, real estate, and construction sectors have been important actors as well.

4.2.2  Earlier initiatives The Sejong smart city is not the first smart city making attempt in South Korea; it has evolved from several previous urban developments, such as the U-City initiative. The use of “U” in urban contexts of South Korea first appeared in news media in 2002, highlighting the significance of cyberspace, ubiquitous access, and computing (Seo, 2002). The term “U-City” emerged shortly thereafter in the same media outlet and became a buzzword to the extent that the Korean government promoted it as a key feature of urban planning and development. Early ideas about U-City were futuristic, ambitious, and optimistic, aiming to connect all urban spaces seamlessly through a broadband information superhighway and mobile networks, to create intelligent urban spaces by linking

54  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

p­ eople, things and space in digital and physical space, and enhancing efficiency and productivity of cities by better responding to citizens’ demands. Major earlier projects are described here.

4.2.2.1  Sangam Digital Media City The Sangam Digital Media City (DMC) is a planned industrial cluster of digital and media firms benchmarking Silicon Valley. The initial idea about the Korean media valley was discussed in 1993 by a committee comprised of the Federation of Korean Industries, a private business association (Kim, 2015). Then, after the media valley steering committee was established in 1995, it planned to construct the digital media center on the reclaimed land of Songdo. However, due to delays in land reclamation, intergovernmental conflicts, the lack of political backup, and the complexity of the proposed project structure, the initial plan on Songdo was canceled. However, the idea remained alive and evolved into the Sangam Digital Media City in western Seoul. The master plan for the DMC was created between 2001 and 2003 by the Seoul Institute in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab. The Sangam DMC was constructed on a land area of 57 ha on a former landfill site. By 2019, 48 out of 52 land lots (or 86% in terms of land area) had been sold and it has attracted media and entertainment firms (57%), IT firms (38%) and Bio and Nanotechnology firms (5%) with almost 600 firms and over 40,000 employees in total (DMC Promotion Center, 2019). In addition, in 2019, the Sangam DMC was selected as a testbed for autonomous vehicles using 5G networks. There is no doubt that the Sangam DMC is a significant step toward a smart district combining ICT sectors, media sectors, and urban development (see Fig. 4.1). 4.2.2.2  Songdo new city Songdo, constructed on reclaimed land, is one of the three Incheon Free Economic Zones (see Fig. 4.1). It has attracted media attention due to the sheer scale of private investment (Kim, 2010), an ambitious aim to become an international business hub in Northeast Asia, strategic approaches by synthesizing its role as a “tri-port” namely, airport, seaport, and teleport (Kim and Choi, 2018), and new

FIG. 4.1  Sangam DMC (left) and Songdo (right). (Taken by H.M. Kim in 2018.)

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities  Chapter | 4  55

planning strategies, such as aerotropolis (Kasarda and Lindsay, 2011) and ecocity (Shwayri, 2013). An American real estate developer, Gale International, has been an important player in leading Songdo’s development. In addition, multinational corporations, including POSCO engineering and construction and CISCO, have invested in the Songdo project. However, despite outstanding public and private investments, it has faced public criticism largely because its development pace has not been as rapid as expected (Kim and Han, 2012).

4.2.2.3  New town development Central and local governments have reflected the U-City ideas in their new town development projects such as the Yongin Heungduk, Hwasung Dongtan, Paju Unjung, and even “Administrative City” (a core part of the Sejong city), through the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH), a public urban development agency. LH established the ubiquitous city advancement plan, which stemmed from a research project by LH and Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2004 intending to reflect a shift in urban development toward informatization. These U-cities employ a control center where public data are collected to provide public services. A typical image of the control center is multiscreens, connected to CCTVs that oversee public space (Kim and Kim, 2013). 4.2.3  Institutional evolution U-City aspired to integrate and systemize the construction of the city itself and public service provision within it. That aspiration was formally expressed in the Construction of Ubiquitous Cities Act 2008. Most new infrastructure from the U-City initiative revolved around transport sectors and public safety and security through CCTVs and sensors. However, in public policy, U-City was de-emphasized going through the global financial crisis in the late 2000s. The Korean government rarely used the term U-City or smart cities in public policy documents. This brief period was called the “smart city winter” (Hwang, 2018). From 2016 the Korean government re-emphasized this new type of urban development, as part of new economic growth strategies, by revisions of the original legislation to the Promotion of Smart City Development and Industry Act 2016. Owing to this progress, in planning practices and public documents, the term “smart city” has been widely used to replace U-City. Table 4.1 describes the key differences between the original and subsequent legislation. Key changes are sixfold. First, institutionally the scope has been widened from narrow-focused new town development to various stages of planning including urban management and urban renewal, as well as new development. Smart city services have been expanded by including services for welfare and wellbeing. Second, smart city initiatives have embraced participatory approaches encouraging partnerships and interactions among multiscalar, interdepartmental government sectors, private sectors, and ordinary citizens. This is

TABLE 4.1  An institutional shift from U-City to the smart city. Category

U-City

Smart city

Project target

New towns over 1.65 km2 in land area

Over 0.3 km2 • New development phase: national pilot project city, smart Innovation Citya • Urban management phase: data hub, specialized themed-districts • Old urban centers: smart city-type urban renewal

Project content

• CCTVs and telecommunication networks as key smart city infrastructure • Public services like transport, security, safety, and antidisaster

• Smart infrastructure plus. Aiming to resolve urban issues by data • By providing public services, aiming to create new private services for welfare and well-being.

Procedure

National government- and LH-led top-down approach

• Bottom-up approach with multigovernment departments, local governments, private firms and citizens • An emphasis on corporation among innovators with multiple sectors including energy, transport and telecommunication

Spatial planning

Separate smart infrastructure plans from urban planning and design procedures

Integration of smart infrastructure and services with urban planning, design and construction from the beginning of the project

Technology

Key areas: transport, security, safety, and antidisaster • Telecommunication: 3G and RFID • Transport: BIS and ITS • Data: a control center

Key areas: IoT, cloud big data, mobile, and AI • Telecommunication: 5G, 10 Gb Internet • Transport: autonomous vehicles, C-ITS, e-cars, and hydrogen powered cars • Data: digital twin and data hub • Energy: CEMS and smart grid

Information flows

One-way, time lag

Two-ways, real-time

Participation

Citizens as information consumers

• Citizens as information producers and providers • Citizen-led urban solution seeking by employing a “Living Lab” model • A participatory platform through which citizens, private sectors and local governments can share ideas and opinions • An eco-system through which SMEs, start-ups and large firms can grow together

Data utilization

• Sectoral fragmented management • Limited data access by private sectors and their limited role in developing urban solutions

• Aiming at intersectoral integration • Platforms for public data access • Urban solutions by private sectors • Data-based urban management

Urban management

• Local government as a project leader; lack of human and fiscal capacities at a local level • Underutilization of accumulated data by local governments

• An emphasis on public-private-people partnerships • Data-based shared platform for efficient resource allocation by promoting shared economies

Geographical focus

Korea only

Expansion to other countries

a

Innovation City is a particular term describing one of the Korean initiatives to relocate government public agencies from Seoul to regional areas for the sake of balanced regional development. Adapted from MOLIT, Sejong City, LH., 2019. Sejong Smart City Master Plan. Sejong: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (in Korean).

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institutional innovation beyond the central government-directed (or its agency LH-directed) governance structure. Third, a more integrated planning approach has been taken. Whereas separate infrastructure plans were made under the U-City guideline (Kim and Kim, 2013), the current smart city approach attempts to integrate smart infrastructure and smart public services with urban planning, design, and construction from the outset. Fourth, technological innovation has been reflected in the nationwide smart city strategy. Key technologies addressed in the U-City strategy were 3G and radio-frequency identification (RFID) in telecommunication; the bus information system (BIS) and the intelligent transport system (ITS) in transport; and the operation of a control center for data management. However, ICT has been advanced over a decade, which has been expressed by identifying available new technologies that can be incorporated in cities: 5G and 10-Gb Internet in telecommunication; autonomous vehicles, the cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) and alternative engine cars, such as electric cars and hydrogen powered cars in transport; digital twin and data hub in data management; and the city energy management system (CEMS) and smart grids in energy sectors. Fifth, the current smart city strategy recognizes citizens as information producers/generators while the U-City model simply acknowledged them as information consumers only. The current Korean smart city stresses a public-private-people partnership and citizen-led urban solution-seeking by employing a “Living Laboratory” (or “LivingLab”) model (Nam and Lim, 2016). It aims to create a participatory platform through which citizens, private sectors, and local governments share their ideas and opinions and establish an eco-system in which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups, and large corporations can grow together. Sixth, the geographical focus has been expanded from Korea-only to overseas (Kim, 2020). With trial and error carried out in South Korea by implementing U-City, the current government is keen to expand a Korean smart city model overseas in various ways. The so-called “export of cities” initiative is best exemplified by the South Saad Al Abdullah (SSAA) smart city project in Kuwait led by LH. SSAA, promoted as “the first export of Korean-style smart cities” (Jung, 2019, p. 15), which will accommodate 261,000 residents by 2034, on a land area of over 64 km2 as an outcome of government-to-government negotiations.

4.3  Conceptualizing Korean smart cities Smart cities, in general, aim to tackle urban challenges by taking advantage of emerging technologies. The Korean government perceives that smart cities are sustainable cities integrating eco-friendly ICT in response to climate change, environmental pollution, and escalated inefficiency from industrialization and urbanization. As reviewed in the institutional changes toward the smart city from U-City, foci have evolved from public-led infrastructure provision to public-private partnerships for smart services, and to public-private-people collaboration for innovation systems (Fig. 4.2).

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities  Chapter | 4  59

FIG. 4.2  Korean smart city development: leading actors and scope perspectives. (Adapted from BMG, K-Water, BMC., 2018. Busan Eco Delta Smart City Master Plan [in Korean]. In: Busan Metropolitan Government [Ed.]. Busan.)

As discussed, the focus of the earlier Korean smart city model expressed in U-City was on the provision of ICT infrastructure by the public sector. Due to the lack of available data to be used, an initial tactic was to collect data largely through sensors such as CCTVs, water leakage sensors, traffic information, and thermometers before the pervasiveness of smartphones. Control centers monitored those data from these sensors for the sake of security and safety although this way inevitably involved a privacy issue in public space. Songdo and Hwasung Dongtan all adopted this sensor-based control center approach, connoting the growing power of the government in access to data (Kim and Kim, 2013). However, citizens’ contribution to and engagement in smart city making was limited. Due to technological assets essential to smart city making and their entrepreneurial stance, large system integration firms, such as Samsung SDS, LG CNS, and SK C&C, were simultaneously invited to smart city projects. Their technological input was directed by the guidelines and the requirements that the central government had established. Then, by participating in these projects, they gained, advanced, and promoted smart city technologies. All these technological domains have been adapted, (re)produced and expanded within the built, political, regulatory, socio-economic, technological environments of South Korea. E-government was a notable initiative which intended to provide online administrative services and a wide array of public data for citizens (Kim et al., 2007). Still, citizens however were perceived as passive actors who could benefit from smart city services.

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The current Korean smart city aims to further engage with citizens who can and should be the leading actors (as to be discussed in the next section). This ideal is assisted by emerging technology such as IoT and big data beyond sensor-based data collection, as seen in the Sejong 5-1 plan. In so doing, cities can become a platform for innovation of all sorts. Beyond the conventional role of cities as centers for political, cultural and economic activities (Glaeser, 2012), Korean smart cities aspire to be extensively and virtually connected, expedite social, as well as technological innovations, and become a social entity as expressed in their recent experiment on the “Living Lab” which is a user-led innovation system with multiple stakeholders including public sectors, firms, and citizens. When the Busan Metropolitan Government implemented a pilot IoT-based smart city in 2015–17, it recruited citizen participants for user tests along with analysis on smart city services such as smart parking, lost-child prevention services, smart street lights, and smart crossings (Nam and Lim, 2016). The user tests provided feedback on the services. These aspirations have been expressed in the two ongoing flagship pilot smart city projects—Sejong 5-1 and Busan Eco-Delta. One of them will be reviewed in the following section in detail.

4.4  Sejong 5-1: The making of a Korean smart city 4.4.1  A background of the Sejong 5-1 Neighborhood The Sejong New Town, on a land area of 73 km2 with a target population of 500,000 by 2030, is a nationwide flagship development project primarily driven by the former President, Rho Moo Hyun who was keen to promote regional balanced development. A key idea was to relocate the capital city to the geographic center of South Korea away from Seoul where population, firms, and national administrative functions are all highly concentrated, whereas regional cities are losing their resources to Seoul (see Fig.  4.3). However, due to constitutional discordance judged by the Constitutional Court of Korea in 2004a (Kim and Han, 2012), while the capital has remained in Seoul, some government offices have been relocated to Sejong since 2012 (Kwon, 2015). Sejong 5-1 is the part of one of the six neighborhoods in the Sejong New Town (see Fig. 4.3). The six neighbourhoods have distinctive functions in a doughnut shape while the central area is allocated for parks. Neighborhood 1, for instance, is for central government offices, which are the main function of the city; Neighborhood 4 is for universities and research institutions. Then, each neighborhood is comprised of 2–5 smaller districts. In the process of the Sejong New Town development, the Neighborhood 5-1 has been selected as a nationwide pilot smart city project. Ironically, the Korean government did not choose the master planner a. On 21 October 2004, the Constitutional Court of Korea declared that the capital of the Republic of Korea (formal name of South Korea) is Seoul and this cannot be changed to another city to common, customary law.

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities  Chapter | 4  61

FIG. 4.3  A location of Sejong (left) and the layout of the Sejong New Town (right).

from the planning fraternity. With aspirations for technological input, Professor Jaeseung Jeong with a brain science background from a science-oriented university, KAIST, was selected to lead this pilot project in 2018, due to the recommendations by the experts in the Special Committee on Smart City under the Presidential Committee on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4th-IR, 2018). This decision was steered not by the built environment ministry (i.e., ministry of land, infrastructure, and transport), but by the technology-oriented presidential committee in anticipation of (technology-led) innovation through the pilot project. The project period is from 2017 to 2021. The target population of Sejong 5-1 is 22,600 (or 9000 households) on a land area of 2.7 km2.

4.4.2  Plans for Sejong 5-1 The vision for Sejong 5-1 is “a city as a sustainable platform to enhance citizens' happiness and offer creative opportunities.” It has three more specific objectives: (1) De-materialism (lifestyles, work-life balance, human-oriented, and eco-friendly); (2) De-centralization (sharing, opening-up, devolution, respect for diversity, and citizen participation); and (3) Smart technologies (data-based, AI, and creative innovation). These objectives point to strategic directions of Sejong 5-1 development for innovation. More concrete ideas were detailed in seven measures to achieve the strategic directions and the vision: (1) mobility; (2) healthcare; (3) education; (4) energy and environments; (5) governance; (6) culture and shopping; and (7) employment, by loosening the zones described in Fig. 4.3 (above). Out of these seven measures, the first four were stressed as core elements, accounting for 88.5% of the total budget for smart city facilities (exclusive of land development costs). A review of these seven sectoral fields articulates Korean smart city ideals to date. Key features are described below.

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4.4.3  Seven strategic themes 4.4.3.1 Mobility The Sejong New Town has been car-dependent with its modal share of almost 50% although it was designed to be transit and active transport-oriented (Kwon, 2015). As a new development project on a greenfield site far from Seoul (100– 120 km) and its regional town, Daejeon (15–20 km), the dominance of motorized vehicles is a typical consequence (Newman and Kenworthy, 1999). As a result, residents have faced traffic congestion and the shortage of parking lots due to the high numbers of vehicles. Moreover, relatively low-density built environments (by Korean standards) resulted in inferior access to public transport and, therefore, low satisfaction levels for transport. Sejong 5-1 aims to reduce the number of cars to one-third of the current level by actively utilizing shared vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and integrated mobility modes and establishing walkable environments (Fig. 4.4). Plans for shared mobility services include car-sharing, (driverless) car-­ hailing, and personal mobility vehicles such as small-size electric vehicles (EV) only for 1–2 passengers, e-scooters, and e-Segway scooters. The implementation of these measures needs institutional changes because the current road regulations do not specify rules for personal mobility. Parking lots for visitors are designed to be allocated in nodal points assisted by parking support applications and connected via shared mobility services. By integrating land uses, Sejong 5-1 intends to minimize spaces for parking lots. Neighborhood scale (Sejong 5-1) Home

Precinct scale (Administration-oriented city)

P

City scale (Sejong new city)

S

S

Regional/network scale (South Korea)

S

S • Walking • O2O service • On-demand service • Autonomous shuttle bus • Personal mobility • Shared bike

• BRT • Local bus • Taxi • Shared bike • O2O service • Autonomus BRT • Shared vehicles

• BRT • Local bus • Taxi

• Express bus • Regional bus • Railways • Air netowrk

Legend

S

Stop

P

Parking

Bold means new mobility services

Sejong 5-1 neighborhood Bikes Shared vehicles

BRT

Smart parking

Public transport

Shared vehicles and autonomous vehicle

Pedestrian-centered

FIG. 4.4  Mobility services: transport networks within a city (above) and within a neighborhood (below). (Redrawn from LH, n.d. Smart City with LH. In: Korea Land and Housing Corporation [Ed.].)

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Plans for autonomous vehicles include the wide operation of autonomous shuttle buses linked to bus rapid transit (BRT) in the Sejong New Town by 2021 (contingent on expected developments in technology) and its expansion to the entire city, after safety tests in various environments (Fig. 4.4). Within Sejong 5-1, an autonomous shuttle bus will be located every 1 km and its battery will be charged at an express charging station. Autonomous vehicles will be strengthened by the C-ITS that supports real-time traffic information for drivers as well as autonomous vehicles. Autonomous logistics is also detailed in the plan. Rather than using delivery people, Sejong 5-1 is planning to use small-size and slow (under 10 km/h) robot delivery vehicles and moving lockers for receivers, minimizing traffic standing for delivery. Easily recognizable lanes and traffic signs for autonomous vehicles will be installed, and separate lanes will be set aside for them. A Black Box camera will be installed on all vehicles for data collection. Infrastructure for autonomous vehicles will be established by 2020 and after a test in the period 2021–22, these are planned to be commonly used in Sejong 5-1. A demand-based flexible public transport operation will be introduced for the areas where the level of public transport services is low or infrequent and where there are special events. Once there is a request, transport services are scheduled following optimal routes for service users. Also, as actively employed in contemporary planning practice, integration with land use is emphasized along with TOD around the BRT stations.

4.4.3.2  Healthcare and public safety Sejong 5-1 aims to enhance (1) responses to an emergency, (2) medical services, (3) public health, and (4) public safety, aspiring to reduce wait time for first aid in an emergency, improve survival rates of emergency patients, make efficient use of medical facilities, support early detection of serious illnesses, and encourage physical exercises. These plans reflect a firm belief that the efficient use of ICT can improve the operation of current medical services. For instance, the emergency system will be assisted by smartphone applications with the location of the emergency patient. Then, emergency vehicles are to be sent via the optimal route. Meanwhile, if necessary, a defibrillator can be first sent by drone. Once paramedics arrive, the patient is to be directed to the most suitable hospital through the optimal route. On the way, information about the patient and the transit of the emergency vehicle is updated through the telemedicine system. It also attempts to virtually connect all medical centers and hospitals to share their information about locations, availability, medical staff, waitlists, and waiting time within the city for nationwide public health. Citizens can be alerted to weather-related hazards such as high or low temperature, a food poisoning index, a pollen index, and a mosquito activeness index which can be tailored by accumulated individual health records. IoT will identify emergent conditions among residents, in particular, seniors and patients with chronic illnesses. Sejong 5-1 will offer medical devices in public space so that individual households do not need to possess them.

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With regard to healthy food management, it plans to establish testbed smart farms for organic food production, set up in one multistory vertical building. These smart farms, further assisted by high-quality agricultural training, will be rented out to agricultural start-ups, with products sold through both offline farmers’ markets and online sales. More active patrolling measures will be incorporated for public safety and security. The initial approach through CCTVs has been reinforced by adding more public monitoring by drones and rotatable 360-degree cameras. As used in the control center before, these images will be analyzed to identify accidents. Any road hazards detected from the CCTVs will be transmitted to autonomous vehicles to enhance their safe operation.

4.4.3.3 Education With an ideal to achieve “a city as an extended school,” four strategies have been specified. First, Sejong 5-1 wants to create school spaces that can enhance creative and critical thinking. Schools will have space for both individual studies and group discussions which is rare in ordinary Korean schools. More active integration of schools with public facilities, such as libraries, gymnasiums, galleries, and concert halls will be encouraged. Second, it is planning to innovate schools in terms of the introduction of international curriculum such as the International Baccalaureate, although there is high uncertainty about its implementation due to fragmented views on education policy nationwide (see Byun and Kim, 2010 for more details). Third, technological support will be embedded in school facilities. These will offer new opportunities to experience a wide range of activities such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), teleconferencing, and emerging technologies, such as 3D printers and robotic arms. Fourth, Sejong 5-1 aims to create online and offline environments for lifetime education. Those programs will support start-ups, job seeking and matching, and professional development. 4.4.3.4  Energy and environment A “zero-energy” city, energy wide self-sufficient, has been explicitly addressed in the plan. The entire city will be connected through power-heat grids to manage the production and the consumption of energy. VPP will be a key technological input. The plan aims to reduce the energy consumption by 25% (or 18,000 tones of oil equivalent [TOE] per year). Renewable energy generating facilities will be established in public buildings and public spaces, which can support the operation of public transport by electricity. Also, small-scale energy trading will be encouraged so that individuals can generate renewable energy and sell it for profit. Solar energy will be stressed by employing solar panels on the road (or solar panel roads), road integrated photovoltaic (RIPV), and vertical solar panels on building walls. Energy management will be supported by an IoT-based city energy management system (CEMS) that predicts energy consumption and supply and efficiently responds to future changes.

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Sejong 5-1 aims to construct charging stations for mobility “Any Time Any Where” (MOLIT et  al., 2019, p. 103). These stations will be built along the street and in public buildings, apartments, and multipurpose community facilities where vehicles can be charged while drivers can do something else. In addition to electric charging stations, it is also planning to build a station for hydrogen-powered vehicles that have been advanced by a Korean car manufacturer, Hyundai. It will introduce and actively use a zero-energy building rating system, to be incorporated in urban planning and to be compulsory for public buildings and to incentivize take up by commercial buildings. One residential block will be designated for a zero-energy pilot site in conjunction with the energy trading scheme. Each house will install a food waste treatment machine to produce organic fertilizers.

4.4.3.5 Governance The theme of governance incorporates elements of social innovation in smart city making by encouraging citizens’ participation in planning and city management. Sejong 5-1 envisages a platform for public participation that can support all the seven strategic themes both on- and off-line via the proposed “Living Lab.” It is planning to enhance the function of websites and mobile phone applications by connecting citizens with the location of services. The platform will support polls in public decision making (called mobile voting or M-voting). It will also recruit at least 40 voluntary citizen representatives for the Living Lab. They will be invited to quarterly meetings for identifying urban issues, seeking solutions, and giving feedback on public services. The discussions about urban issues will be supported by establishing GIS-based digital twin, the digital replica of the real city, where spatial analysis, simulation, and 3D visualization are readily available. It will encourage the use of “local money” that can be used within the city. Mobile applications will assist local money in terms of offering subsidies from the government such as childbirth grants and its use at local shops and for local tax payments. 4.4.3.6  Culture and shopping Sejong 5-1 aims to create a walkable shopping street separated from logistic traffic flows. It will build indoor and outdoor multipurpose performance halls for cultural events. These cultural venues will be connected to the BRT to enhance accessibility. It will analyze big data about preferences for cultural activities and content to better respond to the local cultural demand. For convenience shopping, it will introduce autonomous shopping trolleys that offer information about shopping activities, marketing information, and location of the items that the shopper is looking for. The plan includes checkout-free retail shops along the lines of Amazon Go in the United States.

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4.4.3.7 Employment Job generation is one of the most important nationwide issues as de-­ industrialization has pushed manufacturing to offshore low-cost production sites. What is intended in Sejong 5-1 is a special zone that can offer business-­ favorable environments, called a “regulatory sandbox.” It also aims to establish an incubator for start-ups. For a job-housing spatial match and housing affordability for young generations, small-size housing at 16 and 21 m2 will be nurtured along with office spaces for start-ups and rental spaces for testbeds, exhibition, co-working, and meetings. All these smart city efforts will be displayed in a smart city promotion center. The incubator will offer training for start-ups, one-stop service, and financial support in selected technological sectors.

4.5  Critical evaluation of the Sejong 5-1 plan The Sejong 5-1 Neighborhood plan definitely demonstrates the current thinking of what future smart cities look like. It has incorporated all emerging ideas that can be possibly realized in built environments to enhance productivity, livability, and sustainability. However, there are issues relating to financial feasibility, excessive and extremely extensive reliance on ICT, limited flexibility for future technological innovation, the complexity of technology beyond citizens’ understanding, the scope of the role of governments in leading and offering ICT-assisted public services and the assumption in the plan that a smart city is a product that can be replicated and be exported.

4.5.1  Is it value for money? While the vision for futuristic urban functions is ambitious and seemingly beneficial for citizens, its financial feasibility is doubtful due to high expected costs. The Sejong 5-1 plan anticipates that the budget of approximately USD 12.4 billion will be covered by the public and private sectors. Land development costs (USD 5.9 billion) will be entirely covered by the public sector as is usually the case in Korea (La Grange and Jung, 2004). Actual smart city construction costs will be approximately USD 6.5 billion. While USD 2.0 billion of this is to be funded by the public sector, the private sector will be invited to invest up to USD 4.5 billion. These smart city construction costs are extremely high as they include a large range of new technologies. It is expected that these infrastructure investments are reflected in land values, which will be eventually shifted to the residents and property owners on the site. It is very doubtful whether its direct benefits are larger than the project cost. As a required feasibility test in most transport projects in South Korea, the Sejong 5-1 plan might not be able to meet that requirement (i.e., Benefit-to-Cost Ratio over one). To make marginal changes in public services through ICT, an investment amount of USD 6.5 billion on a land area of 2.7 km2 can be hardly accepted by the public outside the project site. It can benefit only local residents and can

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities  Chapter | 4  67

generate issues about a public service spatial mismatch. The smart city making of Sejong 5-1 is an outcome at the cost of other essential (physical) infrastructure facilities. There is a general criticism of the smart city approach that it is too steeped in neoliberal approaches resulting in unequal outcomes (although not always intended) (Grossi and Pianezzi, 2017). Such criticisms are not limited to the Sejong project. Nevertheless, although the Sejong 5-1 project alone might not be a financially viable public investment, the government intends to magnify the outcome of the Sejong 5-1 project. As a would-be “model” smart city, the Korean government aspires not only to advance the function of the cities but also to “sell” the Korean smart city model as an exportable product. In a sense that these new initiatives are testbeds before spreading out to other Korean cities and beyond, ultimately a positive return to Korean public investment may result, not from domestic developments of smart cities, but from their export potential.

4.5.2  Is ICT an ultimate solution for urban challenges? There is no doubt that advancement in ICT can enhance the efficiency of daily activities. As proposed in Sejong 5-1, the plan is also supportive of social interactions and participatory processes in public decision making. However, there is an intrinsic limitation of ICT. Data and information, as important tangible inputs, are used to enhance the efficiency of physical infrastructure, but cannot replace physical facilities. For example, the C-IT Scan provides the best route for drivers, but it is meaningless if there is no physical road network. Benefits from data analysis become manifest only when it interacts with physical infrastructure. In this sense, ICT facilities are secondary and auxiliary while physical infrastructure is primary and fundamental. Therefore, smart city making should be understood from an evolutionary perspective after the essential physical infrastructure is widely provided and it requires further efficiency improvements (Kummitha and Crutzen, 2017). While the Sejong 5-1 plan opts for advanced ICT facilities, the actual extent of productivity, livability, and sustainability benefits from the ICT inputs are unknown. One more important issue is that the proposed urban technologies have been neither widely implemented nor evaluated for their effectiveness, as exemplified in high reliance on autonomous vehicles in the plan. Risk-taking as a testbed implies possible technological failure. The vast majority of proposed technologies rely heavily upon Internet networks strengthened by 5G networks. A contingency plan needs to be thoroughly developed for a network emergency such as cyber attack. Similarly, the transport network plan without privately owned vehicles in the central area of Sejong 5-1 is revolutionary, but it has not been trialed in planning practice. It gives more space to pedestrians while minimizing encounters with private vehicles, but how residents will perceive and react in their daily life is obscure. This concern will be particularly important under extreme weather conditions where people prefer more

68  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

protected transport modes without transfers. Also, traffic for logistics is not always delivering small-size items, but involves the delivery of items that are heavy, bulky, and irregular in shape. The autonomous operation might face challenges at an implementation stage.

4.5.3  Is the plan flexible enough for future technological evolution? It is manifest that the current Sejong 5-1 plan demonstrates the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies that the current generation can appreciate. It is like a well-packaged “trendy” commercial product. Despite the advancement in ICT realization in the city, what matters is how to accommodate evolving technologies into urban space. In the future, the current technology will become old-fashioned and inefficient due to further accelerated technological development. How to foster and embrace new technological innovation will be a key to the future function of the smart city, although it is extremely difficult to forecast future technological development. The “Living Lab” approach offers great potential to substantially identify what helps the local population. The emphasis on citizens’ participation in social innovation is a smart city practice, but participation per se does not necessarily lead to increased flexibility. Most ICT infrastructure proposed in the plan will be in operation at a local scale. For instance, the proposed smart school and retail shops are geographically fixed, serving local areas predominantly. The upgrading of fixed assets by newer technology will require extra investment. This may be seen as an inevitable evolutionary process but securing a tool to embrace new technology with flexibility will keep the site being smart and innovative.

4.5.4  Are smart cities only for smart people? A minimum level of information literacy (although this level is still debatable) may be inevitable for citizens to access smart city services. Nevertheless, ordinary citizens do not need to understand the planning principles and new technologies. They are the ultimate beneficiaries of (often hidden) ICT infrastructures. Most proposed technologies are beyond what ordinary citizens can easily understand. While they can be beneficial to citizens even if they are not understood, the complexity of technologies suggests a high possibility that they will be under-utilized by the local population unaware of their availability. Alternatively, they might be overwhelmed by the flows of new technologies and concepts, as can be seen, for example, in the jargon and acronyms in the plan as explained in this chapter. A simple and straightforward way of communicating with residents will be useful, but whether they will receive education on their operation is a moot point. Nevertheless, embedded ICT technologies can inspire ICT experts and technology-savvy residents to start innovative thinking.

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities  Chapter | 4  69

4.5.5  Is the role of government and private sectors collaborative? The Sejong 5-1 plan has specified the role of private sectors, local governments, the developer—LH, and other government agencies. One the one hand, it is highly plausible that the public sector is leading, guiding, and promoting this project in the South Korean context, but their role should be collaborative with the private sectors. Manifold roles played by the government have the potential to bring about inefficiency in the operation of public services. For instance, the proposed flexible public transport is very similar to that already operated by Uber and other private providers. Once a booking is made by end-users, private suppliers of transport, who are available and willing, can provide transport services. While this system draws upon a demand-based mechanism, publicly operated flexible transport services might offer more discounted rates, which is a way to provide transport subsidies for the end-users. There might be an emerging issue about how these two transport services can be cooperatively run. On the other hand, Sejong 5-1 is aiming to attract investment from private sectors as illustrated in the budget plan above. They are going to be public service providers or operators of autonomous shuttle buses, logistics, and renewable energy generation. Their active involvement may lead to unaffordable public (smart city) services due to their profit-seeking motivation, hence, requiring cooperative arrangements with the public sector.

4.5.6  Is the new smart city on a greenfield site sustainable? The Sejong 5-1 project has inherent locational drawbacks in environmental sustainability. While it may have the benefit of resolving problems and test new planning approaches in an urban context, nonetheless, the change in land use has destroyed greenfield sites for recreational and other activity. Although there is an emphasis on renewable energy, electric vehicles, and green space, it is designed as a relatively low-density development (at least by Korean standards) with a target population density of 8370 people/km2, almost a half of Seoul’s density of 16,093 people/km2. It is 120 km from Seoul and 15–20 km from the nearest regional city, Daejeon. It takes at least half an hour to transit to the nearest express train station, Osong, by BRT. Given extended door-to-door transport time due to essential waiting and transit time, public transport is unlikely to become a dominant transport mode, even if its connectivity is enhanced by (autonomous) public transport. Multiple transfers (from local transport to the BRT and the express train) discourage public transport usage when these require extra time and effort (Chowdhury and Ceder, 2016). Nevertheless, providing local public transport services, to be connected to the city-wide public transport network (Fig. 4.4), with enhanced flexibility and efficiency (potentially by autonomous vehicles) is the most viable planning approach to date. It is uncertain whether the implementation of public transport networks can mitigate high

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r­ eliance on motorized private vehicles and curtail high car ownership. Given climate change is producing more extreme weather conditions in both winter and summer, how residents will use the proposed personal mobility for their primary transport modal choice is highly uncertain, although the plan for walkable environments in the central area is welcomed. Also, shared vehicles for residents are still at an immature stage in actual ridership. There is very weak empirical evidence that they have reduced car ownership (Kim et al., 2015).

4.6 Conclusion As reviewed in this chapter, Korean smart cities reflect ambitious governmental efforts to incorporate technological innovation into urban space for which institutional support has been in place. Key drivers for Korean smart cities have been driven, in part, by a broader environment of enhanced confidence in Korean ICT capabilities and successful new town developments. Almost all sorts of emerging technologies were embedded in the Sejong 5-1 plan. The perspective of “a smart city as an exportable product” largely contradicts the idea that cities are centers for social interactions with unique histories. From a technological innovation perspective, the Sejong 5-1 plan took a holistic approach to realize planning ideals in extensive scope including the seven planning measures, embroidering the function, and the benefits of technology-­ backed infrastructure. From a social innovation perspective, one of the key lessons from the Sejong 5-1 plan for other cities without a very high level of technological advancement is perhaps to create a participatory platform through which public sectors, private sectors, and citizens actively communicate to collectively tackle urban challenges. Whether the Sejong 5-1 plan will be thoroughly implemented, significantly revised, or canceled is yet to be known. The future shape of state-of-the-art Korean smart cities is still highly debatable. As seen in the selection of the master planner for Sejong 5-1, a brain scientist, it seems scientists and technocrats have overtaken at least some portions of the conventional role of experts in built environments, connoting the role of urban planners is changing due to the emphasis on technological input. Nevertheless, what was observed from the case study of this chapter is the significance of comprehensiveness, cooperative nature, and inclusiveness in the urban planning process which will eventually enhance livability, environmental sustainability, and productivity within the cities.

References 4th-IR, A brain scientist, global start-up entrepreneur, will make a smart city, In: Seoul: The Presidential Committee on the 4hh Industrial Revolution; Ministry of Science and ICT; Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 2018, (in Korean). Belson, D., 2017. In: Belson, D. (Ed.), Akamai's state of the internet: Q1 2017 report. Akamai. Byun, S.-Y., Kim, K.-K., 2010. Educational inequality in South Korea: the widening socioeconomic gap in student achievement. Res. Sociol. Educ. 17, 155–182.

State-of-the-art of Korean smart cities  Chapter | 4  71 Chowdhury, S., Ceder, A.A., 2016. Users’ willingness to ride an integrated public-transport service: a literature review. Transp. Policy 48, 183–195. DMC Promotion Center, 2019. RE: Digital Media City: Welcome to the State-of-the-Art M&E Cluster, DMC. Type to Kim, H. M., 28 June 2019. Glaeser, E.L., 2012. Triumph of the City: How our Greatest Invention Makes us Richer, smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier. Penguin Press, New York. Grossi, G., Pianezzi, D., 2017. Smart cities: utopia or neoliberal ideology? Cities 69, 79–85. Hill, R.C., Kim, J.W., 2000. Global cities and developmental state: New York, Tokyo and Seoul. Urban Stud. 37, 2167–2195. Hwang, J.S., 2018. RE: Smart City and Smart Community: Korea’s Experiences and Lessons. Type to Kim, H. M. ITU, 2016. ICT Development Index 2016. International Telecommunication Union. Jun, M.-J., Hur, J.-W., 2001. Commuting costs of “leap-frog” new town development in Seoul. ­Cities 18, 151–158. Jung, S., 2019. Effort for the export of cities. In: Urban Information Service. Korean Planning Association, Seoul (in Korean). Kasarda, J.D., Lindsay, G., 2011. Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kim, C., 2010. Place promotion and symbolic characterization of New Songdo City, South Korea. Cities 27, 13–19. Kim, H., 2015. Changes and Prospects of Korean Smart City. The Seoul Institute, Seoul (in Korean). Kim, H.M., 2020. International real estate investment and urban development: an analysis of Korean activities in Hanoi, Vietnam. Land Use Policy 94, 104486. Kim, Y.-J., Choi, M.J., 2018. Contracting-out public-private partnerships in mega-scale developments: the case of New Songdo City in Korea. Cities 72, 43–50. Kim, H.M., Han, S.S., 2012. Seoul. Cities 29, 142–154. Kim, H.M., Kim, T.S., 2013. U-City development for economic competitiveness in an advanced ICT era. In: Boscarino, G., Notte, D. (Eds.), Economic Developments and Emerging Markets of the 21st Century: Global Practices, Strategies, and Challenges. Nova, New York. Kim, H.J., Pan, G., Pan, S.L., 2007. Managing IT-enabled transformation in the public sector: a case study on e-government in South Korea. Gov. Inf. Q. 24, 338–352. Kim, D., Ko, J., Park, Y., 2015. Factors affecting electric vehicle sharing program participants’ attitudes about car ownership and program participation. Transp. Res. Part D: Transp. Environ. 36, 96–106. Kummitha, R.K.R., Crutzen, N., 2017. How do we understand smart cities? An evolutionary perspective. Cities 67, 43–52. Kwon, Y., 2015. Sejong Si (City): are TOD and TND models effective in planning Korea's new capital? Cities 42, 242–257. La Grange, A., Jung, H.N., 2004. The commodification of land and housing: the case of South Korea. Hous. Stud. 19, 557–580. Lee, C.-M., Ahn, K.-H., 2005. Five new towns in the Seoul metropolitan area and their attractions in non-working trips: implications on self-containment of new towns. Habitat Int. 29, 647–666. MOLIT, Sejong City, LH, 2019. Sejong Smart City Master Plan. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Sejong (in Korean). Nam, G., Lim, D., 2016. Living Lab with citizens. In: Urban Information Service. Korea Planning Association, Seoul (in Korean). Newman, P., Kenworthy, J.R., 1999. Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence. Island Press, Washington, DC.

72  Smart cities for technological and social innovation Seo, H., 2002. 21st century agenda-U Korea vision. etnews (16 April 2002) (in Korean). Shwayri, S.T., 2013. A model Korean ubiquitous eco-city? The politics of making Songdo. J. Urban Technol. 20, 39–55. Sorensen, C.W., 1994. Success and education in South Korea. Comp. Educ. Rev. 38, 10–35. UN, 2014. UN E-Government Survey 2014. UN E-Government Knowledgebase.

Chapter 5

Japanese smart cities and communities: Integrating technological and institutional innovation for Society 5.0 Brendan F.D. Barretta, Andrew DeWitb, and Masaru Yarimec,d,e

Center for the Study of Co*Design, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, bCollege of Economics, Department of Economic Policy Studies, Graduate School of Business Administration, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan, cDivision of Public Policy, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, dDepartment of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy, University College London, London, United Kingdom, eGraduate School of Public Policy, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan a

Chapter outline 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Development of Japanese smart cities/communities 5.2.1 Government-led smart cities 5.2.2 Joint venture smart cities 5.2.3 Fujisawa sustainable smart town 5.2.4 Kashiwa-no-ha smart city

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5.2.5 Aizuwakamatsu smart community 5.2.6 Hamamatsu smart city 5.3 Policy framework—Core supports 5.4 Institutional framework—Key actors 5.5 Discussion 5.6 Conclusions References Further reading

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5.1 Introduction Smart cities and communitiesa are central to efforts to promote technological, social, and fiscal/administrative innovations in Japan. This chapter examines how Japan’s policies for smart cities underwent rapid change between 2009 and 2019. The decade began largely with discrete, district-scale t­esting a. For Japanese specialists, such as Kashiwagi (2016), the smart community (and recently, “smart micro community”) is a spatially defined district, while the smart city is the larger urban whole. Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00005-8 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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of smart-energy ­networks. However, by 2019, Japan was on the cusp of institutionalizing a “supersmart society” (chou sumaato shakai) through integrated city-scale projects across the entire archipelago. One engine for this dramatic evolution is Society 5.0 industrial policy, announced in the July 2015 Comprehensive Strategy for Science and Technology Policy. Society 5.0 was subsequently adopted as a core 5-year initiative in the January 2016 Fifth Science and Technology Basic Plan. In addition to Society 5.0, Japan’s ongoing transformation is driven by the following factors: ● ●

●

●

The impact of March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake (hereafter 3-11). The emergence in 2014 of well-funded and iterative national resilience planning, including disaster-resilient smart cities/communities. The accelerating fiscal and economic impacts of regional population decline, falling birthrates, and “superaging.” Deliberate efforts to bolster international competitiveness by matching Japan’s development paradigm with the global adoption of sustainable development goals (SDGs) (DeWit, 2017a).

Japan’s smart cities began with a limited number of pilot projects, somewhat disengaged from global smart city trends due to vested interests in the power sector. The suffocating strength of Japan’s utilities was such that the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) Vice Minister declared, at a February 19, 2009 press conference that the smart grid was needed in the blackout-prone US but not Japan because the latter’s power grid was robust (DeWit, 2011). This specious argument symbolizes the constraints that frustrated globally aware innovators within Fuji Electric, Hitachi, Toshiba, and other power-related firms. Japan began 2010 with just four urban initiatives in Kitakyushu, Keihanna, Toyota, and Yokohama, with only the Kitakyushu city smart-grid test (in its Higashida Smart Community) including power demand-management (OECD, 2013; Samuels, 2013). The 3-11 disasters reshaped Japan’s smart city paradigm. The METI ViceMinister’s doubts about the relevance of the smart grid were washed away. Pragmatists in national and subnational policymaking overcame inertia and regulatory capture and rapidly began diffusing disaster-resilient, decarbonizing smart communities. Moreover, 3-11 was followed by further climate and seismic events, accelerating Japan’s institutionalization of all-hazard governance. Policymakers have built a smart-city policy regime aimed at seizing emergent opportunities in the global rise of SDGs (DeWit, 2017b). Japan’s smart city narrative and institutions have both evolved over the past decade from test-bedding disparate technologies toward a “whole of government” and all-hazard focus on societal problem-solving. This evolution has been both punctuated and gradual, driven by abrupt disasters in addition to continuous learning from smart city projects throughout the archipelago and overseas. Japan’s multilevel paradigm offers a contrast to Anglo-American countries, where national governments are largely dysfunctional. Much smart city scholarship emphasizes local solutions because of distrust and dismay at

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national governments. Nevertheless, local action alone is inadequate to address the enormity of externalities that initiated the smart city debate itself. In Japan, both the national and subnational levels are engaged, and as part of a broader collaboration with civil society and business. Japan shows that coping with multiple challenges requires pragmatic responses from urban leaders, but in close and continuous multilevel collaboration with other stakeholders. Japanese policymakers explicitly recognize that passive reliance on stove-piped national subsidies or corporate-led visions of the smart city lacks the comprehensiveness and trust required for continuous innovation coupled with maximizing public goods and citizen engagement. Japan, thus, offers valuable lessons on how the national government’s fiscal, regulatory, and other tools can help organize a scalable, efficient, and equitable smart-city industrial policy. Indeed, Japan merits close and critical attention because ongoing technological revolutions are now accelerating the country’s deployment and increasing the sophistication of smart cities and communities, further networking their energy, water, transport, communications, health, and other critical infrastructures. In 2019, fiscal and other policy evidence reveals a Japanese smart city narrative, especially focused on the secure and equitable implementation of 5G to enhance the functionalities already achieved by artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and other elements of smart monitoring, control, and automation. The 5G small cells, with their roughly 800-m signal radius, are inherently localized and thrive in the high-density environment of Japanesestyle smart cities, reinforcing the economics of distributed energy, material efficiency, smart healthcare, and other solutions (Brookes, 2019). To understand Japan’s paradigm, we begin with a brief discussion of its decade of radical changes with key examples from across the country. We then turn to examine the significant actors involved in smart city policymaking, showing how their initiatives have become increasingly well-coordinated. We follow-up those sections with a concluding discussion of the evidence and pertinent issues.

5.2  Development of Japanese smart cities/communities Japan was comparatively late in adopting smart cities, a concept that dates back to the 1990s smart growth movement (Yigitcanlar et al., 2018). Certainly, Japan enjoyed a strong reputation as a green leader, due in large part to its impressive cleanup of 1950–70 environmental destruction and swift, efficiency-led recovery from the subsequent oil shocks (Barrett, 2005; Barrett and Therivel, 2019). However, after Japan’s 1980s-era bubble collapsed, the country squandered vast amounts of capital on conventional public works. Hence, in the 2000s, its political and business elite focused on cutting back the public sector’s fiscal and administrative tools. The reigning “Washington Consensus” required that markets be liberated to find efficient solutions to demographic change, declining competitiveness, and other challenges. This neoliberal policy stance inhibited the use of spatial planning and related public policy to promote smart and sustainable growth.

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Conventional wisdom changed again with the 2008–09 global financial crisis. In the latter part of the 2000s, Japan also sought to play a global role in the emergent green growth trends. As we explore in detail in the next section, Japan undertook coordinated policy initiatives toward eco-model and other smart-city approaches. Vested interests impeded these developments until the 3-11 shock. Yet, once Japan began aggressively promoting smart cities, the projects proliferated rapidly: at least 160 smart city projects had received national government support by 2014 (Nyberg and Yarime, 2017). That number may underestimate the extent that smartness has permeated Japanese urbanization. One reason is that there has been significant dispersion of fiscal support among various categories of expenditure, including smart-city (or smart community, smart wellness community, smart town) projects per se, but also local “national resilience” projects, compact city, and related initiatives. A useful summary of these projects, their financing, and the enabling legislation was drawn up by the “Tokyo Eco-Net 62” grouping of governments within the Tokyo metropolitan area. In 2014, Tokyo Eco-Net 62 began a 3-year study to promote smart communities within the region. This study investigated domestic and international projects via multiple hearings and other methods. The Tokyo Eco-Net 62 overview of initiatives and agencies was published in 2016 and revealed a flurry of smart community-related plans after 3-11 (EcoNet 62, 2016). These included ●

● ●

●

●

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism’s (MLIT) December 2012 low-carbon cities law. Collaborative compact-city plans from January of 2014. The integration of smart communities in the 2014 Fourth National Energy Strategy. Putting smart communities into the June 2014 implementation of National Resilience Plan. Combining local disaster-resilience and energy-related initiatives in the December 2015 revision of the Local Revitalization Comprehensive Plan.

Immediately in the wake of 3-11, Japanese smart cities centered on linking smart communities (which are residential districts, public facilities, factory clusters, and commercial facilities) to other such districts where there is sufficient density of demand for smart energy and disaster resilience (DeWit, 2017a). More recent policies address the agglomeration economies (or external economies) of smart, integrated, small-scale solutions inherent to 5G small-cell networks and other systems (MIC, 2018). To simplify our analysis, we borrow the common categorization of Japan’s smart cities as “government-led” and “joint venture,” while acknowledging the considerable hybridization between them. For example, continued national and regional government financing helps to galvanize projects in such “joint venture” defined smart cities. The ideal-typical government-led versus jointventure models should be seen as endpoints marking a spectrum within which

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most of Japan’s projects fit. The key differences along the spectrum include the relative weight of national, subnational, and private-sector/civil society actors in planning, financing, and project implementation. However, in all cases, success appears to hinge on the capacity of local governance. Robust local leadership and institutions, in the context of broad multilevel collaboration, seem strongly correlated with continuing (rather than one-off) projects that make effective use of national and other subsidies, special tax measures, and other support. As such Japan’s smart city success story is not about national versus local, or public versus private, but rather the effective collaboration within and between these sectors. To provide context, the two ideal-typical government-led and joint venture categories are summarized in the following section.

5.2.1  Government-led smart cities Japan’s national policies to promote smart cities can be traced back to the Future City Initiative (FCI) launched in 2008 and coinciding with Japan’s hosting of the G8 Summit. Under FCI, Japan began implementing the Environmental Model City (EMC) program and in July 2008 11 EMC were selected from 82 proposals, weighting selections among large, midsized, and small cities. EMC promoted bottom-up solutions to greenhouse gas reduction (GHG), aging, urban sprawl, healthcare, energy, and other issues. The carbon and other goals were required to be consistent with domestic needs plus the international “millennium development goals” stressed at the G8 Summit. In 2010, the FCI undertook an additional Environmental Future City (EFC) program, proposed by the Office for Promotion of Regional Revitalization in the Cabinet Secretariat. The Japanese government also identified the overall FCI as a core element of its June 18, 2010 “New Growth Strategy.” The EFCs built on the EMCs, but with an even greater emphasis on finding new strategies for coping with accelerating aging, mobility, and other societal issues. The EFCs were also explicitly aimed at international engagement. Immediately following 3-11, 11 EFC cities were selected, six of which were in the disaster-stricken Tohoku region. Seven more EMC cities were added in 2012 and an additional three in 2013. The FCI itself also became part of the June 2013 Japan Revitalization Strategy. Small-scale subsidies aided in the FCI projects’ capacity to deploy new hard and soft infrastructure in energy production and management, information and communication technologies, mobility, education, medical care, and nursing. While some of these projects are not deemed smart cities per se, they all embrace a suite of smart policies related to energy, resilience, environmental sustainability, and mobility. More recently, in June 2018, the Cabinet Secretariat expanded the FCI grouping to a total of 29 SDGs Future Cities (and regions), adding the prefectures of Hokkaido, Kanagawa, Nagano, and Hiroshima and creating a subcategory of specially advanced 10 SDG Local Government Model Projects.

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The overall aim of the SDGs Future Cities is to further integrate Japan’s smart city innovations with the 17 SDGs, addressing domestic and global challenges simultaneously. Current planning aims at 100 SDG cities by 2030. Like the preceding FCI projects, the SDGs plans per se are not exorbitantly subsidized. Compiling each of the 10 SDG local government plans are budgeted at a maximum of JPY 4 million (US$ 37,000), JPY 2 million (US$ 18,000) of which is to be matched with local financing. Project implementation is separate and support for such elements as smart communications/energy networks varies with the fiscal capacity of the respective local governments. Immediately after 3-11, the second wave of METI-sponsored smart cities was launched. A total of eight localities in the disaster areas (Iwate, Miyagi, and Fukushima prefectures) were selected in the spring of 2012 to develop smart community master plans. The conditions of the JPY 2.5 million (US$ 23,000) support to produce master plans included the design of smart communities with clear-cut linkages to disaster recovery, local and regional collaboration, publicprivate engagement, and prospects for overseas business (NEPC, 2012). Most of these projects involve the development of renewable energy and an emphasis on disaster resilience. As noted earlier, in 2014 the “Tokyo Eco-Net 62” grouping of governments undertook a 3-year study on promoting smart communities. This study released guidelines for Tokyo-region governments, in 2015 and 2016, complete with an extensive listing of METI and other central agencies’ initiatives and financing (Eco-Net 62, 2016). Eco-Net 62 has since galvanized smart city action within Metropolitan Tokyo, including projects undertaken by many of Tokyo’s special wards (such as Itabashi and Toshima). Subsequently, in August 2016, METI and allied ministries formulated the Fukushima Plan for a New Energy Society. METI’s project includes implementing smart communities in the cities, towns, and villages of Fukushima Prefecture, specifically Shinchi, Namie, Naraha, and Soma (METI, 2016). These smart community measures were explicitly written into Japan’s Fifth Strategic Energy Plan issued in July 2018, and in FY 2019 were financed through JPY 67.27 billion (US$ 612 million) from several ministries (METI, 2019). Related to this, the number of local governments implementing local versions of the national resilience plan abruptly trebled in the second half of 2019, reaching 890 out of a total of 1741 (Cabinet Secretariat, 2019). All these local resilience plans build on their counterparts at the national and prefectural levels. They also overlap with other elements of Society 5.0 and further accelerate the nationwide diffusion of the smart city.

5.2.2  Joint venture smart cities After 2008, a diverse range of explicitly public-private partnerships and consortiums emerged to promote the introduction of smart technologies into urban areas. The Japan Smart Community Alliance represents one umbrella organization that facilitates interindustry collaboration. An important subgroup of

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c­ orporate players involved in this field established the Smart City Project (SCP) in 2009. This alliance has since grown to 27 companies including Azbil, Itochu, SAP, NEC, NTT Communications, LG, Kaneka, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Shimizu Corporation, Sharp, Sekisui House, Tokyo Gas, Toshiba, Nikkei Sekken, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, Mitsui Fudosan, and Mitsui Home. The group has played a very significant role in designing and building such projects as Higashimatsushima Disaster Resilient Smart Ecotown (Kono, 2017). SCP views the introduction of smartness as part of a multitiered approach to urban development that includes real-estate, basic infrastructure, smart infrastructure (mega-solar, data centers, big data, smart houses, smart buildings, intelligent transportation systems, light rail, etc.), life services (enhancing the quality of life) and lifestyles, and culture and art. Building on national support, including strategic investments in smart grids and related infrastructure, Japanese local governments have often aggressively taken the baton on smart city projects. In the joint-venture projects, the local governments do not simply collaborate with the private sector, particularly members of SCP, but deliberately partner with it. Many local governments leverage these partnerships to create local power firms and foster other new industries. In turn, the joint venture smart projects allow companies to showcase advanced technologies and to explore new business models in a real-world research environment. Four examples of these joint ventures are summarized in the following section and their locations are shown in Fig. 5.1.

Aizuwakamatsu Smart community Kashiwa-no-ha smart city

Hamamatsu Smart City

Fujisawa sustainable Smart town

FIG. 5.1  Location of the case study smart city projects. (Map prepared by Brendan F.D. Barrett using Free Vector Maps—https://freevectormaps.com.)

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5.2.3  Fujisawa sustainable smart town This project was launched in November 2010 and formally opened on November 27, 2014. The project leader is Panasonic, which entered into an agreement with Fujisawa city and subsequently brought together a consortium that includes 10 other corporations. Fujisawa sustainable smart town (FSST) is a 19-ha site that includes 600 houses, 400 apartments, commercial facilities, wellness, welfare, and educational facilities. FSST aims to develop new urban lifestyles based around innovative approaches to energy, security, mobility, wellness, and community. Among other goals, the FSST aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 70% and water consumption by 30% (compared to normal detached properties), to supply 30% of electricity from renewables, and to implement a 3-day business continuity plan in the event of a disaster or other emergency. While described here as a joint venture, it is important to point out that a lot of national government support financed FSST. Half the cost of building low-emissions housing and offices was financed by MLIT, and METI provided matching funds for JPY 9.4 billion (US$ 86 million) of energy-related infrastructure (Eco-Net 62, 2015).

5.2.4  Kashiwa-no-ha smart city This smart city was first established in 2008 by the property development company, Mitsui Fudosan, in a joint venture with Kashiwa city. The smart city project does not cover the entire city of Kashiwa per se, but rather a 273-ha district. It is also referred to as campus city since it hosts campuses for both the University of Tokyo and Chiba University. The project includes a smart city museum, shopping mall, commercial, and residential complexes. It aims to develop a city that is safe, secure, and sustainable by promoting smart energy solutions, citizen health and well-being, and industrial innovation. Its design was significantly influenced by 3-11: Hitachi’s contribution came to include the firm’s first microgrid because 3-11 impelled a “rethink on the design of the country’s energy infrastructure” (Wood, 2015). Its energy assets include large-scale renewable energy (mega-solar at 32,000 kW) and energy storage, which are to contribute to a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 compared to business as usual. The key feature for this project is a smart-energy network that integrates diverse local energy production facilities (mega-solar, natural gas, biogas, methane gas, batteries). The network is coordinated by an area energy management system (AEMS) that links building energy management systems (BEMS) and housing energy management systems (HEMS), ensuring business continuity (and potentially life continuity) in emergencies. The project places significant emphasis on the health and well-being of local citizens through several experiments in monitoring and visualization, information provision, and initiatives to promote behavioral change (Trencher and Karvonen, 2017). While listed here among the joint venture smart cities, it is important to note that Kashiwanoha is simultaneously the focus of Kashiwa City’s Future City project.

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5.2.5  Aizuwakamatsu smart community Aizuwakamatsu city was one of the MIC/METI collaborations on the smartgrid interface and smart community investments immediately after 3-11. The city then set up a smart community promotion commission in the same year, and in 2012 a smart city promotion commission (Nomura, 2017). In May 2013, the city launched a collaboration with Fujitsu and Tohoku Electric Power Company. The smart city aims to develop a low-carbon and environment-friendly city that will support the development of new business opportunities while at the same time ensuring enhanced disaster resilience and livability for residents. Local capacity in this project is rooted in collaboration between the city, the University of Aizu, and Accenture. This collaboration has helped attract numerous national and international corporations, while at the same time stimulating local ventures (Fujii and Nakanishi, 2017). The city includes an Energy Control Center that integrates management and visualization of power generation and usage patterns. The system includes renewable energy, geothermal, and other heat supply, DR, and EMS (Tamai, 2014). Moreover, the disaster prevention facility is designed to utilize EV batteries to supply electricity in emergencies. Hence, the project includes common smart city energy-related features, but with a strong emphasis on how the smart city can foster economic revitalization, land use planning, and citizen participation (Ito and Meguro, 2017). In particular, the project aims to supply data to citizens (with a key example being a new online mother/child health information service) and to employ IoT approaches to facilitate enhanced local decision-making.

5.2.6  Hamamatsu smart city Like many other subnational governments, Hamamatsu City was galvanized by 3-11. After broad consultation with national and local experts, the city released its Hamamatsu City Energy Vision in March 2013. The core elements of the vision were renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy management (i.e., microgrids), and the creation of new energy and environmental industries. Subsequently, in June 2015, the Hamamatsu Smart City Promotion Council was established to ensure strong policy integration (smart, resilience, and spatial planning) and citizen engagement. In October of 2015, the city established the Hamamatsu New Electric Power Company to coordinate local power assets. This joint venture power company is funded with capital from Hamamatsu City and eight other organizations including NTT Facilities, NEC Capital Solutions, and area businesses such as Chubu Gas and Enshu Railway. The company sources roughly 11,000 kW of electricity from 16 major solar arrays and via biomass power generation at the incineration plant. The Hamamatsu smart city emphasizes local ownership of energy assets, and of smartening their use. Hamamatsu has thus begun work with its business partners to integrate data flows from smart meters in water, power, and gas. Compared to the 5 million MWh of e­ lectricity

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it consumes every year, Hamamatsu City sees a renewable energy generation potential of 2.73 million MWh from all sources: 1.19 million MWh from PV (photovoltaics), 1.42 million MWh from large-scale wind, 110,000 MWh from biomass, and 9000 MWh from micro-hydro. By adding to this the amount of electricity generated by existing large- and medium-scale hydropower plants on the Tenryu River, the city expects to be fully self-sufficient in energy. Hamamatsu City provides subsidies for solar panel installation and has so far attained 55 MW of generation potential, an average of 4.7 kW output per household. The city also uses empty lots and school rooftops for solar power generation. Hamamatsu has relaxed regulations on solar power installation and has set up a Hamamatsu Solar Center to provide businesses with support and advice, lending full support to its promotion. Solar deployment has risen dramatically as a result: the city now has 36 mega-solar power plants, solar arrays with at least 1 MW in generation capacity. Subsidies and other measures have helped the city increase its power self-sufficiency ratio from 4.3% in fiscal 2011 to 10.0% at the end of fiscal 2015. The city aims to increase this ratio to 20.3% by fiscal 2030 and points out that its renewable energy levels are already nearly 60% if one includes output from the large-scale dams within city districts.

5.3  Policy framework—Core supports One reason Japan’s smart cities are coming to match their visionaries’ ideal of an integrated, nationwide rollout is Society 5.0, Japan’s architecture for linking comprehensive industrial policy (see Fig. 5.2). It builds on similar industrialpolicy initiatives, including China’s “Made in China 2025,” Germany’s Industry 4.0, and the United States’ Advanced Manufacturing Partnership. It also includes recent international developments with smart cities that are based on IoT integration (Talari et  al., 2017; Yarime, 2017). But Japan’s initiative has a greater scope, as Society 5.0 is the institutional and ideational scaffolding for melding cyber and physical infrastructures, in a networked and nationwide system-of-systems application (Nakanishi and Kitano, 2018). That is, Society 5.0 harnesses cyber technologies and integrates them with the physical structure of the human, built, and natural environments. The goal is to maximize the efficient and effective delivery of such public goods as energy security, disaster resilience, and fiscally sustainable aging. Society 5.0’s cyber layer includes the emergent IoT, AI, fifth-generation mobile communications (5G), advanced robotics, and related technologies. The physical layer is enormous: the gross capital stock of Japan’s built and natural environments was assessed at JPY 953 trillion (US$ 8.7 trillion) for 2014, or nearly double Japan’s annual GDP (Government of Japan, 2018). Society 5.0’s ambit comprises 11 functional areas, notably, energy, disasterresilience, environment, intelligent infrastructure maintenance, smart transport, new manufacturing, integrated material development, community care, tourism, and food supply chains. Many of these areas overlap in the smart cities, which

FIG. 5.2  Society 5.0 for SDGs, the sustainable development goals and smart technologies in Japan. (Reproduced with permission from the Keidanren [Japan Business Federation—see https://www.keidanrensdgs-world.com].)

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have, therefore, become sites for maximizing the simultaneous diffusion of renewable energy, enhancing energy efficiencies and energy security, increasing urban densification, promoting disaster resilience, and supporting economic revitalization and socioeconomic equity (Kashiwagi, 2016). Japanese smart cities are, thus, a locus wherein smartness—especially real-time monitoring and control—is recognized as a common tool to tackle multiple societal challenges simultaneously. This integration of systems is a striking evolution from the original emphasis on localized and diverse innovations in energy technologies, information networks, infrastructure optimization, traffic systems, and service provision. These earlier smart technology initiatives were largely led by central agencies of the national government, with limited horizontal collaboration. By contrast, the current paradigm is marked by horizontal and vertical collaboration and co-creation, assessing and addressing community needs within a national regime of inclusive stakeholder collaboration. Japan’s fiscal and administrative policies embody this change. The earlier tendency to use one-off subsidies for select projects, under the tutelage of a particular central agency, has dwindled. Current Japanese public finance evinces a comprehensive approach toward elaborating and diffusing smart cities as a core element of Society 5.0. Thus, for example, the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication’s (MIC) financing for smart communications increased from JPY 109 billion (US$ 1 billion) in FY 2018 to JPY 124.8 billion (US$ 1.15 billion) in FY 2019, with a special emphasis on 5G and implementing Society 5.0. MIC’s FY 2019 budget for “realizing Society 5.0 via the deployment of ICT aggregation,” a line-item centered on 5G, totals JPY 101.6 billion (US$ 934 million). The spring of 2019 saw MIC, in alliance with MLIT and other agencies, also develop further subsidy and other measures to accelerate and spatially expand the expected JPY 1.6 trillion (US$ 14.7 billion) rollout of 5G by Softbank and other major providers between 2020 and 2024. These collaborative policies reflect the work of MIC’s “Smart Local Government” working group, whose analyses have shown that finance and skills are the main barriers to diffusion. The working group’s 2018 survey of IoT/ICT use among Japan’s 1788 subnational governments achieved a very high response rate of 90.5%, compared to well under 50% in previous years. The 2018 survey revealed that 272 (16.8%) subnational are implementing projects. However, 1295 (80.8%) locals report financing to be their major barrier, followed by 1092 (67.5%) stymied by skills shortages. Only 61 (3.8%) of Japan’s local governments reported no interest in becoming smart local governments (Yoshida, 2019). The MIC is uniquely capable of enabling this nationwide and interregionally equitable diffusion of 5G, IoT, and other core smart technologies. This is because the MIC oversees local finance, working with local governments to adjust the rules for distributing Japan’s approximately JPY 16 trillion (US$ 147 billion) in general subsidies. The subsidy regime features an increasing number of special measures to assist subnational governments in implementing smart cities, and recently emphasizes multigovernment alliances (MIC, 2018). The

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MIC is central to a vertical and horizontal collaboration that helps maximize the realization of positive externalities. Another key administrative element in cross-sectoral collaboration is Japan’s National Resilience program. Established in 2014, National Resilience is financed at JPY 5.3 trillion (US$ 49 billion) in FY 2019 and helps to coordinate energy, environmental, spatial, and over 40 other kinds of plans (NRPO, 2019). As of November 2019, all of Japan’s 47 prefectures and 870 cities and towns have adopted or are preparing local versions of the National Resilience Plan. The plans’ cross-sectoral collaboration in the face of hazards increasingly fosters solutions that mitigate and adapt to climate change simultaneously. One example is seen in Hamamatsu City’s Smart City project. Hamamatsu City adopted a local version of the National Resilience Plan on March 12, 2019. Hamamatsu’s plan includes 12 smart-community microgrids and related technologies by 2020. Hamamatsu financed half of these 12 smart communities in its initial FY 2019 budget (Hamamatsu City, 2019).

5.4  Institutional framework—Key actors After a slow and poorly coordinated start, Japan’s institutional machinery for designing and diffusing smart cities is pervasive and increasingly integrated, at both the national and sub-national levels. From the perspective of multilevel governance, one important aspect about Japan is that it is a unitary state, with extensive intergovernmental interaction through collaborative administration and fiscal equalization. Hence, several of Japan’s national-level ministries and agencies are directly involved in smart cities, and the past decade has seen them learn how and why to work together. The tendency for much research on Japan to depict the national government as a locus of stove-piped, top-down (tatewari gyousei) administration needs to be rethought, especially in spatial planning plus smart city design and deployment (OECD, 2016). Among Japan’s national agencies, the METI (previously the Ministry for International Trade and Industry—MITI) has been most prominent. In the 1970s, MITI focused on the promotion of renewable energy technologies, one antecedent to Japan’s smart cities (Yarime and Karlsson, 2018). The Sunshine Project launched in 1974, for example, was designed to promote research and development on alternative energy technologies, with a particular focus on solar photovoltaics (PV). The subsequent Moonlight Project, launched in 1978, researched breakthrough energy-efficiency technologies. Under METI, two agencies and one council are directly involved in the site-specific implementation of smart city projects. One is the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), established in 1980. NEDO’s mandate includes promoting the development of grid-­connecting technologies for renewable energy sources, such as microgrids, distributed and large-scale solar and wind, and power-quality management. For example, in 2005 NEDO implemented a microgrid project that supplied power and heat to

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the Aichi Expo pavilion. These initial projects were not officially designated as smart cities per se but addressed some of the relevant functionalities. NEDO also works closely with the private sector. In April 2010, NEDO helped galvanize the launch of the Japan Smart Community Alliance (with NEDO as the Secretariat). The Alliance includes 259 corporate members as of February 2019, to promote smart cities in Japan and internationally. A second METI-linked organization is the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE), established in 1973 during the first oil crisis. The ANRE was directly involved in the implementation of the four smart-city demonstration projects noted earlier and discussed in the next section. Along with NEDO, the ANRE is a key partner in the 12 project, 5-year “Cross-Agency Action Plan for Deploying Renewable Energy,” announced on April 11, 2017 (ANRE, 2017). The plan emphasizes the distributed systems that are core components of smart cities and Society 5.0 (Kashiwagi, 2018). The METI council involved in smart cities is the New Energy Promotion Council (NEPC). The council was launched in 2008, to promote the assessment and deployment of renewable energy. The NEPC oversees the subsidies for smart community projects, in addition to multiple initiatives in cogeneration, small hydro, and other projects. It has fostered a large number of local smart community business-model surveys in addition to the nationwide deployment of smart-energy systems that use waste heat and other renewable inputs. The NEPC is especially focused on the diffusion of smart heat and power networks that maximize the use of local energy resources, efficiency, and disaster resilience. METI’s dominance in smart cities changed after the shock of 3-11 saw several other ministries come to play important roles. Among the latter is the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT). The MLIT undertakes smart city initiatives related to advanced mobility solutions, compact urban development, resilient urban and interurban infrastructure and 3D mapping of surface and subsurface infrastructures (MLIT, 2018a). The MLIT also works extensively with other agencies. For example, its compact city support team, set up in March 2015, integrates most of the functional areas of Society 5.0 in concert with 10 other central agencies (MLIT, 2018b). Due to the scale and disaster-vulnerability of Japan’s built environment and fiscal constraints, the MLIT stresses bolstering extant critical infrastructure while minimizing the cost of maintenance. These maintenance costs totaled JPY 5.2 trillion (US$ 48 billion) in 2018, roughly equivalent to Japan’s spending on national defense. Even without pricing in accelerating climate impacts, maintenance costs are expected to reach a cumulative JPY 280 trillion (US$ 2.6 trillion) over the 2019– 48 period. Predictive, smart maintenance and asset management are expected to reduce these costs by over 30%, and hence the MLIT is a major collaborator on smart city projects that include 5G-enhanced smart construction (MLIT, 2019a). Most recently, in August 2019, MLIT announced a major new smart city collaboration (Smart City Public-Private Partnership Platform). By October 2019, this new initiative comprised 468 organizations including 11 central

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­ overnment agencies, 113 subnational governments, 355 companies, universig ties, and research institutions (MLIT, 2019b). The Platform explicitly builds on related programs, further institutionalizing smart city projects. As noted earlier, the MIC funds project to diffuse information and communication technologies (ICT) that integrate energy and other systems. Working with METI and other agencies, MIC undertook 15 “Disaster Area Smart Grid Communication Interface Projects” in the disaster-ravaged Tohoku region in the wake of 3-11 (see Fig. 5.3). MIC has continued to diffuse the fruits of this collaborative test-bedding (DeWit, 2018). Since the MIC oversees both the fiscal health of Japan’s local governments and communications, it deliberately emphasizes the use of smart technologies to cut the cost of delivering public services and enhance the country’s international competitiveness. Indeed, MIC tracks Japan’s IoT competitiveness, including in smart cities. Moreover, several other MIC spending categories support deploying smart and resilient communications networks nationwide in the face of multiple hazards (MIC, 2019a,b). MIC’s combination of shepherding Japan’s advanced communications and the fiscal health of local governments has led it to emphasize an equitable, secure, and nationwide rollout of 5G, IoT, and other core smart city technologies. Other central agencies closely involved in smart cities are the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), the Ministry of the Environment (MoE), and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF). The MHLW footprint is especially visible in “smart wellness communities” that overlap with smart cities. Since July 2015, these communities have been institutionalized in a national collaboration that encompasses 25 prefectures and cities as well as numerous businesses, NPOs, academic institutions, and other stakeholders. For its part, the MoE is also extensively involved in smart cities, offering subsidies to aid in deploying disaster-resilient and decarbonizing microgrids, renewable energy, storage, LED lighting, and other technologies. And the MAFF’s interest in smart cities is particularly evident in projects that utilize biomass and related materials in “local production/local consumption” smart communities. Many of these projects have been implemented in collaboration with other agencies and integrated into the National Resilience program. They are also core elements of the new Society 5.0 and SDG Future City initiatives. Another important actor is the Japan Reconstruction Agency (JRA). Right after 3-11, the JRA was established with a 10-year mandate from 2011 to 2020. JRA helped organize a range of smart community initiatives in the 3-11 disaster region of Tohoku. In the administrative hierarchy, the JRA sits under the Cabinet Office. This latter plays an important role in comprehensive policy planning coordination, with input from five policy councils on Economic and Fiscal Policy, Science and Technology, National Strategic Special Zones, Disaster Management, and Gender Equality. The Cabinet Office has thus come to play a critical role in overseeing the development and implementation of Society 5.0. Its deliberations on the role of smart cities in realizing Society 5.0 are facilitated by the Cross-Ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program

FIG. 5.3  Disaster area smart grid communication interface project. (Courtesy of DeWit, A., 2018. Is Japan actually a green laggard? Rikkyo Econ. Res. 72(2) [author translation and revision].)

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(SIP) located in the Cabinet Office, with particular emphasis on science and technology policy (SIP, 2018). In 2019, the SIP became a core actor in coordinating the architecture of smart cities, working particularly closely with METI and MIC (CTSP, 2019). The examples mentioned previously illustrate how Japan’s cross-sectoral and cross-agency collaborations are proliferating. The functional and spatial expansion of smart cities helps drive this. For example, once an energy project crosses a road, it necessarily involves the MLIT. If communications are involved (as they almost inevitably are), then the MIC plays a role. Include healthcare, and the MLHW becomes yet another essential partner. One early difficulty in the 2009–19 decade was that Japanese central agencies retained a considerable tendency toward top-down administration, despite a historic administrative reorganization in 2001. This reorganization saw many ministries and agencies amalgamated, such as the combination of local finance and communications in the MIC. It took time to work out new organizational cooperation within these ministries, and after 2008 they confronted the difficulties of cross-sectoral collaboration on building smart cities. The multiple crises engendered and exacerbated by 3-11 helped foster this cooperation. More recently, the emergence of the SIP and other overarching institutions seems likely to aid in strategic coordination of this inter and intragovernment alliance on smart cities. And using SDG Future Cities to link Japan’s smart cities with the global SDG framework should help enhance their international relevance.

5.5 Discussion One challenge in assessing Japanese smart city developments to date is differentiating public-relations from actual positive impacts on the ground. Another is applying a systematic set of metrics to measure what “smart” means. Hurdles include the lack of comprehensive and ongoing summaries of Japanese smart city projects. The Tokyo Eco-Net 62 project sought to undertake such a survey but overlooked a significant number of important projects. These omissions by a very high-level assessment speak to the difficulty of gathering data on projects, let alone benchmarking their performance (DeWit, 2017a). A second problem is that many technical specifications are often left out of the literature. This reduces transparency, hindering the analysis of business model viability, unsubsidized costs of technologies, the reliability of renewable energy and credibility of ambitious deployment goals, issues of grid stability, and the challenges of battery storage (Pham, 2014). Making these assessments even more difficult is the fact that the value of core smart city services—such as energy security, disaster reliance, data protection, and other public goods—is inherently difficult to measure, especially because they are increasingly delivered by integrated “systems of systems.” The cost of not being smart is often not apparent until one or more hazards manifest themselves as a complex, cascading disaster. A third issue is that the integration of the advanced communications of infrastructures in smart cities,

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particularly the ongoing rollout of 5G-enabled IoT, exacerbates the risks of compromised data security and cyber-attacks. It also presents challenges in defining data ownership and accessibility and evolving cyber-resilient governance and ethics (Yarime, 2017). A fourth concern has been whether universities, small and medium-sized enterprises, and citizens are sufficiently engaged (Pham, 2014; DeWit, 2013; Granier and Kudo, 2016). However, a close reading of post 3-11 planning for smart cities shows generally broad inclusivity (Kono, 2017). What is clear is that Japan’s government-led demonstration projects implemented in 2011–14 fostered technological integration, improved reliability, and enhanced learning through trial and error. Technological innovation and largescale adoption helped drive a decline in the prices of component technologies and the costs of operating energy systems, something that would have been very difficult in normal market conditions without government subsidies. The projects were especially important in providing collaborative platforms in which novel technological functionalities could be tried out. We have seen that this has since grown into an extensive network of groups involved in smart cities, producing and sharing valuable knowledge among multiple stakeholders. The parallel emergence of public-private joint ventures has increased diversity in the modes of smart technology implementation. There is considerable debate about the trajectory of Japan’s smart cities. Some commentators suggest that Japanese smart cities have moved from a technology-focused version 1.0 to version 2.0 that emphasizes endogenous development. This version 2 is depicted as harnessing technology and resources to address local social and economic challenges; in short, placing people, governance, and policy at the center (Trencher, 2018). This conceptualization hints at the step-wise deployment of smart-grids and other technologies followed by their integration with health and other social infrastructures. That is, it usefully summarizes the post 3-11 expansion of smart-city policymaking to embrace an all-hazard approach. However, it perhaps understates the role of multilevel governance and the extent to which Japanese future city and other projects began with broad and inclusive ambitions. Second, it appears to overlook how the impact of 3-11 fostered citizen-centered, multistakeholder smart city building in Higashimatsushima and many other areas (Kono, 2017). The question of whether Japanese smart cities are “people-centric” rather than “technology-centric” seems to detract from understanding Society 5.0. Ironically, the ongoing Society 5.0 shift from infrastructure to “intrastructure” (Hasegawa and Furuichi, 2019) means that smart cities are becoming simultaneously centered on citizens as well as the technology that composes the entirety of the built environment. Japan’s integration of citizens and smart technology seems increasingly well-coordinated via the SIP, the Smart City PublicPrivate Partnership Platform, and other vehicles. However, the critical analysis should focus on this nexus. The institutional reality remains a messy hybrid of ­top-down and bottom-up approaches aimed at a myriad of wicked problems, including economic decline, superaging, climate change, and disaster risk reduction. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to these crises, in Japan or anywhere,

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so learning by doing is essential. Yet, Japan is perhaps advantaged by the ideational and institutional emphasis on identifying and aggregating local solutions and seeking to scale them nationwide. Perhaps most significantly, however, all of these smart city initiatives are taking place against a rapidly shifting background. Japan’s demographic changes have already led to critical human-resource shortages, making AI, automation and other labor-saving innovations very attractive. The smartness of Japan’s approach to the vitality of both urban areas and rural regions is dependent on the ability to strategically navigate this critical juncture between people, economy, and technology. What we have found is a convergence between national strategic policy formulation, particularly under the banner of Society 5.0, in tandem with bottom-up smart city initiatives designed to address local challenges. The effectiveness of this convergence will depend on ensuring transparency and new metrics to analyze the degree to which outcomes match resources invested, particularly in promoting a nationwide, supersmart society.

5.6 Conclusions Japan’s approach to smart cities initially focused on developing specific technologies on energy systems, including renewable energy, energy storage, and community energy management, as well as information networks and transportation infrastructure. Smart city projects were mainly led by the central government in collaboration with large companies in and the energy and electric and electronic sectors. Policy measures were introduced by different ministries and agencies to provide subsidies to support the demonstration of new technologies. Triggered by the 3-11 earthquake, the country’s efforts on smart cities have evolved to more comprehensively address societal challenges, including resilience to natural disasters and aging and declining population. The current approach emphasizes close collaboration among stakeholders in academia; industry; government; and civil society; to co-create innovation, to provide problem-solving, to pressing community needs paying attention, and to local specific conditions. With the help of increasingly sophisticated technologies, critical infrastructures for energy, water, transport, health, and communications are becoming interconnected in smart cities to enable integrated solutions. In Society 5.0 Japan is attempting to facilitate technological innovation on IoT, 5G, and AI for distributed energy, material efficiency, inclusive healthcare, and public safety. At the same time, the speed of change in emerging data-­ intensive technologies is accelerating and its direction is uncertain. Hence, it is crucial to experiment and learn from mistakes through trial and error. Maximizing the scope for experimentation requires close collaboration among relevant stakeholders through institutional innovation. This is far beyond the old model of stove-piped governance and one-off subsidies. Japan’s technological and institutional innovations in smart cities have valuable lessons and implications for policymaking in other countries.

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References ANRE, 2017. Energy White Paper, 2017. Japan Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (in Japanese). Barrett, B.F.D. (Ed.), 2005. Ecological Modernization and Japan. Routledge, London and New York. Barrett, B.F.D., Therivel, R., 2019. Environmental Policy and Impact Assessment in Japan. Routledge, London and New York. Brookes, J., 2019. How 5G Unlocks Smart Cities. Which-50, April 19. Cabinet Secretariat, 2019. Development Status of National Resilience Regional Plans. Accessible online (Japanese only) https://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/kokudo_kyoujinka/tiiki.html. CTSP, 2019. Central Agency Collaboration for Promoting Smart Cities. Japan Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. April (in Japanese). DeWit, A., 2011. Fallout from the Fukushima shock: Japan’s emerging energy policy. Asia-Pacific J. 9 (45). No. 5, November 16. DeWit, A., 2013. Japan’s rollout of smart cities: what role for the citizens? Asia-Pacific J. 11 (24). No. 2, June 16. DeWit, A., 2017a. Japanese smart communities as industrial policy. In: Clark, W. (Ed.), Sustainable Cities and Communities Design Handbook, second ed. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford and Cambridge. DeWit, A., 2017b. Energy transitions in Japan. In: Lehmann, T. (Ed.), The Geopolitics of Global Energy: The New Cost of Plenty. Lynn Reinner, Boulder, Colorado. DeWit, A., 2018. Is Japan actually a green laggard? Rikkyo Econ. Res 72 (2). Eco-Net 62, 2015. Advanced Examples. Tokyo Eco-Net 62. February 13 (in Japanese). Eco-Net 62, 2016. Revised Guidelines Towards the Construction of Smart Communities. Tokyo Eco-Net 62. March (in Japanese). Fujii, S., Nakanishi, H., 2017. Revitalizing the region by transforming into a smart city: Aizuwakamatsu city. J. Inf. Sci. 67 (11), 566–572 (in Japanese). Government of Japan, 2018. Measuring Infrastructure in Japan 2017. Government of Japan, Tokyo, Japan (in Japanese). Granier, B., Kudo, H., 2016. How are citizens involved in smart cities? Analyzing citizen participation in Japanese Smart Communities. Inf. Polity 21, 61–76. Hamamatsu City, 2019. Hamamatsu City Local National Resilience Plan. Hamamatsu City, Japan, March (in Japanese). Hasegawa, A., Furuichi, S., 2019. Realizing future infrastructure as inter-structure. Phronesis 11 (1). February 27 (in Japanese). Ito, F., Meguro, J., 2017. A new challenge from linking basic residential data in Aizuwakamatsu with spatial information. Chiiki Kaihatsu 620 (June and July), 52–58 (in Japanese). Kashiwagi, T., 2016. The Super Smart Infrastructure Revolution. Jihyo Books, Tokyo (in Japanese). Kashiwagi, T., 2018. The Super Smart Energy Society 5.0. Energy Forum, Tokyo (in Japanese). Kono, H., 2017. Community Energy. Chuokoronsha, Tokyo (in Japanese). METI, 2016. Strategic Energy Plan, Provision Translation, Government of Japan. METI, 2019. Concerning the FY 2019 Budget for the Fukushima Smart Energy Society. (in Japanese). MIC, 2018. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication Initiatives to Develop Smart Cities. Japan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication. November 15 (in Japanese). MIC, 2019a. The 2019 Budget, Outline of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication Spending. Japan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication. March (in Japanese). MIC, 2019b. An Outline of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication FY 2019 ICT-Related Special Projects. Japan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication. November 1 (in Japanese).

Japanese smart cities and communities  Chapter | 5  93 MLIT, 2018a. Towards Realizing the Smart City. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan. August (in Japanese). MLIT, 2018b. A Summary of Compact City Support Measures for 2018. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan (in Japanese). MLIT, 2019a. Next Generation Infrastructure. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan. April 19 (in Japanese). MLIT, 2019b. Smart City Public-Private Partnership Platform. Accessible online https://www.mlit. go.jp/scpf/index.html. Nakanishi, H., Kitano, H., 2018. Society 5.0: Co-Creating the Future (in Japanese). Accessible online https://www.keidanren.or.jp/policy/2018/095_sasshi.pdf. NEPC, 2012. FY 2011 Smart Community Promotion Support Application. Japan New Energy Promotion Council. February (in Japanese). Nomura, A., 2017. The City as a Platform 1: Aizuwakamatsu City’s Data-Driven Smart Community. The Japan Research Institute. July 11 (in Japanese). NRPO, 2019. Other National Plans Related to National Resilience. National Resilience Promotion Office, Japanese Cabinet Office. March 25 (in Japanese). Nyberg, R.A., Yarime, M., 2017. Assembling a field into place: smart city development in Japan. In: Seidel, M.-D., Greve, H. (Eds.), Emergence, Research in the Sociology of Organizations. vol. 50. Emerald, Bingley, pp. 253–279. OECD, 2013. Green Growth in Kitakyushu. OECD Green Growth Studies. Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris. OECD, 2016. OECD Territorial Reviews: Japan. Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris. Pham, C., 2014. Smart Cities in Japan—An Assessment on the Potential for EU-Japan Cooperation and Business Development. EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation, Tokyo. Samuels, R., 2013. 3.11: Disaster and Change in Japan. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York. SIP, 2018. Realizing Society 5.0 Through the Construction of Smart Cities. Japan Cross-Ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program. November 15 (in Japanese). Talari, S., Shafie-Khah, M., Siano, P., Loia, V., Tommasetti, A., Catalão, J.P.S., 2017. A review of smart cities based on the internet of things concept. Energies 10, 421. Tamai, H., 2014. Fujitsu’s approach to smart cities. Fujitsu Sci. Tech. J. 50 (2), 3–10. Trencher, G., 2018. Towards the smart city 2.0: empirical evidence using smartness as a tool for tackling social challenges. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 142, 117–128. Trencher, G., Karvonen, A., 2017. Stretching “smart”: advancing health and well-being through the smart city agenda. Local Environ. 24 (7), 1–18. Wood, E., 2015. Hitachi moves into the North America microgrid market with 100-year plan. Microgrid Knowledge (December 17). Yarime, M., 2017. Facilitating data-intensive approaches to innovation for sustainability: opportunities and challenges in building smart cities. Sustain. Sci. 12 (6), 881–885. Yarime, M., Karlsson, M., 2018. Examining technological innovation systems of smart cities: the case of Japan and implications for public policy and institutional design. In: Niosi, J. (Ed.), Innovation Systems, Policy and Management. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 394–417. Yigitcanlar, T., Kamruzzaman, M., Buys, L., Ioppolo, G., Sabatini-Marques, J., Moreira da Costa, E., Yun, J.J., 2018. Understanding ‘smart cities’: intertwining development drivers with desired outcomes in a multidimensional framework. Cities 81, 145–160. Yoshida, M., 2019. The local governments in the society 5.0 era. In: Presentation to Japan Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication. March 6 (in Japanese).

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Further reading DeWit, A., 2014a. Japan’s resilient, decarbonizing and democratic smart communities. Asia-Pacific J. 12 (50). No. 3, December 15. DeWit, A., 2014b. Japan’s radical energy technocrats: structural reform through smart communities, the feed-in tariff and Japanese-style ‘Stadtwerke’. Asia-Pacific J. 12 (48). No. 2. Government of Japan, 2016. The 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan. Government of Japan, Tokyo, Japan. Japan Economic Center, 2016. Survey on Current and Project Smart House Markets. Japan Economic Center. (in Japanese). Kudo, H., 2012. Quality of life and resilience—Japanese Smart City projects after the 3.11 Great East Japan Earthquake. In: Paper presented at 2013 EGPA Annual Conference 11–13 September, Edinburgh, Scotland. Mah, D.N., Wu, Y., Chi-Man, Y., Hills, P.R., 2013. The role of the state in sustainable energy transitions: a case study of large smart grid demonstration projects in Japan. Energy Policy 63, 726–737. Takeoka Chatfield, A., Reddick, C.G., 2016. Smart city implementation through shared vision of social innovation for environmental sustainability: a case study of Kitakyushu, Japan. Soc. Sci. Comput. Rev. 34 (6), 757–773. Yarime, M., 2020. Facilitating innovation for smart cities: the role of public policies in the case of Japan. In: Joo, Y.-M., Tan, T.-B. (Eds.), Smart Cities in Asia: Governing Development in the Era of Hyper-Connectivity. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, pp. 93–106. Yoo, Y., Kim, K., Han, J., 2016. Comparison analysis of smart city projects—implications for U-city. Int. J. Appl. Bus. Econ. Res. 14 (5), 2913–2929.

Chapter 6

“Being first comes naturally”: The smart city and progressive urbanism in Australia Ian McShane RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Theorizing smart cities and smart infrastructure 6.3 Australian government and smart city policy 6.3.1 The Australian government’s smart cities plan

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6.4 An Australian first? The City of Adelaide’s smart city project 101 6.4.1 Setting the scene 101 6.4.2 From Citylan to the 10 gigabit city 103 6.4.3 Adelaide’s City Deal 105 6.4.4 Selling innovation 107 6.5 Conclusion 110 References 111

6.1 Introduction This chapter analyzes the development of the smart city in Australia, as a concept, policy, and as materialized in urban settings. In the chapter, I argue that Australian developments in this field, while typically influenced by international and domestic advocacy coalitions (Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith, 1988) consisting of global and local technology companies, policymakers and government officials, industry lobbyists, and researchers, have been relatively slow to emerge. The main reasons for this, the chapter argues, are a long-standing lack of national government interest in cities and urban policy, uneven provision of telecommunications infrastructure, and a relatively weak local or municipal government sector. While the domestic market for the suite of digital communication technologies that underpin smart city operations is relatively small, the fiscal constraints of many Australian local government authorities (LGAs), and the consequent need to find efficiencies in urban services, creates an ­incentive to

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pursue technological solutions. In that light, the Internet of Things Association of Australia (IoTAA) has estimated that the wide-scale use of IoT devices could generate up to $120 billion in economic activity in Australia over the next decade (Heydon and Zeichner, 2015). In international terms, Australia has long been considered advanced in the use of precision agriculture using sensor technologies and geo-location (Zhang et al., 2002). The use of smart technologies in urban systems is now expanding rapidly. However, this growth raises questions about whether Australia has adequate policy and institutional settings to both encourage innovation in this field while safeguarding the public and democratic interests. In discussing the rapid rise of the “smart city” at policy and operational levels this chapter follows Horst and Miller (2012) in arguing against claims for digital exceptionalism. The digital and the material are significantly entangled, particularly in the case of smart urban systems. Many of the challenges confronting the planning and operationalization of the smart city are apparent in other domains of city planning and governance. However, digital communication technologies and networks also have unique policy challenges, particularly around access to and use of data, and in the methodologies through which smart city investments can be evaluated, particularly in terms of their innovation outcomes. These issues are attracting increasing scholarly interest. Similarly, as the City of Adelaide case study set out in the following section shows, the history of the city and its region may exert a strong influence on the rationale and profile of smart city investments. The “smart city” is often discussed in epochal terms. The current City of Adelaide (2016) strategic plan, for example, refers repeatedly to the 21st century city. This chapter, rather, focusses on continuities rather than rupture in understanding the emergence and shape of smart cities in Australia. These themes and arguments are explored in the following sections. First, I frame this analysis by clarifying how the ambiguous construct of “smart cities” is interpreted in this chapter, then position the discussion within the scholarly field of critical infrastructure studies. Following that, I outline the broad settings, particularly at the national level, that engage the “smart city” as a new objective of urban policy. I then look at Adelaide as an example of city-level formation and implementation of smart city strategy. I argue that while Adelaide’s “smart” trajectory is distinctive, for economic, demographic, spatial, and political reasons that are detailed in the following section, the case study opens a wider discussion on conditions for municipal entrepreneurship and urban innovation in Australia. The chapter is informed by critical analysis of policy and operational documents associated with “smart city” investments and programs at three levels of the Australian federal system of government, and by interviews with state and local government officials and telecommunications company staff conducted by the author in Adelaide in 2016–18.

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6.2  Theorizing smart cities and smart infrastructure The “smart” label emerged from a cluster of rival terms (wired cities, cyber cities, and so on) that, for Kitchin et al. (2019), point to concepts, policy settings, and materializations of networked urbanism dating from at least the 1980s. Technical innovation in wireless digital communication technologies has been a major development within this period, with the cellular (mobile) phone, Wi-Fi, and IoT networks now so imbricated in economic, social, civic, and urban management settings that Mackenzie (2010) sees “wirelessness” as a central aspect of contemporary experience. Regardless, or perhaps because of, its ubiquity, the term “smart city” has no consensus in the academic literature or policy. Tang et al. (2019) approach this ambiguity by identifying a series of archetypes based on analysis of smart city policies and strategic plans across the globe (with Adelaide included in the sample of 60 cities). However, to bring some focus to this discussion, Kitchin and Perng (2016, p. 2) synthesize a range of literature to suggest that a “smart city” is characterized by …densely instrumented urban systems that can be monitored, managed, and regulated in real time…whose data can be used to better depict, model, and predict urban processes and simulate future urban development… and whose deployment facilitates new forms of digital subjectivity, citizenship, participation, and political action.

Kitchin and Perng’s reference to smart citizens is given a Foucauldian reading by Vanolo (2014) and Ho (2017), introducing the concept of smart mentality to draw attention to the disciplinary dimensions of smart discourse in framing expectations around digital literacy and engagement of citizens. Mackenzie’s (2010) discussion of wirelessness as an entanglement of gadgets, networks, services, and experiences is an example of recent endeavors by social scientists to “unblackbox” or expose the political, economic, regulatory, and cultural settings that surround infrastructures. Inspired in part by Star's (1999) famous invocation to “study boring things,” the critical infrastructure studies literature now spreads across information studies, transport, engineering, and media and communication with digital communication technologies serving increasingly as a point of convergence (Parks and Starosielski, 2015). Wider interest in infrastructure is not limited to academia. Barns et al. (2017) allude to a greater awareness of, and reflexive attitude to, infrastructure by governments in arguing that recent Australian public policy in the digital infrastructure sphere has evolved from a conventional engineering approach, concerned with technical, cost, and project management dimensions, to focus more on the role of government in enabling data-driven smart city services and real-time urban management.

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6.3  Australian government and smart city policy Australia is one of the world’s most urbanized nations. About 86% of Australians live in urban areas (World Bank, 2019), with almost all of that number inhabiting cities of more than 10,000 which are situated mostly within 50 km of the coast (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Australia’s largest cities are also growing relative to other developed world countries. For example, greater Melbourne’s population is expected to grow from its current 5 to 9 million by 2056, with much of the growth fuelled by migration (Victorian Government, 2019). These figures contrast with a dominant framing of Australia’s national culture that draws heavily on the “bush” and rurality and points to the significance of cities for Australia’s social, economic, and environmental future. Barber's (2013) claim that cities are increasingly important political and economic actors within nation-states and on a global stage find clear support in Australia. The figures cited previously also set the context for Australia’s growing interest in “smart” or networked digital communication technologies to enhance the efficiency of cities, in terms of mobility, energy consumption, urban services, and (notionally at least) civic participation. However, this interest has developed within a federal political system that has been characterized by significant neglect of urban policy at the national level, and by a pattern of segmented and often uncoordinated urban governance presided over by state (provincial) governments. Only four times, since the end of World War II have Australian national governments taken a distinct portfolio interest in urban policy. At the local level, Australia has only one metropolitan-scale city government (the City of Brisbane). Melbourne is more representative of the local jurisdiction’s contours, with its metropolitan region comprising 31 separate local government authorities (LGAs). Metropolitan Adelaide, with less than onethird of Melbourne’s population, consists of 19 municipalities. Australian LGAs are relatively restricted in their roles. They have, for example, played a very limited role in providing networked infrastructure. State governments, instead, chose to establish statutory authorities to oversee the provision of utilities and major urban infrastructure, more recently partnering with the private market (or even conceding to market-led proposals) as a preferred development model. The Australian local government sector has limited fiscal powers too, directly levying only 3% of Australia’s total taxation take (Tomlinson, 2019). The Australian local jurisdiction, then, is fragmented, has a relatively limited scope, and is significantly dependent on fiscal transfers from higher governments. The Australian National Government also holds key regulatory powers associated with the development of smart cities, in addition to its fiscal power. This is most evident in the field of telecommunications, the infrastructural underpinning of smart cities, which is constitutionally a national government responsibility. In the late-20th century, the Australian government joined much of the developed and developing world in privatizing telecommunications provision. However, progress with the rollout of broadband infrastructure was sufficiently

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slow for the government to announce in 2007 that it would invest in a new national broadband network (NBN), returning to the public monopoly model. The subsequent NBN project has been dogged by policy and design changes that are beyond the scope of this chapter to explore but have had a significant influence on the strategic decision of some Australian cities to invest in their high-speed broadband infrastructure, as the Adelaide case study in the following section details.

6.3.1  The Australian government’s smart cities plan A notable development at the national level has been the Australian government’s release of the Smart Cities Plan (Australian Government, 2016), Australia’s first national policy in the smart city field. This document shows a distinct shift in policy narrative in recent years, with earlier concerns to expand Australia’s knowledge economy, partly as a foil for a declining manufacturing sector and volatile mineral exports (McShane and Thomas, 2010), now directly connected to urban policy and “emplaced” in cities. As the policy says, “Australia’s growth as a knowledge-based economy, and the prosperity this offers, go hand in hand with the growth of our cities and the regions surrounding them” (Australian Government, 2016, p. 2). Renewed national government interest in urban policy, as evidenced by portfolio arrangements, dates from 2015, and follows a successful challenge by the Liberal Party minister for communications, Malcolm Turnbull, to then Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s party leadership. Turnbull created a ministry for cities and the built environment, with a subsequent ministerial reshuffle bringing together cities and digital transformation into a portfolio within the Department of the Prime Minister. The release of the Smart Cities Plan by the most senior department of state signaled the plan’s priority. The Smart Cities Plan, though, did not break new ground, following a global trend in relying on public-private partnerships for smart infrastructure and services (Barns et al., 2017), while seeking policy coordination across levels of government that has been the ­objective—if not always the reality—of cooperative federalism in recent decades. The plan sought to operationalize smart city policy through two funding schemes. The plan’s claim to introduce “smart financing” looks, on closer inspection, to reproduce a conventional model of “tied” (specific purpose) and “matched” (co-contributory) funding applied by higher governments to the Australian local jurisdiction, which has drawn criticism for their propensity to distort local budget priorities and perpetuate vertical fiscal imbalance (Tomlinson, 2019). However, the substantial oversubscription of the funding scheme with applications from cities showed a strong appetite for investment. While the Australian government had previously provided funding opportunities for broadband connectivity particularly in regional and remote areas, the emphasis of such funding was on digital inclusion (Glasson, 2008). The schemes promoted through the Smart Cities Plan were the first to address urban systems.

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The Smart Cities and Suburbs Scheme funded projects in four categories: smart infrastructure, smart precincts, smart services and communities, and smart planning and design. Round 1 of the scheme funded 48 projects across Australia with a total value of $63 million, of which the Commonwealth government contributed $27 million. Fifteen of the projects were led by nongovernment organizations (universities, private companies, and nonprofit associations). Round 2, which funded 32 projects, restricted eligibility to lead new bids to local LGAs. The wider eligibility of Round 1 could be seen as encouraging institutional experimentation, potentially promoting innovation, and adaptive efficiency (North, 1990). However, concern over “capture” of LGAs, many with limited resources and expertise in the ICT field, by technology companies has been a theme in the critical literature (Barns et al., 2017; Morozov, 2013). A close analysis of the Round 1 grants shows evidence of “boiler plated” or generic applications, particularly in the smart services category. The rule change, then, suggested the scheme administrators sought to focus on the priorities of local authorities rather than the commercial interests of technology companies. The inclusion of “suburbs” in the scheme’s title gestures to the low-density configuration of Australian cities, a characteristic that has long worked against the economical and equitable provision of infrastructure across Australia. This has not simply been a problem for rural Australia; many outer metropolitan areas of Australian cities suffer from poor infrastructure provision. Fig. 6.1 shows the division of Smart Cities and Suburbs Scheme Round 1 funding, with the categories based on key project objectives outlined in the funding bids: City Deals, the second element of the Smart Cities Plan, is modeled on the UK program of the same name, evidence of transfer, or mobility in the urban policy field. The scope of City Deals is wider than the Smart Cities and Suburbs Program, with its objectives focussed on “transformative investment”

FIG. 6.1  Funding focus, smart cities, and suburbs Round 1 (2018).

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in six categories: jobs and skills, infrastructure and investment, liveability and sustainability, innovation and digital opportunities, governance, planning and regulation, and housing. Nonetheless, program publicity focussed on the intention of the scheme to deliver “…innovative smart city projects that improve the livability [sic], productivity, and sustainability of cities and towns across Australia” (Australian Government, 2019a). Innovation and transformation, then, were seen through the prism of “smartness.” At the time of writing, seven city deals have been announced, with memoranda of understanding negotiated with two further cities. One of the first tranches of city deals involved the City of Adelaide. As detailed in the following section, Adelaide can fairly claim (as it does) to be Australia’s first smart city, or at least the most developed Australian example of a city that has sought the “systematic incorporation of digital networked technologies across the urban landscape” (Ho, 2017, p. 2). Adelaide’s self-promotion as a smart city is a compelling example of “corporate storytelling” (Soderstrom et al., 2014), designed to tell and sell a narrative of economic transformation and urban innovation that is as much a part of the story here as the development of “smart” policy settings and the roll-out of smart infrastructure.

6.4  An Australian first? The City of Adelaide’s smart city project Wireless technologies are a central part of Adelaide’s “smart” story, commencing with the city’s (and on available evidence Australia’s) first venture into public Wi-Fi network provision in 2004. However, a subsequent concern that the NBN would not support Adelaide’s and the state’s development plans saw an expansion of the city’s digital strategy, with the installation of an optical fiber network to provide wholesale broadband under the project banner of Ten Gigabit Adelaide (TGA). The significance of Adelaide’s smart city developments, then, extends beyond the “smart” management of urban systems. If we imagine broadband as an information utility (Middleton and Crow, 2008), emergent smart city policy in Australia is changing the established contours of utility provision. While Adelaide is the best example, this trend is evident in several other Australian cities. This section discusses the Adelaide example in detail to trace the context and implications of this Australian variant of the smart city.

6.4.1  Setting the scene Adelaide (population 1.3 million) is the capital city of the state of South Australia. The state has a total population of 1.7 million mostly dwelling in the south; its sparsely settled northern parts include some of Australia’s most arid regions. The concentration of South Australia’s population in the capital city (77%) means that Adelaide’s economic fortunes heavily influence the state economy. A brief historical overview of that economy sets the scene. Like most

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other Australian states, South Australia experienced a long period of uninterrupted one-party government in the mid-20th century as prosperity returned following economic depression and World War II. In our case, the tenure of conservative Liberal-Country League governments led by Premier Thomas Playford extended from 1938 until 1965. South Australia was traditionally an agricultural economy. Playford built on the state’s war-time armaments manufacturing capability, established because of South Australia’s distance from potential conflict zones and supported by Playford’s propensity for state intervention (despite the laissez-faire inclinations of his party), to encourage the development of significant white goods and automobile industries, attracting investment with low taxes, cheap worker housing, and land deals. At one point automobile manufacturing, benefitting from Australia’s rising prosperity, made up 15% of the state’s economic output (Kosturjak and Wilson-Smith, 2004). Playford also sought to boost South Australia’s energy self-sufficiency. Seeking to reduce the state’s dependency on coal imported from New South Wales, whose coalfields had a history of industrial strife, the Playford government invested in mining local coal and brought private electricity distribution companies under state ownership. This discussion is not purely of historical interest. Defense industries (including defense-related space industries), manufacturing, mining, and energy play a role in shaping recent “smart” policy formation and investment strategies by the South Australia Government and the City of Adelaide. Soon after Playford’s political demise in 1965, largely attributed to changing demographics and his neglect of areas such as health and education (Spoehr, 2005), the industrial model he sponsored, supported by Australia’s high tariff wall, came under pressure. The South Australian economy experienced a significant decline in the late-20th century, with the decline of manufacturing industries a key contributor (Kosturjak and Wilson-Smith, 2004). The opening up of Australia’s economy with the gradual reduction of import tariffs from the 1970s impacted severely on white goods and motor vehicle manufacturing, industries that played a larger role in the South Australian economy than they did nationally. The introduction of a floating exchange rate for the Australian dollar in 1983 introduced new volatility for South Australian exports. South Australia’s economic growth during the 1990s was 2.6%, compared with a national average of 3.8%. Population growth was also below the national average, further dampening economic activity (O’Neil et al., 2004). Despite an upturn of economic fortunes in the millennium, the deferral of a major copper and uranium mine, and the ending of motor vehicle manufacturing in the state (and nationally) significantly impacted economic confidence. The South Australian government sought economic diversification by encouraging new high technology and advanced manufacturing industries. An early example of this strategy was focussed on a new form of urbanism: the multifunction polis (MFP). The MFP, promoted in the late 1980s by the powerful Japanese Ministry for International Trade and Industry and sponsored at the Australian government level, was a vehicle to encourage new industries and

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technology transfer and, on some accounts, provide leisure and retirement options for Japanese workers (Hamnett, 1997). The South Australia government’s embrace of the project can be seen as an early example of state-level interest in smart urbanism. Enthusiastically supported by Australian government science minister Barry Jones, author of a widely-read book on the postindustrial information economy (Jones, 1982), the plan involved construction of a new city of 100,000 people, living in a medium-density environment and working in high technology, education and leisure sectors, within the Adelaide metropolitan region. The disparate elements of the “techno dream” (Castells and Hall, 1994) were never fully resolved. Concerns were voiced that the MFP would be an enclave, the investment proved difficult to attract, local political commitment wavered, and the MFP concept was recast in 1997 as a more conventional urban development project, although the plan to incorporate “smart-wired technologies” (Hamnett, 1997, p. 231) signals early (for Australia) thinking about digital networks as part of urban infrastructure.

6.4.2  From Citylan to the 10 gigabit city The loss of interest in the MFP project in the 1990s coincided with a globallysignificant technological innovation in which Australian scientists played a key role: development of the wireless local area network (WLAN), memorably branded by standards body the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers as Wi-Fi. The inclusion of Wi-Fi technology in computers had the greatest initial impact in domestic, business, and institutional settings. However, from the early 2000s city governments in various parts of the globe, some encouraged by ambitious telco startups, showed an interest in the concept of wireless cities (Jassem, 2010). On the available evidence, Adelaide was the first Australian city to build a public Wi-Fi network, and tracing the history of this venture provides useful insights on both local contingencies and sector-wide developments in this initial venture into smart urban systems. Adelaide’s public network was spun off a network set up to service an international computing conference held in that city in 2002. Adelaide-based internet service provider (ISP) Internode, which began commercial operations in 1994, provided network services at the event, and subsequently formed a partnership with the city and state governments to build the Citylan network, an arrangement where CBD businesses were subsidized to provide free Wi-Fi on their premises. Both levels of government were keen to support Internode as a local enterprise, and the company, in turn, provided free backhaul for the public Wi-Fi network while signing up participating businesses to commercial plans. The arrangement proved durable, contrasting with models that sought to subsidize local public Wi-Fi through advertising revenue (Jassem, 2010). In 2014 state government and city council funding underwrote a standalone network through Adelaide’s CBD, with the continued use of Internode to provide network services typifying the public-private partnership model in this

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field. In 2016 the expanded network, renamed Adelaidefree, recorded over 6 million log-ins (Auhl, 2017). However, as Adelaide officials sought to explore the “smart city” capabilities of the network, through, for example, analysis of network metadata to plot footfall through the CBD, it became clear that such ambitions were not supported by the contractual arrangements and regulatory regime governing the network. Both the service contract provisions (which did not assert the city’s rights regarding the metadata), and Australian telecommunications legislation (which prevents telcos from disclosing potentially identifiable data), effectively restricted the city’s access to the type of metadata it sought. This conundrum is explored in detail in the following section. Adelaide’s smart city posture attracted the interest of other commercial players. In 2015, Cisco announced it had chosen Adelaide as its first Australian “lighthouse city,” signing an agreement with the city to install an “IoT network and innovation hub” and launch a Smart City Studio. Announcing that Adelaide was “an ideal test-bed for technologies that could later be deployed statewide and then nationally,” Cisco built out its Kinetic for Cities IoT platform, and combined with its Wi-Fi network capability, Adelaide began smart lighting, parking, and traffic management trials (Cisco, 2015). In 2016, the City of Adelaide announced its intention to build a 1­ 0-gigabit capacity fiber network in the CBD and the nearby North Adelaide commercial strip, connecting 1000 buildings in those areas (City of Adelaide, 2017a). The Ten Gigabit Adelaide (TGA) plan is probably the most ambitious development in digital infrastructure by a municipal government in Australia. While the city and state governments view this investment as part of the region’s economic transformation, it can also be positioned within a range of strategic responses by LGAs to the perceived limitations of the NBN (Alizadeh, 2017). The scaling back of the original Fiber-to-the-Premises design of NBN, in favor of a multitechnology mix which included a return to degraded copper wire connections, and delays in the network’s rollout across Australia, caused consternation in subnational governments, businesses, and households. Local authorities, some of which had placed initial broadband investment trials on hold with the announcement of the NBN in 2007 (McShane et al., 2014), began to reassert interest in building their networks, with Adelaide to the fore. TGA extends the city government’s partnership with TPG (which acquired Internode as the ISP industry went through a period of concentration), with the project’s prospectus arguing the network is [f]undamental infrastructure needed to deliver a variety of smart city projects and services such as intelligent traffic flow, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, smart lighting, wayfinding, and CCTV security. (City of Adelaide, 2017a, p. 3).

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For businesses, TGA offers fast and secure business-to-business connectivity and direct access to cloud computing. For residents and visitors, TGA promises faster Wi-Fi through the use of the new fiber backhaul. On the face of things, TGA’s position as a wholesale broadband provider puts it in competition with NBN, although TGA’s promise of 10 Gb bandwidth download and upload, against NBN’s business offering of 1 Gb/400 Mb (Myers, 2019) suggests different market segments. Whether TGA delivers on its promised speed—a persistent failing of NBN which has attracted the attention of regulatory body the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (2019)—remains to be seen. Nonetheless, TGA’s offer of fast broadband, the cost of which is claimed to be “considerably less than what is currently on offer in the market” (City of Adelaide, 2017a, p. 4), has been fully subscribed by CBD-based businesses.

6.4.3  Adelaide’s City Deal While TGA is a centerpiece of the Adelaide City Deal, the overall contours of the deal respond to larger structural features of Adelaide’s and South Australia’s economy, seeking to revitalize or reposition established industries and boost population and economic growth. Investment in fast broadband and digital systems is intended to underpin space, advanced manufacturing, defense, and mining industries, with several sites in metropolitan Adelaide (not all within the Adelaide city boundaries) to be regenerated or further developed as advanced industrial and research precincts. The site once designated for the MFP, now hosting a campus of the University of South Australia, is included in this list (see Fig.  6.2). To support these ambitions, the Australian government designated Adelaide a special migration zone, with new visa arrangements to attract skilled migrants. The Adelaide city deal is broader in scope than smart technologies and digital innovation, investing, for example, in indigenous arts and the cultural economy. However, digital infrastructure and technologies are central to plans for revitalization, population and economic growth, and innovation. The financial structure of the deal is difficult to precisely identify, particularly whether funding can be identified as a new investment or whether it was likely to have been spent on urban regeneration and infrastructure regardless. However, the Australian government has committed in a 10-year partnership at least $65 million, exceeding in this single deal its total commitment to the Smarter Cities and Suburbs scheme (Australian Government, 2019b). The TGA network is one of three broadband networks servicing sites nominated in the Adelaide City Deal, with SABRENet, an existing optic fiber network owned by Adelaide’s three universities and the state government (SABRENet, 2019) connecting those City Deal sites with educational institutions, and local retail ISP Escapenet servicing other sites, although with slower ADSL technology. The mix gives some insight into Australia’s complex broadband ecology,

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FIG. 6.2  Adelaide’s City Deal sites (Australian Government, 2019b).

and the uneven or “splintered” (Graham and Marvin, 2001) access to broadband infrastructure throughout the Adelaide metropolitan region. If the Australian government’s Smart Cities and Suburbs scheme reflected the morphology of Australia’s sprawling low-density cities, the overall settings of the Smart Cities Plan concentrate high-speed broadband in inner urban regions. The state and municipal governments’ productive partnership in developing the city’s digital infrastructure is reflected in the state government’s macro planning strategy, which identifies the transformation of the city’s economy and experience through innovation and smart technology as a key planning goal, in addition to the development of smart grid technology to enable the distribution of renewable energy at a neighborhood level (Government of South Australia, 2017).

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The iterative nature of planning in the smart city domain is indicated by the development of both aims between the plan’s original release in 2010 and its refresh in 2017. However, connection with South Australia’s traditional economic base remains strong, particularly in the state government’s sponsorship of autonomous vehicle trials (another “first” claimed by the City of Adelaide): Advances in connected and autonomous technologies will fundamentally change the way we move around our cities and our car ownership patterns. These technologies also provide great opportunities to improve the social inclusion of people who may otherwise have limited mobility and allow them to become more active and productive members of our community. As these technologies advance, we will need to reimagine how we design our urban form and infrastructure requirements. (Government of South Australia, 2017, p. 22)

6.4.4  Selling innovation As we have seen, Adelaide has played strongly to historical themes in promoting its smart city credentials to its constituencies (higher governments, businesses, residents) and staking its claims in an environment of urban competitiveness. Adelaide is an excellent example of “corporate storytelling” that Soderstrom et al. (2014) view as integral to smart city discourse: There is something special about being a city of firsts. From being the first to form a council, to having women vote and stand for Parliament. And the first to roll out a 3G mobile network. When it comes to being a smart city, we were the first in Australia to trial public smart lighting, the first to trial autonomous vehicles on public roads, and one of the first to trial smart parking…other cities have become too large and complex but we are the perfect size to be agile and transformative, enabling smart initiative trials, and innovations. (City of Adelaide, 2017b)

Adelaide’s claim to be an optimum size for innovation is repeated by Cisco (2015). The involvement of smaller cities as test-beds for smart city technology trials is seen elsewhere in Australia and globally. For example, the regional New South Wales city of Tamworth, with around 60,000 residents, recently partnered with venture capitalist Providence Asset Group and the University of New South Wales to develop IoT applications. The project partners also mobilized Tamworth’s past to support the initiative, linking a claim that the municipality was Australia’s first to deploy electric lights (Zhu, 2019). Claims about the innovation advantages of small cities raise questions about how innovation is defined and measured. In the absence of solid empirical studies, some theoretical support is offered by Shearmur and Poirier’s (2016) model of a municipal innovator. This is typically a small or medium-sized city that mobilizes a particular form of innovation that these authors identify

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as ­characteristic of small to medium enterprises. These authors argue for the increasing importance of city-level initiatives, as innovation policy supersedes state-level industrial policy. In our example, Adelaide’s smart city strategy can be seen as superseding or at least transforming, the South Australian government’s earlier support for manufacturing industries as a focus of economic development. The “splintered” infrastructural conditions described earlier embody assumptions about the concept of innovation that the City Deal and TGA seek to operationalize. Publications associated with both the City Deal and TGA ventures assume innovation to have a self-evident connection with the economy. The City Deal text refers to the “innovation economy” 13 times across eight brief pages of text, with mentions of the word “innovation” (53) so numerous the term is mantra-like in its invocation (Australian Government, 2019b). While not seeking to read too much into this dimension of the “corporate story,” it can be plausibly argued that policymakers have a Schumpeterian model of innovation in mind. Those sites where innovation is most likely to occur (business districts, advanced industrial, and research precincts) are serviced by ultra-fast broadband, which is either expensive to purchase (TGA costs $399 per month) or a club good (membership of SABRENet). Recalling criticism of the MFP, at least some of the activities of the premium broadband sites are dissociated with their urban settings (cloud computing, the development of remote mining technologies). To what extent are its residents included in the innovation vision? There is significant literature on the concept of social innovation, whose values accrue to society at large rather than private firms or individuals (see McShane, 2016). Particularly relevant here is Moulaert et al.’s (2005) argument that the concept of social innovation is often territorial, driving change in neighborhoods or cities. For Zuiderwijk et al. (2014), the key to citizen-led innovation is open data. TGA, rhetorically at least, adopts this line: Adelaide as a “Smart City” puts people and businesses at the centre of everything we do. Our focus is on creating an ecosystem of open and citizen-driven innovation, building and sharing common resources and information for research, development, investment attraction and decision-making to drive economic growth and generate new standards in the way people live, learn, work and do business. (City of Adelaide, 2017b)

Indeed, the City of Adelaide goes further in declaring an ambition to “create…digital based community networks between residents, workers, students, businesses and visitors” (City of Adelaide, 2017a, emphasis added). In 2013, the Government of South Australia (2013) ceremoniously issued a Declaration of Open Data, recognizing the “economic, social and environmental potential of releasing government data” and committing public sector agencies to develop open data standards, and where possible placing data online to be freely reused.

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Similarly, the City of Adelaide (2017b) claimed that it will “…continue to release and consume more open data than any other city in Australia.” However, the PPP model of the smart city, supported by broad neoliberal policy settings of advanced economies, the competing proprietary versions of the “smart city” as well as the limited resource and expertise of local authorities, raises the question of whether structural elements are in place to realize this vision of openness and participation. Urban data is commercially valuable and, in some circumstances, closely regulated. For Barns et al. (2017), the privatization of urban infrastructure and services has limited the availability of data for integrated and coordinated urban management. Adelaide’s experience with its public Wi-Fi network has pointed to constraints around accessing metadata for smart city analytics. A series of interviews by the author with government and industry stakeholders in Adelaide on this topic in 2016 highlighted the complexities in play. The ISP has claimed it is constrained by telecommunications regulations from releasing raw network metadata, while the city finds the prospect of purchasing data reports from the ISP unsatisfactory in terms of cost and flexibility of use. The Australian government’s powerful economic policy agency the Productivity Commission (2017) has contrasted the rapid growth of data collection and analysis in the private sector with the slow progress of public agencies in making data available for use. The example of public Wi-Fi network data availability and use cited earlier is a good illustration of the ­agency’s contention that The substantive argument for making data more available is that opportunities to use it are largely unknown until the data sources themselves are better known and until data users have been able to undertake the discovery of data. (Productivity Commission, 2017, p. 2)

Similar to cooperative or community-led developments in public Wi-Fi networks in the last two decades, we are now seeing citizen interest in IoT networks for urban analytics and “citizen science” (The Things Network, 2018). IoT technology has fewer regulatory constraints in terms of data access and uses (unlike public Wi-Fi there are no privacy implications) and on the face of it is more open to experimental use. This discussion raises two policy challenges for Adelaide, and indeed other cities aiming to “smarten up.” The first is to give substance to the rhetoric of open data and participatory urban development, in an environment that is influenced by trends of privatization and securitization (Christou, 2019). The second challenge is developing methodologies for evaluating the outcomes of smart city developments, particularly in terms of civic initiatives and social innovation. Metrics of economic and demographic growth, two goals set out in the policy texts reviewed in this chapter, are relatively easy to determine, although such an evaluation raises questions about causal relationships.

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However, there is a significant gap in our understanding of how to evaluate the post hoc benefits of networks—what innovations or unforeseen developments (if any) arise from smart city investment. Herein lies a future research challenge in this field. Perhaps, the City of Adelaide has made significant advances in this area, although, despite the city’s rhetorical commitment to open data, a key study on projected economic benefits of Ten Gigabit Adelaide commissioned by the City of Adelaide to build its business case (see City of Adelaide, 2017b) was not made available to the author. The imperatives of urban competitiveness remain strong.

6.5 Conclusion Australia has lagged internationally in the development and operationalization of the smart city. Lack of national policy leadership, a legacy of underinvestment in broadband infrastructure, and a small domestic market for smart city technologies are some of the reasons for this. A revival of interest in urban policy at the national level from 2015 has generated momentum, and the formation of bodies such as the Australian Smart Communities Association has built a broad-based advocacy coalition and forum for information exchange. Recent national-level policy in this field has moved from the abstract concept of the knowledge economy embodied in earlier digital strategies, to a place-based focus that recognizes the significance of cities in an urbanized nation. The rapid growth of the largest Australian cities has brought concerns to mobilize smart technologies to better manage infrastructure, environment, and congestion costs. Adelaide, by contrast, has sought to develop a smart city strategy to transform a declining economic and industrial base and boost population growth. The case study of Adelaide suggests we view critically epochal claims for smart cities and instead look at history and path dependence as influential factors in actually-existing smart city investment. Adelaide’s success in charting its strategy is based on both a strong corporate vision and record of progressive governance, the reality of modest economic performance, and stable partnerships with higher governments and industry. However, the case study also highlights the structural constraints surrounding the operationalization of smart city initiatives, particularly around data use and uneven access to high-speed broadband. It is too early in the investment cycle to analyze the impact of Adelaide’s smart city investments, although full subscription of TGA’s broadband offering, and some promising economic indicators, are encouraging signs. However, is there a causal link between smart city investment and a flourishing economy? And where is innovation in this picture? Concepts such as “smartness” and innovation, as they are used in the texts reviewed in this chapter, are normative, talismanic even. Are there methodologies or metrics in place to analyze innovation arising from smart city investment? Is there a role for civic initiatives

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using digital communication technologies to be understood as innovative? To what extent are current settings around the conceptualization and availability of public data limiting such innovation? Are small and midsize cities more agile, and have a greater appetite for experimentation, than their larger counterparts? Or do the limited fiscal and human resources of smaller cities make them more risk-averse and expose them more to the proprietary solutions of Big Tech? These questions probe the limitations of policy and research in the smart city field and set challenges for Adelaide, and other cities in the process of smartening up, in Australia and globally.

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Chapter 7

Understanding stakeholder perceptions in smart cities: Applying a Q methodology to the Smart Gusu project in China Joon Sik Kim and Yanru Feng Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

Chapter outline 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Smart city practice in China 7.3 Case study: Smart Gusu project 7.4 Research method: Q methodology 7.5 Implementation of Q methodology 7.5.1 Identification of the “concourse”

115 118 119 121 123 123

7.5.2 Definition of Q statements 123 7.5.3 Implementation of Q sorting 125 7.6 Q analysis and research findings 126 7.6.1 Factor analysis 126 7.6.2 Interpretation of the factors 126 7.7 Conclusions 130 Acknowledgment 131 References 132

7.1 Introduction The mixed attitudes and experiences of stakeholders can supplement a larger experiential learning of the smart city concept, especially in its real-life implementation. This chapter aims to investigate the diverse subjective opinions of the users and practitioners of smart cities, using a case study example of a project in China. By extracting the diverse priorities of the project’s stakeholders, we may better understand how the attitudes of decision-makers, professionals, and local communities have a clear impact on the development strategies and directions of smart cities in practice. In particular, no clear consensus yet exists on many aspects involving smart city planning, as it is still an evolving field. Over the last two decades, there have been various interpretations and definitions of smart cities (Aurigi, 2005; Dutton, 1987; Hollands, 2008; Ishida, 2002; Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00007-1 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Kim, 2015; Komninos, 2002; Shin, 2009; Tranos and Gertner, 2012; Yigitcanlar et al., 2008). In common vernacular, “smart cities” have evolved into a buzzword, often used for financial and political marketing purposes (Chourabi et al., 2012; Dameri, 2013; Hollands, 2008). Kim (2015) demonstrates the variety of ways in which the nomenclature “smart” is also often employed within urban planning terminology. For example, “smart” can describe advanced technological and engineering features, yet it can also illustrate sociocultural perspectives. Often times the term will be used loosely to indicate a blend of these ideas. Inspired by the work of Longley et al. (2011),a the researchers conducting this study have subdivided the definition of “smart cities” into three classifications for reference: smart cities as system; smart cities as science; and, smart cities as studies (Fig. 7.1). The first classification involves viewing smart cities as a system, placing a stronger emphasis on the development of innovative technologies that matter in contemporary urban environments. Information and communication technology (ICT) can play a positive role in contributing to the overall efficiency of city operations and the quality of their associated living environments. ICTs in their distinct forms—e.g., Internet of Things, Big Data, cloud computing, etc.— are used to sense, monitor, analyze, and integrate real-world data to support urban planning and management decisions (Debnath et  al., 2014; Gil-Garcia et al., 2016; Harrison et al., 2010; Komninos et al., 2013; Neirotti et al., 2014; Söderström et al., 2014). The second view of smart cities as science raises questions on how urban planners can effectively engage with emerging technologies. Placing an empirical lens on the smart city concept reveals solutions to various urban challenges, Development of smart technology

System

Science

SMART CITIES

Use of smart technology

Studies Social impact of smart technology

FIG. 7.1  Three different views of smart cities.

a. Longley et  al. (2011) discussed the terminologies of geographic information (GI) in three ­categories: GISystem, GIScience, and GIStudies.

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such as traffic congestion, environmental issues, and unavailable or restricted public services. Furthermore, when planners apply innovative technologies to their techniques, this nudges urban infrastructures and services toward becoming more sophisticated, interconnected, and intelligent. Just one benefit of this shift is exhibited in the notably improved quality of life and well-being of the smart city resident (Bifulco et al., 2017; Capdevila and Zarlenga, 2015; Dameri, 2013; Dameri and Ricciardi, 2015; Lee et al., 2014; Marek et al., 2017; Washburn et al., 2010; White, 2016). The third perspective of smart cities as studies defines the role smart cities play within the economy and society. Smart cities harness emergent technologies to become more efficient, and consequently witness a substantial impact on their social and economic development. In anticipation of these interconnected forces, a smart city must not only seek technological development, but also maintain optimal socioeconomic standards. If these properties are married, smart cities can thus facilitate social, cultural, environmental, and economic growth (Afzalan et al., 2017; Anthopoulos, 2017; Hollands, 2008, 2015; Klimovsky et al., 2016; McFarlane and Söderström, 2017). Just how these three classifications can be merged, forged, and applied cohesively is a subject of constant debate. Although smart cities as a concept generally find approval from the planning community, they harbor numerous residual difficulties concerning operation and implementation when actually put to practice. Smart city development therefore requires participation from a significant number of stakeholders who traditionally are not directly engaged in the planning process, including ICT engineers. During implementation, it is evident that poorly managed conflicts between these increasingly diverse actors can diminish planning potential and discourage future improvements. Planners face the complex challenge of how to manage contrasting views and conflicts among development stakeholders, including: service providers (public sector), business operators (enterprises), and end-users (local communities). In addition, publicsector support drives many of the planning activities associated with smart cities. Therefore, it is important to take into consideration input from local bodies such as enterprises and community groups, while forming smart city strategies, so as to meet their specific needs. The following research employs a case study to investigate local issues gathered from the government, enterprise, and community levels of a smart city. In order to identify and measure stakeholder input toward smart city development, this research utilizes Q methodology in addition to other research methods, including a media review process, interview process, questionnaire survey, and brainstorming. Q methodology is a highly effective tool for investigating perspectives, attitudes, and subjective structures obtained directly from the individual. During the study, a Q methodology was applied to individual stakeholders sampled from a smart city development project in Gusu District, the historic city center of Suzhou, China. This chapter will first explore the principles and implementation process of the Q methodology. Following will be a discussion

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of issues associated with a potential smart city model for Gusu District based on the requirement surveys (interviews) conducted with local Gusu government entities, enterprises, and communities. Finally, the chapter will conclude with an analysis of 33 Q statements gathered via participant responses to the proposed smart city model. These 33 Q statements can thus be mapped into a subjective landscape for stakeholder responses, which may ultimately reinforce the strategic direction for smart cities.

7.2  Smart city practice in China The vernacular debates articulated in multiple literatures concerning smart cities are demonstrated in the introduction section. A terminology lacking clear consensus can complicate the implementation phase of a project since it requires integration of the input of diverse actors into strategy. Nevertheless, many smart city projects around the world have adopted a range of political and technological strategies in order to achieve a common approach to “smart” (Lim et al., 2019). Projects such as these can take advantage of the flexible guidelines for adopting the “smart” qualifier to spur innovative planning methods. In other words, existing and planned smart cities currently have the leg room to accommodate local political and cultural contexts where otherwise they might be restricted by policy. Smart cities in China stimulate economic restructuring and transform traditional manufacturing industries to technology-oriented industries; they also facilitate the development of innovative technology, enhance the work efficiency of governments, and tackle issues of environmental pollution and social security (Ma et  al., 2015; Yu and Xu, 2016). Early interpretations of smart cities emphasized new technology, while more recent studies place heavier significance on the social response to technological development (China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, 2016). In 2010, the Ningbo local government released Decision of Ningbo Municipal People’s Government on Building a Smart City, which was the first policy of its kind supporting smart city construction. Many other cities quickly followed suit, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Yangzhou (Ma et al., 2015; Yu and Xu, 2016). At a national policy level, smart cities were first introduced in the Industrial Transformation and Upgrading Plan (2011–15), which proposed coordination between the Internet of Things and smart cities (Xu, 2016). In August of 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission released Guidance on Promoting a Healthy Development of Smart Cities, designed to ensure the quality of smart city development, especially in the areas of public service, social management, cybersecurity, and environment (Dang et al., 2015). IT investments related to smart cities reached more than 1 trillion RMB at the national level in China by 2012 (China Electronics News, 2013). By 2013, over 310 Chinese cities had proposed or started the construction of smart cities (CAICT and PDSF, 2016). By June 2016, the number increased to over

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500 proposed or implemented Chinese smart cities (Xu, 2016). A recent report based on comparative case studies among 369 cities of China suggests that generating smart cities generally improves the overall work efficiency of public services. The process also facilitates new business opportunities, such as ICT projects initiated with directives such as “smart tourism” and “smart communities” (Shang, 2015). A study by CCW Research (2014) reports four common development strategies for smart cities that are widely used in China, those being: (1) providing an intelligent urban lifestyle for citizens; (2) developing smart industries; (3) applying smart technologies and facilities; and (4) developing a creative city. Oftentimes smart city planners will employ an implementation model that uses a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a subsidiary body of a parent company usually established for a specific business purpose. Smart cities as a business model may pose unforeseen financial risks given their relative youth as an enterprise. Therefore, employing SPVs during implementation provides these parent companies with some protection. Operational approaches for using SPVs during smart city development are shown to differ by case (Zhang et al., 2018). Some SPVs were tasked with the entire development process, including planning, financing, contracting, and operation (e.g., Xiangtan City, Wenling City, and Penglai City); other SPVs operated in collaboration with various entities (e.g., science parks developed in Hefei and Huainan City). Chinese government policy specific to smart city design and implementation encourages the involvement of diverse stakeholders, including public agencies, enterprises, citizens, and service operators (Chu, 2017; Wang et al., 2014). Reports from pilot projects in China reveal challenges at various stages associated with technology standardization, collaboration with urban planning, and operation of citizen-centric services (Liu and Peng, 2014). Recent studies suggest that some smart cities in China fail to appropriately reflect the needs of local residents in their design, and also do not seem to fully integrate into a holistic urban landscape (Meng, 2016; Science and the Future of Cities, 2018). Other reports suggest the existence of the “organizational silos effect”: poor coordination between stakeholders resulting in a lack of communication and cross-departmental support (Xu, 2016, 2017). Evidently this effect poses an obstacle to the benefits of diverse stakeholder support in establishing smart city strategies (Xu and Liu, 2017).

7.3  Case study: Smart Gusu project Gusu is a district area located in the heart of Suzhou, a historic water town with rich heritage and tourism resources (Fig. 7.2). Gusu District is estimated to contain around 742,000 people, a population also affected by aging and decline (Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics, 2013, 2014, 2015). According to government reports, Gusu District is actively trying to attract technology and information industries into the old town center in order to stimulate economic

120  Smart cities for technological and social innovation N

Zhangjiagang

CHINA

Changshu Taicang

Wuxian

Gusu

Kunshan

Shanghai

Tai Lake

Wujiang

10 km

Administrative Boundary of Suzhou Location of Gusu District

FIG. 7.2  Location of Gusu District.

vitality, yet it also faces practical difficulties, such as gathering and retaining talented workers (Gusu District Government, 2017). China’s 12th Five Year Plan (2011–15) (State Council, 2011) elucidated a comprehensive approach connecting ICT and urbanization by establishing a foundation for industrial development linked to ICT industries. The following 13th Five Year Plan also emphasized the important roles of ICT in urbanization; in conjunction to overarching policy, the Gusu District Government launched strategic development of the Smart Gusu project. Before the Smart Gusu project, the Gusu District Government initiated Digital Gusu (2013–15) in order to facilitate the information technology development in Gusu District. Digital Gusu relied on the following four operational strategies (Development and Reform Bureau of Gusu District, 2017): ●

●

●

●

Developing an information infrastructure by optimizing urban broadband networks and promoting a widespread 4G network. Applying an innovative approach toward the development of information applications, in order to encourage social and enterprise-based informatization. Enhancing Gusu’s information service capabilities on a systemic scale in order to strengthen the competitiveness of its enterprises. Promoting emerging industries such as Internet of Things, e-commerce, cloud computing, and Big Data to empower the information sector as a whole.

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While Digital Gusu emphasized technology and information infrastructure, its successor Smart Gusu pays more attention to social and cultural issues in the development of smart cities. The Smart Gusu project was launched in 2017 for the purposes of: improving the city’s smart services for society, government, industry, and citizens; transforming the industrial structure and the economic development of the city; and building a smart, sustainable city with a well-preserved history and culture. The project goals of Smart Gusu are threefold, including: “comprehensive perception,” “extensive interconnection,” and “smart decision-making.” These goals are associated with the development of five platforms, those being: (1) a smart common service platform; (2) a smart government management platform; (3) a smart service platform for people’s livelihoods; (4) a smart culture platform for the ancient city sections of Gusu; and (5) a smart industry development platform (Development and Reform Bureau of Gusu District, 2017). This study focuses on the transition period between the Digital Gusu and Smart Gusu projects, during which time the strategic dimensions for smart incorporation were not yet firmly established between all involved levels of the Gusu local government, enterprises, and communities. For this reason, the following research utilizes a Q methodology in order to summarize the diverse range of stakeholder attitudes involved in the Smart Gusu project. In doing so, conclusions drawn from this research may contribute to forming strategic directions for future stages of the project.

7.4  Research method: Q methodology The psychologist William Stephenson invented the Q methodology approach in 1935 to systematically and scientifically examine isolated subjective attributes of individuals. Its modern application diverges somewhat from Stephenson’s original format, based on changes over time to general analytic theory (Brown, 1996; Stephenson, 1935). Q methodology is used to study individual attitudes toward a given subject (Petit Dit Dariel et al., 2010). Despite withstanding considerable peer criticism, Q methodology is now widely accepted as a scientific research method (Cross, 2005). Initially confined to the academic field of psychology, it is now used in a wide range of disciplines, such as agriculture (Brodt et al., 2006; Davies and Hodge, 2012), public health (Kraak et al., 2014), rural planning (Previte et al., 2007), transportation (Rajé, 2007; VanExel et al., 2011), e-learning (Petit Dit Dariel et  al., 2013), tourism (Stergiou and Airey, 2011), sustainability (Barry and Proops, 1999), and energy (Cuppen et al., 2010). Q methodology is appealing twofold: (1) as a well-structured and increasingly used research method measuring perspectives, attitudes or subjective opinions of subjects (Cross, 2005; Watts and Stenner, 2012; Zabala, 2014), and (2) as a tool for measuring human subjectivity to generate new ideas (Simons, 2013). Therefore, this research method has applications in planning practice as a way to translate stakeholders’ particular perspectives into suitable planning actions; as such, it can form strategies, plans, and guidelines.

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Q methodology is an evaluation tool combining both qualitative and quantitative research techniques (Stenner et  al., 2008). The qualitative techniques measure and articulate subjective opinions and understandings of individuals. Meanwhile, the method incorporates a quantitative tool of factor analysis in order to examine the statistical correlation between the qualitative results. The following five stages of the Q methodology process illustrate this companionship (for more extensive information, see Barry and Proops, 1999; Davis and Michelle, 2011; Simons, 2013): ●

●

●

●

●

Identification of the “concourse”: This stage develops the concourse, a term commonly described as a set of views, ideas, values, opinions, or beliefs shared by a sample population in direct response to a research question. The concourse can be identified via survey methods such as interviews, focus groups, or literature and media reviews. Definition of Q statements: It is necessary to summarize and reduce the broader discourse indicated by the concourse into a manageable number of concrete statements, often referred to as Q statements. The number of Q statements does not usually exceed 60 in a single project, although this varies per case. Q statements should effectively reflect the full range of the concourse without sacrificing detail. Implementation of Q sorting: This stage requests feedback from survey participants. They are asked to rank all Q statements on a scale from “disagree (− 4)” to “agree (+ 4)” using a Q table (Fig. 7.3). Gathering a response range from participants (i.e., − 4 to + 4) facilitates more efficient sorting of Q statements in later stages. Factor analysis: Following Q sorting, the correlations between sorted Q statements are calculated using a factor analysis. This statistical analysis identifies and classifies a distinctive group of “Q sorts” that share content similarities, such as subjective opinion or position. Interpretation of the factors: The final stage interprets the factor analysis results. Typically, the researcher gives a name to the statistically calculated factors in order to describe their meaning. Those categorized Q sorts can represent distinct characteristics of shared perspectives in the study topic. Disagree –4

Agree –3

–2

FIG. 7.3  Example of a Q table.

–1

0

+1

+2

+3

+4

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7.5  Implementation of Q methodology This research explores stakeholder perceptions of the development of smart cities, and a Q methodology is used to examine the subjectivity of their interests. A nation’s political landscape, sociocultural aspects, and economic conditions heavily influence the characteristics of the smart city projects, and also shape the impressions of their stakeholders. To some extent, the results from the Smart Gusu Q methodology cannot easily be mapped out into general discourse, as many of the perspectives of its stakeholders are highly contextual and difficult to translate to a broader audience. Nevertheless, since China contains hundreds of smart cities in different stages of development, the results from this study may provide valuable insight into critical arguments related to smart cities.

7.5.1  Identification of the “concourse” Following the Q methodology sequence illustrated earlier, the researchers began by exploring existing discourses in relevant areas of smart city planning using a variety of techniques. Literature and media reviews were conducted on materials like newspapers, websites, and government documents that contain basic information on current issues in Gusu District. Afterwards (3rd July 2015), the researchers held a focus group with four government officials from the Economic and Technology Bureau of Gusu District Government. Meeting with the officials helped to identify a number of key planning issues in Gusu District; among other topics, they isolated economic development, heritage conservation, water pollution, and demographic change. Following was another round of interviews (from mid-July to mid-August 2015) with a broader array of Smart Gusu project stakeholders, including: five local community representatives; three senior managers of ICT industries; and four government officials from the Gusu District Government working in areas of economy, tourism, cultural heritage, and civil affairs. These interviews drew broader insight into the subject matter by gathering input from external actors. Lastly, after the interview analysis, one of the presenting authors organized a brainstorming session (10th August 2015) with three of the participating researchers. Identified in Fig. 7.4 are the results of the session, detailing 97 brainstormed ideas applicable to the Smart Gusu project.

7.5.2  Definition of Q statements The next stage in the Q methodology process is to select a manageable number of statements for Q sorting, derived from over 200 concourses identified in the previous stage, derived from literature and media reviews, focus groups, brainstorming, and interviews. The size of the final Q statements varies in the literature, although the typical number of Q statements seems to be in between 30 and 60. Drawn from initial tests and pilot Q sorting, this research has found that 33 statements are suitable for this study (for the full statements, see Table 7.2).

FIG. 7.4  Brainstorming outcomes.

Q methodology to the Smart Gusu project in China  Chapter | 7  125 Gusu district planning issues

Concourse framework

Economic development

Public service

Heritage conservation

Brainstormed ideas for Smart Gusu project Aging population Health care

Transportation

Human resources

Tourism

Housing Transportation

Housing Water pollution

Community/migrants

Water

Energy Water

Economy Demographic change

Tourism/culture

Community

Planning issues were identified from literature/media review and focus group analysis

Partnerships/businesses Smart Gusuideas were aggregated from interview and brainstorming sessions

FIG. 7.5  Concourse framework for the development of Q statements.

A concourse matrix was used to minimize potential bias or personal influence during the selection process, deriving more precise and essential arguments from the subject area (Barry and Proops, 1999; Dryzek and Berejikian, 1993). The resulting concourse framework (shown in Fig. 7.5) is composed of the seven following categories: public service, transportation, tourism, housing, water, economy, and community. The 33 statements were organized into 7 overarching categories in the concourse framework, and these were compared with the Gusu District Government-identified planning issues and practical ideas on the Smart Gusu project aggregated from the brainstorming sessions.

7.5.3  Implementation of Q sorting A total of 11 participants completed the Q sorting survey, composed of the following demographics: 2 members of the local Gusu government who were associated with the Smart Gusu project; 2 members from local ICT firms also connected to the project; and 7 residents of Gusu District (in Table 7.2, those are indicated in background as: government; business, and resident). The Gusu District Government assisted the researchers with locating and approaching volunteers for the survey, which was especially helpful given that the subject of smart cities can be challenging for participants without a related background. As Akhtar-Danesh et al. (2008) point out, even with a smaller participant pool, the Q methodology encourages the cultivation of a diverse range of opinions that help to enrich the subject matter and associated results. For the Q sorting phase, participants were asked to use an inverted pyramidal table (Fig.  7.3) in order to rank the 33 Q statements in a nine-relative scale (− 4, − 3, − 2, − 1, 0, + 1, + 2, + 3, + 4); in doing so they could indicate

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how strongly they agreed or disagreed with each statement. The structure of the Q methodology forces participants to prioritize categories based on their individual opinions. This process is commonly called the forced choice method, and enables participants to consider the sorting process more carefully, and reveal their true feelings in response (Prasad, 2001). The study offered the Q sorting tools in both an offline (hard copy) format as well as an online version.b During the Q sorting, the 33 selected Q statements were shown randomly to the participants, who were then asked to place each statement into one of three categories: agree, disagree, or neutral. The participants were then asked to place the 33 Q statements in the Q table in the manner of forced distribution. At the survey close, they were asked to complete a short questionnaire requesting some brief personal details.

7.6  Q analysis and research findings 7.6.1  Factor analysis This study used the PQ methodc statistical software to analyze the data results of the Q survey. PQ method created a correlation matrix from the Q sorts, and then conducted a factor analysis. The authors then implemented the principal component analysis (QPCA), a popular method for factor extraction. In the factor analysis, four factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.00 were initially considered; but these factors were promptly vetted for analytical significance, leaving a remaining three factors. After conducting a varimax rotation (Q VARIMAX) on the factors, a Q ANALYSIS was performed in order to differentiate the factors based on the participants’ Q sorting. The results of the factor analysis are shown in Table 7.1. The results of the factor analysis show that the answers from two participants demonstrate statistical relations that are significantly attached to Factor 1. Considering the two participants’ profile background, the authors entitled Factor 1 as “Government perspective.” Following similar groupings, Factor 2 is labeled “Nongovernment perspective,” and Factor 3 is titled “Local resident perspective.”

7.6.2  Interpretation of the factors The interpretation phase of the Q methodology sequence allows for a deeper reflection of the subjective landscape that is occupied by stakeholders and engulfs the “Smart Gusu” project. Factors 1–3 are represented by the three operant types of discourses: Discourse A (government perspective, Factor 1); b. The research used FlashQ which is an open application originally developed by Christian Hackert and Gernot Braehler (available at: http://www.hackert.biz/flashq, accessed 7 August 2019). c. The PQ method is developed by Schmolck, and available at: http://schmolck.userweb.mwn.de/ qmethod/#PQMethod (accessed 7 August 2019).

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TABLE 7.1  The result of factor analysis.a Q Sort ID

Background

Age Group

Gender

Residence in

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Government Government Business Business Resident Resident Resident Resident Resident Resident Resident

20-40 20-40 20-40 40-60 60 above 60 above 60 above 60 above 20-40 20-40 20-40

F M M M M F M M M F F

Gusu Gusu Outside Gusu Outside Gusu Gusu Gusu Gusu Gusu Gusu Gusu Gusu

[Factor 1] Government Perspective 0.7441X 0.8107X -0.1673 0.1136 -0.0369 -0.0065 -0.5436 0.1815 -0.4607 -0.0172 0.0486

[Factor 2] NonGovernment Perspective 0.3422 0.0622 0.1143 0.6826X -0.6292X 0.7905X 0.4656 -0.0302 0.1702 -0.2101 0.3577

[Factor 3] Local Resident Perspective 0.2635 -0.0274 -0.2822 0.0516 0.1979 0.0247 0.3512 0.2357 0.3658 0.8276X 0.6781X

a

X indicates a defining sort resulting from automatic preflagging of PQROT.

Discourse B (nongovernment perspective, Factor 2); and, Discourse C (local resident perspective, Factor 3). Demonstrated by Table 7.2, each discourse reveals the distinct perspectives and attitudes portrayed by the study participants. PQ method software produced factor arrays that calculate “ideal type” Q sorts by determining a weighted average of the scores (Barry and Proops, 1999; Addams and Proops, 2000).

7.6.2.1  Discourse A: Government perspective A statistical analysis of the results from the factor analysis shows a general agreement among respondents on Statements [2] and [13]; likewise, they reveal a majority disagreement on Statements [18] and [26]. The results of the statistical analysis show that Discourse A, represented by the two participants with backgrounds in government, expresses key opinions reflected in the current policy agenda of the Gusu District Government. For instance, answers in this discourse (+ 4 for Statement [2]) suggest support for developing smart government systems in order to provide efficient administrative services. Other results (+ 4 for Statement [13]) advocate for creating opportunities to support the tourism industry. The latter aligns with government efforts to implement the policy that empowers historic water town tourism in order to promote the local economy. The results show some unanticipated debate over a number of the discourses, such as the level of importance placed on green energy solutions (− 4 for Statement [18]); in another set, local community activities such as square dancing is similarly contested (− 4 for Statement [26]). These two examples are not highly ranked among the discourses; however, participants in the brainstorming workshop actively discussed the role of green energy solutions and community activities, respectively. The researchers stress the notable length at which the study participants discussed and debated many of these Q statements

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TABLE 7.2  Q statements and scores on the three extracted discourses. Category Public Service

Q Statements (original survey was conducted in the Chinese language format) 1 2

Transport

3 4 5 6 7 8

Tourism

9 10 11 12 13 14

Housing

15 16 17 18

Water

19 20 21 22

Economy

23 24 25

Community

26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Information sharing between governments and enterprises would be an obstacle to the development of Smart Gusu. Smart government systems (advanced e-government) can provide citizen-centric services via efficient administrative procedures. I am willing to take the bus more often if there is an e-bike charging station located directly by bus stops (park-and-ride). It would be more convenient for me to know the exact time the bus arrives at the bus stop. Real-time information of available car parking spaces can make driving more convenient and reduce carbon emissions by optimising travel routes. Online reservations for car parking spaces is one possible solution for the shortage of car parking spaces in the city center. In order to reduce traffic congestion and difficulties with parking in the city center, a car sharing mobile app for commuters may be helpful. A smart waterbus service can be useful for tourists (sightseeing) and commuters (public transport). There is a need for monitoring rubbish collection using intelligent technology in tourist destinations; it will make residents and tourists happier. Monitoring the average number of tourists in the city may help by providing better targeted services for tourists, such as bus route linkages between tourist attractions. A tourism information platform should integrate information from the public sector (government) with the private sector (enterprises, travel agencies). Enriched tourism information may encourage a self-organized tour instead of a one-day package tour, which may allow tourists to stay longer in Gusu. The tourism experience should extend beyond popular attractions to add cultural elements, which can be achieved via smart participatory exchange with local residents. It is necessary to promote intangible cultural heritage widely through various user-friendly communication methods. The government needs a building management system for old houses in Gusu District, to organise effective repair works in advance (before the rainy season). Old houses also need intelligent building management systems and smart home services to improve the living environment of their residents. Smart home systems in the old district should include smart meters for cooking fuel (LPG gas) to give an alert when it is time to replace the LPG gas tank. Green energy solutions (such as solar energy generators) are important in the development of Smart Gusu. Intelligent rainwater management is necessary to prevent waterlogging and flooding. A river water quality monitoring system would be essential to Gusu District. Because sewage pipes directly connected to rivers cause water pollution, an intelligent system for wastewater management is necessary. To improve the drinking water quality, it is necessary to develop a water quality monitoring system for fresh water supply pipelines. A mobile job recruitment application would be useful for attracting young workers to Gusu District. Regeneration of the old city center as a smart street (interactive shopping information, media art exhibitions, smart street furniture, etc.) can bring people back to the area, and therefore revitalise the local economy. The image of Smart Gusu may attract more ICT (Information Communication Technology) industries to Gusu District. The practice of square dancing can be empowered by simple technology (i.e. installed speakers with a wireless connection) that may improve a sense of community. Mobile platforms particularly designed for your community (linked to the management office) can be useful. I need to learn how to use the new intelligent systems of Smart Gusu. The development of Smart Gusu must incorporate wider users including senior citizens, as Gusu is affected by an aging population. An emergency response system for elderly households could reduce the risk of medical and fire alerts. Remote consultations from medical doctors may improve community healthcare services. The existing smart medical service in municipal hospitals is not easy to use, especially by elderly patients. In order to safeguard schoolchildren, especially those from migrant families, parents should be able to track the real-time location of their children after school.

Discourses A B C 0

-1

-1

4

0

3

-2

0

-2

0

-3

2

1

-3

4

-3

-2

1

-1

-4

0

-1

-3

-2

-3

0

-2

2

-1

-2

1

1

-3

0

0

2

4

2

-1

2

-1

1

-3

2

1

-2

1

0

0

3

1

-4

-2

-1

-1

1

-4

-2

3

0

1

3

-3

-1

4

-1

0

-2

-4

3

1

3

2

1

0

-4

-4

1

3

0

-1

1

-2

-3

2

4

2

2

2

2

-1

-1

0

-3

2

3

1

-1

4

Q methodology to the Smart Gusu project in China  Chapter | 7  129

and their linked issues. Considering that each of these Q statements has real-life implications in the actual development process of smart cities, it is therefore, essential to avoid excluding potential opportunities for collaboration. It would be problematic for a single interest group to develop a smart city since diverse stakeholders such as public and private sectors, local residents, and experts in development would not be able to access the project. In addition, the data reported in this discourse appears to show a contrasting view on the efficiency and quality of government services. Among the three groups, respondents in Discourse A (government perspective) ranked significantly lower for the need of smart solutions for public housing management (− 3 for Statement [15]) and the need to improve the existing smart medical services in municipal hospitals (− 3 for Statement [32]). This may suggest existing disagreements between government groups and nongovernment groups regarding perceived quality of public services. This lack of consensus needs to be investigated further in order to develop a more citizen-centric Smart Gusu project.

7.6.2.2  Discourse B: Nongovernment perspective The nongovernment perspective group is defined by respondents who agreed on Statements [22] and [29] and disagreed on Statements [7] and [26]. In general, this discourse group favored the role of water management in the development of smart cities (Statements from [19] to [22]), but gave lower priority to issues of transportation (Statements from [3] to [8]). Considering the age range of the three respondents (40s to 60s and above), a likely explanation is that the respondents in Discourse B have a lower likelihood of driving cars and experiencing subsequent transport issues such as parking; on the other hand, it is possible that they would be concerned with water management, in the interest of preserving the traditional image of a historic water town. Another strong consensus in Discourse B is on the importance of developing smart solutions sensitive to an aging population (+ 4 for Statement [29]). This may also reflect the age range of the respondents, who generally may experience difficulties in learning new smart applications for their daily lives. One possible implication from Discourse B is that the respondents in the same geographical area or social group might have similar views as they share similar experiences. 7.6.2.3  Discourse C: Local resident perspectives The demographics of the Discourse C group suggest that it is composed of middle-aged female residents in local communities. This demographic can be characterized as having particular concerns for their children and being more likely to drive private vehicles. For example, the respondents strongly agreed (scored + 4) that a smart city should: incorporate the safety of school children (Statement [33]), and develop real-time car public park information systems (Statement [5]). However, this discourse ranked lower in approval for urban facility management systems for water infrastructure (Statements from [19] to [22]), although many literature cite water management solutions as essential

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smart infrastructure for a city (Sensus, 2012). It is important to note that not all policy and development decisions that are prioritized in literature, such as water infrastructure, are mirrored in the opinions of city residents and consumers. They tend to draw out the sociocultural outlook on development decisions. Therefore, inviting participation from other demographics invites an enriched perspective on the range of impacts the new smart city user may experience.

7.7 Conclusions Initial observations of the results suggest that the stakeholders of smart cities are influenced individually by factors including career, social background, and demographics. Holistic knowledge of the subjective landscape of stakeholders contributes to a broader understanding of outstanding requirements and nonconsensus points which persist in smart city practice. Although this research is limited by a relatively small sample group of survey participants, the Q methodology demonstrates the potential for investigating the views and attitudes of the stakeholders that may significantly influence the implementation of smart cities. Gathering the Q statements and their subsequent analyses produced data sets which illuminated some of these contested factors including car parking information systems (Statement [5]), practicing smart tourism (Statement [13]), wastewater management systems (Statement [21]), and smart medical services (Statement [32]). The data also revealed some points of consensus such as: implementing smart government systems (Statement [2]), regeneration efforts of the old city center (Statement [24]), involvement of wider user groups (Statement [29]), and the presence of an emergency response system (Statement [30]). Fig. 7.6 illustrates the implications for planning drawn from the results of the Q survey performed in this study. There are contrasting views from different stakeholders on the need for real-time information of available car parking spaces (Statement [5]); it is therefore, necessary to further define target areas and populations for this particular service in the smart city design process. Developing a smart tourism information platform with local cultural contents (Statement [13]) is similarly contested. This implies that a participatory planning approach to involve local communities in the decision-making process is needed to help to shape the design of such a platform. In the example of existing smart medical services in hospitals (Statement [32]), the opinions reflected are of user interaction with smart technologies and how they affect existing services, rather than offering a critique on the function of smart applications themselves. In these cases, it is important to consider the context of the participants’ answers while collecting data. It may also suggest a need to holistically review existing health care services to explore the scope of smart solutions for medical services. These factors shape a suggestion for altering the key strategic directions of the Smart Gusu project. The qualitative and quantitative features of Q methodology provide an empirical framework to translate participant dialog into a systematic analysis.

Q methodology to the Smart Gusu project in China  Chapter | 7  131 [Discourse A]

Government perspective Implications for planning

+4

Statement [13] Smart tourism development It is necessary to involve local communities in the decision making process and help to shape the design of such a platform

+2

0

Statement [5] Car parking information

–2

–4

[Discourse B]

Nongovernment perspective

It is necessary to further define target areas and populations for real-time information of available car parking spaces in the smart city design process [Discourse C]

Statement [32] Difficulties in using medical services

Local resident perspective

It is necessary to holistically review existing health care services to explore the scope of smart solutions for medical services

FIG. 7.6  Planning implications drawn from Q analysis results.

Drawing from the analysis results, the researchers emphasize that the development of smart cities should involve wider stakeholders including public, private, and social sectors together with expert groups, in order to reflect sound considerations on local political landscapes, economic dynamics, and cultural identities. Difficulties may arise, however, when an attempt is made to apply the outcomes of Q methodology to planning practice. Conflicts of interest in planning practice often stem from power dynamics of involved and excluded actors and therefore are not easy to resolve unless subsequent steps are taken to involve an extended range of stakeholders in the planning and development process. The three discourses gathered in this survey demonstrate that stakeholders tend to have differing opinions on the services cities provide based on their demographics and individual situations. The inclusion or exclusion of specific groups during decision making can therefore vastly influence city planning outcomes. The conflict mapping practice can be a solid foundation on which discussion among wider stakeholders can occur. Stakeholders and experts can then begin to work together to collect and analyze information.

Acknowledgment The Q survey conducted in this research is supported by the Research Development Fund (RDF-16-01-36) and the SURF 2015 research fund (SURF 201511) of Xi’an JiaotongLiverpool University, China. The authors thank Yingzhu Li, Xiaoxiao Wei, and Jiayue Wang for their help in conducting the Q surveys and their contribution to the brainstorming workshop, and Sophia Danison for comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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Chapter 8

Urban form, the use of ICT and smart cities in Vietnam Ha Minh Hai Thaia, Hung Tan Khuatb, and Hyung Min Kimc a

School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, bFaculty of Architecture, Hanoi Architectural University, Hanoi, Vietnam, cFaculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Location, formality, and smartness 8.3 Smart city missions in Vietnam 8.4 Smart devices and e-commerce in Vietnam 8.5 (Case study 1) Old Quarter: Living in hidden locations and smart homestay businesses 8.6 (Case study 2) new urban area: Social media platforms and the peer-to-peer economy

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8.7 (Case study 3) regional area: Binh Duong Smart City, a branding trick? 8.8 (Case study 4) a traditional rural village: Revitalization via mural paintings, community-stay, and social media 8.9 Conclusion Acknowledgments References

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8.1 Introduction Advancements in information and communications technology (ICT) have changed the way people live, work and enjoy, creating dynamic economic opportunities for a wide range of user groups, including the marginalized (World Economic Forum, 2009; Rahman, 2007). A “smart city,” as an unfolding outcome of ICT-assisted urban development strategies, has become a trend in both highly developed and rapidly developing countries. Despite plentiful definitions, none of them has been universally accepted due to ambiguity, wide scope, and inconsistent interpretation of smartness (Fernandez-Anez et al., 2018). This chapter presents an investigation into the use of ICT in different locations by residents who are seeking new business opportunities. In developing countries, like Vietnam, communication technologies, including smartphones and the mobile internet are welcome and increasingly present in residents’ ordinary life. Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00008-3 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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The primary argument presented here is that the popularity and affordability of smartphones and the mobile internet have blurred the traditional physical and spatial barriers to the potential sources of economic opportunities for the marginalized, but the effect has appeared differently depending on urban form. The role of urban inhabitants, as end-users of ICT infrastructure, is highlighted. ICT has been adopted and utilized by the residents through (informal) business activities. Among them, home-based online business operations are the primary foci of this chapter. Four settlements are selected as case studies for the investigation based on interviews and field studies carried out from April 2017 to September 2019: (1) the oldest urbanized neighborhood in Hanoi, the Old Quarter; (2) a newly established neighborhood called the HH Complex in Linh Dam new urban area in Hanoi; (3) a new city in Binh Duong Province receiving large amounts of investments from public and private sectors to become the first recognized “smart city” in Vietnam; and (4) an urbanizing traditional village confronting poverty, degradation, erosion and losing competitiveness as a result of urbanization occurring in the surrounding areas (see Fig. 8.1). The four cases are different in

FIG. 8.1  An example of informal homestay businesses in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. (A) An offground home-stay business and its hidden entrance; (B, C, D) a maze of narrow corridors and stairs; and (E) a rooftop bar. (From: Ha Minh Hai Thai, photos taken in 2019.)

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size, location, historical development paths, physical forms, and demographic characteristics. Urban physical settings, characterized by a wide range of components such as street network arrangement, building density, building height, distance from the urban center, and historic assets, have significant impacts on the economic performance, vibrancy, and prosperity of a place (Jacobs, 1961; Lynch, 1981; Hillier, 1996). The location and the spatial linkages with the broader urban context are essential to determine the degree to which the place is functioning (or malfunctioning). In Vietnamese cities like Hanoi, the built form has been critical for traffic flows and urban activities, in particular, in retail and service sectors (Thai et al., 2019a,b). The examination of four different neighborhoods in Vietnam sheds light on the potential role of ICT in triggering innovations in Vietnam. This chapter highlights the intrinsic value of a bottom-up approach that a wider range of urban dwellers provide with more economic opportunities generated by ICT infrastructure. Informality can bring flexibility facilitating creativity and innovation and providing a platform where ideas are welcome, and various end-users can just “plug and play.” This is particularly significant for the geographically and socio-economically marginalized.

8.2  Location, formality, and smartness In this section, a relationship between urban form, “smartness” in development trajectories of cities, and (in)formality in the urban growth will be discussed. Inner-city areas, in general, offer high-density built environments with historically accumulated urban assets. These settlements witness a wide array of interactions between various urban actors such as residents, local authorities, and visitors. The inner-city areas are usually the oldest urban core with intensive commercial, entertainment, and tourism activities generating various informal economic opportunities (Porter, 1995). However, spatial inequality has been accelerated within the inner city areas along with increasingly growing global and local market forces. While there are highly visible formal sites such as tourist spots, marketplaces, financial districts, and administration centers, some places are isolated and segregated from formal activities. Long and narrow alleys and upper floors of shared buildings are typical examples for the spatially marginalized locations for economic activities. While families in highly accessible locations close to main streets and marketplaces are in an advantageous position for income-generating activities, those who are in off-street or off-ground tend to be excluded from the benefits of bustling urban activities (Davis, 2012). New ICT inventions have been adopted, localized, and developed to cater to their local needs. Owing to the complexity of land ownership and social issues in historic urban centers, new urban development initiatives like smart city making are costly and time-consuming to be comprehensively implemented. Hence, the application of smart city ideas in old historic centers is largely limited within the

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incremental upgrading of public facilities and providing new hard infrastructures, such as CCTVs, traffic sensors, free Wi-Fi, and shared vehicles (Neirotti et al., 2014). In an extreme case, the incorporation of high-tech infrastructure is often associated with new high-end commercial and residential real estate development projects. While these public initiatives are still in effect, the locals seek out and employ ICT infrastructure facilities in response to changing business environments. Urban peripheral areas are major sites for medium to large-scale development projects where there is affordable and spacious land. Such locations are dubbed “urban sprawl” as typically seen in American and Australian suburbs. Owing to the availability of spacious vacant sites, primarily greenfield, many development initiatives can be implemented with fewer social tensions compared to inner-city sites. The new development from scratch means more possibilities to incorporate ICT infrastructure with the anticipation that it can become a brand-new smart city, as exemplified in flagship smart city development projects such as Songdo (South Korea) and Tianjin eco-city (China) (Shin et al., 2015; Caprotti, 2014). New development in suburban locations can start establishing new social and spatial capital more evidently when it employs high-density, consolidated urban form. However, these suburban locations intrinsically lack human and social capital accumulated over time and overmanagement can possibly rule out opportunities for change or bottom-up innovation (Yigitcanlar et al., 2019). Traditional villages being located in urban fringes or regional areas have varied positions and roles in urbanization processes. Many villages have been left out of the overall economic expansion. Traditional farming techniques and limited available resources have made these villages less competitive and attractive than adjacent locations where factories and new urban areas have emerged. Consequently, many villagers have given up their traditional lifestyle, commuting (or migrating) to urban areas for work as low-skilled laborers. In severe cases, this rural-to-urban migration worsens the economic situation in the peripheral villages, increasing the urban-rural gap in welfare and happiness (Arouri et al., 2017). Ideas to revitalize these villages have emerged worldwide expressed through various themes and ideas. The key to success is to utilize the existing advantages of these villages such as natural assets, lifestyle, traditional architecture, foods, and unique culture. Ideas, innovation, and technology have been used as catalysts to trigger alternative development directions. While new investment in physical infrastructure is lagging in comparison with central cities, ICT can be potentially used to strengthen these isolated peripheral villages, to overcome spatial barriers for interactions, to promote their cultural and social values, and to catch up with regional economic growth (Lin, 2019). Thanks to the limited population size within the traditional villages, impacts can be magnified by external forces such as experts, authorities, development facilitators, tourists, and visitors. Informality, particularly in economic activities, housing development, and many other aspects of life, has been common for so long, thus the application and utilization of ICT have followed this informal tradition.

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Although ICT-assisted urban activities are a core to smart cities, the realization of smart cities varies depending on the location and the development trajectory of the cities. The following section presents an investigation of smart city missions in Vietnamese urban contexts.

8.3  Smart city missions in Vietnam The Vietnamese government has been keen to catch up with global economic development since the introduction of a set of economic reform policies called Doi Moi in 1986 (Fan et al., 2018). This institutional and political shift has been a primary trigger for urbanization (Drakakis-Smith and Dixon, 1997). From 1990 to 2017, the urban population in Vietnam increased from 13.8 million (or 20.2% of the total population) to 33.6 million (or 35.2%) (The World Bank, 2019a,b). Vietnam plugged into the global internet network in 1997 and the smart city concept appeared soon after it was introduced and implemented in other countries in the 1990s. The government and scholars have perceived that the smart city development strategy can be an opportunity to catch up and even compete with the rest of the world, as a tool to manage rapid urbanization, boost local and national economies, enhance socio-economic equality and achieve sustainable development goals (Vu and Hartley, 2018; Nhandan.com. vn, 2019). However, the fuzzy definition and the mixed expectations of smart cities have delayed the active implementation of smart cities in Vietnam (Albino et al., 2015). The term was not officially used by the Vietnamese government until 2015. The first instance that smart city was addressed was the Resolutions on Digital Government (The Government of Vietnam, 2015). Since 2016, the term “smart city” has been officially introduced in Vietnamese official documents (The Central Committee, 2016; The Government Office, 2016). The term “Industrial Revolution 4.0” was introduced in a government document in 2017 (The Prime Minister, 2017) and has been widely used in Vietnam. Heading toward an e-economy, in 2013, the government of Vietnam promoted e-commerce and provided the first strategic document for economic activities via internet or mobile telecommunication networks (The Government of Vietnam, 2013). Since then, the Vietnamese e-commerce industry has grown markedly and become a promising market for both domestic and foreign investors. The volume of e-commerce has been escalated by ever-growing numbers of high-speed internet and smartphone users, low mobile data costs, and the wide coverage of mobile networks (EU-Vietnam Business Network, 2018). However, in 2018, when the national government announced the first smart city development scheme, entitled “Sustainable Smart City Development in Vietnam, from 2018–2025 Vision to 2030” (The Prime Minister, 2018), citylevel government authorities, such as Da Nang in 2014, Binh Duong in 2016, and Ho Chi Minh City in 2017, had already established their own “Smart City Action Plans.” By the end of 2017, almost 20 cities had committed to

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smart city missions and signed deals with leading ICT enterprises (Vov.vn, 2017), which was not surprising because all of these proposals were prepared by either international or domestic ICT enterprises such as Siemens, Viettel, and VNPT. Since 2017, the terms “Industrial Revolution 4.0” and “Industry 4.0” have been actively used by the Prime Minister, government officials, and politicians in global and local meetings, demonstrating Vietnamese commitments to ICT-assisted growth for the future opportunities. Priorities were given to international standard ICT infrastructure for the internet of things (IoT), e-­Government, business-led urban growth, and creative human capital (The Vietnamese Government Portal, 2018). Although, in most city-specific smart city action plans, human capital has been addressed, how to nurture and integrate with urban dwellers has remained at a strategic level without solid implementation plans. Similarly, the role of urban form in co-shaping the smart city future was rarely discussed despite its critical role. It was considered as a context only while an interplay between the ICT infrastructure, human capital, and the urban form of a city was unaddressed.

8.4  Smart devices and e-commerce in Vietnam Smartphones have become pervasive and affordable among the Vietnamese. With a population of more than 95 million, in 2018, there were more than 70 million smartphone users and about 55 million active social media users in Vietnam (Nielsen, 2017). The rise in the number of smartphone users, the widespread use of the mobile internet (3G and 4G), and the reduction of prices in smartphones and internet data have turned these little gadgets into a ubiquitous gateway to connect the Vietnamese people to the virtual world. As a socialist government, the Vietnamese central government exerts control over the media, but it has also taken actions to allow citizens to access the internet and social media. The availability and the pervasive use of social media platforms have promoted and strengthened informal economic activities. Simple and half-processing e-commerce platforms are created mostly by the young population with a great propensity for digital technology. Vietnam is seen as a potential e-commerce market targeted by either domestic or foreign business-toconsumer (B2C) platform providers (Deloitte, 2019). However, due to the lack of e-trustworthiness, the absence of appropriate laws protecting both sellers and consumers, and the dominant role of cash in the economy, Vietnamese consumers generally choose cash-on-delivery as their favorable payment choice to inspect the items before their payment (EU-Vietnam Business Network, 2018). Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce platforms were spontaneously established primarily by social media network users such as Facebook and Zalo. These social e-commerce channels offer a direct connection between wouldbe-buyers to sellers. Advertisements and information about items are provided through various methods from live videos, photos, descriptions, reviews, and feedbacks (Deloitte, 2019). The directness and flexibility of C2C channels

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have attracted many Vietnamese business operators who can generate income and, often, create new types of informal economic activities. Case studies will discuss the role of ICT in facilitating a user-driven informal economic sector, empowering the economically marginalized, reducing poverty, and mitigating socioeconomic inequality. Taking Vietnam as an example is of interest because informality is widely accepted allowing various resident-led economic initiatives. As the current smart city discourses and practices stress futuristic images of cities, smart city making is highly ICT-driven and therefore, expensive. However, this chapter claims that the active participation of citizens is a primary input for smart cities and social innovation. Without the understanding of actual end-users, investments in seemingly smart-looking infrastructure can be ineffective or even lead to unexpected negative outcomes. The top-down or capital-led approach for “smart city” branding can become simply an expensive real estate development project yet lack urban vibrancy without the ultimate objective—people.

8.5  (Case study 1) Old Quarter: Living in hidden locations and smart homestay businesses The first case study examines homestay businesses in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. This area is a traditional urban center, the oldest urbanized settlement, characterized by a warren of narrow streets and tube-houses which are low-rise multihousehold self-built houses erected on narrow (~ 4 m) and long (up to 60 m) land lots. The quarter is also loaded with a wide array of small scale informal activities (Leducq and Scarwell, 2018). Owing to Vietnam’s socio-economic reform policy and the integration with the world market, the volume of inward foreign investment and the number of international visitors has increased markedly (Kim, 2020). Hanoi is one of the most famous tourist attractions and the Old Quarter is the strongest magnet offering unique local architecture and cultural experience. Visitors to the area are often amazed by the bustling atmosphere of the old market places where each street is specialized into specific kind of goods. An informal economic sector is a key to sustaining trade activities as well as providing hospitality services for tourists. Our interviews revealed that the vast majority of residents in the Quarter have quit their job in formal sectors in favor of higher income sources in informal sectors. Many of them established their own home-based businesses (HBBs) to grasp the economic opportunities brought by high consumer demands (Pasquier-Doumer et  al., 2017; Logan, 2000). These businesses are likely informal and micro-scale and have become a critical part of the city’s economy shaping the character of street life in Hanoi. However, the primary beneficiaries of these business opportunities have been households that possess locational advantages such as having street frontages. Street-front rooms with easy access to vibrant economic hubs, i.e., the main streets and market places, are converted into business premises primarily used for retail and hospitality services. Households in isolated, hidden locations

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such as inside the street block accessible only via a dark, damp, long, and torturous alleyway, or on the upper floor of a run-down shared tube-house, have been excluded from the benefits of the street-level economic activities (Thai et al., 2019b). In this regard, social media platforms have been enablers for these segregated households by making uses of their home to generate income. Accommodation booking websites, such as https://www.booking.com, https://www.agoda.com, or https://www.airbnb.com, play an intermediary role in providing an e-platform where the (spatially segregated) locals and tourists can interact. Surfing through these websites, it was observed that there was a maze of homestay accommodations provided and managed directly by host families. Unsurprisingly, they were generally much cheaper than formal accommodation like hotels (Peters and Nguyen, 2018) which were in highly accessible places along major streets. Homestay rooms are usually in locations with poor access, targeting price-­ sensitive customers who do not mind finding their way through a labyrinth of narrow alleys and dark scissor stairs (Fig. 8.1). Surfing through one of the aforementioned booking websites, M homestaya stood out as one of the cheapest homestay service providers in the Old Quarter yet has received good feedback from customers. The owners, Mr. T and his wife Mrs. T, were both office workers and lived in a small room on the upper floor of a two-story shared tube-house. Prior to establishing the homestay business, the couple worked on their formal jobs with rare opportunities to become involved in the vibrant economic environment of the Old Quarter. Observing the success of their neighbors in running homestay services, they invested most of their savings in extending their home by adding two more stories on top of their room (see Fig.  8.2). At the completion of the extension work, they have two more toilets, four more bedrooms (~ 10–12 m2 each) to lease, a studio occupied

FIG. 8.2  Housing extension at Mr. T’s home to accommodate his homestay businesses. (A) original building; (B) after extension; and (C) diagram of Mr. T’s home and HBB.

a. Actual name or business, business owners, and locations are changed to ensure anonymity.

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by Mr. T’s family and a rooftop terrace that serves as a customers sitting place (Fig. 8.2C). Customers’ positive feedback on booking websites was primarily focused on cheapness, cleanliness, quietness, and the “superhosts” who are easy to deal with, and the magnificent views from the rooftop terrace. To keep up the business, both Mr. and Mrs. T changed their official work commitment to parttime in order to expand their business. Tablets and smartphones are essential equipment, allowing Mr. T’s family to respond immediately to booking orders and queries. Although their free time was mostly occupied by running this business, it became a primary source for their household income. Notably, while the advertisement of the M homestay on the booking site was polished with eye-catching pictures and interesting descriptions, hardcopy advertisements were outdated. Only a few simple signs with the business name and arrow signages were placed on the entrance door and at each turn along the pathway to provide essential way-finding clues. This implied that the informality and the small-scale of the advertisement might mitigate concerns about tax payments. Home-based informal business owners did not want to show off their success to avoid high tax bills. They kept themselves reasonably low-profile in the eyes of tax officers hoping that their business was recognized as small-scale, so a low (or no) tax bill was issued. The high demand from tourists spurred the informal (or illegal) expansion of space typically by adding more stories as sketched in Fig. 8.2. This raised concerns about safety and hygiene in these informal homestays. Cul-de-sacs and long alleyways were very narrow even for daily traffic. In case of a fire, these organically shaped alleys would make evacuation and firefighting difficult. In addition, the safety of buildings was in question because business owners have extended their building as much as they could without scientific investigation on the building engineering of the hundred-year-old tube-houses. This was especially true when these extension processes were primarily taking place speedily, quietly, even secretly and so no technical assurance could be guaranteed. Similarly, the hygiene and comfort of cheap windowless rooms must be considered. The informality that has long-existed in this settlement allowed micro-scale immediate land use changes, embracing new income sources for households. ICT was employed in an informal way based on each resident’s skills and circumstances. The internet and technologies brought new opportunities to hidden corners in the old settlement and empowered the residents with new employment options.

8.6  (Case study 2) new urban area: Social media platforms and the peer-to-peer economy New urban areas (NUAs), located in peripheral areas of Hanoi, were ­characterized by a modern lifestyle that emerged after the 1990s. The proliferation of NUAs reflects a Vietnamese spatial response to the increases in the urban

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population. The Linh Dam, one of the early NUAs, located ~ 10 km away from the Old Quarter, was planned and developed by Vietnamese professionals and enterprises. Four modern style high-rise building projects were completed in the early 2010s in the Linh Dam NUA over 15 years of development and construction. These projects provided housing at affordable prices, approximately less than 1 billion Vietnam Dong (equivalent to 43 thousand US dollars) for a two-bedroom apartment. Soon after the completion, all high-rise buildings were fully occupied by residents who were primarily young and/or immigrant families from surrounding provinces. A residential complex named HH (probably short for “Hon Hop” in Vietnamese or mixed use in English) was selected as a case study in this section. The HH complex was situated on a 4-ha allotment and included 12 high-rise towers ranging between 36 and 41 stories. The basement was occupied by thousands of motorbikes while the ground floor was primarily used for commercial activities such as supermarkets, retail shops, restaurants, and cafes. From level 1 upward, there were 20 apartments uniformly laid out, housing ~ 30 thousand people in total. Owing to the high population density and lack of public facilities formally provided, many households found a niche in the neighborhood encouraging them to become service providers. An informal economy was formed within the very formal urban environments thanks to the assistance from ICT and social media platforms. Standing in the inner courtyard of HH, anyone could easily be attracted by a high number of advertisements on the ground floor kiosks as well as upper floors. From the first floor upward, the large eye-catching signage displayed all sorts of services ranging from installing timber floors, repairing computers, tutoring English, to health and beauty cares, and dance classes. The visibility of these advertisements was higher on the first and second floors and faded away gradually as the level increased. A search through the residents’ community Facebook page with over 140,000 members showed that the most frequent activity was retail (The Residents’ Community of HH Linh Dam, 2019). The community Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/cudanhh1234linhdam/) has become a peer-to-peer network connecting would-be-seller residents to would-be-buyers. A member of this Facebook, Mr. P, advertising himself as marketing staff in Vinamilk—a well-established milk company, brought dairy products home and sold them to his neighbors at lower prices than those in local supermarkets. To increase his sale, he offered honorariums (usually small kitchenware products such as food containers and utensils) to customers who were purchasing large quantities. He was well-known in the community owing to positive feedback from his loyal customers. Owing to the high volume of orders a shipper, who was also a resident in HH as well as a member of the group, assisted the deliveries of the dairy products for a small fee paid by the buyers (i.e., cash on delivery). The shipper was responsible for delivering the ordered products from Mr. P’s home to the customer’s front door, collecting money, and returning it to

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Mr. P. Such a­ ctivities were possible by virtue of trustworthiness established between the residents in the HH community. The customers bought milk from Mr. P because they trusted him as their neighbor rather than merely a seller; and Mr. P trusted the shipper because he was also his neighbor. For Mr. P, his homebased business was “killing two birds with one stone” because he could create extra income and improve his selling performance at work. Unlike Mr. P, Mrs. C in the HH building sold vegetables, chickens, and duck eggs occasionally. Every weekend, when her mother visited and helped take care of Mrs. C’s young child, she also brought vegetables and eggs grown in the home garden. Apart from vegetables for the family’s consumption, Mrs. C put an advertisement through the community Facebook page to sell to her neighbors in HH. Her goods were favored by her neighbors because they were advertised as home-grown, organic (or pesticide-free), and prewashed. As part of her business activities, Mrs. C and her mother often carried large bags with agricultural products and delivered them to their customers front door. The delivery was considered “physical exercise,” and her mother was willing to preprocess the vegetables in her free time at home so that they could sell the foods easily. Traveling through passenger elevators with bulky goods and small-size trolleys was not unusual in the HH buildings. Nevertheless, very few complaints have been reported by the residents and no strict official regulatory action has been made by the building managers to stop such informal activities. It was difficult to distinguish personal from (informal) business purposes and most people tolerated their neighbors because they were also (potential) customers or sellers. As illustrated by the two stories above, virtual communicating methods, primarily through mobile phones, and online social media messages, link sellers to buyers (Fig. 8.3). They seed new informal economic activities in a formalized high-density new urban area. This online platform, peer-to-peer economy at highly isolated locations is strengthened by the proliferation of smartphones and the mobile internet. The weak accessibility as an NUA and off-ground hidden home locations are compensated by the online communication platform and backed up by face-to-face interactions within the neighborhood seeding e-trustworthiness and aiding C2C trading activities.

8.7  (Case study 3) regional area: Binh Duong Smart City, a branding trick? The focus of this section is a so-called new smart city in Binh Duong province created by a top-down approach. The province is located 30 km away from the center of Ho Chi Minh City—the largest Vietnamese city and a southern economic hub. After the economic reform, Binh Duong was transformed from a war zone into a dynamic industrial economic center. It has become a major destination for foreign direct investment, encouraged by government policies effective in the province. A recent ambitious initiative, approved in 2009, was a

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FIG. 8.3  Vertical segregation and ICT-facilitated HBB activities in a high-rise.

new “smart city” development to serve as a new administrative center replacing the existing Thu Dau Mot City and aiming to become a green economic growth engine (Becamex Tokyu, 2019). The New Binh Duong City was constructed on a 1000-ha greenfield site, including a new administrative center, a hightech industrial park, commercial and financial areas, the Eastern International University, and a Tokyu Binh Duong Garden City designed to accommodate ~ 125,000 residents and serve more than 400,000 daily visitors and workers. Despite significant amounts of public investments and government ambitions, this project, however, has faced failure in attracting people. The arrays of expensive houses, including villas, row houses, and student dormitories, were left unfinished and uninhabited. The real estate bubble burst in New Binh Duong City prompted the local authority to seek an alternative development strategy. In 2016, when a new smart city proposal was prepared by Binh Duong Smart City Office, a body of a state-owned enterprise, called Becamex, was officially approved to start this project. The approach followed a so-called “triple helix” collaboration method to transform an agriculture-based rural area into a smart city, entitled “Binh Duong Smart City” (ICF, 2019). Three key actors in this project were the triple helix: (1) industries, (2) government, and (3) universities, coordinated by the Smart City Office. The new smart city aimed to boost sustainable development by providing modern ICT infrastructures and tax incentives to attract tech-entrepreneurs, particularly in ICT industries, with an emphasis

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on semiconductor factories. The Eastern International University played a key role in developing Fab-lab and Tech-lab,b providing info-tech human resources to the market, collaborating, and exchanging tech-workers with domestic and international partners, and promoting innovations in the community. Transport infrastructures (such as public bus network, highways, potentially a new railway linking to Ho Chi Minh City) and hospitality services (such as hotels and entertainment centers) were provided and upgraded to support the operation of the underutilized convention center and a new science and technology industrial park. These were anticipated to become incubators that could attract creative, elite people who would be active players in shaping the first smart community in the region. In recognition of governmental efforts and investments, the New Binh Duong City was listed in the top 21 world‑leading smart cities by Intelligent Community Forum in 2018 (Binhduong.gov.vn, 2018; ICF, 2019). Although it is too early to evaluate the success of the Binh Duong Smart City project, the development outcomes, to date, seem to have not achieved initial objectives. In new creative industrial clusters in this site, most professionals do not live locally but commute long distances from the top-tier city, Ho Chi Minh City. Survey data in 2015 showed that Binh Duong had the highest proportion of residents without permanent household registration, up to 72% of total provincial population or equivalent to 1.4 million people, far exceeding those of large Vietnamese cities like Ho Chi Minh City (36%) and Hanoi (18%) (MDRI, 2015). A large proportion of this population commuted (predominantly from Ho Chi Minh City) to Binh Duong for work daily (or seasonally) (The World Bank and Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, 2016). Highly skilled workers were probably more mobile commuters compared to low-skilled laborers, as illustrated later. Among many, Mr. D, a university lecturer at the Eastern International University, commuted from his home in Ho Chi Minh City every day over 30 km or 1 h driving distance. This daily long-distance commute was acceptable for many other professionals because the benefits offered from work could economically compensate their loss from commuting. However, despite high salary rates from formal sectors, as commonly observed in newly developing areas, these new town developments in regional areas lacked urban lifestyle infrastructures such as schools, hospitals, childcare centers, and entertainment centers. The proximity to Ho Chi Minh City within daily commutes was an advantage in attracting the new elite class, but concurrently it was a challenge to encourage them to stay locally. An architect M, who worked for the Becamex for more than 10 years, has left Binh Duong and established his own start-up in Ho Chi Minh City. Being part of the design team for the development process in the New City b. Fab-lab, or manufacturing laboratory, is an open space workshop where students can turn their ideas into prototypes. Tech-lab, or technology laboratory, is a collaborative research facility where students can work with university staff and industry partners to translate research outcomes to products.

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of Binh Duong from the early stage, M anticipated benefits from the real estate boom generated by this large scale development. However, the real estate market has not been as prosperous as what these professionals wanted. They have been leaving Binh Duong to seek more certainty in economic prospects which may exist in Ho Chi Minh City. The Binh Duong Smart City has been welcomed by various real estate investors, including well-established investors and small-scale opportunistic investors such as rich families, as merely a new real estate development project that pursues a high rate of return on investment. While the leading developers, Becamex and its partner, aimed to create integrated knowledge clusters in a formal way, the local residents and (migrated) factory workers were excluded from their plan which did not leave room for affordable housing as well as informality within the new settlement. The local authority, state-owned enterprises, and large technology corporation partnership perceived the Binh Duong Smart City as an important growth engine, but the way this new settlement was formed failed to integrate physical infrastructures with social infrastructures and ruled out informal sectors. Social innovation might be escalated by top-down approaches, but this supply push seemed to be less efficient than demand-driven bottom-up approaches observed in the Old Quarter and NUAs. The absence of cooperation with local communities and the lack of the focus on social infrastructure led to a social loss as seen in long distance commuting. Formal approaches to build smart cities require expensive government investment in physical infrastructure, but these investments do not necessarily lead to new job generation and creative ways of living among residents. The local residents might be the ones receiving the least economic benefit because they are excluded in the making of smart cities although they can enjoy the convenience and generically growing economic activities wrought by technological infrastructure.

8.8  (Case study 4) a traditional rural village: Revitalization via mural paintings, community-stay, and social media Rural villages have been out of foci in the process of urbanization and economic development in the era of post-Doi Moi. These rural villages have, in general, lost their workforce to large cities, and, therefore, lost their dynamics to grow. However, some villages have invented a new approach assisted by external actors and ICT. The city authority of Tam Ky in Quang Ngai Province is one of them, taking a cooperative approach to integrate this economically marginalized village with new domestic and global actors. Small fishing villages of the Tam Thanh commune were successfully vitalized under an action plan which was initiated by international agencies, local authorities, volunteer academics, and creative workers through social media networks. The locals have played a critical role and actively participated in such development initiatives by adopting the

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internet and social media to advertise their historic and cultural assets, as well as to offer their new tourism and hospitality services. Tam Thanh was a small coastal commune, 10 km away from the Tam Ky city center of Quang Nam Province. The commune is home to only 3000 households (~ 12,000 people) who primarily work in fishing and making fish-sauce. Despite long and attractive beaches and a strategic location close to a major urban center of the region, most residents in Tam Thanh were living in poverty and were excluded from the benefits of various growth programs focusing on industrial and tourism developments. The idea of revitalizing the villages of Tam Thanh and integrating them into the broader regional growth strategy was proposed by the Tam Ky city authority, the Korea Foundation—an international nonprofit organization, and UNHabitat in 2016. Thanks to the voluntary participation of various Korean and Vietnamese professional artists, architects, as well as many art students, grayish and dull walls of the old traditional houses were transformed into large outdoor canvases with artworks (Fig. 8.4). These drawings conveyed a variety of messages from observations of the daily activities of local people and artists’ imagination. Selfies posted through various social media networks by visitors have spread the word about the mural paintings in Tam Thanh beyond the local area. For the first time, the name Tam Thanh fresco village appeared on regional tourism maps in 2017 as it became a new tourist destination for both domestic and international visitors (Nguyen and Dang, 2018). Turning a run-down fishing village into a colorful fresco village was an initial momentum for revitalization. From a quiet fishing village which was always absent of men due to their long range fishing trips, it received approximately 300 to 400 visitors every day. Even though the emergence of Tam Thanh as a tourist attractor brought some economic opportunities to local residents, such as keeping motorbikes or selling refreshments, the living standards of fisherman and their families has not been significantly changed (Dan Tri, 2016). In early 2018, the initiative was further promoted by the city authority and a group of volunteer artists and scholars to increase the number of mural paintings in Tam Thanh, as well as to offer training to the locals for running community-based tourism. To overcome the limitations of services provided

FIG. 8.4  Mural paintings at Tam Thanh villages. (From: Phu Duc, photos taken in 2018.)

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by a single individual household, a group of households began to cooperate in providing services by integrating their skills, financial resources, and facilities. For instance, a tourist can stay in one guest house while he or she can take a shower, buy meals, and experience local daily life in other neighboring housing. Essential infrastructure, such as water supply, electricity, phone connections, and mobile internet hotspots to the village has also been improved to facilitate these new economic activities. Local authorities, experts, residents, visitors, and the unique character of the place had become significant factors regenerating and upholding the marginalized run-down poor villages (Fig. 8.5). Supported and guided, the locals soon learned how to promote their villages and businesses and to attract more tourists. Similar to the homestay service providers in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, Tam Thanh residents also utilized wellknown tourist booking websites to advertise their “community-stay” services. Many locals have hosted international visitors by offering hospitality services and have received positive feedback without even knowing much English. The new form of livelihood in Tam Thanh has begun to enhance the living standard as most locals welcomed this change, by selling locally produced special products and providing tourism-related services. Residents have actively volunteered to maintain a rubbish-free village, improve the quality of streets and

FIG. 8.5  Factors facilitating the revitalization of coastal villages of Tam Thanh.

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public spaces, donated hundreds of unused boats for decorations, and beautified their homes and neighborhoods collectively. The major difference from Binh Duong probably is the participation of the locals in the making of positive changes to their community. The ICT technology is utilized as an effective tool to brand the place and to foster the shared economy. The local authority and volunteer actors triggered the process of change by placing the socio-economic matter first and seeing how modern technology, i.e., ICT, could be of assistance. Such efforts were welcomed and resulted in residents’ participation and contribution, opening up new possibilities to transform an economically bleak neighborhood into a better and smarter place to live and to visit.

8.9 Conclusion A “smart city” is an ambiguous concept, currently built upon the domination of ICT. Many local governments are struggling with establishing their first ­“e-government” or “digital-city” which are often costly and sometimes not user-friendly. At the same time, residents have developed their own approaches, utilizing the power granted by ICT to generate income and to shape their (smart) local economy and community in their own way. This bottom-up approach is essential for seeding a smart economy (Kumar and Dahiya, 2017). This chapter explained the critical role of urban dwellers in co-shaping a smart urban future under the facilitation of ICT through smartphones, the mobile internet, and online communication platforms. The focus was given to economically marginalized people, who were segregated from the overall economic growth of the region due to the low accessibility of their living locations. By comparing four human settlements with different urban forms and demographic characteristics, this study highlighted how ICT has been adopted in different ways depending on the needs of local residents. ICT can nurture and foster the local economy by active local users within a morphological context of their neighborhoods. Technological support to connect everywhere, anytime, can provide opportunities for inclusive economic growth in spatially remote areas. However, the barriers and challenges still exist as seen in the Binh Duong Smart City. Without the active participation and contribution by the locals as primary beneficiaries, futuristic smart cities by governments and high-tech companies are merely a luxurious real estate development inadequate to an inclusive city.

Acknowledgments Two case studies in Hanoi presented in this chapter derive from the first author’s PhD thesis completed in 2020. The authors would like to thank Dr. Quentin Stevens and Dr. Judith Rogers (RMIT University) for their comments and advice on the early draft of the manuscript, although any errors are our own. We thank Mr. Phu Duc for sharing his photos of Tam Thanh village.

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The use of ICT and smart cities in Vietnam  Chapter | 8  155 Nhandan.com.vn, 2019. Phát Triển Đô Thị Thông Minh Tại Việt Nam (Developing Smart Cities in Vietnam). Nhandan.Com.Vn. (Viewed 18 October 2019) http://nhandan.com.vn/khoahoccongnghe/item/39175402-phat-trien-do-thi-thong-minh-tai-viet-nam.html. Nielsen, 2017. Nielsen Vietnam Smartphone Insight Report. Nielsen, Hanoi. Pasquier-Doumer, L., Oudin, X., Thang, N., 2017. The Importance of Household Businesses and the Informal Sector for Inclusive Growth in Vietnam and the Informal Sector. The Gioi Publisher, Hanoi. Peters, D., Nguyen, N.T., 2018. Investigating the applicability of the ‘sharing cities’ discourse and approach to urban contexts in the global south: a preliminary case study of Hanoi, Vietnam. SUA Faculty Research Grant Report, Soka University, California. Porter, M.E., May–June, 1995. The competitive advantage of the inner city. Harv. Bus. Rev., 55–71. Rahman, H., 2007. Role of ICTs in socioeconomic development and poverty reduction. In: Rahman, H. (Ed.), Information and Communication Technologies for Economic and Regional Developments. IDEA Group Publishing, Hershey, pp. 180–219. Shin, H.R., Park, S.H., Sonn, J.W., 2015. The emergence of a multiscalar growth regime and scalar tension: the politics of urban development in Songdo New City, South Korea. Eviron. Plann. C. Gov. Policy 33 (6), 1618–1638. Thai, H.M.H., Stevens, Q., Rogers, J., 2019a. The influences of formally-planned urban morphology on home-based economic opportunities and the economically-driven self-organisation of urban form. In: Proceedings of the 12th Space Syntax Symposium, Beijing. Thai, H.M.H., Stevens, Q., Rogers, J., 2019b. The influence of organic urban morphologies on opportunities for home-based businesses within inner-city districts in Hanoi, Vietnam. J. Urban Des. 24 (6), 926–946. The Central Committee, 2016. Resolution From the Fourth Meeting of the 12th Party’s Central Committee. The Government of Vietnam, Hanoi. The Government of Vietnam, 2013. Decree 52/2013/ND-CP on E-Commerce. The Government of Vietnam, Hanoi. The Government of Vietnam, 2015. Resolution on a Digital Government. The Government of Vietnam, Hanoi. The Government Office, 2016. The Official Letter: On the Establishment of Smart Cities in the World and Vietnam. The Government of Vietnam, Hanoi. The Prime Minister, 2017. Instructions on Developing the Ability to Follow the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The Government of Vietnam, Hanoi. The Prime Minister, 2018. Decisions: Approving the Proposal on Sustainable Smart City Development in Vietnam, From 2018–2025 Vision to 2030. The Government of Vietnam, Hanoi. The Residents’ Community of HH Linh Dam, 2019. Cong Dong Cu Dan HH Linh Dam (The Residents’ Community of HH Linh Dam) (Viewed 18 June 2019) https://www.facebook.com/ groups/cudanhh1234linhdam/. The Vietnamese Government Portal, 2018. Thủ Tướng: CMCN 4.0 Là Cơ Hội Để Thực Hiện Khát Vọng Phồn Vinh (The Prime Minister: The Industrial Revolution 4.0 Is an Opportunity to Fulfill the Ambition for Properity). Online Newspaper of the Government 2018. (Viewed 18 October 2019) http://baochinhphu.vn/Tin-noi-bat/Thu-tuong-CMCN-40-la-co-hoi-de-thuc-hienkhat-vong-phon-vinh/341335.vgp. The World Bank, 2019a. Vietnam Population (Total). The World Bank Data. The World Bank, 2019b. Vietnam Urban Population (% of Total). The World Bank Data. The World Bank, and Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, 2016. Hệ Thống Đăng Ký Hộ Khẩu ở Việt Nam (The Household Registration System in Vietnam). Hong Duc Publishing, Hanoi.

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Chapter 9

Smart urban development strategies in Africa? An analysis of multiple rationalities for Accra’s City Extension Project Prosper Issahaku Korah Cities Research Institute and School of Environment & Science, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Chapter outline 9.1 Introduction 157 9.2 Ghanaian urban and economic growth trajectory 160 9.2.1 Urbanization and complex challenges confronting Ghanaian cities 162 9.2.2 Analytical framework 165 9.3 Study context and methodology 166 9.3.1 Overview of the Accra City Extension Project (ACEP) 166 9.3.2 Methodology 167

9.4 Understanding the emergence of ACEP 169 9.4.1 Discourses and rationale for ACEP 169 9.4.2 Stakeholder participation and ownership of ACEP 170 9.4.3 Resources for the ACEP 173 9.4.4 Implementation and governance 175 9.5 Discussion and conclusion 176 References 178

9.1 Introduction Urbanization—defined in this chapter as an increase in the percentage of people living in towns and cities—is one of the most apparent transformative processes of the 21st century (UN Habitat, 2016a). Nowadays, urbanization is the force that underlies the demand and supply of goods and services, use of space, social and economic relations, among others. While urbanization is a worldwide phenomenon, much of the ongoing and expected urban transformations of the 21st century are predicted to occur in developing countries (Montgomery, 2008; Roy, 2005). The agglomeration of people, economic ­activities, and social and Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00009-5 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

157

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cultural exchanges in cities present significant challenges to sustainable development including relentless spatial expansion, access to basic services such as shelter, jobs, education, and environmental protection (Cobbinah et al., 2015b; UN Habitat, 2016a). Despite the fact that urbanization may not always lead to negative consequences, and could indeed be a positive force propelling economic growth and development if well-managed, the nature of urbanization in most African countries is unplanned, spontaneous, and in many cases, overwhelms city authorities in terms of their capacity to provide adequate services for the growing population (Cobbinah et  al., 2015a; Cohen, 2006; UN Habitat, 2010). It is estimated that as many as 7 out of 10 city residents in developing regions such as Africa are underserved, lacking access to one or more essential services: housing, water and sanitation, energy, and transportation (Beard et  al., 2016). Hence, the unfolding patterns of urban development in most African countries is disjointed, fragmented, dysfunctional, and resembles unsustainable geographies of inequality, poverty, polarization, and lack viable spatial structure (Boadi et al., 2005; Cobbinah et al., 2015a; UN Habitat, 2010). The emerging and rapid changes in the spatial configuration of cities owing to urbanization pressures have renewed interest in the way in which cities are planned and governed. The UN, through the 2030 Agenda has advocated for the development of sustainable, inclusive, and safe cities via its sustainable development goal (SDG) 11. The UN-Habitat New Urban Agenda which was adopted at the UN-Habitat III conference held in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2016 further affirms the commitment of member countries toward achieving SDG 11. The New Urban Agenda seeks to transform the way cities are planned, governed, and managed with the sole aim of achieving sustainable urban development, a prerequisite for prosperity for all (UN Habitat, 2016b). The concept smart has thus found its way into the lexicon of various urban development strategies across the globe in recent years as a means to achieve SDG 11. Whereas smart city or smart urban development connotes different meanings and interpretations (Albino et  al., 2015), it is generally used as a metaphor for the new strategies, technologies, policies, plans, and participatory governance that governments and city councils adopt in order to promote sustainability, economic growth, and better quality of life for all (Nam and Pardo, 2011). The use of information technologies (IT) is central in many smart city initiatives (Hashem et al., 2016), however, some (Ahvenniemi et al., 2017; Caragliu et al., 2011; Nam and Pardo, 2011; Stratigea et al., 2015) have advocated for a broader conceptualization of smart cities to include human development, environmental protection, and participatory planning and governance. In this chapter, smart is conceptualized in relation to an urban development strategy that responds to the complex challenges confronting the contemporary African city (see Schaffers et al., 2012).

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While the academic literature on smart cities has increased enormously in the last decade (Ahvenniemi et al., 2017; Angelidou, 2015; Caragliu et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2014; Nam and Pardo, 2011; Neirotti et al., 2014), there are limited studies about smart urban development strategies in the African context or at least how the smart urban development concept has evolved in the African context. Indeed, a recent wave of “new cities” development across the African continent (van Noorloos and Kloosterboer, 2018), and their promise of addressing the pressing urban sustainability challenges show some semblance of smart urban development. Yet, “new cities” are mostly driven by profit-seeking investors, and the consumptive nature of such cities (resembling gated communities) for the high- and middle-income classes, make them unsuitable for achieving sustainable and inclusive urban growth (van Noorloos and Kloosterboer, 2018). The UN-Habitat New Urban Agenda recognizes planned city extensions— defined as a mechanism for ensuring a viable city structure that can deliver equitable, efficient, and sustainable land use, prevent urban sprawl and support productivity and liveability—as a smart urban development strategy (UN Habitat, 2012, 2015, 2016a). This chapter seeks to contribute to the debates on smart cities via an examination of the “how” and “why” particular smart urban development strategies are evolved in specific local contexts of Africa. In doing so, it focuses on unraveling the rationalities and actors that underpin a planned city extension project in Accra, and implications for the urban sustainability imperative. The chapter is guided fundamentally by two central questions: (1) what discourses underlie the emergence of Accra City Extension Project (ACEP)? (2) Who are the actors involved, and what are their motivations? Accra, the capital city of Ghana is chosen as a case study because it is an important city in the West African subregion. Accra has been undergoing a massive transformation over the years. According to Grant (2009), although Accra is not among the largest cities of the world, or even of Africa, its growth rate (among the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in West Africa) and the extent of ongoing transformation is remarkable. Besides, Accra receives over 80% of all foreign direct investment (FDI) to Ghana. Continuous population increase and concentration of FDI in Accra have contributed to dramatic spatial transformation characterized by sprawl, fragmented development, and unsustainable urban geographies (Korah et al., 2019). Recently, Accra has transcended its functional area and physical boundaries and is in the process of coalescing with adjoining districts, thus necessitating a planned city extension for managing urbanization pressures in this city-region (see Grant et al., 2019). The remaining sections of the chapter are organized as follows: Section 9.2 presents an overview of Ghana’s urbanization trajectory and the challenges confronting Ghanaian cities, recent efforts aimed at ensuring smart city development, and explains the analytical framework adopted; Section 9.3 describes the study context and methods used; Section 9.4 traces the evolution and governance of ACEP. The chapter ends with a discussion and conclusion in Section 9.5.

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9.2  Ghanaian urban and economic growth trajectory Urbanization is continuing unabated in Ghana like many developing countries. Ghana has experienced rapid population growth over the years. Between 1960 and 2016, Ghana’s population grew at an average of 2.6% annually, quadrupling from about 7 million to 28 million. The Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) 2010 housing and population census (GSS, 2012) indicates that Ghana’s population increased from about 19 million in 2000 to 25 million in 2010, representing a 30% increase. Until the year 2010, the majority of Ghana’s population was rural (Fig. 9.1), implying that urbanization was not a major developmental issue. However, in the year 2010, over 50% of Ghana’s population was urban. The rapid urban growth in Ghana could be attributed to migration from rural areas to urban areas and the natural urban population increase. As illustrated in Fig. 9.1, the urban population growth rate (4%) has been much faster than the total population growth rate (2.6%) during the last five and a half decades. The urban population increased from 1.5 million in 1960 to 15 million in 2016, representing a 10-fold increase. Presently, over 54% of Ghana’s population is urban with several consequences for housing, infrastructure, and services provided. The urban population across Ghana is also not evenly distributed, with much of the population concentrated in the major cities and towns. Accra, the major and largest city of Ghana, has the largest share of the urban population (GSS, 2012). In the years 1960 and 2016, Accra’s population was 392,582 and 2,717,586 respectively, representing a share of the urban population of 25% and 18%, respectively. Ideally, urbanization should occur in conjunction with national economic growth and progress including a national strategy that integrates economic and spatial planning; a productive agricultural sector; growth of secondary cities and market towns to facilitate rural-urban interactions; thus, leading to a m ­ anageable Total population

Urban population

Population in largest city (Accra)

Rural population

30,000,000

Population

25,000,000 20,000,000 15,000,000 10,000,000 5,000,000 0

1960

1970

1980

1990

Year

2000

2010

2016

FIG.  9.1  Population growth dynamics in Ghana (1960–2016). (Source: Based on World Bank, 2017. World Development Indicators. Available at https://databank.worldbank.org/source/worlddevelopment-indicators. Accessed on 18 January 2018.)

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Net FDI inflows in millions ($)

level of rural-urban migration (Cheru, 2005, p. 2). Some Asian countries such as Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China have witnessed this sort of urbanization. The adoption of national economic and spatial development strategies has strategically positioned the primate cities of these countries as the focus of inward FDI, and engines of national economic growth (Hugo, 2003; Wu, 2008). In Ghana, like much of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, urbanization is ongoing without proportionate industrial and economic growth. Ghana’s urbanization can, therefore, be described as urbanization without development or over-urbanization because overall national economic growth and development are inadequate to meet the needs of a growing population (Davis and Henderson, 2003; UN Habitat, 2010). Symptoms of this phenomenon include the proliferation of slums, unguided urban expansion, inadequate housing, and high urban unemployment, among others. Ghana’s ongoing urbanization and challenges are further reinforced by globalization (e.g., cross-border trade and investment among countries). After Ghana implemented structural adjustment policies (SAPs)—policies that were generally meant to reduce trade barriers and improve economic efficiency—in the 1980s, the link between Ghana and the global economy was strengthened (Yeboah, 2000). This is evident in the sustained increase in FDI inflows to Ghana since 1986, as well as the sharp escalation from 2006 (Fig. 9.2). The FDI escalation in 2006 could be attributed to good governance and stable democracy that Ghana has enjoyed since 1992. It is undoubted that the SAPs have had a tremendous impact on Ghana’s economy. According to ISSER (1995), Ghana’s economy grew by an estimated 5% each year after the implementation of SAPs. However, rather than the SAPs generating employment opportunities for the masses, it has brought unintended consequences including a reduction in 4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

Year FIG.  9.2  Foreign direct investment inflows to Ghana (1983–2017). (Source: UNCTAD, 2017. Foreign Direct Investment Statistics. Available at https://unctadstat.unctad.org/wds/ReportFolders/ reportFolders.aspx. Accessed on 25 March 2018.)

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the size of the civil service, subsidy cuts, privatization, and deregulation which have hampered the state’s capacity to intervene effectively in the economy and social policy (Simone, 1999). Furthermore, the Ghanaian Government’s housing policy transitioned from direct social housing production to creating an enabling environment for private sector investment in urban housing. Currently, the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) is one of the leading providers of homes in urban Ghana, especially Accra. Unfortunately, these houses in the form of gated communities are frequently targeted at the middleand high-income classes. The exclusion of many urban dwellers in formal employment and the housing market has thus triggered a phenomenon of informal survival strategies.

9.2.1  Urbanization and complex challenges confronting Ghanaian cities As indicated in the preceding section, urbanization in Ghana, like many SubSaharan African cities, has not translated into economic growth. The net effect is a growing phenomenon of what Cobbinah et al. (2015b) term “urbanization of poverty”—the transfer of poverty from rural to urban. This phenomenon, coupled with the uneven nature of Ghanaian urbanization, where the urban population is overly concentrated in major cities like Accra and Kumasi, has contributed to slums and dysfunctional urban geographies. Consequently, some scholars (Grant and Yankson, 2003; Larbi, 1996) concluded that Ghanaians cities such as Accra are characterized by fragmented urban spatial forms. Spatial fragmentation may be used to refer to the difference in the quality of spaces and places (Grant and Nijman, 2004) or fragmentation occurs when new urban patches emerge and grow faster than existing urban areas (Korah et al., 2019). The latter is analogous to urban sprawl—a phenomenon of low-density spatial growth that is characterized by scattering of new developments on isolated lands (see Yeh and Li, 2001). In Ghana, inadequate budgetary support and weak structural and statutory basis for spatial planning and land use control have resulted in the urban sprawl of cities without infrastructure and services and lack the viable spatial structure that can support productivity and sustainable growth (World Bank, 2015). In Kumasi, the second-largest city in Ghana, Acheampong et al. (2017) found that urban land expansion has been occurring at a rate of 5.6% per annum between 1986 and 2014 with 72% of built-land increase occurring after the year 2000. Similar studies (Agyemang et al., 2019; Cobbinah and Amoako, 2012; Fuseini et  al., 2017; Korah et  al., 2018) have demonstrated growing lateral expansion and leapfrog development patterns in several Ghanaian cities. This ever-increasing expansion and lack of effective spatial planning have further occasioned the increasing congestion of city centers, ubiquitous traffic congestion, slums, a deficient intra urban connectivity s­ ystem and ­environmental

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degradation (MLGRD, 2012). These challenges mean that Ghana’s cities are not able to reap the gains of agglomeration, specialization, and economies of scale (World Bank, 2015, p. 14). The emerging challenges associated with Ghanaian cities call for new solutions in the form of effective spatial planning and urban land management. As a result, Ghana’s Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development designed the National Urban Policy (NUP) (MLGRD, 2012). The goal of the policy among others is to “promote a sustainable, spatially integrated and orderly development of urban settlements with adequate housing, infrastructure and services, efficient institutions, and a sound living and working environment for all people to support the rapid socio-economic development of Ghana” (MLGRD, 2012, p. 21). Ghana’s urban policy is thus concerned with how to achieve smart urban growth (i.e., development that supports productivity, liveability, and environmental sustainability). Specifically, objective 5 of the policy seeks to ensure effective planning and management of urban growth and sprawl, especially of the primate cities and large urban centers through the application of remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS). Efforts toward achieving the NUP objectives include the adoption of a Land Use and Spatial Planning Act (925) in 2016. The purpose of the act is to ensure the sustainable development of land and human settlements through decentralized spatial planning. Under this new decentralized planning system, there is a three-tier planning framework involving the national, regional, and district levels. Accordingly, a Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA) was established to supervise the preparation and implementation of spatial development plans at the national, regional, and district levels. The LUSPA under its Land Use Planning and Management Project (LUPMP)—aimed at enhancing the legal, technological, institutional, and human resource capacity for smart urban development planning—developed a land use planning and management information system (LUPMIS).a The LUPMIS is a GIS and geotechnology that supports planning decisionmaking. LUPMIS application has features for GIS data entry, handling, and operation, and for utility mapping, street naming, development permit applications, land use planning, and revenue mapping among others.b Also, the LUPMIS creates interactive maps through the integration of thematic layers with Google maps, which enables real-time monitoring of spatial development. Fig.  9.3 shows a property and street address database in LUPMIS. While the LUPMIS is a smart tool developed at the national level for planning and monitoring, this chapter focuses on understanding how sustainable urban development planning (i.e., smart urban solutions) evolves at the local government level.

a. http://www.luspa.gov.gh/lupmis.html (Accessed on 17/09/2019). b. http://www.gerhardbechtold.com/LUPMIS/Manual/ (Accessed on 17/09/2019).

FIG. 9.3  Street naming and property address database in land use planning and management information system. (Source: LUSPA, http://www.luspa.gov.gh/ lupmis.html.)

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9.2.2  Analytical framework In this chapter, “smart city” is conceived as “multi-dimensional, a future scenario (what to achieve),… and, an urban development strategy (how to achieve)” (Schaffers et  al., 2012, p. 57). As an urban development strategy, smart city planning is a collaborative planning framework “seeking city and citizen-specific smart applications, allowing for the management of challenges faced by contemporary cities under the current social, economic, and environmental circumstances” (Stratigea et  al., 2015, p. 51). Smart city planning is thus a deliberate collective activity and involves “governance” “arrangements of a particular urban complex” (Healey, 2010, p. 49). The role of planners as agents of change becomes central in smart city planning. More precisely, planners assume various positions, including mediators for the diverse interests and views of stakeholders, advocating for change in bureaucratic to democratic decision-making processes to enable more inclusive and participatory planning (Stratigea et al., 2015, p. 57). To understand how a particular smart urban development initiative emerges and is adopted, this chapter draws on an analytical framework influenced by the Policy Arrangement Approach (PAA) (Arts and Leroy, 2006). In PAA, the interactions between actors, for instance, in a planned city extension project, are assumed to gradually develop into more or less stable patterns. The PAA can, thus, help to analyze and understand a planned city extension as governance arrangement by identifying the discourses, resources, the actors involved, and the written and unwritten rules governing their behavior (Liefferink, 2006). The PAA distinguishes the following four analytical dimensions that can be employed to study governance (Liefferink, 2006): discourses, actors, resources, rules of the game. These are explained below:

9.2.2.1 Discourses This stage involves gathering information about the experiences of smart urban initiates as they have been implemented elsewhere. This could be through reviewing the literature, various policy documents, and national reports on smart city development. Other sources of gaining knowledge of smart city experiences could be through conferences such as World Cities Summit and UN-Habitat World Urban Forum. It is, thus, about the motivations and rationalities that lead to the adoption of a smart urban strategy. This may also include gathering information concerning the city, including spatial structure, infrastructure, social context, economy, and environment, and how these interrelate and the implications for sustainability and liveability. At this stage, the urban problems and/or solutions are identified and effectively communicated to various stakeholders for a consensus on the best smart urban strategy. The role of the local government as an agent of becomes central at this stage.

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9.2.2.2 Actors Participatory planning is central to any smart urban development initiative (Stratigea et al., 2015). Here, various stakeholders including residents, technocrats, the business community, central government, landowners, etc. are identified and involved in the initiative. Engaging the actors may require the use of information communication technologies (ICT) for data management and mapping. The ability of citizens to shape processes of the city’s development will depend on how well the information about the current conditions and problems confronting the city is communicated. 9.2.2.3 Resources This is about the distribution of resources between these actors, leading to differences in power and influence, where power refers to the deployment of the available resources, and influence as to who determines policy outcomes and how. 9.2.2.4  Implementation and governance This is about the rules and regulations governing the realization of the initiative. It refers to the institutional arrangement for the implementation of the smart urban strategy. The nature of institutional arrangement will, to a large extent, determine the success or otherwise of the strategy in achieving inclusive, liveable, and productive urban growth.

9.3  Study context and methodology 9.3.1  Overview of the Accra City Extension Project (ACEP) The ACEP is being implemented by the Ningo-Prampram local government authority. Ningo-Prampram became a District Assembly in June 2012 following the promulgation of Legislative Instrument (LI 2132), which established it as an autonomous local government entity from the erstwhile Dangme West District. The Ningo-Prampram District is situated in the south-eastern part of Ghana in the Greater Accra Region (Fig. 9.4). It occupies a total land area of about 622 km2 with Prampram as its capital. In recent times, the district is experiencing rapid population growth which emanates from within and outside its administrative boundaries. Relatively lower land values in the district are attracting population spillover from the west, mostly from the fast-growing cities of Accra and Tema. This, together with the absence of a detailed spatial development plan for the district, means that planning lags current land provision demands. Consequently, the area is sprawling into a fragmented and disconnected continuum of urban patches with low rise buildings, thus impeding the provision of affordable water and sanitation services, streets, lighting, public open spaces and facilities, and functionality of the district (NiPDA, 2019).

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FIG. 9.4  Geographic location of Ningo-Prampram, the project area. (Source: NiPDA, 2019. Draft Project Document: Ningo-Prampram Planned City Extension [Unpublished].)

ACEP is seen as a National Planned City Extension that will progressively transform Ningo-Prampram into an example of “African Best Practice” for economic, social, and environmentally sustainable development—a city connected with the international markets and with the region, able to attract new residents and to provide them with jobs, housing, services, and culture (NiPDA, 2019). The project is expected to cover an area of approximately 100  km2. Indeed, the planned city extension is not a new development in Ghana. In 1962, a master plan for the extension of Tema was developed by Constantinos Doxiadis, a Greek Architect and Town Planner. In those days, Tema was promoted as the industrial hub of Ghana, and therefore, there was a strict regime of control over planning and land use under the auspices of the Tema Development Corporation (TDC). In recent times, urban development— particularly large urban projects—in Ghana, especially Accra, is dictated by neoliberal mechanisms and market principles (Arthur, 2018). It thus becomes necessary to understand the discourses, actors, and rationalities that underpin the evolution of ACEP.

9.3.2 Methodology To understand the evolution of ACEP, a case study approach was adopted which allows for in-depth and detailed analysis of a phenomenon within a given physical, social, economic, and political context (Yin, 2013). The case study approach supports the adoption of a wide range of data collection methods such as archives, interviews, questionnaires, and observations (Eisenhardt, 1989) to describe, explore, and understand a phenomenon (Cousin, 2005). Given the exploratory nature of this chapter, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted

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with planners, project managers, consultants, and local politicians who were directly involved in the design of ACEP. After establishing contact with a senior spatial planner at the head office of LUSPA, Accra, the contact information of some experts and professionals who participated in the planning process was obtained. In all, 10 in-depth interviews were conducted (Table 9.1). The interviews sought to understand the discourses that led to ACEP, the stakeholders involved, and their interest, and the implementation framework. Beyond the interviews, the project documents and reports were consulted for further information about the project and triangulation. Other useful sources of information were the websites of UN-Habitat and MLA  +, who have published detailed information about the project. A video documentary about the project was downloaded from the MLA  + website.c The interview conversations lasted between 30 and 45 min. The recorded interviews and excerpts of the video documentary on the project were transcribed. Interview quotes and information from the texts were coded and categorized under central themes of the analytical framework using Nvivo 12. In many cases, verbatim quotes were included in the analysis.

TABLE 9.1  Data collection. Method

Number (instance)

Actors

In-depth interviews

10

Senior spatial planner, land use and spatial planning authority, project manager, urban development consultant, local politician, citizens, Ningo-Prampram spatial planner, real estate developers, and landowners

Documents analysis

Draft Project Document, Accra City Extension (1)

UN-Habitat, Ningo-Prampram District Assembly, National Government of Ghana, City of Accra

Video Documentary of Project (1)

Project team, citizens, national and local politicians, citizens, landowners

Project Website

Project team

PowerPoint Presentations (at a Retreat Workshop on National Planned City Extension: NingoPrampram)

Civil servants, Planners, Consultants, Executive Secretary of Lands Commission, academia (Central University, Ghana)

Observation

Visit to project site

c. https://www.mlaplus.com/home-3/work/ningofilm/ (accessed on 27/06/2019).

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9.4  Understanding the emergence of ACEP 9.4.1  Discourses and rationale for ACEP Over the years, the majority of urban development occurs outside of formal planning and land use control. Many urban areas in Ghana, thus, lack available services and infrastructure, viable spatial structure, and become unsustainable. Confronted with rapid urbanization pressures from Accra and Tema, ACEP seeks to transform Ningo-Prampram District into a sustainable urban enclave. It embodies an “international example of sustainable urban development in West Africa, positioning Ghana as a national champion in addressing fast urbanization challenges” (NiPDA, 2019). Ningo-Prampram is expected to experience high urbanization because of the confluence of Ghana’s proposed new international airport and the Trans-African Highway (Fig. 9.5). The announcement of these proposed projects stimulates speculative land buying and development in and around Ningo-Prampram. The planned development of Ningo-Prampram can be a showcase of how to address rapid urbanization and to accommodate growth. (Rogier Van Den Berg, UN-Habitat Urban Labs Project Manager)

In accommodating growth, the project will balance economic, social, and physical/environmental goals. As explained below:

FIG.  9.5  Concept of the planned city extension of Ningo-Prampram. (Source: NiPDA, 2019. Draft Project Document: Ningo-Prampram Planned City Extension [Unpublished].)

170  Smart cities for technological and social innovation It will be a kind of dormitory city, which will relieve the pressure on central Accra, through the development of facilities and services that will attract people to live and work, instead of having to move to central Accra to access services and jobs. (Senior Spatial Planner, Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority, February 2019)

The project as explained by the planning official above seeks to re/distribute services and facilities within the Greater Accra Region, and create new employment centers and opportunities, deliver new commercial and residential developments to mitigate upsurge in demand for space in the Accra City Center. This is an innovative way of easing congestion in central Accra, where major facilities and services are located. Apart from economic productivity, an analysis of the Draft Project Document (NiPDA, 2019) indicates that the project will engender social inclusion—through the creation of mixed-income residential neighborhoods while mitigating climate change and containing the sprawling urban condition of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. The first stage of a smart city planning involves gathering information about the experiences of smart initiates as they have been implemented elsewhere (Stratigea et  al., 2015). In the case of ACEP, lessons were learned from the planned extension of some communities in Tema. The implementation of this plan resulted in a liveable, structured, and accessible network of neighborhoods. This structure still exists today, and despite the state of decay of most buildings, has promoted economic activities with street shops, pedestrian mobility, and an adequate amount of spaces dedicated to streets and public spaces (NiPDA, 2019).

9.4.2  Stakeholder participation and ownership of ACEP Participatory planning is central to the success of any smart urban development initiative (Axelsson and Granath, 2018). The ability of citizens to contribute to shaping processes of the smart city’s development hinges on how well the problems confronting the city are communicated (Stratigea et  al., 2015). Without active participation, particularly by citizens, projects risks being developed without a proper understanding of citizens’ needs (Axelsson and Granath, 2018). Table 9.2 illustrates the various stakeholders and their interest in the project. The major stakeholders involved in ACEP are the Government of Ghana, Ningo-Prampram District Assembly (NiPDA), indigenous communities,d National Development Planning Commission, Municipal Assemblies, and UNHabitat. The project was initiated by the local government authority (NiPDA). The local government is an essential stakeholder in smart city planning because it sets the visions and goals of the project (Axelsson and Granath, 2018). The then District Chief Executive, Hon. SA Rhack Nartey, presented the urban challenges that Ningo-Prampram faced at the World Urban Forum in Medellin in April 2014. UN-Habitat Urban Planning and Design Lab was requested to help develop a concept plan for the city extension. Following the UN-Habitat Urban d. These are the local inhabitants and residents of Ningo-Prampram.

TABLE 9.2  A framework of stakeholders’ stake and relation to smartness in the Accra City Extension Project planning process. Smartness dimension in process and outcome

Stakeholder

Stake in relation to ACEP

Consequences

Local politicians Ningo-Prampram District Assembly

The project means a lot to the local politicians in terms of prestige. They want to be seen as agents of development in their communities (e.g., providing jobs, and social amenities such as water, electricity, and roads)

Productivity, livability, and social inclusion

Important stakeholders in initiating the project. This demonstrates how local political convictions serve as drivers for ACEP. These political convictions also led to the project being granted planning approval.

Civil servants Ningo-Prampram District Assembly

The planner at Ningo-Prampram initiated ACEP. He wanted to spearhead a planning system that will be efficient and able to match contemporary urban dynamics

Sustainability, innovation

This stakeholder was instrumental in the planning process. Was willing to explore new strategies in the planning and management of Ghanaian cities

Politicians Ghana National Government

The politicians at the National level saw ACEP as a model and innovative urban development strategy that can project Ghana as a champion of Africa in achieving sustainable urban development

Sustainability

The Government of Ghana supported the project through the allocation of funds for its implementation

Urban Labs Project Team, UN-Habitat International Organization

The UN-Habitat is interested in supporting countries to develop sustainable urban development solutions

Sustainability, livability, and social inclusion

The Project Team from UN-Habitat Urban Planning and Design Lab was instrumental in designing and preparing layout plans for the project Continued

TABLE 9.2  A framework of stakeholders’ stake and relation to smartness in the Accra City Extension Project planning process.—cont’d Smartness dimension in process and outcome

Stakeholder

Stake in relation to ACEP

Consequences

Private Developers and Investors

The interest of private investors such as real estate developers is to produce high-quality housing with high profitability

Entrepreneurialism

To private investors, economic values were central; this, however, contradicts the project’s overall vision which promoted sustainability and social inclusion rather than entrepreneurialism. Some investors have already acquired lands in the project area and are developing gated communities targeted at the upper- and middleincome classes

Landowners in Ningo-Prampram

The interest of landowners in the project is to make maximum profit out of their lands

Entrepreneurialism

Landowners are central to the implementation of ACEP. However, their motivations for participating in the project are purely economic, which in this case, conflicts with the general project visions of promoting sustainability and social inclusion. This explains the general lack of interest in the project by individual landowners

Residents of Ningo-Prampram

The project team organized a series of meetings with citizens but public interest in the project was low.

Participation

Citizen participation is central in smart city planning. Without adequate engagement of citizens, ACEP risk being implement without an adequate understanding of the needs of citizens

ACEP: Accra City Extension Project. Source: Based on Axelsson, K., Granath, M., 2018. Stakeholders’ stake and relation to smartness in smart city development: insights from a Swedish city planning project. Gov. Inf. Q. 35(4), 693–702.

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Planning and Design Lab scoping mission to Ningo-Prampram, a concept plan was developed. The subsequent concept plan was adopted by representatives from both the local and national government during the 25th Session of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat, organized in Accra. Following the adoption of the concept plan, a series of stakeholder consultation and meetings were organized. An interview with the Director of NingoPrampram District Physical Planning Department revealed that “there were substantial engagements, both formal and informal and a series of meetings (one-on-one) basis with community groups and also there were forums where the community engaged with different expertise in explaining the project and trying to address concerns that were raised”. These engagements became necessary because land ownership is quite a peculiar thing in Ghana. People hold firmly to ownership of such assets (land) and so notwithstanding the utility of any proposal and to the extent that it can either undermine the ownership of land or can threaten the ownership of land, people become very anxious and can create some tensions, so it required extensive engagements, and this was achieved. (Urban Development Consultant, Accra, February 2019)

Various indigenous groups were further consulted to conscientize them about the need for the project and for them to own the project. According to the Physical Planner of Ningo-Prampram, while the project started with the local government (District Assembly), efforts were made to ensure the project is also communally owned, and for the people to understand it very well and critically. While geotechnologies such as GIS and Mapmaker were deployed for spatial data management and mapping for ACEP, tools for e-participation were absent.

9.4.3  Resources for the ACEP Access to land is a precondition for the success of ACEP. In Ghana, the majority of land (about 80%) is owned by individuals, families, and stoolse while the remaining 20% is owned by the government. This land ownership arrangement means that planned development, in many cases, is limited to state-controlled lands (Larbi, 1996). Successful implementation of any planned city extension requires land readjustment and pooling, together with adequate land management and regulatory tools. The interview with the Ningo-Prampram Spatial Planner revealed that there is a vast availability of state land that could be harnessed for the project (Fig. 9.6). The availability of state lands, it is believed, will reduce the cost of land acquisition and readjustment. However, some ­portions of land within the project area are owned by the Ningo and Prampram stools and individuals. e. Symbol of a kingdom or chiefdom that owns land in Southern Ghana; the equivalent is “skin” in Northern Ghana.

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FIG.  9.6  Landownership boundaries in Ningo-Prampram for the planned city extension area (government lands are shown in yellow [light gray boundaries in print version] while the stool lands are shown in blue [dark gray boundaries in print version]). (Source: NiPDA, 2019. Draft Project Document: Ningo-Prampram Planned City Extension [Unpublished].)

The project wants to capitalize on existing vacant lands for other development proposals, and you cannot do that without the involvement of the local communities who are the landowners and who have titles to those lands. So, we engaged extensively in the planning process. (Senior Spatial Planner, Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority, February 2019)

The former minister of local government further echoed the above concern: Because of our peculiar land ownership system, we have a problem implementing plans. It is the most fundamental problem that we need to address, and that I cannot, and you cannot, but the landowners in Ningo-Prampram can. That is the commitment we need from them. (Hon. Collins Dauda, Minister of Local Government & Rural Development)

In terms of human and technical resources for the project, the UN-Habitat Urban Labs Department provided some technical assistance in the design of the whole layout for Ningo-Prampram. Other professional associations, including the Ghana Institute of Architects, and Ghana Institute of Planners were also engaged. The project further involved the academic community, notably Central University, which is located in the area.

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9.4.4  Implementation and governance The interviews revealed a general sense that in Ghana, the problem is not about the quality of plans; rather, it is getting the support for the implementation of those plans. As explained below: We still have a problem of implementation deficit, we have all the beautiful plans and are unable to implement them, and therefore things return to the status quo after all the excitement of inception of such projects, and unfortunately, this is what has transpired now. After the Planning Officer was transferred to another district, the one who has taken over did not have the same kind of passion that he had so the project has more or less slowed down considerably and so the question was whether or not this could be able to address the continuous sprawl development and so on, and in spite of the good plans, to the extent that we have not implemented, we have not been able to constraint the sprawl development. (Urban Development Consultant, Accra, February 2019)

While the ACEP had pleasing ideas about producing smart urban development, the implementation is a challenge. The project was to be financed through public-private partnerships (PPP); however, an interview with the project manager revealed that a PPP arrangement was not feasible because the local government does not own the land. A project management unit (PMU) was thus set-up to supervise the implementation of the plan. The PMU has set out to create land banks by consolidating lands, whether owned by government, stools, families, or individuals. The aim is to service the consolidated lands as a means to unlock the land values. Some percentage of proceeds realized from the sale of the serviced lands will be distributed among shareholders or owners of the landbank while retaining some to develop and maintain the infrastructure. This approach will entail being able to convince the landowners about the prospects of the project and making them embrace it. Unfortunately, the project manager revealed that there has been a surge in speculative land buying once the project was announced. Investors are buoyed by the prospect of a new international airport that is coming to the area, and so it becomes difficult to convince the individual landowners to halt sales of their lands until after they are consolidated into a landbank and serviced. Furthermore, getting a commitment from the landowners for the project is a challenge because of the problem of land litigation. An interview with the Assembly Member for Ningo-Prampram revealed that several land cases are in court. This is usually one family against the other because prices of lands have increased. Apart from challenges with the availability of land for the project, the governance arrangement is a duplication of institutional functions. They have a project unit that will manage the project. There is a problem with that because you know local assemblies are the planning authorities so if you have a

176  Smart cities for technological and social innovation project unit which is overseeing the implementation of this plan especially when you are talking about an organic approach to implementing the plan there is a problem…it conflicts with the local governance act, which says that a district assembly is the planning authority. (Senior Spatial Planner, Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority, February 2019)

The Local Governance Act (936), 2016 mandates each local government (District Assembly) in Ghana to plan and enforce land use and development control. In the case of ACEP, it is expected that the NiPDA would have been the one spearheading the plan implementation. NiPDA is supposed to approve development plans in consultation with the district planning and project coordinating unit; however, this is not the case. Indeed, after the former planning officer, who was central in ACEP was transferred to a different district, the present planner does not seem enthusiastic about the project. During interaction with the current NiPDA physical planner, it emerged the planning department did not have in their custody a copy of the city extension plan. This is surprising, given that the planning department is supposed to vet and approve development applications in conformity with the city extension plan.

9.5  Discussion and conclusion Rapid urbanization, particularly in developing regions, such as Africa, presents several issues and challenges to city authorities. Presently, cities in Ghana like in many parts of Africa are facing complex problems that threaten socioeconomic development, quality of life, and sustainability. The concept of ‘smart city’ promises to be the solution to many of these challenges. Yet, little is known about the emergence and adoption of smart urban solutions in the African context. This chapter examines how and why smart urban development strategies emerge in an African context using a planned extension of Accra, Ghana, as a case study. The purpose of the chapter was to understand the motivations/rationalities that underpin the emergence of ACEP and the actors that were involved. Using a mix of interviews, document analysis, and observation, the chapter found that multiple rationalities, including achieving orderly and efficient spatial development, infrastructure provision, liveability, land value capture, and inclusive urban development, underpin the production of ACEP. These visions of the project align with the smart city concept (Axelsson and Granath, 2018; Nam and Pardo, 2011; Stratigea et al., 2015). However, the ICT dimension of smart city making was given little priority. While the project team proposed the establishment of a technical collaboration center that will combine local knowledge with international expertise in governing the project, the interview with the project manager revealed this had not

Smart urban development strategies in Africa?  Chapter | 9  177

been done due to lack of funds. While at the national level, smart technologies such as LUPMIS had been deployed for big data management, mapping and monitoring of spatial development, the tools required to enable ­e-participatory planning (Stratigea et al., 2015) particularly at the local level were absent. In other jurisdictions, e-participatory planning tools such as “Tell-it-on-the-map”f—an online map survey tool that enables residents to comment on planning designs and proposals are used. In the case of ACEP, the means of residents’ participation was through interviews and consultations during the preplan stage. Without any means of e-participation, the ability of residents of Ningo-Prampram to influence the design and content of the plan was limited. The ACEP involved multiple actors with varied interests such as central and local governments, traditional authorities, landowners, technocrats, private developers, residents, and transnational organizations. Participation and broad consultation are central in smart city planning (Stratigea et al., 2015), however, such broad participation, if not carefully managed, could contribute to the complexity of the planning process and hinder and/or undermine its outcomes (Axelsson and Granath, 2018). In the case of ACEP, there is evidence of conflicting rationalities among the actors—if not properly managed—will threaten its implementation and sustainability. While the overall aim of the project was to achieve sustainable, inclusive, and liveable urban growth, the landowners and traditional authorities were more interested in making profits from the sale of their lands (refer to Table 9.2). The interview with the project manager revealed that land values around the ACEP area have appreciated since the announcement of the project. Speculative land transactions are ongoing, and the landowning individuals and families are releasing land to prospective developers in exchange for monetary gains. Without the availability of lands, the project proposals cannot be executed. Beyond the conflicting rationalities, there is the issue of parallel and different institutional arrangements for the project implementation. The setting-up of a Project Management Unit (PMU) to oversee implementation of the project is contrary to Ghana’s Local Governance Act (936), 2016. Act 936 designates Physical Planning Authorities under the local governments (District Assemblies) in Ghana as the body to control physical development. The interviews revealed there is a lack of cooperation and collaboration between the PMU and the physical planning authority at Ningo-Prampram. This and other issues mean the project risks not achieving its aim of creating a sustainable, inclusive and liveable urban environment, and at worst, it might become an urban fantasy plan that deepens inequality and marginalization.

f. http://www.emonfur.eu/public/pub_files/Efuf/presentazioni/thursday/Saukkonen_Tiina_ EFUF_2013_Milano.pdf (accessed on 18/09/2019).

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Chapter 10

Smart Dubai IoT strategy: Aspiring to the promotion of happiness for residents and visitors through a continuous commitment to innovation Soheil Sabri Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Platforms and initiatives to facilitate technological and social innovation 10.3 Formalization: Historical development paths of the smart city in Dubai

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10.4 Change process: Dubai’s city-wide transformation into a smart city 10.5 Social outcomes: Becoming the happiest city on earth 10.6 Discussion and conclusion References

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10.1 Introduction The most recent literature and reports have created a broad spectrum in concept and definition on smart cities. Among broad approaches to defining smart cities, this chapter focuses on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a core element to make smart cities. Considering smart cities as a platform to facilitate technological and social innovation (Khan et al., 2017a,b), it is important to examine the cities’ initiatives against productivity, sustainability, and livability. In doing so, given the strong interconnection of technological and social innovation, it is crucial to include these two together in examining urban policies. While there is much evidence worldwide that conceptualizes the role of technological innovation in formulating social-oriented and inclusive urban policies (Lee et al., 2013, 2014; Debnath et al., 2014), there have been few studies Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00010-1 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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conducted in Middle Eastern countries. This chapter elaborates on the smart city policies and initiatives in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), to investigate how technological advancements facilitate social innovation. This chapter looks at historical smart city development paths in Dubai through a desktop research method. The study explores the Dubai city-state’s policy and strategic development reports and literature to understand the evolving nature of smart city plan developments. The chapter also considers the role of the global and political push toward technological developments as drivers of the smart city. In addition, the role of key actors, including the businesses, practitioners, and other public or private sectors in moving toward the smart city in Dubai, are explored in this study. As a case study, the chapter investigates the Smart Dubai strategy and implementation, which explicitly aims at social welfare and economic productivity. This chapter argues that the Smart Dubai ambition to boost happiness through technology is a compelling example for indicating the interconnection of technological and social innovations. In general, there have always been concerns about the damaging impacts of technology and innovation on social values and norms (Majumdar et al., 2015). These concerns have not been comprehensively addressed at the city scale. For instance, while most social innovation outcomes of smart technologies are around public participation in decision-making (Rantanen and Kahila, 2009; Alizadeh et  al., 2019; Shelton and Lodato, 2019), Smart Dubai’s initiative reflects the social welfare and cultural aspects, which is unique in its kind at a city-state level. As such, through a critical analysis of the underpinning drivers and actors, the chapter sheds light on the benefits and pitfalls of such an initiative for other states’ implementation. The chapter will also add to the body of knowledge on how a typical Middle East city-state contributes to promoting technologies for social inclusion policies (Fig. 10.1). This chapter answers such questions as: ●

● ● ●

How has Smart Dubai been encouraged by technological innovation and how has this initiative encouraged innovation in the city? What are the key drivers to Smart Dubai’s practices? Who have been the key actors in Smart Dubai’s initiation and implementation? How has Smart Dubai enhanced productivity, sustainability, and livability?

This chapter continues with a review on literature about the platforms, strategies, and technological innovations that spark social change. The same section will also look at the social innovation literature and definitions to adopt a framework for examining the role of technological changes in Dubai’s social transformation. The chapter then continues by providing an account of historical development paths toward smart city strategies. The next section outlines the change process and underpinning actors for implementing the innovation strategies toward cultural change in cross-government services. The section following will explore the methods of measuring happiness on public, private, and

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FIG. 10.1  Smart cities by and for technological and social innovation. (Source: Modified from Kim, H.M., Sabri, S., Kent, A., 2021. Smart cities as a platform for technological and social innovation in productivity, sustainability, and liveability: a conceptual framework. In: Kim, H.M., Sabri, S., Kent, A. (Eds.), Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation: Case Studies, Current Trends, and Future Steps, first ed. Elsevier Academic Press.)

individual levels. The discussion and conclusion section reiterates the aim of this study and outlines the findings by answering the above questions.

10.2  Platforms and initiatives to facilitate technological and social innovation The smart city movement has always been driven by technological innovation. Some recent examples of these innovations are digitalization and digital infrastructures such as Internet of Things (IoT) through the deployment of sensors (Roche, 2017), analytics platforms (Psyllidis et al., 2015; Rajabifard et al., 2016; Chen et al., 2018), and the fast-growing application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the process of decision-making and providing services (Sabri, 2012; Toole et al., 2012). In many cases, the technological innovations aim to change the behavior or everyday practice of a specific community or network of people with the same interest. The change of behavior will eventually lead to an improved method of social collaboration, and better economic and environmental outcomes, which is regarded as social innovation (Choi and Majumdar, 2015; Soma et al., 2018; Slee, 2019). While the technological and social innovations are interwoven at

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the conceptual level, there is little known about it at the practical level. In this section, the criteria for evaluation of social innovation outcomes as a result of technological advancements are developed based on the literature. Studies on social innovation are ever-increasing in a wide range from socioecological and urban resilience (Baker and Mehmood, 2015; Mehmood, 2016), economic development (Leitheiser and Follmann, 2020), and political (Leitheiser and Follmann, 2020) and regional development (Sarkki et al., 2019). In general, the literature considers social innovation as a tool that generates new practices, ideas, and initiatives that meet societal needs (Ulug and Horlings, 2019). This type of innovation aims at contributing to social change and empowerment (Soma et al., 2018). In the context of regional development, Neumeier (2017) looked into the success of social innovation in rural areas. The author identified three tiers of factors; the network of actors, participation process, and success of the overall innovation process are all identified as imperative. These three factors highlight the importance of a bottom-up approach in initiating and leading social innovation to success. Similarly, in the case of forest governance in Ukraine, Sarkki et al. (2019) outlined a series of findings, which point to the important role of local experts and interconnection of different local services in moving from authoritative state-based to participatory governance. The local association is also identified as a significant driver for conservation and management of natural parks in Costa Rica (Castro-Arce et al., 2019). Many studies investigated social innovation from a sustainable urban development perspective. Ardill and Lemes de Oliveira (2018) defined three categories of spatial planning and community, governance, and coproduction and service design in their study on 114 publications from 2002 to 2018. Their findings suggest that the social innovation process is as significant as the outcome. In addition, like that of rural and regional areas, the role of local users is deemed just as important in the success of social innovation. They also indicate the role of place-specific practices as one other important factor. This later factor was also highlighted by Ulug and Horlings (2019), who looked into social innovation in rural, peri-urban, and urban community gardens in the North of the Netherlands. One of the important contributing factors of social innovation in sustainability is urban resilience (Mehmood, 2016; Ulug and Horlings, 2019). In the context of urban development and social change, Mehmood (2016) discovered that the basic needs of the people can be fulfilled by social innovation, which acts as the fundamental requirement for long-term resilience to social, economic, and environmental change. Over the last 5 years, several studies have conceptualized social innovation to harmonize its meaning and determine its dimensions for further academic research. Choi and Majumdar (2015) conceptualized social innovation in the context of social value creation. Their proposed model comprised three dimensions: formalization, change process, and social outcomes (Fig. 10.2).

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FIG.  10.2  Conceptualization model of social innovation. (Source: Modified from Choi, N., Majumdar, S., 2015. Social innovation: towards a conceptualisation. In: Technology and Innovation for Social Change. Springer India, New Delhi, pp. 7–34. doi:10.1007/978-81-322-2071-8_2.)

The dimension of formalization refers to social innovation’s specific characteristics and its own properties, which can be explicitly defined and formalized. For instance, in the city context social innovation can be a product, such as a new idea for urban community gardens developed in the North of the Netherlands (Ulug and Horlings, 2019). This product is explicitly designed to respond to a societal need, which is a service with a new business model for social change and community empowerment in the context of the Northern Netherlands. The second dimension, which is called “change process,” refers to the context, social structures, and settings in which social innovations are implemented. This aspect highlights the process of changes, which can be replicated in different contexts. The third dimension is in fact an evaluation of the values generated by the first and second dimensions. It will determine how changing everyday practices and social structures by introducing new ideas and products has improved human and environmental well-being. Using the social innovation framework developed by Choi and Majumdar (2015), this chapter examines the role of smart IoT strategy as a new product

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in Dubai’s context for generating happiness among the community. In doing this, the next three sections will look at the formalization, change process, and social outcomes of happiness, which is considered to be an indicator of human well-being in Dubai.

10.3  Formalization: Historical development paths of the smart city in Dubai As one of the seven Emirates that constitute the UAE in the Gulf region, Dubai has a population of above 3 million. The population growth in Dubai has been incredibly strong, which ranked the city among the world’s 10 fastest-growing cities, with the highest population growth at an annual average of 6.5% between 1990 and 2015 (Salem, 2016). The emirate plays a crucial role in the regional economy as a vibrant hub, offering competitive services for tourism, logistics and trades, financial services, real estate, retail, and most recently in healthcare and education (Bishr et al., 2019). Given the rapid technological development and its adoption in all levels of public and private sectors in Dubai during the last two decades, the Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum emphasized human well-being as the core of Smart Dubai in which happiness is considered an underpinning parameter to measure the quality of life of citizens, visitors, investors, and other stakeholders (Bishr and Lootah, 2016; Labaki et al., 2017). Dubai’s commitment to government excellence and digital city transformation started in 1995 (Bishr and Lootah, 2016). Then, in 1999 the government announced Dubai’s ICT strategy. As a significant initiative, in October 1999, TECOM Investments, a subsidiary of the state-owned firm Dubai Holding, formed Dubai Internet City (DIC), which was the UAE’s first ICT-focused free economic zone. The new business opened in January 2000, which was successful in attracting an initial group of 100 companies and there has been substantial growth since then (Oxford Business Group, 2016). These initiatives played a foundational role in establishing Dubai’s E-Government program in 2001 and opening a new government office in 2009 (Khan et al., 2017a,b). Consequently, 2013 marked the establishment of Dubai’s Smart Government, which followed with the formation of Smart Dubai’s Executive Committee in 2014, and then the opening of the Smart Dubai Office by 2015 (Bishr and Lootah, 2016; Khan et al., 2017a). The center of focus in Smart Dubai’s initiative is people, with the vision “To become the happiest city on earth” (Bishr et al., 2019, p. 36). The Happiness Agenda in the Smart Dubai strategy was designed as an innovative idea to harness technological development for social change. This agenda is a strategic plan, which offers a new business model for the government to leverage already developed digital and physical infrastructures such as IoT and Dubai’s airport.

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In terms of IoT, according to Oxford Business Group (2016), Dubai provides the biggest opportunity in its region for smart solutions such as connected cars, given the significant amount of car, high-tech broadband Internet, and telecommunication (e.g., 3G-4G) ownership. This led to private sector firms developing smart solutions and technologies in Dubai. For instance, Cisco UAE was one of the contributors in bringing all government services and infrastructures online to increase the connectivity between government and residents. Reviewing the government reports, it is clear that the top administration believes that the city’s infrastructure, policies, and strategic plans are well-designed and legislated to bring social change. Through the Happiness Agenda, the government intends to understand social demands and provide services and tools to increase the quality of life and level of satisfaction. We hope to discover people’s wants and needs, to inspire positive change, to build awareness and encourage self-reflection, and to predict the impact of happiness by using our city-wide Happiness Index.a

From a physical infrastructure perspective, according to Bishr et al. (2019), Dubai is home to the world’s busiest airport, the world’s tallest building and the 9th largest port in the world. The government-led initiatives for technological and social innovation (Oxford Business Group, 2016) have been supported by key actors including private sectors. As mentioned above, Cisco is one of the key actors in this initiative (Oxford Business Group, 2016). In addition, the government partnered with world renowned innovative research groups such as Senseable City Lab based in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Incorporating public and private sector partnership and stakeholder engagement, Dubai’s smart city strategy will be implemented until 2021, with emphasis on the six dimensions of living, governance, environment, economy, mobility, and people (Bishr et al., 2019).

10.4  Change process: Dubai’s city-wide transformation into a smart city In the process of transforming Dubai to a smart city and achieving the “happiest city on earth” status, several activities have been designed and will be implemented. As mentioned in the previous section, Smart Dubai, that was launched in 2017, targets the completion of four significant milestones by 2021 (Bishr et al., 2019): 1. Creating seamless city experiences and a paperless city. 2. Using shared and open data as a strategic asset to achieve city impact. 3. Creating internal government efficiency as a strategic competitive advantage. 4. Establishing a global and city-wide robust inclusive ecosystem accelerating Smart Dubai implementation. a. https://www.smartdubai.ae/initiatives/happiness-agenda.

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In response to the requirements for the vision of “happiest city on earth,” Smart Dubai started a new social practice by forming a community of “happiness champions” to diffuse the culture of happiness in more than 50 public and private service providers. This initiative was emphasizing technological development. The main technological advancements considered in this process are Blockchain, AI, and IoT. The underpinning program for achieving happiness through technological advancement was changing the city experience through cases such as daily transport to work, establishing new business, property transactions, and using education facilities. In changing the city experience, while the government played a leading role, engaging with different government departments such as the Department of Economic Development, as well as private entities and end users (e.g., the city’s entrepreneurial community) in codesigning the process and implementation was crucial. As an example, according to Bishr et al. (2019), after announcing the city’s AI roadmap in 2017, 43 out of 104 AI use cases have been implemented through the involvement of 13 government and 10 industrial sectors. The use cases are specific situations, in which the AI could potentially be used as a product or service. This will enhance the relationships of different sectors, which generates a new structure for interconnection of public and private sectors. For instance, the Shams Dubai project allows the electricity users (residents, commercial, and other users) to install solar photovoltaic panels and generate their own energy. The power generated in each building can be connected to the city’s power distribution network (DEWA) and an incentive returns to the customers, who contribute to the network out of the surplus consumption (Labaki et al., 2017). In addition, the Dubai Blockchain Strategy was introduced by the government as a plan for the modernization of government to support the future economy. This initiative is set to enhance the efficiency of all government transactions adopting the Blockchain by 2020, which also supports establishment of 1000 new businesses (Labaki et al., 2017). This strategy identified 20 use cases engaging public and private sectors and a roadmap for implementation in order to conduct smart controls on third parties and transactions (Bishr et al., 2019). From an IoT perspective, implementing broadband Internet infrastructure, the mobile penetration rate grew by more than 2.5 times in 2019. In addition, adoption of this digital infrastructure in more than 95% of public and private entities provides an opportunity for highly connected city-wide resources including utilities, roads and transport, as well as buildings and ports, to improve the city’s performance and management (Bishr et al., 2019). The diffusion of happiness in Dubai’s community is based on other best practices and adopted in Dubai’s local structure, and this appeals to the components and definition of change process in the social innovation framework (Fig. 10.2). As an example, Dubai played a crucial role in the Global Happiness Council and adopted best practices as well as contributed to the network of members (The Global Happiness Council, 2018). The Global Happiness Council is

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a global network of leading academic specialists in happiness, who are leading practitioners in areas such as urban planning, economics, and psychology (The Global Happiness Council, 2018).

10.5  Social outcomes: Becoming the happiest city on earth Smart Dubai launched in 2017, and there are many reports available on the progress of this strategy. As mentioned before, this is a 5-year strategy concluding in 2021. As such, it might be too soon to see and assess tangible changes in public and private entities. However, this section investigates methods of measuring and monitoring social outcomes that the actors put in place in Dubai’s context. Two simple- and easy-to-use tools are implemented to collect the happiness data and measure city experiences. These are the Happiness Meter and a Dashboard that delivers a city-wide view of people’s happiness. The Happiness Meter is in the form of mobile devices and desktop application, which can capture the live city sentiment and transfer the data for generating the map of happiness at the city level. This allows the measurement and monitoring of people’s level of satisfaction within industry sectors by geographic areas. Dubai’s legislation passed a Data Law in 2015, in which data can be shared seamlessly, safely, and securely. This regulation is used in measuring happiness for social and economic benefits in the context of the smart city and opens anonymous data to the users to be hosted, analyzed and visualized in the city Dashboard (Smart Dubai, 2020). According to Bishr et al. (2019), the Happiness Meter has been implemented in more than 4000 points. The data collected from 2015 to 2018 out of 22 million entries indicated an overall 90% happiness rating at the city level. However, the reports have not indicated the ratio of happiness based on sectors and there is little data available on spatial distribution patterns of human well-being in the city area. According to Salem (2016), at the end of the first phase of Smart Dubai implementation, some cross-governmental transformations can be observed. Creating the new culture of openness and transparency as well as a collaborative governance approach are considered as new features in the traditional sector-based governance style of Dubai. Nevertheless, the reports have not reflected an in-depth study on the social change outcomes as a result of Dubai’s data and smart city strategies.

10.6  Discussion and conclusion This chapter set out to identify the underpinning drivers and actors of the Smart Dubai initiative and to highlight the model that this city-state formulated in promoting technologies for social inclusion policies. The chapter examined literature and official reports to answer questions about the formalization, change process, and social outcomes of social innovation through technological innovation in Dubai.

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Back to the first question of this study: “How has Smart Dubai been encouraged by technological innovation and how has this initiative encouraged innovation in the city?” The Smart Dubai strategy was formulated after a number of fundamental initiatives were put in place starting from the 1990s. The technological innovation as well as government’s insight on using smart technologies and capabilities as a new business model to service the residents and visitors are underpinning reasons for Smart Dubai. The partnership of the government with high profile vendors such as Cisco and world-class research and development entities such as the MIT Senseable City Lab encouraged innovation in the city. The flourishing economy and penetration of digital infrastructure into the everyday life of residents, businesses, and industries have played a crucial role in pursuing the Smart Dubai strategies from 2017 to 2021. In response to the second question, “What are key drivers to Smart Dubai's practices?,” this study found that the major drivers for the Smart Dubai strategy are business opportunities and market demand. Dubai’s status as a global hub in the Middle East is without a doubt one of the key parameters that encourage technological innovations. Integrating the digital economy and attracting constant global talent have been maintained in every policy and development strategy of Dubai. Proof of this is rapid population growth in the last 25 years. The government’s entrepreneurial approach in adopting new legislation for cultural change in governance and diffusing openness, transparency, and satisfaction in cross-governmental sectors are other key drivers. Dubai’s involvement in the global digital economy as well as global social sustainability can also be considered as other drivers for initiating technological advancements. In answering the third question, “Who have been the key actors in Smart Dubai's initiation and implementation?,” this study identified the role of government as a key actor in the formalization of technological and social innovation. The government’s desire to “discover people’s wants and needs” aligns with the findings of Mehmood (2016), who related the community’s resilience to social innovation that addresses people’s fundamental demands. The smart solutions, including high-tech vendors, scientists, and other service providers (e.g., utilities), have partnered with the government in this journey in implementing new approaches for providing services to residents and visitors. Finally, to address the last question, “How has Smart Dubai enhanced productivity, sustainability and livability?,” this study highlighted the role of Smart Dubai in enhancing productivity in several sectors including tourism, retail, real estate, and services provided by different government departments. The strategic approach of “being the happiest city on earth” has many social implications, which enhances the quality of life for the residents. Developing measurement tools and analytic dashboards enable the public and private sectors to understand the implications of policy making and development strategies. While there are many reports on Dubai’s leadership in smart government transformation (Oxford Business Group, 2016; Labaki et al., 2017), there is little known

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about the successful implementation and use of happiness strategies in social outcomes of local residents. The challenge of delivering happiness was also discussed in the Labaki et al. (2017) report, which needs further in-depth study. Given the high-density urban population of Dubai, it is also important to see how Smart Dubai's strategy and future development plan, including Dubai Plan 2021 (Government of Dubai, 2014), address environmental issues.

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Chapter 11

The circulation of the Smart City imaginary in the Chilean context: A case study of a collaborative platform for governing security Martin Tironia and Camila Albornozb a

Design School, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, bPontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Chapter outline 11.1 Introduction 11.2 The emergence of the idea of smartness 11.3 Being and doing smart through experimentation and pilot projects 11.4 The circuit of the Smart City in Chile: An ambiguous and polysomic catalyst 11.4.1 The Smart City as technological enterprise and innovation in the city 11.4.2 A Smart City with a citizen air 11.4.3 The Smart City from the state

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11.5 Platform-based ecosystem of security: The Case of SoSafe 11.5.1 SoSafe: A platform for coordinating urban safety 11.5.2 Programmers’ work: Projecting urban life 11.5.3 Negotiation with municipalities 11.5.4 The users: What happened with my report? 11.6 Final remarks: The emerging of platform urbanism? Acknowledgments References

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11.1 Introduction Over the past few years, the concept of the Smart City has become an important part of urban discourses and practices in Santiago, the capital of Chile (Tironi and Valderrama, 2018a; Tironi, 2019), inserting it in management patterns developed in other world capitals (Campbell, 2012; Greenfield, 2013; Kitchin, 2014). Although there is more than one definition of the concept of Smart City, Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00011-3 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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the notion of smartness is reconfiguring ways of understanding the relationship between citizens, services, and urban governance (Marvin et  al., 2015). Regardless of the level of development and geographic location, the basic premise is that the development of Big Data, algorithmic automation and the ubiquitous internet of things will make cities capable of managing life in a more efficient and coordinated manner, thus improving issues of sustainability, urban growth, security, participation, and innovation (Campbell, 2012). Smart urbanism offers increasingly automated and intelligent management protocols through applications, sensors, platforms, and algorithms. By virtue of these protocols, multiple stakeholders such as local governments, companies, and citizens can make more and better informed decisions (Yesner, 2013) in such diverse areas as mobility, security, citizen participation, energy, and climate change. In this chapter, we will understand the concept of Smart City as a sociotechnical imaginary (Jasanoff and Kim, 2015), that is, as a set of visions sustained by infrastructures, practices, and more or less shared meanings of social life which in turn reveal futures that are desirable for a society (Jasanoff and Kim, 2015, p. 4). In this sense, the notion of Smart City mobilizes certain sociotechnical imaginaries that, on one hand, indicates what is desirable through the use of technology and, on the other hand, informs us of how cities should be managed. As we will show, the introduction of the term Smart City in Santiago is due to its nature as a floating and ambiguous signifier. Sometimes the concept is associated with sustainability or technological innovation, enterprises or creative urban spaces, data-driven decisions, or e-citizenship. In other words, it’s not only a way of referring to solutions in the city, but it’s also a form of adding value to certain urban projects in a context that some call “platform capitalism” (Srnicek, 2017), which seeks to produce and refine the data generated by citizens themselves. In this context, the goal of this chapter is to show how the sociotechnical imaginary of the Smart City has been translated into the city of Santiago. Ranked first in Latin America in the 2019 list of the smartest cities in the region (by IESE Cities in Motion), over the past few years, Santiago has become a laboratory of Smart initiatives. The “cultural circuit” of the Smart City in Santiago has been configured through a network of heterogeneous actors, converting the ambiguity of the concept into a resource for articulating different visions and interests. Beyond the defined and uniform vision of the city, we show that the Smart City emerges as a catalyst of innovations and enterprises, articulating public-private partnerships in diverse areas. As such, the smart imaginary is not only accompanied by technologies, but also includes discourses about desirable futures, circulation networks and significance, organizational models and knowledge production and several seminars, competitions, and fairs that provide visibility/legitimacy to the services and expectations associated with this new way of conceiving cities. This chapter is organized into four sections. The first section presents a review of the discussion around the term “smart urbanism,” exploring the concepts of the platform and sociotechnical experiments. In the second section, we

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describe the trajectory of the concept of Smart City in Chile based on a dozen interviews with various stakeholders involved in exploring this concept. Although the actors identified three ways of operationalizing the notion of Smart City (civic, business, and state), we will show that the concept mainly functions as a container of multiple visions and that its content is filled ad hoc, based on the stakeholders’ needs. In the third section, based on a multisituated ethnography, we explore the case of the SoSafe platform, a private software company, whose app has been called “the Waze of security.” The goal of this company is to sell access to a platform that allows governments to manage reports and visualize them with geolocalization. Thus, municipalities could “create safer neighborhoods” by connecting with citizens, services, and institutions—police stations, firefighter’s companies, and some private health-care centers to optimize response times in case of emergencies reported by residents. Through an analysis of institutional coordination processes and the description of back end work that programmers do to code the large amount of data produced by users, we will show the urban implications of governing security through platforms. Finally, we conclude with some reflections on the scope and limits of the expansion of the idea of platform urbanism.

11.2  The emergence of the idea of smartness Over the past few years, a growing distrust has emerged which questions acquainting modern urbanization with urbanity. Megacities have become paradigmatic spaces of environmental and social unsustainability, characteristics associated with pollution, congestion, overcrowding, insecurity, and anonymity. The increasing concentration of population in cities (according to the UN, each month nearly 200,000 people move to urban areas) and the impact that this has on the quality of life have given rise to approaches designed to build more “resilient,” “intelligent,” and “friendly” territories that are environmentally sustainable. The inability to continue to act under the canons and formulas that we have always used has generated the need to experiment with new urban paradigms, to respond and organize the complex and growing demands of contemporary cities. The emergence and circulation of the Smart City must be understood in this context (Luque-Ayala and Marvin, 2015). Pilot projects and different types of experimentation are currently proliferating, with programs and strategies developed in different geographic locations oriented toward creating the idea of a city connected by sensors and data. The notion of the Smart City has been used since 2005 by large companies in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry such as Siemens, Cisco Systems and then IBM in 2008 with its “Smarter Planet” initiative. For the latter, making cities more intelligent would consist of introducing digital sensors and devices to capture data on multiple urban variables, the application of complex information systems that process these data in an integrated or interconnected manner and with it,

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the ­optimization of processes, operations and services of urban infrastructure (Harrison and Donnelly, 2011). Thus, the Smart City concept identifies the city as a potential market for the development of technological solutions, both at the level of management of urban infrastructure as well as at the level of resident services (Söderström et al., 2014). One of the most important presumptions of the Smart paradigm is that the boom of digital data would be presenting us with a new era in the ways of making decisions (Shah et al., 2012; Mayer-Schönberger and Cukier, 2013). This new way of governing the city would have repercussions in the immediacy of the decision-making process (Beer, 2016), and in the ways of designing and making urban policies. In the same way, digital mediations through platforms, smartphones, and other digital tools promote the automation of different functions of the city, contributing to a more efficient urban coordination. Rabari and Storper (2014) argue that sensors embedded ubiquitously in the city are creating a “digital skin” that transforms the city and its multiple components into a source of Big Data. Through this datafication of urban space, some academics argue the emergence of digital citizenship (Isin and Ruppert, 2015) in which citizens become data sensors and then provide useful information for decisionmaking, allowing new forms of participation (Goodchild, 2007). In this sense, the Smart City not only focusses on introducing new technologies in the city, but also looks to create new networks of collective collaboration and intelligence—civic apps and platforms—that allow for better coordination between institutions and citizens. In response to these visions, several authors have begun to denounce the technocratic and corporativist nature of datafication processes that accompany the notion of the Smart City (Hollands, 2008; Vanolo, 2014; Söderström, 2014; Shelton et al., 2015). Experiments of cities designed almost completely based on business agendas would end up lacking urban vitality and spontaneity. There is also a criticism of the excessive regulatory and technologically oriented burden, that promotes a technocratic model of urban government (Greenfield, 2013; Hollands, 2008, 2015; Morozov, 2013; Vanolo, 2014; Kitchin, 2014; March and Ribera-Fumaz, 2016; Sennet, 2012). In these journals, the authors argue that many of their solutions ignore the specificities of local contexts, and for this very reason, risk encouraging a process of homogenization of the urban space. This focus on technological solutions before urban planning precipitates forms of depoliticization and neoliberalization of the city (Hollands, 2008). Therefore, the city is governed by a technocratic logic that uses the supposed neutrality of data and technological instruments. This would be at the expense of public vocation and participation in cities (Vanolo, 2014; Sennet, 2012; Lombardi and Vanolo, 2015). Likewise, Gabrys (2016) warns that this form of government seeks the regulation of behaviors and relational flows of individuals through programming and coding of urban environments, which is a process that the author calls environmentality (p.187). Some scholars have questioned the new forms of information asymmetry that are generated in

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­platform ­societies (Van Dijck et al., 2018) between citizens and major telecommunications companies, between the majority that generates data and a minority that enjoys the access, ownership, and tools necessary to process that data (Andrejevic, 2014). In this way, this pretended “citizenship” of smart cities can establish in practice new passive forms of frictionless and effortless citizenship (Tenney and Sieber, 2016).

11.3  Being and doing smart through experimentation and pilot projects One of the characteristics that require special analytical attention in the context of the sociotechnical imaginary in Chile that we are analyzing is related to the experimental approach to the city (Tironi and Criado, 2015; Tironi, 2019). Under the Smart City imaginary, the experimental practice or the idea of governing by pilots or trials becomes an increasingly common form of urban intervention (Evans et al., 2016; Tironi and Valderrama, 2018a; Tironi, 2019). That is, experimentation is seen as a legitimate way to confront the challenges of cities and to transition to the Smart City. Based on the need to innovate in different ways of facing the future challenges of large cities, experimentation provides an alternative to direct these changes and move toward smarter cities. This leads the spokespeople for smart solutions to present their services, products, or solutions as experimental activities or pilots. The city is an entity that can be intervened, tested, and calculated under the logic of a controlled laboratory. It is no accident that most of the stakeholders who seek access to the smart cities market use a semantics associated with this experimental logic of trial and error customarily found in laboratories, articulating their discourses around terms like the urban lab, living lab, pilot projects, open innovation, future labs or lab governance. Some authors have called this mode of intervention and urban governance test-bed urbanism (Halpern et al., 2013), a form of intervention and urban governance where cities—and those who live in them—are subjected to the logics of trial and error on a large scale. For instance, in response to the need to move toward sustainable cities, China and India are promoting an extremely ambitious politics based on the development of Smart City pilots and experiments in which states and transnational corporations work together (Karvonen et al., 2018). On the other hand, in Latin America, Santiago de Chile has recently become a showcase for experiments and interventions in the field of services and policies focused on promoting a pretended Smart City (Tironi, 2016; Tironi and Valderrama, 2018b;). These pilot and experimental initiatives are not conceived as closed and stabilized solutions, but as “learning” laboratories where it is demonstrated that certain changes are feasible (Tironi and Valderrama, 2018a). As we will see, using this logic of generating scalable and coordinated changes, Smart City initiatives implemented in Santiago combine logics of market, state, and citizenry.

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Above all, there are at least three characteristics of smart experimentations that are important to highlight in the case of the Chilean Smart City circuit: ●

●

●

First, they are protocols that outline areas, niches, or spaces of intervention. For example, a citizen’s monitoring device focused on environmental pollution will outline the spatial and temporal limits of its test to explore solutions in a specific urban reality, and from there determine its scaling (Tironi and Valderrama, 2018a). This outlining allows the possibility of controlling the results, and then finds a way to scale them. Second, these experiments tend to base their legitimacy on the fact that they involve citizens or users (this aspect is evident in the case of SoSafe). This resource serves to emphasize the fact that this type of project is open to feedback from ordinary people or “normal” citizens (Harrison and Donnelly, 2011). This tends to be invoked as an added value of Smart City experiments because their forms of production of knowledge are no longer based on abstract models produced in closed laboratories. Third, Smart experiments are conceived as creative spaces and innovation spaces in forms of urban governance and planning. They are conceived of as spaces in which it is possible to facilitate certain changes or models that “push” transition actions (Bulkeley and Castán Broto, 2013). For example, one distinctive characteristic of these forms of “urban innovation” is their interest in connecting private companies and public institutions with experiences and needs of everyday urban life (Evans et al., 2016).

11.4  The circuit of the Smart City in Chile: An ambiguous and polysomic catalyst In the pages that follow, we explore the main discourses and meanings associated with the Smart City discourse in Chile, to characterize the modes in which the concept has been operationalized and translated by local stakeholders.a Three main areas were identified in which the concept is invoked and utilized: business, citizen, and state. These stakeholders co-produce the Smart City circuit in Chile, appropriating multiple approaches and promoting dynamics of collaboration and coordination. Thrift (2005) uses the term “cultural circuits” to examine the network of stakeholders and entities that allow for the dissemination, legitimation, and visibility of capitalism. The interesting thing is that this “cultural circuit” of capitalism is not only constituted by a hard corpus of scientific knowledge and technologies of production, but also by “soft” elements including discourses, competitions, seminars, and business schools among others which constitute “soft capitalism.” Then, we will show that in Chile the notion of the Smart City a. The findings presented here are based on a study conducted in 2016 and 2017 in order to understand the varied definitions of the concept of the Smart City in Chile. This study was based on interviews with different stakeholders and the development of a survey around the use of the concept of Smart City between 2014 and 2017.

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is a soft concept that is in constantly becoming. Stakeholders mobilize it ambiguously and rhetorically, operating in a significant vacuum: its content and specific qualities are filled in by stakeholders based on their agendas and needs.

11.4.1  The Smart City as technological enterprise and innovation in the city The notion of the Smart City began to circulate with relative strength among local stakeholders in 2011, when the cities of Valparaíso and Antofagasta agreed on a collaborative alliance with IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge program. The program consisted of strategic advising with experts from the multinational corporation. Together, they provided an assessment about different urban problems, and a projection of possible technological solutions in areas such as energy, water, and transportation, among others. Although this collaboration didn’t lead to the implementation of smart infrastructure, it did identify the need to incorporate a Smart City vision into the planning of urban life. However, one of the main forms of utilizing and signifying the notion of the Smart City is connected to the world of technological enterprises and innovation. The great majority of Smart City initiatives present a strong demonstrative and pedagogical character, that is, make visible digital technologies and innovations that can be implemented in the city, and at the same time these initiatives are validated as smart initiatives by integrating them into different projects. On the other hand, there are numerous conferences and seminarsb organized around the concept which usually combine demonstrations of products and success stories, awards, and sessions with national and international experts who discuss the challenges of the city in the digital era. These seminars have played a fundamental role in the evangelization and construction of local storytelling (Söderström et al., 2014) around how the notion of Smart City is narrated and packaged, and its meaning. Most of the time, these seminars are founded by leading national or international corporations in the area of ICTs and focus on validating and celebrating this type of development. They tend to have an important emphasis on the competitiveness of cities in terms of Smart City rankings, revealing the aspects that are required to turn a city into a more intelligent space. To that end, they tend to display spectacular productions held in important convention spaces or hotels. As mentioned by one of the hosts of these events: “In the Smart City ecosystem, everyone has to know what it is about or how to get in and develop a project in this area… So, we have to be able to help ensure that there is no information asymmetry through seed capital incentives in order to be able to generate that type of initiative and motivate entrepreneurs to be able to develop them.” In addition, with these seminars the circulation of the concept of Smart City has been more precisely defined and disseminated through technological b. City Do Smart City; Smart City Summit, Arica; Smartcity: The Second Innovation and Enterprise Summit; the Smart City Conference in Pucón, 2017, Grand Prix Wit City, and others.

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e­ nterprise competitions, which are mainly generated by universities, ­companies, and government entities.c In these cases, the concept refers less to a vision of the city and more to a business and innovation opportunity to capture more clients through the development of new technologies. In this sense, and as one of the individuals responsible for the competitions points out, “entrepreneurship is one of the main drivers of the development of the Smart City; it is what allows it to be introduced in the city.” It is important to note that the entrepreneurship competitions are very important in the Smart City ecosystem because they certify what is or is not Smart. The contest “Temuco Smart City 2016,” illustrates this manner of understanding the notion of the Smart City as an opportunity for entrepreneurship and business, “Promoting and strengthening the development of technological undertakings in the early-stage with global potential from the Araucanía Region through the technical-commercial validation of solutions based on ICT tools focused on solving real problems posed by various stakeholders in the city of Temuco” (Temuco Smart City, 2016, p. 2.).

11.4.2  A Smart City with a citizen air At the same time, the deployment of these instances connected to the validation and signification of the concept of Smart City has expanded over the past few years into a “participatory,” “citizen,” or “bottom-up” component in the Smart City interventions. In Chile and elsewhere in the world there are discussions regarding how the “smart citizen” aspect can be incorporated into the implementation of Smart Cities (Tironi and Valderrama, 2018a). In this way, and creating a distance from a technologically oriented definition, various stakeholders (NGOs, foundations, collectives) begin to utilize the notion of Smart City for the development of their own projects. While Smart City projects used to focus on the “triple helix” of government, academia, and industry, these stakeholders seek to expand the definition of the concept, incorporating the role of citizen participation that has begun to be highly valued as an indicator of a city’s intelligence. As one interviewed stakeholder stated, “Although the concept of smart city has strongly technological components in the market and in industry, we are saying that a smart city is mainly comprised of human capacities.” Under this citizen understanding of the notion of Smart City, one of the concerns is how to incorporate people into urban policy design processes, trying to move citizens from a position of client to one of co-designer. If the definition is associated with entrepreneurship, the Smart City provides feedback between data produced by users and businesses that capture these data to improve services, but the “smart citizen” concept uses the notion of citizens involved in their surroundings. FabLab Santiago has been one of the main supporters of this concept and has developed various projects using the Smart Citizen Kit. This is c. Muevett; Desafío metropolitano; Valparaíso Smart City; Torneo de Emprendimiento tecnológico Temuco Smart city; Subsidio Semilla: Ciudad e Industria Inteligente—Araucanía, among others.

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a digital platform for generating citizen participation processes in the collection of environmental data through digital sensing devices. As one of the FabLab Santiago directors explains, “The Smart Citizen Kit offers a profound critique of the corporate vision of the Smart City, that centralized data collection unit. We bring that to the people, seeking to democratise and distribute knowledge to the people. The sensor was very successful due to this, because it was the first technological object linked to the smart city that placed people at the center.” Another interviewee from a tactical urbanism organization stated, “Our goal is to improve cities through citizen participation. We are not interested in focusing on technologies. Our objective as an organisation is to try to build the city collectively.” Many of the practices of these Smart City collectives are articulated around imaginaries linked to free exchange and free software, collaborative economy, the use of technologies like Arduino, 3D printers, Linux, TechShop, RepRap, etc., and the proliferation of discourses on the “fourth industrial revolution,” hacker culture, Do It Yourself (DIY), Do-ocracy, etc. The distance that exists between the business sector and the citizens, locates the notion of Smart City in a dual ambivalence. On one hand, we find the technologized city that locates the citizen in the role of citizen-sensor, providing information to a large data cloud; on the other hand, there is the bottom-up city of innovation that generates its own solutions on the margins of other institutional bodies in a DIY logic. At the same time, they are aware that a large part of their ability to develop projects with public impacts depends on alliances with these private or public stakeholders. In this way, many of their practices and disruptive discourses regarding the institutional structure and the company are absorbed and capitalized by more canonical concepts of the Smart City.

11.4.3  The Smart City from the state From the state, the notion of Smart City has found extraordinary resonance with a diversity of funds and agencies responsible for supporting initiatives under the rhetoric of Smart Cities. In response to the fear that the concept has been monopolized by private stakeholders, the state has sought to position itself as a leading actor in this “cultural circuit” of the Smart City in Chile, promoting different strategic lines. One of the most patent tests of the introduction of the smart concept in the state at the urban level can be seen in the creation of the Transportation Ministry’s Smart City Unit, which is designed to generate smart solutions for mobility. The initiative that best reflects this need to develop Smart City projects on the part of the state is the “Sé Santiago” platform. Created in 2015 and promoted by the Production Development Corporation (CORFO), the program has a heterogeneous board comprised of representatives of civil society, technological industry, and academia. From this instance, they define the concept of Smart City as “an urban strategy in the use of social innovation technologies and tools to improve quality of life in the city.” The strategy is to develop social and technological

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capital, transforming the Santiago Metropolitan Area into a Smart City focusing on three priority areas: Smart Mobility, Public Safety and Environment. The performance of Sé Santiago is based on a process called “gap identification” in the areas mentioned above in which program members, often ­accompanied by external efforts, discuss priority problems. The multisectoral nature of the program recognizes different dimensions of urban problems. As one of the program hosts noted in an interview, “The first thing we had to do was identify the gaps that exist in the city. In order to do so, we had to coordinate the perspectives of different stakeholders.” Once these gaps and challenges were identified, Sé Santiago issued calls for NGOs, companies, and entrepreneurs to provide specific solutions. One of the managers of the agency explains, “In the first competition, we had 30 entrepreneurs with Smart City solutions on mobility, environment and security issues. Nobody had ever used CORFO seed capitals with a Smart City approach and in three areas—it was unprecedented within the State.” These different forms of approaching the Smart City concept reveal that more than a precise definition, the different local stakeholders use the concept based on their respective interests. Although no stakeholder in this local circuit claims to have the key to the operation of Smart Cities, all of them are looking to become “a mandatory stop” for others, trying to position themselves based on diverse methodologies and agendas, languages, and emphases, protocols and visions.

11.5  Platform-based ecosystem of security: The Case of SoSafe Below we will address the case of SoSafe, a digital platform created under the Smart City imaginary that is currently one of the most popular Chilean applications, being used in 27 municipalities throughout the country. The goal of SoSafe is to improve urban safety through a platform that connects municipalities, neighbors, and services, decreasing response times in emergency situations. The logic behind SoSafe could be understood as “Platform Capitalism” in which “platforms are digital infrastructures that enable two or more groups to interact” (Srnicek, 2017, p. 43), and use digital datafication processes to activate various functions of exchange, information or services. Generally, platforms designed to manage urban spaces like SoSafe have become very popular because they are mainly designed as “algorithm machines” capable to address a diverse set of tasks automatically, quickly, and efficiently (Gillespie, 2012). Thanks to these programming capabilities, SoSafe has been highlighted as a social innovation in the Chilean cultural circuit, being presented as a technological solution and becoming an important part of the storytelling of Smartness, in events such as Sé Santiago by CORFO, DoSmart, and SmartCityValpo 2018, among others. In the paragraphs that follow, we seek to open the SoSafe’s “black box,” exploring the different sociotechnical aspects that orbit around this platform and the type of urban coordination that they display. This platform must satisfy strong expectations held by municipalities and users in a context where the

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­ arket provides services that used to be only managed by the state (Cardullo m and Kitchin, 2019). For this case, it is urban security.

11.5.1  SoSafe: A platform for coordinating urban safety In 2013, Cristian, one of the founders of SoSafe began to think about a prototype for one of the most popular Chilean digital platforms. One single event triggered his need to develop a new smart platform (see Fig. 11.1) to manage urban safety in Santiago de Chile. One day, he received a phone call that he did not answer. Minutes later, his sister told him that their home was being robbed. He remembers that it took him 30 min to return home and at the same time the police were arriving.

FIG. 11.1  User browsing through report categories.

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After this experience, he began to identify problems in his neighborhood: the residents did not know each other and were not aware of emergencies occurring in the area. As such, they were unsure whom to contact in case of emergency. Cristian thought it would be possible to create a Smart security system that could be used “even if the mobile phone is destroyed [during an emergency], using pre-loaded information that remains stored,” he explains. He created SoSafe in 2014 with a business partner, following the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) logic, which creates a simple base for a product on which different iterations can be programming to update it over time. This MVP allowed him to create a panic button in which was possible to save 10 contacts, and in case of emergency, these contacts assigned by the user received an alert. Initially, the interface and functions were minimalistic. There were no report categories and users decided which events deserved to be reported. However, this allowed developers “to see with data” (Jasanoff, 2017), for which events were reported and the interface was modulated based on this data visualization. In later updates, a security category was created that includes: robbery, vehicle theft, accidents, commotion, home burglary, and other events. With these initial functionalities and a group of local governments that were interested in the app, gradually, the concept of security was redefined based on diverse requirements. For instance, it was determined that a traffic light problem and damaged lighting could be “unsafe situations.” In this way, The Neighborhood category was created—and the current interface was designed—to make it possible to report malfunctioning streetlights, abandoned vehicles, damaged bus stops, trash, no manhole cover, among others. The SoSafe ecology can be summarized as follows: ●

● ● ●

●

A report is generated through the app by selecting a category and adding a brief description. An automated response is generated by municipal staff. The user is contacted by phone to request more detailed information. Security personnel are dispatched to the location. If the report goes beyond the scope of municipal management, the company that provides the service is contacted (i.e., in case of a power outage). Finally, security agents close the report by describing the status of the event.

Finally, SoSafe as a private software company uses the business model of Software as a Service (SaaS). In this model, Sosafe as an external provider, hosts its services (application and dashboard) in a cloud and makes them available to municipalities and citizens through an internet connection. Municipalities pay an annual income, which is calculated by section of inhabitants, starting at US$22,000 for a territory with 50,000 inhabitants (SoSafe, 2018). In this way, security personnel can access to a dashboard that allows responses to citizenship alerts and have access to various tools such as heatmaps and daily report statistics. Paying a fee eliminates ads in the app, enables the app to be free of charge

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for citizens, and the platform can sustain the company’s human and technological resources. SoSafe has become widespread, with commercial and technical executives (CEO and CTO), customer support, programmers, and designers.

11.5.2  Programmers’ work: Projecting urban life SoSafe defines itself as a “social network of citizen collaboration” and a great deal of its developers’ work consists of condensing various requirements related to events that occur in the city within the app. The CEO states that the notion of Smart City is too focused on “installing sensors and lots of hardware” and one of its main components has been forgotten: “the human one, which are the citizens who live in the city.” In general, SoSafe operates as a receptacle of ideas that emerge from urban life. Programmers see diagrams or possible features that are waiting to become a reality in the office and have ongoing conversations in “code” that allow them to speculate on certain urban scenarios that could result in new features and how this could be used by the citizens. In this form of distance management, the goal is to make visible and modulate the user's behavior, sustained by continuous flows of information and data that must be encoded. The CEO explains that the act of projecting and materializing an idea in the app “has implications” in the urban world, so what is done in the SoSafe “laboratory” will always resonant in the urban space. Furthermore, the constant feedback received from municipalities and users forces programmers to test new improvements. One of the developers stated that feedback “is a box of unique ideas, and a box of people’s ideas.” If users recurrently ask for a feature and it is a good idea, SoSafe tries to implement it. This collaborative work logic between programmers, municipalities, and users is a sort of corporativist practice of working with code rather than an experimental practice. “Successful products have adopted the same methodology that we have adopted of testing, reviewing, adjusting, adding new things and taking them out if they don’t work. If users ask for something, we look at how to add it, test it and see if it works. It’s a matter of continuous improvement” (CEO SoSafe interview, our translation). For example, it was suggested to generate more interaction between citizens, which means that a geolocalized alert was issued to the area when a report was made. But several elements were needed for this: first it was necessary to know where people lived, so the users could indicate it. Thus, the programmers also needed the specific geographic coordinates, but these also must be visualized on a map. In this “work layer,” iOS/Android developers came together to code for their respective platforms. Furthermore, a designer proposed an interface that would be easily accessible to the user. Finally, the new features of SoSafe are tested on the staff’s smartphones, and then with some users. Once the feature was launched, an overview of the performance of the new characteristic was developed, including whether users could report whatever they wished.

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11.5.3  Negotiation with municipalities According to the local security manager, ~ 35,000 of SoSafe’s active usersd live in the municipality of Las Condes. In the Citizen Security Department, safety and surveillance technologies are monitored: alarms, security cameras, surveillance balloons, and staff who respond to SoSafe reports. The municipality reports that crime dropped 11% in 2017; this implies that there were 330 less crimes in comparison with the year before (and at the same period) (Cooperativa, 2017). SoSafe is the latest acquisition of this package of technological measures, and the mayor of this municipality believes that the application could help to further reduce crime rates. On the other hand, and as it’s described by programmers, the municipalities also have requirements for the platform. “We have made various changes based on the items and the municipalities’ needs,” one programmer explains. For example, they removed the “Other” pin, which programmers used to observe which other events were reported and thus, improve the reports’ specificity. This item was problematic in regard to management and one municipal security manager said that it implied “an open door to residents to report people in the neighbourhood for hanging towels out to dry” thus generating reports about nonemergency situations that did not correspond to the purview of security personnel. Specifically, this type of situation has been one of the main issues of the platform because a large part of the negotiation between municipalities and SoSafe takes place during the deliberations to define which sorts of events can be reported and how to address them. In general, the app’s buttons are the same for all municipalities. However, not all municipalities present the same issues or the same management capacity. In this regard, one of the developers described a unique situation. He explained that cars are frequently abandoned in the city of Iquique due to their low cost, as a Free Economic Zone. Residents purchase cars and then abandon them after a few years. When SoSafe began to be tested in Iquique, he explains, “people started to report abandoned cars and the city was full of abandoned cars. They uploaded pictures… this one block had a pin and they uploaded four photographs of different cars. That’s when they realized there was a problem.” Municipal security personnel determined that it would have been better not to see this option, because the problem of abandoned cars could not be managed by the municipality, and potentially involved allocating resources to a problem that was not urgent. However, the option to report it will always be available for users. The discussion about what is visible in the app is not only limited to the program’s capabilities, but to how a pin could work based on district’s specific conditions.

11.5.4  The users: What happened with my report? At 3:35 am, I receive a notification for an incident that has occurred close to where I live. The notification contains a security report: “someone is being d. Estimates suggest that there were ~ 300,000 active users on the platform in mid-2018.

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beaten in a car, at the intersection of Pocuro and Pedro de Valdivia.” At 3:36 am, in the report chat, security of the Municipality of Providencia answers, “A security operator has just accepted your request and will contact you by phone. Please don’t use the phone line.” At 3:37 am, the municipality answered again: “Thank you for your report. Security is sending staff to the area. You may provide relevant information or an image via chat. We will be monitoring the situation.” After this comment thread, no more interactions appear until someone asks, “What happened?.” Two other users also reported the situation, generating more alerts and comment threads (see Fig. 11.2). “What happened with my report? Does the application work?” These are popular questions among users. According to the developers and municipal staff, a “closing message” is being developed for reports. Failing to “close” the report causes uncertainty and constant doubt. In addition, notifications generate a sensation of “extended panic” according to interviewed users. The municipal safety department staff claims that it is not always entirely clear to users if a case is actually closed, because reports have a set duration, so even if a problem has been fixed, the alert will still appear on the map: “it is difficult…. An event was created, and the neighbors start to chat about it. So, there are questions and complaints based on that chatter.” In general, the constant dialog via chat prevents users from determining whether a process was closed. It may be closed for the municipality because the necessary steps were taken, or a patrol car was sent to the area, but that doesn’t mean that it is closed for the user. It is common to see comments in the report chat that try to provide new information, with users stating that they saw the thief or someone with similar characteristics. The report reinforces itself, but through uncertainty rather than a solution. One user says, “The notification often stays there. Something very odd happened—there were people locked in the pharmacy on the corner because there were criminals.” The user claims that people kept asking “What happened? What didn’t happen? Are they okay?” hours later. On the other hand, according to one of the Executive Directors, the application requires a certain amount of know-how because users frequently report errors. A security department operator explains that “in some cases [residents] do not use it well because people who have installed or activated the application for the first time say, ‘I’m going to try it’ and issue a security alert.” The problem is that if that alert is emitted in a very high traffic area, everyone who has SoSafe within range will receive an alert. Programmers, security executives, and users recognize this discontinuity in the use of the application. For now, the solution has been to monitor users’ behavior, particularly users who generate alerts by accident. In addition, security personnel try to explain how it works: “There is a test option [in the app], try it, and no safety alert will be issued, and your neighbors will not be notified.” Finally, various strategies have been adopted to address these interruptions, such as establishing a community guide that seeks to regulate user behavior and demonstrate “proper use” of the platform.

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FIG. 11.2  Screenshot of the three reports generated based on the same event.

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11.6  Final remarks: The emerging of platform urbanism? In this chapter, we have shown how the concept of Smart City has been translated by the Chilean reality, identifying stakeholders, practices, and discourses that have configured the smart urbanism ecosystem. As a sociotechnical imaginary (Jasanoff and Kim, 2015), the concept of Smart City has functioned as an articulating category that enrolls (Callon, 2007) different sensitivities and definitions of what a smart city is. We believe that the success of the concept is explained by its diffuse and floating nature: This condition has allowed the creation of a cultural circuit comprised of heterogeneous agendas and narratives that include matters connected to entrepreneurship and technological intervention, citizen participation, and planning, enterprise and competitiveness. In other words, the term Smart City provides the glue that holds together a varied set of expectations and future imaginaries of the city. In this process in which each stakeholder seeks to activate and signify the notion of Smart City in a unique way, a dynamic coexistence that is constantly being redefined by different narratives of what this paradigm means emerges, creating what many interview participants call the “Smart City ecosystem in Chile.” Here it is important to mention that this coexistence of narratives is not exempt from frictions or problems when it materializes the suppositions of smart urbanism. The different stakeholders that orbit around the idea of the Smart City in Chile have objectives that are often very dissimilar, but that need to be linked in the smart circuit, so their projects find legitimacy. In this way, their projects gain legitimacy. Industry, which plays an increasingly important role in the definition of urban spaces (Graham and Marvin, 2002; Hollands, 2008), will seek to create users or clients who are “compatible” with their technologies, products, and innovations. Public administration and citizen collectives appeal to other considerations such as the democratization of information, social inclusion, the exchange of knowledge, enterprise, and innovation in the city. The concept of Smart City thus becomes a space of convergence and disputes regarding how to integrate technologies, innovations, the city, and its citizens. In other words, the concept of Smart City places into circulation technological strategies of management of the city as well as modes of collaboration between different visions, narratives, and stakeholders, installing a diffuse and forceful cultural circuit comprised of elements that go well beyond the technological. In addition to describing the emergence of this Smart ecosystem, in this chapter we have shown the development of the SoSafe platform and its ­technical-territorial innovation in the work of “creating safer neighborhoods.” The specificity of the success of SoSafe over other platforms that have sought to offer the same sort of service in Chile, like Waze or Airbnb, works based on a cogenerative platform logic (Van der Graaf and Ballon, 2019), that is nourished by users feeds (Desouza and Bhagwatwar, 2012) and allows codification to be modulated such that it adjusts to the developers’ observations as well as the

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u­ sers’ needs. In a certain way, it becomes necessary to highlight the fact that users are the nucleus of these modulations, a source of data and ideas that allow for connections among people, tools, and available infrastructure. Immersed in the platform logic proposed by Srnicek (2017), in an urban context, the modes of organizing city services pose a challenge and they mainly operate based on the extraction and processing of data. This space of interaction is not only sustained under the need to generate and obtain new data on the urban, but also through the opportunity to re-direct the action. In this regard, Bratton (2015) states that the desire to manage and coordinate the ethereal nature of cities, which he calls “content management,” forces the city “to open and close, to centralize and decentralize” (p. 39) to direct the various stakeholders and interfaces that it contains. Gates (2019) also emphasizes the live nature of these platforms, as they are in “a perpetual logistical exercise in construction” (p. 67) in which they not only process data but also update the platform’s functionality based on the changes that these data suggest. In this context, SoSafe could be understood as a manifestation of platform urbanism in which the digital is transformed into a resource that can be used to connect people to services. Through the deliberation with diverse stakeholders in its ecosystem, SoSafe co-builds the idea of a safe city that is watched by its own inhabitants. Thanks to the digital mediations and data, it would no longer be necessary to have patrols constantly policing the streets of Santiago. This work is now done by residents in their own homes, as they report on events and suspicious happenings in situ. The platform allows citizens to become urban sensors, extending the omnipresence of surveillance. At the same time, these citizen-sensors are data and information that are processed with purposes that are not always transparent. Another key point to remember is that SoSafe reveals incidents that without the app, would only be known by residents who were present when they occurred. From this perspective, we must consider the fact that “technologies like apps are not value-free and impact the way people perceive and negotiate the urban space” (Van der Graaf and Ballon, 2019, p. 2), which may lead to an increase in atmospheres of insecurity (Tironi and Valderrama, 2019). Along these lines, SoSafe not only creates opportunities for the authorities to manage the urban space more efficiently. It also installs specific practices among citizens thanks to its ubiquity, amplifying its opportunities to co-participate in the management of safer spaces. The idea that citizens become sensors implies a turn in surveillance in which it is not only deployed from public spaces—through cameras or balloons—but is always also used from the privacy of the home by just one click. This interconnected network of users, application, reports, and surveillance makes it difficult to find spaces of disconnection or digital silence that would allow citizens to define themselves beyond what they communicate through their digital data. While the idea of the city as a platform has only recently begun to take shape in Chile through the various sociotechnical networks such as SoSafe, it is important to ask how the platforms reconfigure the relationship that

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c­ itizens create with their surroundings. Specifically, it is important to ask about the type of intelligence that we draw on when we develop technologies based on machine learning or the internet of things and what place citizens occupy in these innovations. Therefore, it is important to recognize the counterarguments to the idea of urban intelligence-based exclusively on logics of optimization, efficiency, and technological automation and demonstrate the need to observe practices that emerge from people who are involved in redesigning the city.

Acknowledgments This paper has been supported by the Chilean National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development, research project FONDECYT Nº. 1180062. We gratefully acknowledge the research support from CEDEUS (ANID/ Fondap Nº15110020) and thank our interlocutors from SoSafe for allowing us to know about their work.

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The circulation of the Smart City imaginary in the Chilean context  Chapter | 11  215 Srnicek, N., 2017. Platform Capitalism. Polity Press, Cambridge. Temuco Smart City, 2016. Bases de Participación Programa "Torneo de emprendimiento Tecnológico Temuco Smart City". Retrieved from: https://incubatec.cl/blog/mediante-torneo-temucosmart-city-lideran-busqueda-de-soluciones. Tenney, M., Sieber, R., 2016. Data-driven participation: algorithms, cities, citizens, and corporate control. Urban Plan. 1 (2), 101–113. Thrift, N., 2005. Knowing Capitalism. Sage, London. Tironi, M., 2016. Ciudades en Beta: De las Smartcities a los Smartcitizens, Con apoyo de la Escuela de Diseño UC, Fondecyt (Nº 11140042) y CEDEUS. Tironi, M., 2019. Experimentando con lo urbano: Políticas, discursos y prácticas de la ciudad inteligente. Athenea Digital. 19 (2), 1–37. Tironi, M., Criado, T.S., 2015. Of sensors and sensitivities. Towards a cosmopolitics of “smart cities”? Tecnoscienza 6 (1), 89–108. Tironi, M., Valderrama, M., 2018a. Unpacking a citizen self-tracking device: smartness and idiocy in the accumulation of cycling mobility data. Environ. Plan. D 36 (2), 294–312. Tironi, M., Valderrama, M., 2018b. Acknowledging the idiot in the smart city: experimentation and citizenship in the making of a low-carbon district in Santiago de Chile. In: Inside Smart Cities: Place: Politics and Urban Innovation. Routledge, London. Tironi, M., Valderrama, M., 2019. Microclimates of (in)security in Santiago: sensors, sensing and sensations. In: Sensing Security. Mattering Press, Manchester. Van der Graaf, S., Ballon, P., 2019. Navigating platform urbanism. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 142, 364–372. Van Dijck, J., Poell, T., de Waal, M., 2018. The Platform Society. Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford University Press, Kettering. Vanolo, A., 2014. Smartmentality: the smart city as disciplinary strategy. Urban Stud. 51 (5), 883– 898. Yesner, R., 2013. Smart Cities and the Internet of Everything: The Foundation for Delivering NextGeneration Citizen Services. IDC Government Insights, Virginia, USA, pp. 1–18. Available at: https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/solutions/industries/docs/scc/ioe_citizen_svcs_white_paper_idc_2013.pdf. (Accessed 7 November 2019).

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Chapter 12

Smart city technologies in the USA: Smart grid and transportation initiatives in Columbus, Ohio Matthew Cocksa and Nicholas Johnsonb a

Department of Economics, Principia College, Elsah, IL, United States, bCenter for Sustainability, Principia College, Elsah, IL, United States

Chapter outline 12.1 Introduction 12.2 History and context of smart urbanism in the U.S. 12.2.1 Strategic planning for smart cities 12.2.2 Governance and funding for smart cities 12.3 The smart grid

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12.3.1 Background 12.3.2 Internet of things 12.4 Case study: Columbus, Ohio 12.4.1 Smart grid funding and implementation in Columbus 12.5 Conclusion References

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12.1 Introduction The second half of the twentieth century saw the United States play a significant role in the development of the technologies which have underpinned the operationalization of the smart city concept across the globe. From the 1960s onwards, the U.S.-based developments in computing innovation paved the way for the smart tools of today (Lee et al., 2014), and more recently U.S. technology corporations have been key drivers of the smart city in concept and practice across the globe. In a recent global “leaderboard” of smart city vendors, three of the top five were U.S. companies: Cisco Systems, Microsoft, and IBM (Navigant Research, 2017). Indeed, after initially launching its ongoing “Smarter Planet” campaign in 2008, the term “smarter cities” was registered as a trademark to IBM (Söderström et al., 2014). However, the adoption of such technologies in Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00012-5 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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urban governance and management initially took place in cities outside of the U.S. [notable early examples include Rio de Janeiro (Singer, 2012; Kitchin, 2015) and Singapore (Calder, 2016)], and their application within the country has been a later phenomenon. Nevertheless, over the past decade, there have been an increasing number of initiatives across the country. The drivers of these developments have been varied but are most frequently a mix of private sector technological development and public sector initiatives. The approaches taken have led to social innovation in a range of ways, including the development of more efficient energy systems, more convenient and cost-effective local transportation, and a greater degree of participation in local governance. This chapter will discuss the recent history of smart city application across the U.S. and provide an overview of the various ways in which the concept is being realized across the country. The chapter will particularly focus on the case study of Columbus, Ohio. In Columbus, smart city development has particularly focused around the two policy areas where Federal funding has been most abundant: smart energy grids and transportation. Smart grids are electrical grids that use two-way communication systems to allow for utilities to interact with end-use products (such as motors and thermostats) to minimize cost and provide consumers with real-time pricing information. These grids also have advanced sensor networks and transmission and distribution infrastructure that allow operators to optimize grid efficiency better than can otherwise be done. In addition, a smart grid should decrease the length and scope of power outages. Prior to the case study, a more detailed contextual overview of the smart grid concept is provided for readers unfamiliar with these technologies. The case of Columbus illustrates particularly how the private-public partnership for technology development and funding works; Federal money flows both to the city itself and to private technology vendors where the private benefits don’t justify the deployment of the technology, but the social benefits do.

12.2  History and context of smart urbanism in the U.S. The relation between technological innovations and urban life has historically been part of American visioning for future city living. The General Motors Futurama exhibit at the 1939 New York World Fair visualized an accurate future representation of a car-oriented America (Fotsch, 2001), and construction innovations resulting in some of the earliest steel-framed skyscrapers in cities such as Chicago and Detroit had a significant influence in defining world-wide contemporary urban form (Goldberger, 1983). Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous “Broadacre City” incorporated key technologies of the day—in particular the automobile (Grabow, 1972)—and Richard L. Meier’s “communications theory of urban growth” in the early 1960s (Meier, 1962; Angelidou, 2015) sought to link emerging communication networks to urban development. Reflecting global trends, the earliest initiatives in the U.S. to bear the stamp of the “smart city” were centered particularly on the transport (ticketing

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applications, intelligent transportation, and traffic information systems) and environment/energy (smart metering, electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, and renewable projects) sectors (GSM Association, 2013; Lee et al., 2014). One of the first adopters of the smart city concept was, perhaps not surprisingly, New York City. The city’s 2007 urban planning strategy (named PlaNYC) (The City of New York, 2007) began the systematic collection of data to improve policy across 10 areas, including energy, climate change, and air quality (Eden Strategy Institute, 2018). Around this time a number of other cities also began to implement projects. In 2009 Pittsburgh introduced a Traffic21 initiative, which integrated technological advancements within the regional transport system (Dallas Innovation Alliance, 2015) and in Charlotte, North Carolina the Envision Charlotte program aimed to reduce the energy consumption of commercial buildings within the downtown area (Eden Strategy Institute, 2018). Kansas City introduced a public open data dashboard in 2011, including available parking, traffic flow, and the locations of streetcars (Dallas Innovation Alliance, 2015). These early initiatives have since broadened in scope and geography to the extent that a number of commentators are now regularly including U.S. cities in global smart city rankings and best practice collections (Easypark, 2019; Forbes, 2018; Nominet, 2018). Recent research indicates that around two-thirds of American towns and cities are now employing technologies under the “smart city” label (National League of Cities, 2016) and at the time of writing such technologies commonly include (but are not limited to): ●

● ● ● ● ● ●

●

Transport initiatives, including smart parking tools, autonomous vehicles, and smart traffic management Consumer apps tracking public transportation in real-time Smart utility interventions, including smart meters Smart methods for energy efficiency in buildings Public information kiosks with Wi-Fi E-governance applications Real-time urban sensing and communication about infrastructure and public safety LED street lights and/or brightness adjusters

U.S. cities have also begun to increasingly develop multisector programs, inclusive of a range of approaches across policy fields. These are commonly implemented in particular areas of cities at present, rather than city-wide, and often as pilots for city-wide adoption. The Living Lab initiative in Dallas installed nine integrated projects in the historic West End area of the city with the aim of creating a “testing ground” for Smart City technologies that save money and improve quality of life (Dallas Innovation Alliance, 2015). A number of other cities have also established “smart districts,” often multisector in nature, and serving as prototypes for potential wider roll-out. The North Avenue Smart Corridor in Atlanta is the focus for smart technology solutions to improve

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r­ oadway and public safety, mobility, and the environment (Georgia Tech, 2018) and Kansas City is ambitiously aiming to create the “54 smartest blocks in the nation” along a two-mile streetcar corridor; including public Wi-Fi access, data-driven information kiosks, traffic/pedestrian flow monitoring sensors, and street-light brightness adjusters (Canon, 2017; Eden Strategy Institute, 2018). A range of tools are also being rolled out to engage the general public with the smart city agenda (commonly referred to as “e-governance”), as well as technology providers. Open data portals for the general public have been developed across the country, including in major cities such as Chicago (City of Chicago, 2019), San Francisco (Data SF, 2019), Dallas (City of Dallas, 2019), and Los Angeles (City of Los Angeles, 2019). In a number of cases, public debate and discussion about the future use of technologies has been initiated. In Philadelphia, the city invited residents to participate in a workshop to identify their aspirations and concerns with regard to smart issues. The workshop spurred a number of initiatives, including efforts focused on digital inclusion (Eden Strategy Institute, 2018). In Boston, a more in-depth engagement with smart city technology providers (which can include established private sector tech companies, start-ups, universities, and other research institutes) has been sought. The Boston Playbook (City of Boston, 2019) is a call to vendors for more meaningful collaboration by establishing certain expectations for interaction (Barelier, 2017). Having been inundated with offers of technologies from providers, the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics set about a broader conversation on the value the city is looking for in smart city platforms and technologies. In turn, members of the Boston digital community are invited to collaborate in molding these expectations. The “playbook” is presented in the following way: We address this playbook to the technology companies, scientists, researchers, journalists, and activists that make up the ‘Smart City’ community. In return for heeding this advice, we commit that we, the City of Boston, will not sit in City Hall and complain about the lack of solutions to our problems. We promise to get out into the City, find ways to help you pilot new ideas, and be honest with our feedback. (City of Boston, 2019).

While the most high-profile smart city initiatives tend to be based in major cities, recent research indicated that smaller cities are often reporting higher numbers of projects than their larger counterparts. Smaller urban areas are being used as test-beds by providers for technologies which have the potential for wider roll-out to larger and more complex urban environments (The United States Conference of Mayors and IHS Markit, 2018). A disadvantage of this trend has been the implementation of isolated projects, rather than developing centralized operating systems for the whole city. However, technology providers are responding by developing modular solutions that can be introduced to the city gradually, meaning that cities can take a more incremental and affordable approach (The United States Conference of Mayors and IHS Markit, 2018).

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12.2.1  Strategic planning for smart cities Cities across the U.S. are now considering smart solutions from a strategic perspective, with a number developing specific plans for technological development (Robertson, 2017; City and County of San Francisco, 2018; City of Charlotte Innovation and Technology Department, 2019). The City of Chicago Technology Plan is one of the more high-profile and highlights 28 initiatives within five broad strategies that will enable the city to realize the vision of “becoming the city where technology fuels opportunity, inclusion, engagement, and innovation” (Chicago, 2013, p. 13). The plan was developed under the mayoral term of Rahm Emanuel (2011–19). Formerly President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Emanuel was instrumental in the U.S.’s open data movement and the development of its national data portal data.gov (Department for Business and Skills, 2013). In less high-profile forms, strategic planning for smart cities is also often being included within existing strategy documents. The St Louis Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, for example, presents a number of policy intentions for the promotion of smart technology and innovation across the city. This includes assessing state guidelines and regulations to “ensure the implementation process is allowed and provides incentives as appropriate” (City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, 2016, p. 79), the integration of smart tools into infrastructure planning, and a number of proposals to improve energy efficiency.

12.2.2  Governance and funding for smart cities The governance drivers and arrangements for smart city initiatives across the U.S. vary from case to case but frequently involve a range of agencies and multisector partnerships. At the city level, local governments, universities, energy providers, private smart solution vendors, and nonprofit groups are collaborating on smart projects. In a number of places, more formalized collaborations have been established, such as the Joint Venture Silicon Valley group in San Francisco. The group brings together Silicon Valley’s established and emerging leaders from business, government, academia, labor, and the broader community (Joint Venture Silicon Valley, n.d.). Funding for smart city initiatives is sourced primarily from the public and business sectors. Recent national research indicated that smaller and medium sized cities tend to rely more heavily upon public funding for smart city projects (around 85% of funds), whereas in large cities the proportion is around 50%, with private and public-private partnership funding playing a more significant role (The United States Conference of Mayors and IHS Markit, 2018). At the Federal level, there have been several funding programs for smart city development, and in many cases, the conditions of such funding are influencing the kinds of projects taking place. A number of movements toward greater support for smart city projects took place in President Barack Obama’s second term, but Donald Trump’s post-2016 presidency has so far been less active in this area.

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12.2.2.1 Transportation A great deal of infrastructure funding was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which introduced approximately $800 billion into the U.S. economy. Approximately, $48 billion was allocated to the Department of Transportation (DOT) and $34 billion to the Department of Energy. While not all of this money was specifically earmarked for smart city development, large chunks were. The Smart Grid Investment Grant Program (SGIG) had $3.4 billion allocated to it, and $8.4 billion was allocated across several capital transit project programs (U.S. Federal Transit Administration, n.d.; U.S. Congressional Budget Office, 2015). Considering “clean energy” as a category, more than $90 billion was made available by ARRA (The White House, 2016a). In more recent years, The Department for Transportation’s Smart City Challenge was launched in 2015 with the aim of spurring mid-sized cities across America to develop ideas for integrated, first-of-its-kind smart transportation systems that would use data, applications, and technology to help people and goods move more quickly, cheaply, and efficiently (U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.-b). Seventy-eight applications were received from cities across the U.S. and the competition was won by Columbus, OH which proposed a comprehensive, integrated plan addressing challenges in residential, commercial, freight, and downtown districts using a number of new technologies, including connected infrastructure, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, an integrated data platform, and autonomous vehicles. A second round of funding was announced in 2016 which allowed some of the other project finalists to undertake their proposals. Pittsburgh received nearly $11 million to deploy smart traffic signal technology along major travel corridors. San Francisco also received nearly $11 million to implement connected vehicle technologies to allow the signal system to detect red light-violating vehicles and adjust timing, and personal wireless devices to prioritize pedestrian travel and safety at intersections. This also included a pilot of a shared, electric, autonomous shuttle. Denver received $6 million to upgrade its traffic management center, build a connected vehicle network, and install automated pedestrian detection at difficult crosswalks (U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.-b). 12.2.2.2  Smart grid funding The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 is particularly notable for providing a Congressional mandate for the implementation of smart grids. It states, “It is the policy of the United States to support the modernization of the Nation’s electricity transmission and distribution system to maintain a reliable and secure electricity infrastructure that can meet future demand growth and to achieve each of the following, which together characterize a Smart Grid…” (110th Congress, 2007). The Act specifically mentions renewable energy generation, markets which “support grid efficiency,” electricity storage, peak-shaving

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technologies, electric vehicles, and consumer appliances and devices. It also mentions a “provision to consumers of timely information and control options” underpinning the consumer’s access to information from the utility companies. Specifically directing the development and deployment of consumer devices and electric vehicles as part of the Act means that the development of associated technology and infrastructure to support them (i.e., “Identification and lowering of unreasonable or unnecessary barriers to adoption of smart grid technologies, practices, and services,” 110th Congress, 2007) are also needed. Therefore, the smart grid underpins a major technological base of a smart city. Thus, it shouldn’t be a surprise that in 2009 the ARRA specifically allocated $34 billion toward smart grid development. Of this, $3.4 billion was allocated to the aforementioned SGIG which ran between 2010 and 2015 (U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, 2016). The goal of the program was “to accelerate the modernization of the nation’s electric transmission and distribution systems” (U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, n.d.-c). Another $1.1 billion was allocated across three additional programs: the Smart Grid Demonstration Program, Workforce Training for the Electric Power Sector, and Standards, Interoperability, and Cybersecurity Activity (U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, n.d.-b). Because the programs required a minimum of 50% cost share, an additional $4.5 billion in industry funding was also spent on SGIG alone. Of the total $7.9 billion on SGIG funding, $4.4 billion was spent on advanced metering infrastructure (accounting for 16 million smart meters, one-third of the total installed in the U.S. from 2010 to 2014), $2.2 billion on distribution system upgrades, $780 million on customer systems, and $510 million on transmission system upgrades (U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, 2016). Examples of such match funding arrangements include: ●

●

CenterPoint Energy, a large U.S. utility company, which matched a $200 million grant with $440 million to help install 2.2 million smart meters for its customers in Houston, TX. These smart meters allow for customers to keep track of their energy usage in 15-min increments and act as a hub to allow customers to remotely control smart electric appliances and thermostats (note the overlap with the IoT). The smart meters allow the CenterPoint to provide dynamic pricing (i.e., electric rates that vary based on time of day and overall demand, thus allowing consumers to have accurate price signals—in theory, decreasing overall costs). The grant also went toward adding 550 sensors and automatic switches at substations to increase grid reliability and allow for the grid to be “self-healing” (CenterPoint Energy, 2009; U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, 2011). The City of Tallahassee was awarded $8.9 million to implement a demand response program centered on smart thermostats and advanced load control systems for residential and commercial customers (U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, 2011).

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●

Consolidated Edison Company of New York matched a $136 million grant which allowed them to upgrade their transmission system and communications systems. Regional grid operators were awarded more than $100 million to upgrade transmission systems, infrastructure communication systems (particularly fiber optics), and phasor measurement sensors. Phasor measurement sensors support the ability for the electric grid to be better balanced across the county, supporting the increased demands that the smart grid and smart cities will place on the electric grid (U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, 2011). Whirlpool Corporation, a home appliances manufacturer, was awarded $19 million to “support the manufacturing of smart appliances” (U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, 2011).

Almost all of these upgrades directly or indirectly make it easier to incorporate intermittent renewable energy (i.e., wind power and solar power) into the grid because grid operators can balance energy supply and demand more easily thanks to the detailed data provided by a wider range of grid systems at a much higher refresh rate. Finally, the upgrades increase grid resiliency by adding redundancy in case of failures while also decreasing the time and effort required to fix faults.

12.2.2.3  Other funding In 2015 a White House Smart City Initiative was announced that coincided with the publication of a Strategy for American Innovation (National Economic Council and Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2015). The initiative “put a spotlight on the support for urban technology innovation being provided by a number of Federal agencies” (President, 2016, p. 4). $160 million in Federal research grants was announced to “help local communities tackle key challenges such as reducing traffic congestion, fighting crime, fostering economic growth, managing the effects of a changing climate, and improving the delivery of city services” (The White House, 2015). The initiative also created a nonprofit MetroLab Network, which matches city governments with local university research labs using Federal R&D funding and philanthropic support to apply innovation to a range of city problems (President, 2016). A further round of funding was then announced in 2016, with an additional $80 million put forward for projects nationwide (The White House, 2016b). In 2016 the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology published a report entitled Technology and the Future of Cities (U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2016). The report called for the Federal Government to take a more integrated approach to supporting new technologies that can improve the lives of people in cities and suggested a number of specific recommendations for taking the smart city agenda forward. Overall, the report was seen as an important step forward by the U.S. smart cities community (Berst, 2016). These policy intentions were then taken forward

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legally in 2017 when Congress introduced a “Smart Cities and Communities Act” with the aim of eliminating or mitigating some of the challenges faced by cities when implementing smart solutions; challenges such as strained budgets, an absence of “in-house” talent, project management expertise, and the increasingly complex and connected technologies projects require (Peeples, 2016). The bill, which would authorize $200 million for smart city investments over 5 years, stalled in committee, but was then reintroduced in 2019 (Pyzyk, 2019). Funding has also been made available by philanthropic institutions for smart city initiatives. Perhaps most notable has been former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg. In 2017, as part of its “American Cities Initiative,” Bloomberg Philanthropies announced a $200 million fund to support cities in adopting technologies (Government Technology, 2017; Bloomberg Philanthropies, 2019).

12.3  The smart grid In the U.S., most federal funding for smart cities has been tied to the development of smart grids and smart transportation. Investing heavily in the smart grid in particular tackles three interrelated problems. First, the U.S. has the oldest electric grid in the world, which consequently means the U.S. has the highest rate and duration of outages in the developed world (Bakke, 2017). At the same time, the combination of public policies promoting and requiring renewable energy generation in many states, coupled with decreasing cost of renewable energy generation construction—particularly for the “intermittent renewables” of wind power and solar power—is putting an external pressure on how the grid functions both technically and operationally. Thus, funding for a smart grid (1) allows for replacement of infrastructure that was already needed, (2) provides a way to adopt to recent technology and public policy changes emphasizing renewable energy, efficiency, and “deregulation” (more appropriately called restructuring) of electric grid policy, and (3) is a way forward for adapting the electricity grid (and related communications and security infrastructures) to incorporate quality of life-related smart city goals including safety, creativity and a knowledge based economy, communications, and infrastructure monitoring (Blaine, 2019).

12.3.1 Background While there are many definitions of what a smart grid is, they center on a handful of themes (e.g., (Gharavi and Ghafurian, 2011; Quadrennial Energy Review Task Force, 2015). A key component to the smart grid is securing two-way communication systems that better link components of the electric grid (centralized generation, distributed generation, transmission, distribution, and storage) with each other, as well as with end-users through technologies such as electric vehicles, automated environmental comfort systems in buildings, and in-home

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consumer devices and appliances such as thermostats and hot water heaters. The two-way communication allows both grid operators and energy consumers to have more information about energy consumption patterns, and for end-users to be able to participate in energy markets such as real-time pricing and demand response. At the same time, the better information allows utilities providers a more resilient grid so that their operations are disrupted less easily and less often (Fig. 12.1). From a technical perspective, the three major systems of a smart grid are the infrastructure system, the management system, and the protection system. The infrastructure system includes the physical components of the traditional electric grid (generators, substations and distribution centers, transmission lines), metering, monitoring, and management systems that allow a robust quantity of data to be gathered at frequent time intervals, and communication systems that allow for the distribution of the information. The management and protection systems support the infrastructure. Better sensors within the grid system allow for more automatic power balancing (Garcia-Valle and Lopes, 2013). “Like the Internet, the Smart Grid will consist of controls, computers, automation, and new technologies and equipment working together, but in this case, these technologies will work with the electrical grid to respond digitally to our quickly changing electric demand” (U.S. Department of Energy, n.d.-b).

Intelligent buildings

Offshore wind farm

Solar plants Transmission and distribution networks

EVs

Data center

Smart homes Fossil fuel based power plants

Intelligent node

Power-heat coupling Data network Energy network

FIG. 12.1  How energy and data networks connect the components of a smart grid. Components include centralized generation, distributed generation, transmission and distribution, energy storage, businesses, and homes (ABB and Deutsche Telekom, 2016; Kabalci, 2016).

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Perhaps the most common way consumers interface directly with the smart grid is through a smart meter. A smart meter is an upgraded electrical meter that provides two-way communications between the consumer and the utility company. The two-way communication allows the consumer to receive realtime electricity pricing. In the U.S., most residential consumers pay a fixed rate per kilowatt-hour of electricity they consume. However, the cost of generating and delivering the electricity varies widely based on the season and the time of day; generation and transmission prices can rise by more than 20 times higher during hot summer days because the demand for electricity (primarily from air conditioning and cooling systems) (1) causes congestion on transmission lines and (2) requires load-peaking plants with high marginal costs to come online to meet the demand. The two-way communication smart meter also allows consumers to participate in demand response programs, in which they allow their meter to cut back their electricity consumption when electricity prices are high—and get paid for doing so. The two-way communication also allows for the meter to keep track of electricity consumption (perhaps every 15 min) so the resident can see his or her consumption habits. When consumers have real-time price signals then they have the information needed to make more informed decisions about their electricity consumption. Finally, smart meters can connect with devices in the residence, such as thermostats, hot water heaters, and clothes dryers to support the real-time pricing and demand response programs. A second way in which consumers will soon interact with the smart grid is through the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concept. V2G will allow for the batteries in plug-in vehicles to provide a range of services. For instance, when coupled with a smart meter, plug-in vehicles will be able to be scheduled to charge themselves when electricity prices are low and resell some of the energy when electricity prices are high. They will also be able participate in a range of ancillary service electricity markets (such as regulation services and spinning reserves). Vehicles could also be used as a backup generator for a residence during a power outage (Kempton and Tomić, 2005; Garcia-Valle and Lopes, 2013). V2G potentially offers environmental benefits, but there has been very little research into questions of equity issues (i.e., social justice, environmental justice, and gender norms) and urban resilience, which are key components of a smart city (Sovacool et al., 2018).

12.3.2  Internet of things The smart grid is a distinct idea from the “Internet of things” (IoT), because the goal of the IoT is to “empower computers with their own means of gathering information, so they can see, hear and smell the world for themselves…and understand the world—without the limitations of human-entered data” (Ashton, 2009). For instance, a refrigerator could track the expiration dates and quantities of items within itself and update a grocery list on the owner’s phone as items need to be replaced. IoT emphasizes the interoperability of a wide variety of c­ ustomer-end

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products (Zanella et al., 2014). Therefore, while the IoT and the smart grid aren’t the same, there are areas of mutual overlap between them such microgrid optimization, intelligent load control and (more broadly) power management, and improved grid stability (Chebra, 2017). The case study of Columbus, OH in the following section describes how some consumers save money on their electric bills by allowing their utility to occasionally control their thermostat. This type of load control during peak demand allows the utility to both save a lot of money and keep the grid more stable. Like the smart grid, the IoT will find application in a wide variety of sectors such as manufacturing, healthcare, environmental monitoring, entertainment, and public safety (Lee et al., 2008; Bellavista et al., 2013; Zanella et al., 2014). Ensuring the IoT doesn’t create security holes for the smart grid is a priority (Kyrio Security Services, 2018).

12.4  Case study: Columbus, Ohio Columbus, Ohio exemplifies the application of the two most significant broad areas of smart city funding in the United States: smart grids and smart transportation. As mentioned earlier, Columbus won the 2015 Smart City Challenge grant, which was worth $40 million. This money has largely gone to planning and transportation related initiatives. Columbus has also won several other smaller grants related to transportation. At the same time, the local utility AEP Ohio won a $66.8 million grant to upgrade their infrastructure to support smart grid implementation. After providing general background information about Columbus, this case study outlines and discusses the original smart city plans for Columbus and describes some successes and failures in implementation. Columbus is the 14th largest city in the U.S. and the state capital of Ohio. The population in the city proper is around 900,000 people, while the larger metropolitan area has surpassed 2 million people. In 1960 the population was 470,000. Income growth and housing growth have been trending upward, unlike many similar mid-sized cities, making it “a rare Midwest success story” (Millsap, 2018). Columbus has therefore avoided the strong economic downturns evident in many other rust belt mid-sized cities (Smith, 2019). One area of strength has been the presence of The Ohio State University, a major research institution with approximately 60,000 students (Booker and Caldwell, 2018). The University is also the largest employer in the region. Other major employers across several economic sectors include the State of Ohio, the U.S. federal government, and the City of Columbus; Ohio Health, Mt. Carmel Health Systems, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital; JP Morgan Chase and Nationwide Insurance; and Honda of America, Kroger, and Limited Brands (City of Columbus, n.d.-e).

12.4.1  Smart grid funding and implementation in Columbus As part of the aforementioned ARRA Smart Grid Demonstration Program, American Electric Power Ohio (AEP Ohio) received a $66.8 million grant (matched by their own funds for a project budget of $134 million) to employ

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a variety of technologies over a 150 mile2 demonstration area extending from the center of Columbus to the north and east so as to encompassing rural, urban, and suburban areas. The system area (the territory of the former Columbus Southern Power Company) has 667 thousand residential customers and 82 thousand commercial and industrial customers. A subsection of 100 thousand residential and 10 thousand of the commercial and industrial customers were given smart meters. The project focused on overall goals of economic savings, increased reliability, and pollution reduction and ran from 2010 to 2014. The initial project proposal focused on grid upgrades to increase grid resilience through demand response programs, hardware and software upgrades for the utility, sodium‑sulfur battery storage, and renewable energy generation. The grant also provided for the deployment of consumer-based technology such as: smart meters, home area networks, and community energy storage (U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, n.d.-a). The technical transmission upgrades had two primary benefits. First, the technology provided for efficiency gains—reducing the energy lost in the transmission and distribution of electricity. Second, they increased the ability for AEP Ohio’s grid to automatically redirect power in the case of an outage. Between the two benefits, the utility is now saving 2%–3% on annual electricity losses and also has reduced the frequency and duration of outages. In 2013, 2.6 million “customer minutes of interruption” were saved. The reduced outages, increased number of sensors, and the increased amount of control over transmission lines and substations has had additional benefits, notably the need for fewer “truck rolls”—i.e., utility trucks needing to be on the roads. The replacement of the traditional meters with smart meters reduced truck rolls further by the elimination of 19% of meter-reading routes. While a full life cycle analysis would need to be conducted to determine the overall environmental benefits of the technology upgrades, it is clear that the reduced number of truck rolls and vehicle miles driven, the electricity consumption savings from the technical upgrades, and the electricity consumption savings from the electricity pricing programs directly saved both carbon dioxide emissions and traditional pollutants (e.g., particulate matter). AEP Ohio estimates that the transmission upgrades alone could be scaled up in their territory to save about 21 million minutes of interruption per year with a societal savings of $1 billion over 15 years (U.S. Department of Energy, n.d.-a; AEP Ohio, 2014). The primary way the consumers interacted with AEP Ohio’s project was through new smart meters and accompanying markets. Customers had the option to enroll in one of six electricity pricing programs (“tariffs”). Four of the six options required smart meters. The programs were branded as: 1. Standard Residential; 2. SMART Shift—a two-tier program offered a lower off-peak rate (before 1 pm and after 7 pm) June through September and a higher on-peak rate than the Standard Residential;

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3. Smart Shift Plus—a three-tier program which also allowed the utility to declare up to 15 critical peak pricing periods (CPPs) (not in excess of 5 h per period) per year; 4. SMART Cooling—a program with a particular smart meter that AEP Ohio could adjust the smart thermostat by up to 4 degrees F for up to 5 h no more than 25 times from May through September. The customer would receive a credit to their bill if they accepted the change, or they could manually override it and forego the credit; 5. SMART Cooling Plus—an add-on to SMART Cooling which allowed AEP Ohio to also remotely interrupt electric water heaters, pool pumps, hot tub pumps, and other high-load devices May through September or October through April (depending on the device); 6. Smart Choice—a real-time pricing program in which prices adjusted every 5 min (U.S. Department of Energy, n.d.-a; AEP Ohio, 2014). All choices other than the Standard Residential are designed to give the utility customers price signals that better represent the utility’s cost variations over time in hopes of changing customer behavior. Customers participating in the Smart Shift Plus had smart appliances installed—such as washers, dryers, ranges, refrigerators, and hot water heaters—that could communicate with the Smart Shift Plus smart meter. If a CPP were called, the appliances would not turn on unless manually overridden by the consumer. If the appliance was already running, it would go into an energy-saver mode unless over-ridden by the consumer. Alongside the economic programs, AEP Ohio conducted a detailed marketing study to determine why customers were interested in participating, what outreach and educational methods worked best, and what worked well and didn’t work well about the pilot programs (AEP Ohio, 2014). Nationwide, implementation of pricing programs has lagged far behind that of smart meter installations (Joskow and Wolfram, 2012). Because of the success of the program, AEP Ohio is continuing to roll out these technologies in other parts of their territory. In 2017 the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approved of a plan for AEP Ohio to install an additional 894,000 smart meters over a 5-year period. However, this rollout has been contentious. AEP Ohio has made the argument that benefits include reducing the number of miles driven by 440,000 per year, the elimination of estimated bills, improvement of energy efficiency by 3%, decreasing response time for power outages, and providing a safer work environment by “cutting down on confrontations with code red customers who threaten employees” (Knox, 2017). On the flip side, the installation cost is expected to be $295 million, which AEP Ohio’s customers will pay for. And, customers who decline to upgrade to a smart meter will be charged a one-time fee of $43 and an additional fee of $24 per month (Gearino, 2017; Knox, 2017; Patzer, 2018).

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12.4.1.1  Smart city challenge funding In 2016 Columbus won the DOT’s Smart City Challenge and was awarded a $40 million grant, beating 77 other mid-sized city entrants. Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen’s philanthropic organization Vulcan Inc. contributed an additional $10 million (Dopart, 2016; City of Columbus, n.d.-g). The Smart City Challenge had four target outcomes: (1) improve safety for vehicle occupants and pedestrians through the use of “advanced” technologies, (2) enhance mobility within the city, particularly for vulnerable populations, through the use of mobility services and real-time traveler information, (3) provide opportunities for upward social mobility, and (4) address climate change through vehicle-­related overall emissions reductions (U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.-c). The DOT provided 12 vision elements as a framework for the applicants. Three of the elements focused on broad technology components (urban automation, connected vehicles, and intelligent sensor based infrastructure), six elements local urban transportation (e.g., applied data analytics, citizen involvement, and the connection with the smart grid), and three elements linking transportation to smart cities (e.g., land use) (U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.-c; Dopart, 2016). Columbus is focusing on a breadth of transportation options including intelligent transportation systems, connected vehicles, automated vehicles, and the Smart Columbus Operating System to connect them (Easy Mile, 2019). It is also worth noting that the smart grid is not only a specific vision element (#8) but it intersects with many of the other vision elements. Fig. 12.2 shows the proposed implementation of smart grid technologies in Columbus. Four districts were chosen for technology deployment: Linden, “a high-opportunity Columbus neighborhood in need of economic improvement” lacking “basic services such as healthcare, grocery stores and banking… Many residents are transit-reliant, yet planning and completing a trip to access employment and services can be challenging, particularly for parents with young children, seniors, and travelers with disabilities. There are also many first-mile/ last-mile (FMLM) challenges in the district”; Easton, “a high-traffic retail destination and jobs center” where “Research has demonstrated that a major contributor to the instability in these types of jobs is the lack of reliable transportation as well as FMLM challenges related to safety and mobility”; Downtown, which has a commercial vacancy occupation of 12% in part due to inadequate parking; and Rickenbacker, where the airport, logistics park, and distribution centers suffer from freight-induced congestion (Bishop et al., 2017). The proposal centered on a mix of strategies and technologies working together. These included the development of the sensors and other physical infrastructure needed to ease logistics and traffic on roadways for both commercial and public transportation, a data exchange to gather and analyze this data, an application suite to make the data available to both residents and visitors, and an emphasis on expanding the smart grid electric vehicle infrastructure. The public would see benefits such as reduced traffic congestion, real-time updates of

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FIG. 12.2  A proposal map of sites for smart grid deployment in Columbus, OH. Districts receiving technology deployments are shown in white and red (dark gray in print version) boxes. The blue wedge (darker shading, top right hand side) shows the area of the region receiving smart grid expansion. Backbone upgrades by AEP Ohio support the entire area (City of Columbus, n.d.-d).

p­ arking availability, transit options applied to “the last mile” problem particularly near centers of employment, enhanced public services in the Linden neighborhood (where demonstration projects would be introduced), and overall more and better public transit options (City of Columbus, n.d.-c; U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.-a). At the time of the proposal, 80% of Columbus’ working population was driving to work, despite the planning and financial resources the City had previously put into transportation programming and infrastructure. These efforts included an early bike-share system beginning in 2013 (before this had become popular nationwide), and two ridesharing services—Car2Go and Zipcar

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(­specializing in point-to-point and rent-return, respectively) the same year. These were coupled with state-wide pro ride-sharing policies in 2016 (Smith, 2016). At the time, Columbus was in the process of converting city vehicles to run on compressed natural gas, and they had 300 public electric vehicle charging stations, as part of smart grid funding discussed in the following section (City of Columbus, n.d.-d). Given that other cities in the U.S. have also pursued similar projects, why did Columbus win the Smart City Challenge? The success of Columbus’ proposal has been attributed by one author to “it’s close partnership with the Columbus business community… Columbus officials are skilled at putting together public-private partnerships. In just 2  months, from when the federal grant was announced in December 2015 until applications were due in February 2016, officials were able to pull together $90 million in pledges from local businesses around Columbus” (Maddox, 2017). The proposal and subsequent grants was (and remains) administered under Smart Columbus, a partnership between the City and the Columbus Partnership–a membership organization for CEOs of Columbus’ large business community (City of Columbus, n.d.-d; Columbus Partnership, n.d.; Maddox, 2017). This joint governance structure has proved to be adept at fundraising, as by mid-2017, more than $500 million was secured, with the largest donors including AEP, the state of Ohio, and the Ohio State University (Maddox, 2017). The attraction of a major research university being located in (or near) the City shouldn’t be underestimated, as this is a trait shared by many of the finalists, particularly Austin, Denver, Pittsburgh, and Portland.

12.4.1.2  Implementation of the challenge funding Smart Columbus has 12 full-time employees (Namigadde, 2019a) and the current Project Master Plan places seven projects across three themes: Enabling Technologies, Enhanced Human Services, and Emerging Technologies, with each being deployed across one or more of the four districts. Many of the projects revolve around transportation. The lone Enabling Technologies project is the yet to be implemented connected vehicle environment (CVE) which focuses on 17 intersections which have some of the highest rates of crashes in the region. The CVE is intended to increase safety for both vehicle operators and pedestrians through the installation of connected equipment in buses, first responder vehicles, city-owned vehicles, and residents who live or work in the CVE area. One outcome is that buses and emergency vehicles will have signal prioritization. The CVE may be expanded to up to 1800 vehicles and 90 intersections (City of Columbus, 2019a, b). There are five projects under the theme of Enhanced Human Services. These include a multimodal trip planner and common payment system (e.g., the London Oyster Card’s use in Greater London, the MetroCard in New York City, and contactless smart cards), smart mobility hubs, and an app to assist navigation for people with cognitive disabilities, the Prenatal Trip Assistance and Mobility app which will help women have easy transportation access to doctors, and an event parking management (EPM) system.

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The six smart mobility hubs are partially implemented. While planned before Columbus’ Smart City Challenge entry, the grant added the ability for neighborhood hubs to be developed. These hubs act as transit points for first/last mile transportation and have real-time transit information, as well act as Wi-Fi hot spots and public information kiosks (Lee and Miller, 2018; City of Columbus, 2019c). The last-mile transportation infrastructure at the hubs includes a combination of car-sharing, bike-sharing, bike racks and dockless parking, park and ride parking, and pickup and drop off zones (City of Columbus, 2019b). The goal of the EPM is to increase available information to drivers so that parking is more efficient, particularly in several areas without enough parking capacity. An app with parking information is projected to launch in early 2020. Among other things, it will allow for reserving and paying for parking garage spots and will predict where street parking is most likely to be available (City of Columbus, n.d.-f; City of Columbus, 2019b). The sole Emerging Technologies project is connected electric anonymous vehicles (CEAVs), which are shuttles being used along two routes, one in Linden and one downtown (Easy Mile, 2019). There remains a focus on “first mile-last mile and other microtransit efforts” (Namigadde, 2019a). The goals are to provide easy access to jobs and services (e.g., community centers, opportunity centers, support services, and food sources), improve safety, and encourage public transit use by connecting with other public transportation options (City of Columbus, 2019b) (Fig. 12.3). A key eighth project that links all of the other projects together is the aforementioned Smart Columbus Operating System, which is intended to be a web-based platform that collects and delivers data from diverse sources, including the developing Smart Columbus technologies, traditional transportation data, and “community partners such as food pantries and medical services” (Bishop et al., 2017; City of Columbus, 2019b). Some of these elements are expected to go live in 2019 (Gitlin, 2019; Namigadde, 2019a). This is a major piece of the conceptual smart grid data center shown in Fig. 12.1. Smart Columbus has also developed an educational experience center in a downtown property which allows visitors to interact with smart city technology (Namigadde, 2019a). The Smart Columbus Operating System in turn provides data to the Cityfunded myColumbus app and acts as a catch-all which shares a mixture of static and real-time transportation-related information (e.g., bus schedules, available parking, bike trail maps, route navigation features, traffic camera feeds) along with health inspection reports, information about parks and recreation activities and sites, an event calendar, an alert system, and information about City-related environmental initiatives such as recycling. The app won numerous awards, although as of June 2019 has rock bottom ratings in both the Google Play and Apple App stores, despite being frequently updated. It currently incorporates only limited information from Smart Columbus (City of Columbus, n.d.-b, n.d.-c, n.d.-d; Gitlin, 2019).

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FIG. 12.3  A map of current smart city deployment technology and locations in Columbus, OH (cf. Fig. 12.2). Shown is the target area for the connected vehicle environment (CVE), the prenatal trip assistance target area, the smart mobility hubs, the deployment area of the upcoming event parking management (EPM) system, the connected electric autonomous vehicle (CEAV) routes, the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) bus routes, and the bus rapid transit (BRT) routes (City of Columbus, 2019b).

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Not everyone has been pleased with the slow pace of implementation of the smart city technologies, nor with some of the proposed projects (Warren, 2017a; Namigadde, 2019b). Those in Linden and other areas of Columbus with a high percentage of vulnerable populations are particularly at risk to the issues that can come with tech investment—risks such as gentrification. “They move black folk around this city like you move a pawn around the chessboard” said one resident, highlighting the ethnic division across the city (Bliss, 2017). There’s also a perception of “bait-and-switch” among some residents, given previous examples of social equality projects in the city ending up harming more than helping the supposed beneficiaries (Bliss, 2017).

12.4.1.3  Additional funding for public transportation The implementation of Smart Challenge funding in Columbus has taken place within the context of a range of significant improvements in public transportation, with many of the changes tied directly or indirectly to smart city initiatives (this is perhaps a unique feature of the U.S.; a consequence of public transportation funding lagging behind many other developed countries, English, 2018; American Public Transportation Association, 2019). In the summer of 2017 COTA implemented its first major bus network rerouting since 1974, which reduced the number of lines from 74 to 48, decreased the total miles driven in the system from 2300 to 1640 km, and increased the frequency of bus routes, while covering nearly the same geographical area. A new rapid transit bus system from Linden to downtown has been implemented (Lee and Miller, 2018). Ridership in 2018 was 3% higher than in 2017, and provided nearly 19 million rides (Mass Transit, 2019; Warren, 2018). Over the same period, transit ridership dropped in 31 out of 35 major U.S. transit markets (Schmitt, 2018), and in 2016 to 2017, COTA had seen a drop in 0.8% in ridership, while nearby Cincinnati, OH saw a 5% drop, and nearby Cleveland, OH had an 11% drop (TransitCenter, 2018). The redesign won COTA the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award in 2018, with it noting that “Post-redesign, 100,000 more central Ohio residents live within a quarter-mile of high-frequency bus service, and 110,000 more jobs are located within a quarter-mile of high-frequency service” (American Public Transportation Association, 2018). Funding for this initiative was provided in part by a $37 million U.S. Federal Transit Administration (U.S. Federal Transit Administration, 2018). A trial program that allows some downtown employees at more than 400 businesses and university students has contributed positively to ridership, accounting for over 1 million rides. The $5 million cost of the program was split evenly through business property taxes downtown and the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) (Ferenchik, 2019b). As of 2019, “COTA’s bus fleet is currently comprised of 57% low-emission vehicles, including 178 compressed natural gas (CNG) buses and 6 hybridelectric buses. The authority is currently purchasing 28 CNG buses per year

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to become diesel-free by 2025. COTA plans to add at least 10 electric buses to its fleet by 2021” (Central Ohio Transit Authority, 2019). Funding for the change has been provided in part by a $2.6 million U.S. DOT Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant and a $400 thousand alternative fuels grant from an Ohio EPA grant (Central Ohio Transit Authority, 2018, 2019). Free Wi-Fi is available on all buses as of 2017 (Warren, 2017b). In 2019 Columbus tested a shared bus-bike lane during rush hour traffic. The pilot study found that this significantly decreased the duration of bus trips on the route, and also increased the use of bicycles and scooters. The stretch of road in question had an existing bike lane, and it was widened to accommodate buses. A small survey (n = 205) conducted during the pilot program found support for the idea from both bus riders and bicyclists, although safety concerns were voiced (Ferenchik, 2019a,c). A second test was also conducted later in the year (City of Columbus, n.d.-a). COTA spent $52 million renovating three buildings to LEED standard: a bus storage and maintenance facility, a mobility services facility, and an administrative office building (City of Columbus, n.d.-d). COTA wasn’t alone in its pursuit of LEED standards; by the end of 2015, over 200 offices and buildings in the Columbus metropolitan region had been LEED certified (U.S. Green Building Council, 2019). In 2016 an interactive bike route map has been developed in conjunction with the MORPC. One of the features indicates road conditions specifically for bicyclists (Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, 2016).

12.4.1.4  Electric vehicles Electric vehicle implementation in Columbus has been driven by a combination of federal funding and public funding. At the federal level, the U.S. government has offered tax credits up to $7500 for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids (based on battery size) since 2010, although once manufactures hit cumulative sales of 200,000 electric and plug-in hybrids across all models, these incentives step down in phases to $0 over the following five quarters (U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, n.d.-a, n.d.-b; U.S. Internal Revenue Service, 2018). Statewide funding from AEP Ohio offering $10 million in incentives for development of up to 375 vehicle charging stations during 2018 and 2019 is an outgrowth of the work started under the Smart City Challenge grant. AEP Ohio will gather data at several of the stations and release it regularly to the public. Data gathered will include prices, use, and reliability (AEP Ohio, 2018; Walton, 2018). By 2020 there should be 1000 electric vehicle charging stations in a six-county region around Columbus (Namigadde, 2019a). Starting in mid2019, hybrid and electric car owners in Ohio have been charged an extra $100 in annual registration fees compared to gasoline-powered cars to offset the gas taxes that they aren’t paying (Hancock, 2019). Smart Columbus has a 12 car “ride and drive” roadshow to promote electric vehicles, comprising both plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles. By the end

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of 2019, over 12,000 rides will have been given (Gitlin, 2019). They’ve also had strong engagement with local car dealers and have developed a certification process. During the summer of 2018, electric vehicle sales surpassed 1.25% of all vehicles, which was a jump from the previous year and much higher than the state average. Electric vehicle sales in 2016 were only 0.36% of the total (McDonald and Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, n.d.; Henry, 2018).

12.5 Conclusion The United States has been central to the global growth of smart cities through its significant role in the development of many of the technological innovations which make the concept possible in practice. However, the actual adoption of these technologies in urban areas across the U.S. has in general been a later trend than in many developed countries. Nevertheless, many towns and cities across the country are now in the process of applying smart solutions to the challenges of urban management. Such applications are taking place across a range of policy areas and smart solutions are increasingly being incorporated into local policy and strategic documents. Smaller towns are often being used by smart technology vendors as testbeds for adoption in larger cities and vendors are often being directly engaged with by city governments in constructive and mutually beneficial ways. Perhaps the key catalyst for projects in many areas is the availability and capture of Federal-level funding. Such funding has often been the driver of local initiatives and has also enabled the leveraging of significant private sector funding. The greatest quantity of such funding has been made available in the policy areas of energy and transportation, and the case of Columbus, Ohio, exemplifies the kinds of projects taking place on the ground with the aid of these sources of finance. Columbus, in particular, illustrates how cities which are able to mobilize actors across their various governance networks quickly and collaboratively have a greater ability to win competitive funding initiatives and gain resources to carry out projects. The case study underlies the significance of local urban governance as a key variable in determining the geographies of smart city initiatives across the country. There have been some successes in Columbus, as elsewhere, but concerns remain about whether the benefits are shared by the intended residents. There are ample opportunities for the pubic to provide feedback to the City, and it is clear that some projects, such as the prenatal trip assistance and the smart hubs, are aimed at those currently constrained by transportation options, whereas others such as the event parking management system will likely most help those who can afford cars. Safety measures and the possibility of reduced air pollution from emissions should be shared equally across socioeconomic classes. One question that remains—not just in Columbus—is whether those without smartphones will be able to access much of the public information being made available.

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Going forward, a potential roadblock to further initiatives may be the recent lack of Federal funding and national policy with regard to smart city development. The Trump administration has not taken forward in any significant way the programs initiated under Barack Obama and given the importance of public funding for the initiation of major projects in places such as Columbus, the present period may historically be seen as a lull in the trajectory. Nevertheless, as smart solutions become more normalized and, in many cases, unavoidable, it is likely that such a lull will be short-lived and insignificant in the larger picture, particularly with the roll-out of smart meters, which are being pushed by some states and some utilities—regardless of federal funds available. The pace of adoption over the past decade and the present range of initiatives taking place indicate that smart cities in the United States, as elsewhere, are here to stay.

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Smart city technologies in the USA  Chapter | 12  243 Lee, J.H., Hancock, M.G., Hu, M.C., 2014. Towards an effective framework for building smart cities: lessons from Seoul and San Francisco. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 89, 80–99. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2013.08.033. Elsevier Inc. Maddox, T., 2017. How Columbus, Ohio Parlayed $50 million into $500 million for a Smart City Transportation Network. TechRepublic. 10 May. Available at: https://www.techrepublic.com/ article/how-columbus-ohio-parlayed-50-million-into-500-million-for-a-smart-city-transportation-network/%0A%0A. Mass Transit, 2019. COTA Ridership Increased 3% in 2018 [Press release], 5 February. Available at: https://www.masstransitmag.com/bus/press-release/21056175/cota-ridership-increased3-percent-in-2018. McDonald, L. and Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, n.d.. EV Market Share by State, EVAdoption. com. Available at: https://evadoption.com/ev-market-share/ev-market-share-state. Meier, R., 1962. A Communications Theory of Urban Growth. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, 2016. Columbus Metro Bike Map. Available at: http:// apps.morpc.org/bikemap. Millsap, A., 2018. Columbus, Ohio Is Booming But Will It Last? Forbes.com 6 August. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammillsap/2018/08/06/columbus-ohio-is-booming-but-will-itlast/#5421c7d525be. Namigadde, A., 2019a. Smart Columbus on a Mission: Invest in Technology People Aren’t Using Yet. WOSU Public Media. 22 April. Available at: https://radio.wosu.org/post/smart-columbusmission-invest-technology-people-arent-using-yet#stream/0. Namigadde, A., 2019b. Smart Columbus Promised Driverless Shuttles in Easton. What Happened? WOSU Public Media. 30 May. Available at: https://radio.wosu.org/post/smart-columbus-promised-driverless-shuttles-easton-what-happened#stream/0. National Economic Council, Office of Science and Technology Policy, 2015. A Strategy for American Innovation. The White House, Washington D.C. National League of Cities, 2016. Trends in Smart City Development. Available at: https://www.nlc. org/sites/default/files/2017-01/Trends%20in%20Smart%20City%20Development.pdf. Navigant Research, 2017. Navigant Research Leaderboard: Smart City Suppliers. Available at: https://www.navigantresearch.com/reports/navigant-research-leaderboard-smart-city-suppliers. Nominet, 2018. List of Smart City Projects. Available at: https://www.nominet.uk/list-smart-cityprojects. Patzer, S., 2018. Smart Meters May Not Be So Smart. Columbus Free Press. 27 December. Available at: https://columbusfreepress.com/article/smart-meters-may-not-be-so-smart. Peeples, D., 2016. Need a Hand With Your Smart City Project? Government help may be on the way’. Pyzyk, K., 2019. Federal Lawmakers Re-Introduce Smart City Legislation. Smart Cities Dive. 15 May. Available at: https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/federal-lawmakers-re-introducesmart-city-legislation/554795. Quadrennial Energy Review Task Force, 2015. Quadrennial Energy Review: Energy Transmission, Storage, and Distribution Infrastructure. U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy. Available at: https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/04/f22/QER-ALLFINAL_0.pdf. Robertson, J., 2017. Kansas City Unveils a New Strategy to Get High-Speed Internet Access to All. The Kansas City Star. 8 March. Available at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/ technology/article137223538.html. Schmitt, A., 2018. Only a Few American Cities Are Growing Transit Ridership—Here’s What They’re Doing Right. Streets Blog USA, 23 March. Available at: https://usa.streetsblog. org/2018/03/23/only-a-few-american-cities-are-growing-transit-ridership-heres-what-theyredoing-right.

244  Smart cities for technological and social innovation Singer, N., 2012. Mission Control, Built for Cities: I.B.M. Takes “Smarter Cities” Concept to Rio de Janeiro. The New York Times. 3 March. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/ business/ibm-takes-smarter-cities-concept-to-rio-de-janeiro.html?mtrref=www.google.com&g wh=0F25FBBAA6D6DA0514E3D1046F823738&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWALL. Smith, A. L., 2016. Ridesharing Regulations Arrive in the Buckeye State, Cincinnati Bar Association Report, March, pp: 5–7. Smith, N., 2019. Rust Belt Cities Should Try Embracing the Suburbs. Bloomberg.com. 5 February. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-05/city-suburb-consolidation-might-reverse-rust-belt-urban-decline. Söderström, O., Paasche, T., Klauser, F., 2014. Smart cities as corporate storytelling. City 18 (3), 307–320. Sovacool, B.K., et al., 2018. The neglected social dimensions to a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) transition: a critical and systematic review. Environ. Res. Lett. 13 (1). https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ aa9c6d. 13001. The United States Conference of Mayors & IHS Markit, 2018. Cities of the 21st Century: 2018 Smart Cities Survey. Available at: http://www.usmayors.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2018Smart-Cities-Report.pdf. The White House, 2015. FACT SHEET: Administration Announces New “Smart Cities” Initiative to Help Communities Tackle Local Challenges and Improve City Services. The White House President Barack Obama, Office of the Press Secretary, 14 September. Available at: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/09/14/fact-sheet-administrationannounces-new-smart-cities-initiative-help. The White House, 2016a. A Retrospective Assessment of Clean Energy Investments in the Recovery Act. Available at: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/page/ files/20160225_cea_final_clean_energy_report.pdf. The White House, 2016b. FACT SHEET: Announcing Over $80 million in New Federal Investment and a Doubling of Participating Communities in the White House Smart Cities Initiative. The White House President Barack Obama, Office of the Press Secretary, 26 September. Available at: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/09/26/fact-sheet-announcingover-80-million-new-federal-investment-and. TransitCenter, 2018. Consider transit in Ohio. 21 March [Twitter]. Available at: https://twitter.com/ TransitCenter/status/976529999430848513. U.S. Congressional Budget Office, 2015. Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output in 2014. Available at: https://www.cbo. gov/publication/49958. U.S. Department of Energy, n.d.-a. ‘Smart Grid Rechnologies Cut Emissions and Costs in Ohio: Successes From AEP Ohio’s gridSMART® Demonstration Project’, p. 3. Available at: https://www. smartgrid.gov/files/AEP_Smart-Grid-Technologies-Cut-Emissions-Costs-Ohio-SGDP.pdf. U.S. Department of Energy, n.d.-b. What Is the Smart Grid? Available at: https://www.smartgrid. gov/the_smart_grid/smart_grid.html. U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.-a. Beyond Traffic: The Smart City Challenge. Available at: https://www.its.dot.gov/factsheets/smartcity.htm. U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.-b. Smart City Challenge. Available at: https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/Smart%20City%20Challenge%20Overview.pdf. U.S. Department of Transportation, n.d.-c. Smart City Challenge Lessons Learned. Available at: https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/SmartCityChallengeLessonsLearned.pdf. U.S. Federal Transit Administration, 2018. U.S. Department of Transportation Announces $37.45 million for Bus Rapid Transit in Columbus, Ohio [Press release], 21 May. Available at: https://

Smart city technologies in the USA  Chapter | 12  245 www.transit.dot.gov/about/news/us-department-transportation-announces-3745-million-busrapid-transit-columbus-ohio. U.S. Federal Transit Administration, n.d.. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), U.S. Department of Transportation. Available at: https://www.transit.dot.gov/regulations-and-guidance/legislation/arra/american-recovery-and-reinvestment-act-arra. U.S. Green Building Council, 2019. Green Building Information Gateway Database. Available at: http://www.gbig.org. U.S. Internal Revenue Service, 2018. First Plug-In Electric Vehicle Manufacturer Crosses 200,000 Sold Threshold; Tax Credit for Eligible Consumers Begins Phase Down on Jan. 1 [Press release], 14 December. Available at: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/first-plug-in-electric-­ ­ vehicle-manufacturer-crosses-200000-sold-thresholdtax-credit-for-eligible-consumers-beginsphase-down-on-jan-1. U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability, 2011. Recovery Act Selections for Smart Grid Investment Grant Awards-by Category. November. Available at: https://www.energy.gov/oe/downloads/recovery-act-selections-smart-grid-investment-grant-awards-category-updated-november. U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability, 2016. Smart Grid Investment Grant Program Final Report 2016. Available at: https://www.smartgrid.gov/files/Final_SGIG_Report_20161220.pdf. U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability, n.d.-a. AEP Ohio gridSMART Demonstration Project. Available at: https://www.smartgrid.gov/project/aep_ohio_gridsmartsm_demonstration_project.html. U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability, n.d.-b. Recovery Act Smart Grid Programs. Available at: https://www.smartgrid.gov/recovery_act/index.html. U.S. Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability, n.d.-c. Smart Grid Investment Grant Program. Available at: https://www.smartgrid.gov/recovery_act/overview/smart_grid_investment_ grant_program.html. U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, n.d.-a. Electric Vehicles: Tax Credits and Other Incentives, Available at: https://www.energy.gov/eere/electricvehicles/electric-vehiclestax-credits-and-other-incentives. U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, n.d.-b. Federal Tax Credits for All-Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles, Available at: https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/taxevb.shtml. U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2016. Technology and the Future of Cities. Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/Blog/ PCAST%20Cities%20Report%20_%20FINAL.pdf. Walton, R., 2018. AEP Rolls Out $10M Ohio EV Infrastructure Incentive Program. Utility Dive. 20 August. Available at: https://www.utilitydive.com/news/aep-rolls-out-10m-ohio-ev-infrastructure-incentive-program/530383. Warren, B., 2017a. Changes Made to Lineup of Smart Columbus Projects. Columbus Underground. 7 December. Available at: https://www.columbusunderground.com/changes-made-to-smartcolumbus-projects-bw1. Warren, B., 2017b. WiFi Available on all COTA Buses, Mobile Payment Coming Soon. Columbus Underground. 1 September. Available at: https://www.columbusunderground.com/wifi-available-on-all-cota-buses-mobile-payment-coming-soon-bw1. Warren, B., 2018. COTA Receives National Award, Ridership up on Redesigned Network. Columbus Underground. 16 August. Available at: https://www.columbusunderground.com/cotareceives-national-award-touts-increased-ridership-bw1. Zanella, A., et al., 2014. Internet of things for smart cities. IEEE Internet Things J. 1 (1), 22–32. https://doi.org/10.1109/JIOT.2014.2306328.

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Chapter 13

Building the future city Glasgow Julie T. Miao Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 13.1 Introduction 13.2 The development of smart thinking in the UK 13.3 National policy towards smart cities in Scotland

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13.4 Glasgow future city program 253 13.5 Conclusion 260 References 263

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13.1 Introduction A smart city is still a fuzzy concept that is hard to accurately and uniformly define. Different countries and cities tend to develop their understanding of smart cities based on their specific economic-social contexts and histories. Authors in this book nonetheless share the view that technology, in particular, information and communication technology (ICT), is a core element to make smart cities, where ICTs are “combined with infrastructure, architecture, everyday objects to address social, economic, and environmental problems” (Townsend, 2014, p15). Yet, a singular focus on ICT has caused many to criticize smart cities as rhetoric to justify capital accumulation aimed at young middle classes, with socioeconomic equality, local heritage, and citizen participation being residual concerns (Watson, 2015). These criticisms apply more so in developing regions, where the scale of the urbanization process, unevenly developed governance arrangements, and significant informality pose severe challenges for sustainable development. On the bright side, smart cities and smart built environments could serve as the platform to facilitate technological and social innovations and thus provide potential to help solve various urban challenges. In January 2016, the United Nations General Assembly published the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 17 goals are broad and interdependent, covering poverty, hunger, health, education, gender equality, clean water, sanitation, affordable energy, decent work, inequality, urbanization, Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00013-7 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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global warming, environment, social justice, and peace. Smart city solutions could help address: SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, SDG 7 on affordable and clean energy, SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production, and SDG 15 on life on land. For example, cities could reduce energy usage and CO2 emissions through more efficient buildings, electricity grids, street lights, transportation systems, and energy and water networks at a time when cities already account for 70% of greenhouse gas emissions. And more widely, smart, sustainable cities aim for a better quality urban life for all. Having said that, we have to recognize the evolutionary nature of the smart city concept and practice. There is no single city that has a crystal-clear idea on what they want to achieve through smart technologies in the first instance. Neither is a citizen-centric approach recognized and accepted by all. Moreover, a place’s existing economic, social, and institutional backgrounds exert a strong impact on how smart city solutions are revealed and implemented. Drivers and actors involved in smart city making thus become important as they could either build upon a place’s unique social economic characteristics or bring in creative destruction to reframe a city’s growth path. External forces, such as the spread of smart cities across the globe may push the central governments to react; or it could also be bottom-up, led by entrepreneurial local governments and supported by private and civil sectors. No matter what, the smart city rhetoric and practice have entered a new phase of development—about which we currently have relatively little empirical understanding (Kitchin, 2016). This chapter will draw on the first smart city pilot in the UK, the Future City Glasgow program (FCGP), to illustrate the role of technologies, drivers, and actors involved, as well as the preliminary effects it caused.

13.2  The development of smart thinking in the UK Now, a simple search of “smart cities” on Google yields around 464 million returns, which demonstrates its global popularity. As an important player in the international policy arena, the UK is both influencing and influenced by the emerging global imagination of smart cities. Cocchia (2014) has conducted a systematic literature review on “smart and digital city” and identified the timeline of its increasing popularity by drawing on publications dated between 1994 and 2012. The author noticed a modest, yet stable growth of interest between 1994 and 2009. After 2009, publications on smart cities have been proliferating and doubled year by year. In this time framework, Cocchia (2014) suggested several major events that have reinforced each other in leveraging the popularity of smart discourse. These include: 1) The announcement of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 that focused on CO2 limitations. As one of the Annexes I Parties, the UK had supported and surpassed the obligations of greenhouse gas emission limitations;

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2) The widespread of internet since 2000: The ICT infrastructure, such as broadband, wireless sensor networks, and open platforms, have become more mature and affordable. Mobile phones have also become more and more accessible for the general public, paving the foundation of a smart city; 3) Kyoto Protocol has been in force since 2005, which heightened the importance of environmental technologies in reaching the emission reduction targets. The UK continued its commitment to climate change; 4) IBM Smarter Planet concept was launched in 2008, which significantly boosted the interests in smart cities. IBM’s widely publicized demonstration project in Rio de Janeiro’s Urban Operations Center has attracted great interest from other cities. Building on the momentum, IBM also launched a Smarter Cities Challenge in 2010, pushing its techno-utopian discourse further. Glasgow was the first UK city to win a grant from this initiative. 5) Europe 2020 Strategy, launched in 2010, explicitly focusing on smart growth (investment in education, research, and innovation); sustainable growth (investment in technologies and low-carbon economy); and inclusive growth (strong emphasis on job creation and poverty reduction). The UK, then a member of the EU, was obligated to follow this strategy, which was also instrumental as the EU funding would be channeled into these priorities. In the UK, one main player in shaping its smart city effort is the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), later renamed as Innovate UK. TSB was established in 2004 as an advisory board to the national government, which, as a result of deregulation, was turned into an “arms-length” agency of the UK central government in 2007. It functions similarly to the Singapore Investment Board (Miao and Phelps, 2019) and prioritizes “commercializing new ideas with business… targeting technologies and areas with the greatest scope to improve business, the economy, and society” (TSB, 2013b). Buck and While (2017) reviewed TSB’s crucial role in the UK’s Future City initiative. They noticed that TSB traditionally had been focusing on the well-defined science and technology sectors, including ICTs, construction, pharmaceuticals, and energy. It was not until 2011 that a clearer focus on cities and urban issues emerged as a cross-cutting theme. Referring to the previously mentioned timeline, it seems the EU2020 Strategy might have served as an important catalyst for such shifting focus in the UK. To facilitate the extended focus of TSB, a Future Cities Catapult was established in 2013 to stimulate innovation and commercialization of UK-based smart city inventions. This Catapult functions like Enterprise Singapore (Miao and Phelps, 2019) but with a more defined focus on the advanced city solution sector. Specifically, its remit lies in collaborating with and matching up industries, governments, and academia to “define, create, test, and sell products and services for cities” (Future Cities Catapult, 2019). Recently, the UK Transport Systems Catapult and Future Cities Catapult have combined, forming a new organization called Connected Places Catapult, to position the UK at the forefront of urban and transport innovation (Intelligent Transport, 2019).

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Following TSB’s strong emphasis on “encouraging challenge-led innovation” (TSB, 2013a, p6) and its traditional operation model of invited bidding practice, TSB launched the “Future Cities Demonstrator Competition” (FCDC) in 2012, intending to “demonstrate at scale, and in use, the additional value … created by integrating city systems, (enabling) businesses to test… new solutions…(and allowing) UK cities to explore new approaches to delivering a good local economy and excellent quality of life, whilst reducing the environmental footprint and increasing resilience to environmental change” (TSB, 2012, p2). This aim is broad and market-driven, which is also reflected in the selection criteria. TSB’s future city competition was organized in two stages. Stage 1 was a feasibility competition. Urban areas with a minimum population of 125,000 were invited to bid for £50,000 to carry out this study. It was opened in June 2012, and local councils had a 3-week window to submit their proposal. In total, 50 municipalities applied and 30 were awarded the feasibility grants. Here the key selection criteria included evidence of existing or current investment in city systems; the ability to host a demonstrator; population size; and potential for service innovation (TSB, 2012). The 30 entrants then could have 19 weeks to complete their feasibility study reports and full applications for the £24m demonstrator funding. Of the 29 cities that completed bids, 26 submitted full demonstrator proposals with a wide range of focus (Buck and While, 2017). Glasgow, as the overall winner, was awarded £24m to implement its plans. Bristol, London, and Peterborough were each awarded £3m as runners-up. Domestically, the Future Cities Demonstrator Competition was regarded as a major accelerator for local governments and private sectors to think and act entrepreneurially on capitalizing their existing smart elements and capabilities (Cowley et  al., 2018). Caprotti et  al. (2016) for example, identified around a third of 34 UK cities with populations over 100,000 had a clear smart city ambition and/or related initiatives taking place. Yet, the strong push for commercial value and returns by TSB may have resulted in a smart city strategy that emphasized “urbanization as a business model rather than a model of social justice” (Datta, 2015). However, at least on paper, the UK’s new smart city standards (2015) assert that “the key challenge around smart cities is not technological but about people” and local programs, including those implemented in Glasgow, are now highlighting rhetoric implicitly countering the charge of the smart city as a technocratic imposition. The next section will review the smart city-related policies in Scotland as background to FCGP.

13.3  National policy towards smart cities in Scotland An “urban-focused” policy discourse emerged relatively late in Scotland compared with the rest of the UK, partly due to its larger proportion of rural areas and a long-term focus on equity and welfare (Miao and Maclennan, 2019).

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For instance, the Scottish Government has insisted that City Dealsa in Scotland embrace principles of “inclusive growth” that were less developed in earlier English deals that emphasized gross-value-added. Therefore, for much of the last quarter-century, cities’ economic growth was narrowly understood and measured via the real or emerging industrial clusters in the work of the Scottish Development Agency—the national economic development agency until 1983 when it was replaced by the Scottish Enterprise—as a way of achieving quick gains in attracting investment and urban regeneration. In September 1997, a referendum was held in Scotland when people voted for devolution. The UK Parliament then passed the Scotland Act 1998 which established the Scottish Parliament in Holyrood, Edinburgh, opened in 1999, and transferred some of the powers previously held at Westminster. The devolved Scottish Government is responsible for most of the day-to-day issues of the people of Scotland, including, health, education, justice, rural affairs, and transport. Matters such as defense are reserved for the UK government (Galabova, 2012). The Scottish Government cannot make laws in reserved areas and there has been a convention that the UK Parliament will not legislate in devolved areas without the consent of Holyrood. Of course, the devolution arrangement has not stood still. Since 1999 there have been several changes and additions to the Scottish Parliament’s powers. These included: The Scotland Act 2012, which provided the largest transfer of financial powers from Westminster since the creation of the UK; and The Scotland Act 2016, which devolved further powers to Scotland including significant areas of income tax and welfare (The UK Government, 2019). According to Lyall (2007), devolution gives Scotland the freedom and scope to develop its distinctive policies for science, technology, and innovation (STI), but a multilevel governance structure was also established where the UK Parliament reserves powers in research funding, trade and industry, defense policy, and European policy. Nonetheless, in developing its STI policies, the Scottish Parliament added to the UK strategies a distinctive Scottish thinking in regional innovation and economic development policies (Brown et al., 1998). The Scottish Executive (2001a), for example, made the first science strategy among the UK’s devolved territories and used “smart Scotland” in one of its early documents (Scottish Executive, 2001b). These earlier actions were arguably stimulated by the policy paradigm shift in the European Union, in which Scotland has been a member of its predecessor European Communities, since 1973 (European Union, 2011). Explicit support for a knowledge-based development began with the Lisbon Strategy (European Council, 2000) on the EU level, and recently the Europe 2020 Plan (European Council, 2010) mentioned earlier. Responding to the Lisbon Strategy, all EU member states had developed a national innovation strategy, which related to the key goals of the Strategy but a. City Deals are agreements between the UK government and a city that give the city relatively comprehensive control over its tax revenue and local development affairs.

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also addressed their unique economic and cultural challenges. Key domestic documents in Scotland that set its STI strategies include: ●

●

●

The Government Economic Strategy 2007, which stated that “Sustainable economic growth is the one central purpose to which all else in government is directed and contributes. Our strategic objectives—to make Scotland wealthier and fairer; smarter; healthier; safer and stronger; and greener—are all predicated on our efforts to bring more economic success to our country.” Innovation for Scotland 2009 (and its sister plan Skills for Scotland 2009 and Science for Scotland 2009), strived “to create a more successful Scotland with opportunities for all to flourish through increasing sustainable economic growth. Innovation for Scotland is essential to achieving that purpose. Innovation improves productivity, creates new products and services, creates new jobs in existing industries and industries of the future and stimulates greater economic participation” (Scottish Government, 2009, p. 3). Scotland Can Do, 2017: This is the latest Innovation Action Plan for Scotland. It is about how Scotland could work towards becoming a world‑leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation. The overarching economic ambition is to see Scotland ranked in the top quartile of OECD countries for productivity, sustainability, equality, and well-being. In working towards this, a strong innovation performance will be critical in improving Scotland’s long-term productivity and enabling inclusive growth and the delivery of higher living standards for the people of Scotland.

The biotechnology/life sciences sector has been a priority area for Scotland as it has considerable strengths in research (Miao and Maclennan, 2014). In its 2009 Strategy nonetheless, the Scottish Government recognized the vital importance of ICT for productivity and competitiveness. An ICT Forum was set up in 2008 with the vision to increase productivity, efficiency, quality, and competitiveness. This working group, however, had a short life and its mission was replaced by the 2011 Digital Strategy, which focuses on four themes of connectivity, digital economy, digital public services, and digital participation. A refreshed digital strategy, published in 2017 (Scottish Government, 2017), sets out a new vision for Scotland as a vibrant, inclusive, open, and outward-looking digital nation. Under these guidelines, a series of investments have been made. The availability of Next Generation Broadband, for example, has increased significantly from 41% of premises in 2011 to 85% in 2015 (Ofcom, 2015). About 92% of businesses had access to a broadband connection and 71% of businesses that use digital technologies have used them to aid innovation (SCDI, 2016). These internal and external drivers, both technologically and politically, have underpinned the process of Scottish cities in transforming their economic structure from manufacturing-based industries to more advanced manufacturing and service sectors, such as food and drinks, finance, and advertising. These achievements, in turn, support Glasgow’s winning of the UK Future City Demonstration Competition, as will be discussed in the following section.

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13.4  Glasgow future city program Unlike rapidly expanding cities in developing countries, the drive to find sustainable smart solutions to urban problems in Glasgow has not been fueled by increasing migration to the city. Instead, there has been a declining population from a peak of over 1 million inhabitants in 1950, to approximately 615,000 today (Fig. 13.1), although this figure still makes Glasgow the largest of the seven cities in Scotland. Historically, as an industrial city with an over-reliance on shipbuilding and heavy engineering, Glasgow had been suffering from severe economic downturns and a high unemployment rate in the past four decades (Table 13.1). Glaswegians have the lowest life expectancy in Scotland and the lowest levels of home broadband access (GCC, 2018b). Most of Glasgow’s urban and societal policies, therefore, have been focusing on transforming it from a postindustrial city to a forward-looking city with prospects. A crucial turning point for Glasgow came when it bid successfully for the European City of Culture 1990. The Glasgow City Council had used this opportunity strategically in leveraging key infrastructure projects, attracting private investment, and building citizen confidence (Mooney, 2004). Since then, the economic performance of Glasgow has been on the rise, and there is a general good feeling among its citizens in terms of changing their course of life. Economically, the proportion of manufacturing sectors was reduced and was filled in by the increase of professional and public sector jobs (over 50% now) and business administration and support services, especially in the finance sector (Fig. 13.2). Yet, by 2010, employment in its information and communication sector only accounted for 13.8% of the total employment, demonstrating its embryonic status. Zooming in to the creative sector, 3.2% of Glasgow’s employment falls into this industry in 2013, which was relatively small, but higher than the rest of the Scottish cities except Edinburgh (3.2%). All people population 640,000 630,000 620,000 610,000 600,000 590,000 580,000 570,000 560,000 550,000 540,000

FIG. 13.1  Population of Glasgow City and percentage to Scotland population. (Source: Office for National Statistics, 2013.)

254  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

TABLE 13.1  Economically active population in Glasgow. Edinburgh city

Glasgow city

Scotland

Great Britain

2004

78

68.2

76.7

76.3

2005

78.8

70.4

77

76.4

2006

79.1

68.5

77.8

76.7

2007

78.3

70

77.5

76.5

04–07 Change

0.3

1.8

0.8

0.2

2008

78.3

70

77.4

76.7

2009

77.5

69.7

77.4

76.7

2010

74.9

71

77

76.2

2011

76.8

72.3

77

76.3

2012

77.3

67.8

76.9

76.9

08–12 change

− 1

− 2.2

− 0.5

0.2

Note: % is for those of aged 16–64; annual data collected between January and December. (Source: Office for National Statistics, 2013.)

70 Health, 61.4 60 Business Administration and Support Services, 47.6

50

40

Retail, 38.7

Professional, Scientific & Technical, 31.4

Accommodation & Food 30 Services, 26.2 Finance & Manufacturing, 19.9 Insurance, 20.8 Transport & Storage Construction, 17.7 20 (inc Postal), 13.9 Information & Agriculture, Forestry Wholesale, Communication, 13.8 & Fishing, 0.1 10.2 Mining, Quarrying 10 Property, 7.5 Motor & Utilities, 6.4 Trades, 5.5

Education, 29.7

Public Administration, 27.9

Other, 17.7

0

FIG. 13.2  Total employment in Broad Industrial Groups of Glasgow 2010. (Source: Office for National Statistics, 2011.)

Building the future city Glasgow  Chapter | 13  255

Announce ‘Future cities demonstrator’ competition for large scale demonstrator project funding

UK Press announced Glasgow as the winner for £24m funding

11.2014

01.2013

06.2012 11.2012

GCC proposed a ‘Glasgow City Management System’ to Technology Strategy Board

GCC Report on publishing over 370 datasets on the OPEN Glasgow portal

03.2013

GCC Report on its successful bid

GCC Report on an overview of the Future Hacks (Hackathon) events

GCC report on integrated operations center and Data Hub

Innovate UK report on the impact of the £34.5m future city challenge

03.2015

10.2015 07.2015

GCC internal overview and phase 2 planning

03. 2016 GCC report on Scotland’s 8th City

FIG. 13.3  Future City Glasgow Timeline. (Adapted from Leleux, C., Webster, W., 2018. Delivering smart governance in a future city: the case of Glasgow. Media Commun., 6, 163–174.)

Since 2010, with the rise of rhetoric on smart/future cities in the EU and UK, Glasgow has also aspired to become a “smart,” “future” city (GCC, 2011). Some industrial bases have emerged, underpinned by electronics and media companies, including, for example, Amor Business Technology Solutions; Hewlett Packard Manufacturing Ltd.; SMART Modular Technologies (Europe) Ltd.; and the National Semiconductor (UK) Ltd. Glasgow’s leap-forward came in 2012 when its City Council (GCC) won TSB’s Future cities demonstrator competition. Its winning proposal suggested undertaking a single city demonstrator project known as “Future City Glasgow” (GCC, 2018a). The demonstrator aimed to provide evidence of benefits to leveraging Glasgow’s economic performance, quality of life, societal cohesion, and environmental performance (Leleux and Webster, 2018). Another key lever used by the City Council to argue for its case was the forthcoming Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014, which was projected to exert significant challenges in the city’s transport coordination, public safety, and accident responding speed. The FCGP ran from February 2013 to August 2015 (Fig. 13.3), and a team of around 26 personnel was established to manage all aspects of the program (Leleux and Webster, 2018). Based on the author’s interviews, however, many people in this team were shuffled from various other departments temporarily. The assumption of many working for FCGP was that they would go back to their original department or be transferred to other public sections once the program concluded, which undermined the long-term impact of FCGP from the very beginning. The key components of this program include (GCC, 2018a): ●

●

The creation of an integrated Operations Center, integrating traffic management, security, and public space CCTV, and providing real-time city-data. Approximately, half of FCGP’s funding was spent on this Center, which was in full operation since 2014. The system used was flexible to allow future development. Construction of a City Data Hub to allow easier access to open datasets (health, socioeconomic, demographic, and other information);

256  Smart cities for technological and social innovation ●

●

Individual demonstrator projects to facilitate innovation in active travel (cycling and walking); social transport; energy efficiency, and intelligent street lighting. These were smaller initiatives, many of which were participatory and interactive and were concluded by the end of the TSB grant period; and Investment in physical infrastructure to support the integration of city systems.

Governance of the FCGP was provided through the FCGP Demonstrator Delivery Board and Executive Steering Group. It also featured a partnership across the public, private, and academic sectors (GCC, 2015a,b). The final evaluation report on the FCGP was done by Mruk (2017), which concluded that overall, FCGP had delivered positive impacts. In several projects, a forwardthinking, future-proofed approach was taken, which means that a huge amount of work has been carried out in laying down the ICT and other related infrastructure and systems. Moreover, to secure the right skills for the various projects, GCC worked with a wide variety of external providers, many of which were small, local businesses, and thus provided a boost to Glasgow’s IT communities. Thus, it seems that the FCGP has accelerated technology sophistication in the city of Glasgow instead of the other way around. The following chapter will focus on the Open Glasgow initiative as a showcase of its drivers and effects. Open Glasgow corresponds to subprogram two listed above in constructing a City Data Hub to allow for easier access to open datasets. Yet on the one hand, Glasgow had the highest percentage of households living in poverty (approaching 50%) compared to other Scottish cities. A survey by Citizens Advice Scotland (2015) also found that 42% of residents had never used internet and almost half had no computer or internet connection in their home, and thus demonstrated a clear link between deprivation and internet use in Glasgow. On the other hand, FCGP’s core objective was to increase citizen engagement through the use of innovative new technologies, hence, digital literacy should be a prerequisite. Such disparity, however, was left in the background partially given the short timeline of project delivery requirement and particularly the lack of experience. This neglection could be seen in the objectives of Open Glasgow (GCC, 2015a,b), which could be classified into three categories, including: ●

●

●

Boosting economic opportunities by demonstrating how the use of Open Data can provide insight for new businesses on consumers; Informing citizens and decision-makers by using Open Data and mapping technologies to inform the needs and demands for services; Engaging communities and wider partnerships through the use of available technology and crowd-sourced data.

Specifically, the Open Glasgow project had a diverse range of subdeliveries, including City Data; City Innovation; and City Engagement. Under the theme of City Data, an Open Manifesto and Open Database were published. The ­former laid down principles for open data platform, engagement, and ­management (Table 13.2 discussed later). Many of them are still sound today, such as “design with data,” which means prototyping and testing with real users,

Building the future city Glasgow  Chapter | 13  257

TABLE 13.2  Glasgow open manifesto-future city principles. Open data platform

Engagement

Mmanagement

− Open data by default − Quality and quantity − Usable by all − Improve governance − Foster innovation

− Promote collaboration; − Make things open to make things better; − Start with the customer’s need; − Do less − Design with data − Do the hard work to make it simple − Iterate. Then iterate again; − Be consistent, not uniform

− Promote information access − Information security − Information Ownership − Information Quality − Information compliance − Master data and records − Information is an asset

(Source: GCC, 2013. The Open Manifesto. In: Glasgow, F.C. (Ed.). http://web.archive.org/ web/20160328002703/http://open.glasgow.gov.uk/content/uploads/2013/11/FC_OPENManifesto.pdf.)

and understanding the desires of how we are using data. Various agile prototype developments were also launched including an Open Data catalog, map portal, community map, and “City Dashboard.” Under the theme of City Innovation, four hackathon events were organized on the topics of public safety, energy, health, and transport. Besides these events, a new MyGlasgow app was developed. It is a mobile phone app that enables residences to report issues related to, for example, missed bin collection; broken parking meters; illegal fly posting; broken street lights, etc., to Glasgow City Council. People can attach photos, videos, or any other contextual information to their report and pinpoint the exact location via integration with Google Maps. However, users gave it a 2.5-star rating on Google Play. Some of the most-mentioned criticisms were its user-unfriendly features and broken website links (Google Play, 2019). But from the service provider’s perspective, the city council suggested that the app has helped speeding up its free bulk uplift service response time, with 90% of requests completed within 10–18 days faster than the Service Level Agreement which is 28 days (GCC, 2017). Under the theme of “City Engagement,” initiatives included the development of an online social media user base and “Data Stories” to explain the value of data to the general public. There was also a plan to build a physical Engagement Hub completed with AV and multimedia for wider citizen engagement. The company Graven, which is an independent design studio owned and run by designers, was contracted to design this hub. It used shipping containers to make these hubs nomadic. These containers were placed in some of the central locations in Glasgow for some time, but did not last permanently. These subprojects of the Open Glasgow project were reviewed by Leleux and Webster (2018) under the themes of citizens and ICT; governance and sustainability (Table  13.3). Their detailed analysis result is presented in the following section.

258  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

TABLE 13.3  Connected Glasgow projects summary. Individual projects

Citizens and ICTs

Governance

Sustainability

1. City-Data: City Data Hub (world‑leading scalable big data platform); City Data Hub; Open Data Catalog; Open Datasets; Community Area Partnership Map; Open City Dashboard (online personalized dashboard presenting real-time information)

Development of the ‘My Glasgow’ smartphone app for citizens to report environmental and community issues. Over 400 open datasets published by the GCC and partners

Technologies made available with the intention of informing and engaging citizens, creating closer relationships, while encouraging participation in local decisionmaking

Sustainability benefits arising from the transition from paper-based to online systems are still to be quantified

2. City Innovation: MyGlasgow App; Hackathons; Sensor Store; Open Data Publication Processes

Four Hackathons involved 239 citizens, 192 h of activity, 33 teams, 30 mentors, 22 judges, and 1030 tweets for #hackglasgow. The number of datasets presented to each “Hack” increased from 18 to 143

GCC considered the hackathons to be an effective tool for engaging citizens, business start-ups and SMEs, and for stimulating innovation

One of the apps developed from the Future Hacks, “Health Walks Plus” links to the Active Travel Demonstrator, by directing citizens to nearby walks with physical markers on the pavements

3. City Engagement: Open Glasgow Website; Engagement Hub; Infographics; Case Study Videos; Day in the Life Video; Future Makers; Coder Dojo; Future Maps; Open Glasgow Social Media Presence; City Observatory (engagement space to analyze data using a range of technologies)

Numerous opportunities for citizens to use new technologies to engage with GCC. A challenge is to increase levels of digital literacy and reduce digital exclusion

Citizens, including schoolchildren, can access information and contribute their views through dedicated project webpages, Facebook, Twitter and other online means

Better informed citizens now have more information available about how they can take part in community life, and lead healthier and more active lifestyles

(Source: Leleux, C., Webster, W., 2018. Delivering smart governance in a future city: the case of Glasgow. Media Commun., 6, 170.)

Building the future city Glasgow  Chapter | 13  259

Open Glasgow proceeded in two stages: construction and demonstration. Its various initiatives in stage one needed to be assessed and approved to proceed to stage two. In the construction stage, some of the highlighted benefits include: 1) The conception of a “data sharing value chain” to address the challenge associated with encouraging organizations and businesses to “open up” their nonpersonal data. Used as a negotiation tool, this value chain brought together data user, publisher, and developer in a feedback loop where organizations could see the value of opening their data in return for datasets that are valuable to them from others. Most plausibly, a “data developer” was added in the transaction, who represents a third party mediator that also requires data, but instead of using the data to drive decisions, it creates new value out of the data to empower the data users. 2) Other residual benefits that were still waiting to be scaled up included identifying several key areas for the demonstrator phase to evaluate the efficiency and productivity improvements associated with being “open by default” and support the increase of transparency of organizations, particularly public sector organizations. Here, it was suggested that the City Data Hub could improve decision-making in some areas such as investment planning, urban planning, and service delivery. Another potential benefit was to stimulate private innovations, especially among small to medium business owners. Nevertheless, its delivery was undermined by several factors. These included: 1) Time and budget constraints: The Glasgow Future City program had a mandate to innovate at scale, within a fixed timescale and fixed budget. This constraint was managed by using agile development, yet still, the subprojects in Open Glasgow were delivered in varied scope to meet the costs and timescales. Similarly, Mruk’s (2017) evaluation of the whole FCGP also noticed that such a large project with many complex components was delivered in a short time. This unavoidably resulted in several projects that did not integrate as effectively as originally envisaged, and it was sometimes difficult for some projects to maintain momentum once the funding finished. Open Glasgow, for example, was not able to sustain to the demonstration stage, and the website was removed. 2) Unplanned changes: Open Glasgow’s self-assessment (GCC, 2015a,b) reported that unforeseen changes to program staff impacted the scope of engagement work and development of the original MyGlasgow app prototype, map portal, and community mapping tool. 3) Unforeseen partnership challenges: Open Glasgow noted that in developing the MyGlasgow app, much time had been spent on designing the app’s “front face” with enhanced user experience. However, the effort required to reengineer back-office processes and system integration was underestimated. Besides, there was a lack of communication with its external IT provider – ACCESS, as the council had taken a “hands-off” approach to the back-office

260  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

integration work and only provided a job specification to ACCESS. The latter was left to provide a technical solution based on how it interpreted the specification. Such poor communications had caused delays. This problem was only solved by a top-down intervention to form a joint working group in developing the end-to-end processes (including the design, customer experience, business process design, and technical solutions). In a more critical evaluation of the Open Glasgow project, Leleux and Webster (2018) highlighted the 8th City. They also noted the importance of improving data literacy skills and reducing digital exclusion for achieving wider benefits to society. Formal reporting by GCC (2015a,b) and other case study research for the Future City project (Buck and While, 2017; Cowley et al., 2018) suggested that while several data sets are now accessible, there had been limited public interest in using them. These authors suspected that such lack of interest might be derived from the fact that there was limited awareness of what data was available among potential users, and/or limited data skills in accessing, processing, and using such data and GIS mappings by the general public. Moreover, although these authors praised the Hackathon mechanism as a productive means to generate interest in using data and designing service solutions among small expert technical communities, there is an open question about how to turn these concepts into marketable products and services in a sustainable way. Similarly, in commenting on the absence of collaborative partnership and lack of community engagement, Cowley et al. (2018) noticed that the Glasgow City Council had been the key driving power behind these activities. These authors, nonetheless, pointed at the contradictive criteria and rhetoric in selecting the winner of the demonstration competition, which also filtered down to the practice of FCGP. On the one hand, the UK’s new smart city standards assert that “the key challenge around smart cities is not technological but about people” (BSI, 2015, p10), and that “For the citizen, the benefits of this integration of city systems include… an increased sense of democratic participation.” In Glasgow, as mentioned earlier on, it’s Open Glasgow project had Data Engagement as one key working principle. On the other hand, the terms of the TSB award positioned the Council as a single contractor and required rapid project implementation within the 2-year schedule. Equally, the principle asserted in the Glasgow Feasibility Study was that “smart cities are led from the top by a strong and visionary champion” (GCC, 2012, p5). The council’s centrality, as expected by Cowley et al. (2018), appears to have left Glasgow’s official smart city activities in a state of suspension following the end of funding.

13.5 Conclusion As outlined in the introductory chapter, the overarching objective of this book is to understand smart cities not only as the outcome of technological and social innovation but also as the platform to facilitate technological and social

Building the future city Glasgow  Chapter | 13  261

i­nnovation. For the former, although the concept of “smart cities” was conceived and promoted by several leading technology companies, the fundamental technology solutions emerged earlier in the wake of new technological advancements, including digitalization and the world wide web in the 1990s; IoT and AI since the start of the new century; and the proliferation of smartphones in the late 2000s. The Global Financial Crisis provided the “creative destruction” that enabled a reexamination of social and economic growth against the wider availability of technologies, especially the ICT. For the latter, the increasing embrace of the smart city concept across the world, and the consequential smarter built environments connected by sensors, integrated analytical systems and control centers, could further facilitate innovations in the city emanating from both the private and the public sectors. In the case of Glasgow, accumulated investment in broadband infrastructure and other ICT facilities, together with ever-rising smartphone usage and eagerness of benefiting from technological advance among its citizens, provided the most fundamental technological base for its winning the Future City Demonstration Program. The Glasgow City Council, for example, claimed to have over 26,200 Twitter followers—one of the most popular council Twitter feeds in the UK (GCC, 2011). But as this chapter gradually revealed, it is arguably the “platform” function that stood out most prominently. The integrated Operations Center, for example, integrated the city’s traffic management, security, and public space CCTV for the first time, and provided real-time city data for efficient decision-making. Its highly innovative demonstrator projects have covered some of the severest social challenges for Glasgow, such as active living (Glasgow has one of the lowest life expectancy rates and highest health benefit claimant numbers in the UK); energy efficiency (especially relevant for middle-low income households); and intelligent lighting (proven to be effective in reducing the crime rate and in saving public spending). Other smart solutions being sought to meet real social challenges were found in infrastructure, water management, bridges, city center footfall, pollution, traffic, and parking. More importantly, Leleux and Webster (2018) pointed out the long-term benefits of FCGP, including new ways of partnership building and engagement with citizens, SMEs, and corporates, and new ways of using data analytics to inform policy and redesign services. GCC has committed to using the legacy of the FCGP to deliver a “Transformation Program” where digitizing and data are seen as key enablers. A chief data manager was employed who could lead to evidence-based decision-making with big data and data analytical skills. More widely, GCC had been the key player in the Scottish Cities Alliance’s effort to develop Scotland’s 8th city—the “Smart City.” This 8th city is a virtual city and has a focus on themes of “data” and “technology,” including enhancing citizen engagement through mobile technology and social media (Miao and Maclennan, 2019). Regarding the drivers for the emergence of “smart” thinking in the UK in general and Scotland in particular, the consistent concern for environmental

262  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

challenges by the EU since the early 1990s has been one of the major external drivers. As Cocchia (2014) noticed, the initial usages of “smart city” and “resilient city” were more or less interchangeable among EU policymakers and commentators. It was only since mid-2000 that these two terms started to gain different foci. Here, the proactive marketing and influence of IBM through its “smarter planet” concept, and later the Smarter Cities Challenge, has also played a significant role. The UK, as a former member state of the EU, was obligated to follow the EU policy. There was also a funding incentive in doing so. Domestically, the UK government did recognize the market potential of smart cities early on and believed its private companies and research sectors have the capacity and knowledge to share a slice of the market. A series of commissioned “future thinking” exercises, for example, was carried out by its Department for Business, Skills, and Innovation, to better understand the opportunities and weaknesses of the country in building smart cities. Scotland, in comparison, was less proactive in identifying and positing its strategic plan of smart cities until recently, primarily incentivized by the Europe 2020 Plan where “being smart” is one of the three goals. In this sense, Glasgow’s winning of the Future City Demonstrator Program boosted the Scots’ confidence and entrepreneurship in the smart city market. For the actors involved, an emerging evolutional view of the smart city argues that there are at least three stages of smart city growth internationally. It tends to start with a technocentric approach where technocrats and big corporates dominate the decision-making. In the second stage, city officials and policymakers become more engaged and, in some places, lead the direction of their smart future. In the third stage, citizens are placed in the center, and smart cities are shaped and shifted by people’s needs. Glasgow’s case, however, does not fall into this evolutional pathway, as its city council was the prime actor from day one. There were some ad hoc citizen engagements, but not many sustained after the funding. The public-private partnership was also on the edge of decision-making and project implementation. Nonetheless, it has been a learning process for GCC in terms of building more robust and more engaging partnerships for the future. Compared to other legacies of winning the European City of Culture and hosting the Commonwealth Games, the impact of FCGP was arguably less noticeable and short-lived. In the author’s interviews with council officers, for example, none of them knew where the integrated Operations Centre was. Therefore, the biggest change facing FCGP now is to demonstrate that for a city that is still burdened by its postindustrial legacy, a smart-city-based transformation is possible and promising. The efficiency saving of smart solutions could also become increasingly relevant to Scotland and the UK at large given the significant cuts in the public budget. Further empirical work is, therefore, required to evaluate the efficacy of smart cities in general, but more importantly, their potential in enabling communities to fulfill their economic-social ambitions.

Building the future city Glasgow  Chapter | 13  263

References Brown, A., Mccrone, D., Paterson, L., 1998. Politics and Society in Scotland. Macmillan, Basingstoke. BSI, 2015. Smart Cities Overview—Guide. British Standards Institution, London. Buck, N.T., While, A., 2017. Competitive urbanism and the limits to smart city innovation: the UK future cities initiative. Urban Stud. 54, 501–519. Caprotti, F., Cowley, R., Flynn, A., Joss, S., Yu, L., 2016. Smart-Eco Cities in the UK: Trends and City Profiles 2016. University of Exeter (SMART-ECO Project), Exeter. Cocchia, A., 2014. Smart and digital city: A systematic literature review. In: Dameri, R.P., Rosenthal-­ Sabroux, C. (Eds.), Smart City. Springer, Cham. Cowley, R., Joss, S., Dayot, Y., 2018. The smart city and its publics: insights from across six UK cities. Urban Res. Pract. 11, 53–77. Datta, A., 2015. New urban utopias of postcolonial India: ‘entrepreneurial urbanization’ in Dholera smart city, Gujarat. Dialog. Hum. Geogr. 5, 3–22. European Council, 2000. Presidency Conclusions. 23 and 24 March. http://www.europarl.europa. eu/summits/lisl_en.htm. European Council, 2010. Communication From the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative Innovation Union. http://ec.europa.eu/research/innovation-union/ pdf/innovation-unioncommunication_en.pdf. European Union, 2011. EU History. http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/index_en.htm. Future Cities Catapult, 2019. What Do We Do. https://futurecities.catapult.org.uk/about/. Galabova, L.P., 2012. Developing a knowledge-based economy through innovation policy: the cases of Bulgaria, Finland and Scotland. Sci. Public Policy 39, 802–814. GCC, 2011. In: Council, G.C. (Ed.), A fifty year vision for the future: Future Glasgow 2011–2061. https://www.glasgowconsult.co.uk/UploadedFiles/GCC%202061%20A4%20Summary%20 Final%20online.pdf. GCC, 2012. Glasgow City Management System: Report Prepared for Technology Strategy Board. https://connect.innovateuk.org/documents/3130726/3794125/Feasibility+Study++Glasgow+ City+Council.pdf. GCC, 2015a. Future City Glasgow—Update. http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/viewSelectedDocument.asp?c=P62AFQUT81UTUTDN. GCC, 2015b. Open Glasgow, End Stage Report. http://futurecity.glasgow.gov.uk/reports/FC_ Reports_2015_CDH_V3.pdf. GCC, 2017. App, App and Away!. https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/article/20881/App-App-and-Away. GCC, 2018a. Future City Glasgow. http://futurecity.glasgow.gov.uk. GCC, 2018b. Population. Understanding Glasgow, The Glasgow Indicators Project. http://www. understandingglasgow.com/indicators/population/overview. Google Play, 2019. MyGlasgow. Glasgow City Council. https://play.google.com/store/apps/ details?id=com.myglasgow.council.app&hl=en_GB. Intelligent Transport, 2019. Transport Systems Catapult and Future Cities Catapult Combine to Accelerate Smarter Travelling. https://www.intelligenttransport.com/transport-news/77804/ connected-places-catapult-uk-innovation/. Kitchin, R., 2016. The ethics of smart cities and urban science. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 374, 20160115. Leleux, C., Webster, W., 2018. Delivering smart governance in a future city: the case of Glasgow. Media Commun. 6, 163–174.

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Chapter 14

Autonomous vehicles and smart cities: A case study of Singapore Vincent Nga and Hyung Min Kimb a

The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, bFaculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 14.1 Introduction: Why do autonomous vehicles matter? 14.2 Issues: Will AVs bring social innovation or disorder? 14.2.1 Safety 14.2.2 Livability: Congestion, comfort, and cost 14.2.3 Productivity: Car parking and economic restructuring 14.2.4 Environmental sustainability 14.2.5 Governance and public policy: Data privacy, ethical issues, and public transport integration 14.3 AVs in practice: A case study of Singapore 14.3.1 Policy and legislation

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14.3.2 Technology and innovation: AV trials 265 14.3.3 Infrastructure: Integration with public transport networks 265 14.3.4 Consumer acceptance: Societywide economic benefits and industrial restructuring 265 14.4 Prospects for AV development 265 14.4.1 Test: Pilot projects 265 14.4.2 Public acceptance: Introduction to transport systems 265 14.4.3 Widespread 265 14.4.4 Matured: Dominant AVs 265 14.5 Conclusion 265 References 265

14.1  Introduction: Why do autonomous vehicles matter? Since the invention and the mass production of automobiles, exemplified by the Ford Model T in 1908, cities have been fundamentally shaped by and for the automobiles, roads, highways, and car parks. In the USA, one in two households already owned an automobile by the 1930s (Buehler, 2014). Despite urban policy measures to curb the trends in motorization fueled by an expansion of Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00014-9 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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interstate highways and generous government subsidies for road construction, automobiles have become increasingly woven into the fabric of modern cities. More recently, advancements in telecommunication via mobile phones have ushered in the widespread use of shared vehicles and rideshares, such as Uber, DiDi, Bolt, and Ola to name a few. The development of the transport industry and societal discourse has been increasingly driven and shaped by powerful and well-resourced technology firms. In 2017, Innisfil in Canada went so far as to experiment with replacing the public transportation system with Uber assisted by government subsidies (Cecco, 2019b). This serves as an example of corporations that are beginning to “blur the distinction between private and public modes of transportation” (Claudel et al., 2015, p. 2). Current technological advances in both partial and full “driverless” or “Autonomous/Automated Vehicle”’ (AVs) necessitate the examination of their implementation in real-world cities. AVs could be “the greatest step change in technology since the industrial revolution” as an industry expert claims (Hoag, 2019). Technologically, AV-based transportation may arrive much sooner than what citizens and planners imagine. “Optimists predict that by 2030, AVs will be sufficiently reliable and affordable to replace most human driving” (Litman, 2019, p. 3). Estimations by McKinsey and Company’s Centre for Future Mobility (2017, p. 1) posit that “for robo-taxis, the first at-scale commercial operations could be available as early as 2020–22”. Some industrial proponents with keen interest anticipate that full freeway autonomy should be mandated by 2030, roads and streets by 2040, and a complete replacement by 2070 (Hoag, 2019). The volume of global AV industries is estimated to be over US$54 billion by 2019 and may grow more than 10 times to US$556 billion by 2026 (Garsten, 2018). By 2040, 4 in 10 vehicles on the road will be autonomously driven according to Accenture Digital (2014). AVs will make significant changes to cities in mobility, residential location choice, logistics, and planning processes. As Legacy (2017) noted, the move toward AVs is arguably the most significant paradigm shift in the last 70 years. Nevertheless, risks are that the development of AVs will continue to “reinforce existing automobility-based hegemonies whereby the future of mobility will see that the car remains center-stage and individually owned” (Legacy et al., 2019, p. 13). As a case in point, there is weak evidence that ride-sharing has been effective in a reduction in car ownership (Kim et al., 2015). Given the wide scope and breadth of AVs, this chapter aims to address three aspects. Firstly, the chapter provides a broad overview of the macro trends shaping the AV industry and justifies why AVs deserve attention as a crucial public policy issue. The primary focus of this chapter is not AV technologies, but policy-­oriented discussions. Secondly, it lays out key debates within urban policy arenas. Finally, the chapter provides an overview of the recent rollout of AVs in the world, highlights advancements in the case study of an international leader, Singapore, and postulates questions about the social innovations and unanticipated disorders that AVs can engender.

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An interesting and plausible trend is that the transition to AVs is likely to happen in conjunction with emerging electric vehicles (EVs) (Infrastructure Victoria, 2018). Global climate change evidence is driving policymakers to enact more substantive commitments to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (Murphy, 2019). Furthermore, EVs are built with drive-by-wire systems replacing traditional mechanical control systems which lend themselves to much more effective adaptation and integration with AV controls and features. Consequently, in this chapter, AVs will be used to refer to their joint development with EVs.

14.2  Issues: Will AVs bring social innovation or disorder? There is no doubt that AVs are the outcome of technological innovation. Social innovation is “any novel and useful solution to a social need or problem, that is better than existing approaches (i.e. more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just) and for which the value created (benefits) accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals” (Phills et al., 2008, p. 10). However, whether AVs lead to social innovation will depend on various factors including public policy, planning, and local development directions. This section addresses key issues about AVs for (1) safety, (2) livability, (3) productivity, (4) environmental sustainability, and (5) governance, which are not mutually exclusive. Fig. 14.1 shows a summary of possible conflicts.

14.2.1 Safety One of the critical concerns in a shift toward AVs is whether AVs can ensure safe mobility—a clear benefit not only to an individual but to society as a whole. Driving a motorized vehicle is one of the most dangerous activities. A study by the National Safety Council revealed that the odds of dying in a car in the USA were one in 114, compared to one in 9821 for airplanes (Jenkins, 2017). Globally, 1.35 million people were killed in road accidents in 2016, an increase from 1.25 million compared to 2013 (WHO, 2018). At least 9 in 10 road accidents are attributable to human error according to the World Health Organization. Besides, an increasingly aging population has caused safety concerns when the aged continue driving (Ichikawa et al., 2015). There is a growing body of literature that suggests AVs may significantly lessen car accidents. For instance, in 2018 in Australia, the Victorian State Government published an extensive research paper about AV rollout over the next 30 years (Infrastructure Victoria, 2018). The report contended that the transition to AVs may reduce up to 94% of road accidents, which may bring monetized health benefits of up to AU$735 million (Infrastructure Victoria, 2018, p. 6). In 2018, technology leaders in AVs such as Waymo (a Google subsidiary) are now logging 11,018 miles for the average disengagement (Waters and Burn-Murdoch, 2019).

FIG. 14.1  Possible conflicts of autonomous vehicles.

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A disengagement measures when a back-up driver must take over the wheel from the AV system due to an error. This progress nearly doubled the average distance covered in 2017 trials demonstrating that AVs are performing more and more reliably (Waters and Burn-Murdoch, 2019). In 2016 Virginia Tech Transport Institute (2016) suggested that Google’s self-driving cars were already safer than human drivers under certain conditions, i.e., low speed, low traffic suburban roads, and favorable weather conditions. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Tesla vehicles driven on highways on autopilot were involved in fewer crashes than the average highway driver in 2018 (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2018). With increased safety benefits on the road, AVs can also lead to a marked reduction in traffic-related legal cases and, therefore, save public costs for legal disputes as well as emergency services. Thus, insurance premiums are predicted to drop significantly. An estimate by KPMG (2019, p. 7) suggests that insurance costs could fall by over 40% within 25 years as the number of accidents may be reduced by up to 80%. Nevertheless, overall, statistically improved performance on road safety does not mean zero-car accidents by AVs, which can be a barrier to the full-scale introduction of AVs at the beginning. The provision for well-designed roads for AVs is also a major consideration to provide safe coexistence with bicycles and pedestrians. Ensuring safety will and should be a requirement for the AV operations.

14.2.2  Livability: Congestion, comfort, and cost Traffic congestion generates social costs more than what the individual driver bears including fuel costs, time, driver stress, and impacts on both physical and mental health. For individual drivers, a recent study estimated that adding 20 min to a commute can be equated to the level of dissatisfaction in receiving a 19% pay cut (Chatterjee et al., 2017). For society, some of the costs include wasted productivity, noise, pollution, road accident risk, and safety risks for pedestrians, not to mention the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment (Bilbao-Ubillos, 2008). INRIX, a traffic research institution, recently released the Global Traffic Scorecard which examined data from over 200 cities. In 2018, the average driver in London clocked 227 h stuck in traffic congestion whereas Bogota drivers recorded the worst, spending 272 h a year (INRIX, 2018). The social cost of congestion in the USA alone was over US$87 billion per year (INRIX, 2018). It is still ambiguous whether widespread use of AVs will ease traffic congestion. On the one hand, due to a decline in the number of vehicles on the road and enhanced vehicle management, traffic conditions may improve. Infrastructure Victoria (2018 p. 6), an Australian government-funded policy think tank (or research institute), optimistically estimates that the development and adoption of AV technologies have the potential to reduce up to 91% of the congestion on roads and 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, possibly due to the malfunctioning of AVs that block the flow of vehicles

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and an increased total number of vehicles including AVs being added to the road network, traffic conditions may be worse. AVs set drivers free from stress and tedium and free-up time, which creates new opportunities within the vehicle space. Car manufacturers are already reimagining the current design of vehicles toward more spacious, comfortable, and productive interior vehicle designs with multiple functions such as office space, a bedroom and living room, and even eating space for longer journeys. Privately owned AVs can be viewed as a moving room. Shared AVs could become meeting places. In the initial success of rideshare carpooling, UberPOOL already accounted for 20% of all Uber rides only after 2 years’ operation (Uber, 2016). It is easy to imagine social interactions such as conducting meetings and holding social functions while traveling in an AV. However, a significant risk is that AVs may also become the purview of only the privileged and those who can afford their services (Legacy et  al., 2019). With a complete market mechanism (e.g. pricing of fleet AVs), if there is more of a profit incentive to serve only affluent customers, one might imagine a scenario in which AVs are less likely to serve low-income passengers or other discriminatory practices may begin to surface such as restricting services to those with low ratings. Individuals who neither have a smartphone nor know how to use basic functions such as an app. to order a vehicle may easily become excluded from the services.

14.2.3  Productivity: Car parking and economic restructuring Cars are parked 95% of the time on average (Barter, 2013) and the average occupancy per vehicle is approximately 1.45 people per car according to the European Environment Agency (2017). As ordinary cars fit 4–5 people, the current vehicle utilization of occupant capacity relative to the total time is lower than 2%. However, AVs can offer opportunities to maximize these underutilized vehicles. For instance, Tesla has recently announced plans to launch a robo-taxi fleet. Individual car owners will be allowed to add their Tesla car to the company’s future robo-taxi fleet with the simple flip of a switch (Tesla, 2019). As a result, the car owner would no longer conceive of their vehicle as a depreciating asset but rather as an income-generating asset (Reisinger, 2019). Rather than a car sitting in a parking lot 95% of the day, it can carry on its journey as part of a “semipublic” fleet operating at a much higher capacity utilization rate. There is a possibility to save parking space if the widespread use of AVs discourages car ownership and, thus, decreases the absolute number of vehicles on the road, although a reduction in the total number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is debatable. As Fagnant and Kockelman (2015) contends, increased convenience and safety may encourage a wider range of people including younger and elderly riders to take vehicles more often and the users may decide to take more and further trips. AVs have the potential to provide on-demand access to mobility services that are possibly more affordable than private car

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ownership. The adoption of mobility services would open up a new urban planning and design era by transforming gray parking lots, and possibly roads, into other functions such as green spaces and commercial and residential land. The total land area for parking exceeds 30,000 km2 in Europe, equivalent to the land area of Belgium, and approximately 27,000 km2 in the USA (Pojani et al., 2017). Urban planners in Arizona have already begun to rethink land-use zoning to accommodate more extensive loading zones, waiting areas and public seating with smaller parking spaces (Shaver, 2019). Moreover, the proliferation of AVs might be able to allow a much closer distance between vehicles on the road. Infrastructure Victoria estimates the AV systems can improve what is called a “flow factor” 1.5–2 times more efficient than regular vehicle spacing by the synchronized AV system (Infrastructure Victoria, 2018, p. 18). It contends that AVs will not only free up travel time but also stimulate new job growth in certain industries with the potential to increase the economic output of the state of Victoria, Australia, by AU$14.9 billion, in addition to a reduction in car operating costs by 50%. Admittedly, these future scenarios are untested and draw upon many assumptions. They do, however, present a compelling case for adoption from a user’s perspective where there are evident advantages compared to conventional driving if AVs prove to be cheaper, more efficient, and more comfortable. On the contrary, the number of driving-related jobs in Europe alone reached 4.8 million which are at risk of displacement with the advent of AVs (Balakrishnan, 2017). A wide range of other industrial sectors will also likely be affected by AV technology. On the one hand, many jobs can be readily displaced such as drivers, parking attendants, and automobile service providers. On the other hand, there will likely be new jobs such as data analysis, monitoring, and systems design, which will require the right type of job training and future workforce readiness. This will require a major shift in the skills required to be employable in the future. Those who are unable to upskill are likely to be excluded. KPMG (2019) highlighted additional key areas that may be affected by the rollout of AVs: ●

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Policing: since AVs are programmed to strictly follow traffic laws, minimal police may be needed to monitor speeding or even parking infringements. Healthcare: with fewer accidents, emergency surgery needs will decrease. Older people and people with disabilities will have increased mobility. Air and rail: if people use AVs for long-distance destinations, then there may be less demand for air and rail. Media and advertising: users who no longer need to focus on driving may have more attention for in-vehicle advertising which might even subsidize the cost of travel. Power generation: AVs will drive demand for electricity and much highperforming batteries with improved storage and quick charging time. Power grids: home-based charging will require improvements in local power grids.

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14.2.4  Environmental sustainability One may anticipate that AVs might be effective in reducing car ownership and greenhouse gas emissions owing to a shift toward electricity. However, these assumptions need closer examination. If AVs are privately owned, the impact on built environments would be minimal, changing simply the way of driving. When car owners start thinking of disowning private vehicles possibly due to readily available AV fleet services, a more sustainable outcome can be achieved. However, there is a possible dilemma: the widespread adoption of AVs may also discourage the use of public transport and even active transport if services from AVs are high quality and more affordable than other sustainable transport modes. Then, AV operations will worsen traffic conditions and environmental sustainability. The worst scenario is continuous (or even increased) private car ownership no matter what technologies are adopted along with a decrease in reliance on public and active transport due to competitive AV fleets. In this case, AVs will result in more vehicles on the street and parking spaces will never be decreased. A path dependency has already been established for automobiles and there are doubts about whether AVs can break this, or rather, will exaggerate it. Furthermore, AVs can be associated with changes in urban form, which could also result in a significant environmental impact. There are three possible reasons why AVs could facilitate urban sprawl. First, these new technologies are likely to improve accessibility in suburban locations where public transport networks are relatively sparse. Peter Seamer, a former CEO of the Victoria Planning Authority, argues that one of the greatest beneficiaries of AVs will be residents in suburbs with limited public transport opportunities, discouraging densification (Seamer, 2019). Second, due to safety concerns, AVs are likely to be first introduced away from high-density central business districts (CBD) along simple and short routes strengthening the level of transport services in suburban areas. With the occurrence of suburbanization notably in America and Australia (Hall and Pain, 2006), if jobs remain predominantly in selected CBDs, AVs will increase demand for further extended commutes. Third, travel costs have a direct impact on travel patterns and urban form. In addition to ­time-saving from driverless vehicles, an (indirect) travel cost reduction, AVs may result in a cost-saving benefit of 56% compared to current ridesharing (Thakur et al., 2016). A significant decrease in travel costs leads to an increase in distance-traveled and this may further exacerbate urban sprawl. The dependence of AVs on batteries also brings about a critical environmental issue. The batteries for AVs require raw materials, such as lithium, manganese, and critically cobalt, and the capacity to recycle these materials is limited (Desjardins, 2016). The ways to extract these natural resources are environmentally detrimental as well. AVs also produce new waste streams including batteries, circuit boards, wiring, sensors, and radars. Infrastructure Victoria (2018) estimates the volume of these wastes will be doubled in 25 years.

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Finally, clean energy generation is a critical dimension for AVs that requires high electricity consumption. AVs seemingly emit much lower CO2 emissions, but if electricity is generated by burning coal, the shift toward AVs does not improve global environmental conditions significantly. Many governments are in a gradual transition toward renewable energy by decarbonizing national power grid systems which will be fundamental infrastructure. Due to increases in demand for electricity, North America experienced a 10-fold increase in major power outages between the mid-1980s and 2012 (Kenward and Raja, 2014, p. 3), and Australia, Venezuela, and India have experienced blackouts (BBC News, 2012). Energy grid reliability poses a critical risk for the stability of AV networks.

14.2.5  Governance and public policy: Data privacy, ethical issues, and public transport integration The operation of AVs is likely not only to make use of real-time transport data but also to generate significant transport data. Basic services from the escalated use of AVs include accurate mapping of traffic conditions, location services, and highly sophisticated delivery services. For example, Alibaba, the Chinese technology incumbent, has piloted a platform, Citybrain which leverages a range of products from AI-based vision software. The company claims that within 20 s with an accuracy of 95%, it can detect traffic accidents and violations, and even predict traffic conditions and pedestrian flows for the next hour with 90% accuracy (Alibaba Citybrain, 2019). However, image recognition is highly contentious as it raises privacy issues. Quayside, Google’s Smart City, “built from the internet up,” has experienced pushback from the public. Citizens have brought critical attention to the fact that they have not been well-informed of data types, collecting bodies, purposes, and the rights to the data being collected (Cecco, 2019a). Data harvesting and surveillance are currently at the forefront of public debate. Regulations such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) offer examples of procedures for separating personal information from big data for public policy (EUGDPR, 2018). The discussions address a wide array of issues such as data breach, rights to access, rights to be forgotten, data portability, and data privacy. By 2025 it is estimated that there will be over 25 billion connected IoT devices (IoT for All, 2017). Ensuring network security is also of paramount importance to national safety (Knight, 2019). The implementation of AVs is subject to national transport regulatory frameworks. One of the tensions in the development of AVs is the potential conflict of interest between the private and public sectors. There is a possibility that AVs would either strengthen existing infrastructure or directly compete with it (Legacy et al., 2019). Much of this depends on how public policymakers perceive AVs: Should its development be controlled or should the industry be given more freedom to develop?

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AVs have the potential to disrupt traditional models of public revenue generation as they may affect income sources. For instance, airport areas traditionally raise revenue from car parking (Clark et al., 2017). AVs, however, do not require parking lots on the airport site, but rather require only loading spaces, rendering the car parking revenue stream obsolete. Finally, there are ethical issues in operating AVs as exemplified in the “trolley problem”: a classic utilitarianism and deontological ethics dilemma. In a classic hypothetical dilemma, an AV must make a decision (or at least be programmed to make a decision) in an emergency regarding prioritizing the driver or a group of innocent bystanders. There are many different variations of the trolley problem, yet the most likely scenario is that a vehicle that is out of control is likely to collide with any object which will physically bring it to a stop. Nevertheless, the providers of AVs will have to program algorithms reflecting ethical conundrums and implicit cultural values. As Bonnefon et al. (2016, p.4) advocate, “a collective discussion about moral algorithms will need to encompass the concepts of expected risk, expected value, and blame assignment” among policymakers, software engineers, and end-users.

14.3  AVs in practice: A case study of Singapore Recent policy announcements in Beijing (Tabeta, 2018) and London (Giffin, 2019) underscored that local and national governments were prioritizing planning for AVs and the future of their urban transport networks. In December 2018, there were over 60 cities running AV test pilot projects (Coren, 2018). In 2019, KPMG published a comprehensive report, Autonomous Vehicle Readiness Index 2019, with international comparisons across 25 countries by four aspects: policy and legislation, technology and innovation, infrastructure, and consumer acceptance. The Netherlands, Singapore, and Norway were the top three countries in the composite index of AVs. Singapore offers an example of how some of the most progressive international policies are emerging around national standards for AV testing and rollout and how private sectors, government, and academia are collaborating on the implementation of AVs. Singapore has undertaken a shift from a labor-based economy to high-tech industries from the 1970s and the 1980s (Huat, 2011). In the last 20 years, the focus of Singapore’s economic policy has emphasized a pathway toward becoming a knowledge-based economy and major technology hub in Asia (Mathews, 1999). Singapore has also emerged as a global leader in the AV industry. With a population of 5.8 million on a land area of 721 km2 (in 2019), Singapore has always had concerns about land-use efficiency. Beginning in 1971, with the first Concept Plan, a blueprint was laid out to guide the long-term transport and land use planning. The plan detailed high-density clustered areas connected through well-planned and coordinated public transportation networks. At the same time, Singapore has also taken steps to control the rate of motorization in efforts to meet its sustainability goals (Han, 2009).

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14.3.1  Policy and legislation AVs will be likely an important pillar for sustainable future mobility in Singapore. Senior policymakers advocate that regulations will have to be ready when the technology is ready (Ackerman, 2016, p. 2). Policy debate has emphasized that AVs are not intended to supplant the existing public transport infrastructure but rather should be developed in an integrated fashion with public transport (Ministry of Transport, 2012). As early as 2013, the city-state began to formulate a policy for integrating AVs into the transportation network. In June 2013, Mr. Khaw Boon Wan, Minister of National Development, addressed an audience at the World Cities Summit Mayors forum outlining a vision, stating that within 10 years, Singapore would see traditional cars replaced by driverless electric cars (Thompson, 2014). This later spurred the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to explore the feasibility of AVs in the following year as a future model for transport. In Singapore, up to two-thirds of car purchases are taxed (Ho, 2019). There is, thus, considerable policy leverage through taxation or incentives on cars to steer market adoption in a particular direction (KPMG, 2019). The current ­vehicle taxation mechanisms fall into three categories. The first tier comprises high registration fees, import duties for foreign cars, and a licensing surcharge indexed to congestion levels. These charges typically cover the fixed costs of maintaining basic road infrastructure and parking. The second tier of costs includes fuel taxes and parking fees. Finally, the third set of fees is based on real-time electronic road-pricing (ERP) which is a congestion charge that affects users if they travel during rush hours. Once the carbon costs of regular cars are appropriately priced and introduced, Singapore may likely see a strong uptake in EV adoption (Kuttan, 2019), which further lays the groundwork for AV infrastructure. The next major step forward for the AV policy in Singapore involves the formation of a 17-person cross-sectoral Committee on Autonomous Road Transport for Singapore (CARTS) (MOT, 2014). Comprised of leading academics and industry practitioners, CARTS focuses on four major areas (LTA, 2016): 1. Fixed and scheduled services for mass transit 2. Point-to-point mobility on demand-based services 3. Freight and long-distance goods delivery 4. Utility, for example, street cleaning The Singapore Autonomous Vehicle Initiative (SAVI) was formed in 2014. SAVI aligns efforts between the LTA and Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR) to establish a testbed for the development of technology and regulatory framework for supporting CARTS in the implementation of AVs under a 5-year regulatory sandbox environment which allows flexibility in the regulatory framework.

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As Tan and Taeihagh (2019) have observed, while Singapore has taken a proactive lead in AV trials, up until the end of 2015 there had been relatively little public discussion and attention in the media focusing on the risks of AVs. Given that AVs need to be connected to the internet always, the risk of network insecurity began to be debated. Toward the end of 2015, preventative measures to account for the design of every component in an AV began to be implemented to minimize the risk of security breaches (Duca, 2015). In 2017, the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), the primary legislation that governs data use underwent amendment to include more transparency in how data is collected and how to give individuals an option to limit the collection of their data (PDPC, 2018). The Public Sector Governance bill also restricts unauthorized data sharing across public agencies. The Singapore Cybersecurity Act correspondingly was also amended in 2017. The changes included provisions to facilitate responsiveness by business to cyber-attack risks. Further collaborations across academia, government, and private sectors have also been in place with the longer-term aims of establishing Singapore as a leader in the area of cybersecurity risk management. Currently, the city-state also has plans to set up a National Defense Cyber Organization (Srikanthan, 2017). Furthermore, 2017 continued to see advancement in the establishment of Singapore’s AV regulatory framework. The initiatives pioneered through CETRAN form the basis of a Safety and Regulatory Sandbox government initiative. This was further aligned with amendments to the Singapore Road Traffic Act (RTA) in February 2017 which now recognize that vehicles do not require a human driver for AV trials. The amended Act also required all AV developers to be sharing data from all ongoing trials. These regulations have been created under the 5-year regulatory sandbox environment to ensure public interest and innovation (Taeihagh and Lim, 2019). The initial requirement AVs must pass involved a test of basic roadworthiness and a demonstrated capability in a series of safety assessments in controlled environments. Minimum design standards require that all vehicles are equipped with devices to capture sensor data. The second requirement is that AV companies must exhibit thorough plans for accident mitigation and failure of alert systems. These include a trained backup driver with a class 3 license with no demerits and a vehicle that allows a human driver to take control in the event of a technical issue. The default requirement for a human driver can be waived once the LTA assures AV developers have proven competency and tests are permitted on more complicated road conditions (Channel News Asia, 2017). Authorized AV companies are also expected to have a minimum accident insurance coverage of at least $1.5 M. Meanwhile, all AVs are also expected to log travel data in the case of an accident investigation and are required to hold on to the data and records for 3 years beyond the AV trial permit’s expiry (Channel News Asia, 2017). Current legislation that holds human drivers accountable is

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currently under scrutiny. In 2016, the first accident involving an AV and a truck occurred in Singapore bringing to the forefront the interest of the public in liability (Lin, 2016). NuTonomy, an AI startup, attributed the AV accident to an anomaly in the system and a month later resumed trials. While the issue of liability continues to be an evolving area of policy debate, there have already been changes to legislation within the sandbox regulatory environment that exempt AVs from the current RTA legislation that holds a human driver responsible for accidents (Taeihagh and Lim, 2019).

14.3.2  Technology and innovation: AV trials In addition to the favorable policy environment, Singapore has undertaken an increased number of AV trials. Thus, 2015 would be marked for AV trials across the city: ●

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In January 2015, the LTA collaborated with the state-owned real estate developer, Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) to launch a 6 km test route (Tan and Taeihagh, 2019). Later in the year, an RFI issued by the LTA brought in proposals for a pointto-point mobility-on-demand trial in the One-North business park in addition to a trial in the popular tourist spot, Gardens by the Bay (Tan, 2015). In January 2016, a trial launched on Sentosa Island between SMRT Corporation Ltd., the leading multimodal public transport operator in Singapore and 2getthere (a Dutch-based company), introduced driverless pods to “semicontrolled” areas of the busy tourist island. This trial has been repeated in August 2019 with collaboration between the Ministry of Transport (MOT), Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC), and ST Engineering with a 3-month autonomous bus trial open to the general public riding the AV buses (Channel News Asia, 2019). Bus trials are underway with a multistaged deployment plan. These buses are being tested on the Nanyang Technological University campus providing a real-world context for gathering complex data (CETRAN, 2018). The LTA has already signed an agreement to pilot AV buses in public areas including Punggol, Tengah, and the Jurong Innovation District from 2022 onwards (LTA, 2017). In January 2017, the Ministry of Transport announced the first test of an autonomous truck platooning system. With a focus on streamlining efficient freight movement, the trial has allowed Toyota Tusho and Scania to test in the port terminal. Besides, there is a range of AV car trials taking place in Singapore. Most notably, from 2016, NuTonomy began testing its vehicles in One North (Ackerman, 2016). These cars have been trialed in conjunction with Grab, the ride-hailing app. These were the first on-demand driverless taxi trials in the world preceding Uber’s Pittsburgh trial later in 2016 (Abdullah, 2016).

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In August 2016, the Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of AVs—NTU, CETRAN, was launched at Nanyang Technological University in 2016 (LTA, 2016). Funded by the LTA together with the support of the JTC, CETRAN has developed the technical standards for the safety of AVs and the regulations which include vehicle tests, design, and trial specifications. A 1.6 ha site has been developed at Nanyang Technological University including buildings, bus stops, depots, pedestrian crossings, and even a simulation for inclement weather environments (CETRAN, 2018). Led by the permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, the project has been directed by the Committee for Autonomous Road Transport Singapore and is also aligned through international research collaborations between Nanyang Technological University and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research. This initiative is further supported by several private-public partnerships such as BMW Future Mobility Research and TÜV SÜD. The project has examined compatibility complementary technologies such as the ERP and traffic control features such as beacons, sensors, and smart traffic junctions (TÜV SÜD, 2018). These approaches synthesize traditional transport engineering, AV technology, machine learning, urban planning, and urban design (CETRAN, 2018). The articulated goals include but are not limited to: ● ●

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Developing various scenarios for the introduction of AV fleet-based transport Assessing energy demand and the implications for the national grid and power generation and distribution (Wang et al., 2019) Developing enabling technologies which might include port and logistics industries that enable the transfer of people or goods Regulating and certifying AVs and EVs Evaluating how AV systems can redistribute cars throughout a network to better meet demand, for example, by reducing headway between vehicles or by rerouting vehicles to less congested roads (Marczuk et al., 2015)

14.3.3  Infrastructure: Integration with public transport networks One of the most important public policy questions is whether AVs will simply compete and replace public transport networks or whether they will actively support and integrate with existing infrastructure. Much of this will depend on how proactive policymakers and private sectors are in collaboration for integrated transport solutions. Singapore is often viewed as an example of global best practice for an efficient and effective public transportation network (Rakin, 2018). At its historical peak, public transport mode share constituted 67% and the government has set targets to increase the mode share to 75% by 2030 (Liu and Rau, 2018). Currently, there are proposals underway to explore a Dynamic Autonomous Road Transport (DART) system which would integrate with the existing Mass

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Rapid Transit (MRT) system and the bus system, and bridge the gaps by providing “fully autonomous, high-capacity, high-flexibility services (utilizing) autonomous electric zero-emission vehicles” (Liu and Rau, 2018, p. 1). DART would begin to address the gap in last-mile connectivity. As Shen et al. (2018) further advance, there is a strong public policy mandate to integrate the development of AVs into the city’s existing public transport networks, which has led to studies and simulations about last-mile connectivity and feasibility. The LTA is responsible for public transport policy such as routes, fares, and service integration. Proposals have been made to integrate fares and ticketing into the existing transit system which operates through a transit smart card. In this scenario, the costs of an AV ride would be set close to the current transit fares. High demand bus routes would be preserved but AVs would ultimately come to supplant low-demand bus routes (Shen et al., 2018). The LTA has also been preparing for upskilling over 8000 new public transport jobs. In March 2018, the Land Transport Industry Transformation Map (LTITM) strategy was launched. The LTITM focuses on developing a futureready workforce in the transportation sector through supporting small- and medium-­sized enterprise innovation which covers specific engineering challenges such as imaging and video analytics to scanning and measurement systems and building worker competencies and future skills. The program has issued a wide range of study awards to encourage workers in the public transport industry from service engineers to technical staff to pursue relevant skills that include readiness for changes including AV readiness (LTA, 2019). Taking a proactive approach to AV readiness, Singapore has recognized that the AV industry presents many opportunities to upskill a labor force. Some industries have already experienced shortages such as bus drivers and street cleaners (Abdullah, 2016). From the angle of social innovation, new programs such as Skills Future Credit have been announced to develop workers’ skills and provide training for all Singaporeans through credits for Massive Open Online Courses. These include courses such as data analytics, finance, tech-enabled skills, digital media, cybersecurity, and urban solutions (SFS, 2018). These programs are offered by accredited tertiary institutions that are taught via an online format.

14.3.4  Consumer acceptance: Society-wide economic benefits and industrial restructuring One of the factors that will likely influence public acceptance of AVs is the prevalence of seeing AVs on the road, in addition to positive and safe experiences in riding an AV. Along these two dimensions, KPMG has rated Singapore in its global 2019 AV readiness survey as the number one ranked country given that the city has implemented the extensive series of trials, many of which are open to the public in tourist spots such as Gardens by the Bay and public housing areas. Furthermore, the city has the highest proportion of its population

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living in the test areas, strong existing market penetration of online ride-hailing services, and high civil society technology usage (KPMG, 2019). Spieser et al. (2014) have projected through their transit financial modeling that the introduction of AVs in Singapore would be able to meet the needs of the entire population with an AV fleet, compared to one-third of the total number of vehicles currently in use. Their model examines the costs associated with purchasing, servicing, parking, fueling, and paying ownership taxes and traffic tolls and considers these costs with retrofitting existing vehicles with sensors, actuators, and the hardware required for AVs. They estimated that the total mobility cost for shared AVs was approximately half that of current human-driven vehicles and the eventual savings were approximately one-third of per capita GDP (Spieser et al., 2014). In summary, Singapore continues to make significant progress toward the widespread and eventual large-scale deployment of AVs. A combination of adopting a technology-oriented knowledge industry focus, the constraints of a limited land area and high-density development, and an efficient autocratic model of urban governance has led to ideal conditions not only for the city becoming an international leader in setting standards for AV testing but also coordinating public policy that has supported significant private sector innovation in the development of AVs.

14.4  Prospects for AV development The likelihood of wide-scale social innovation will depend on the future growth paths of AVs. It is highly likely that advanced AV technologies will lead to the active adoption of AVs after pilot projects, small-scale operations, and eventually a gradual expansion of their use.

14.4.1  Test: Pilot projects There are already emerging pilot projects of AVs that car manufacturers and/ or government support are initiating, including pilot tests in retirement villages (Wembridge, 2019), geo-fenced areas such as Alphabet’s (Google) Quayside Smart City (Marshall, 2019), China’s tests on public roads in Guangzhou and Changsha, the Netherlands’ active role in AV safety and legal issues with the proposed introduction of a “driving license” for self-driving cars, and the Singapore Government’s CETRAN (KPMG, 2019). Successful pilot projects will likely facilitate assurance for the acceptance of AVs by policymakers, technocrats, and the public.

14.4.2  Public acceptance: Introduction to transport systems Due to required road infrastructures such as clear road markings, sensor technology at intersections, EV charging stations, and 5G mobile networks, the initial introduction of AVs will likely be an extension of the pilot projects along

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designated (short) routes within manageable, geo-fenced areas possibly regulated by a low-speed limit (Infrastructure Victoria, 2018). AVs might need dedicated lanes and markings at the beginning (Litman, 2019). One of the plausible introductions of AVs may be in a public domain such as (new) trams and shuttle buses—assuming an agreement by key stakeholders such as unions. Driverless light railway operations in Singapore, South Korea, and Japan and driverless shuttle railway-based carriages linking different terminals within an airport are already increasingly adopted in practice. Zhuzhou, China, for example, has introduced Autonomous Rail Transit (CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Co., Ltd, 2017), a trackless tram, which may offer a transitional technology for future autonomous trams and provide early critical infrastructure for AV lanes.

14.4.3 Widespread Confidence from the initial operations of AVs will lead to further expansion for logistics and fleet services within more extended geographic boundaries. Once AV-based taxi fleet services are established, private AV owners will be able to lease out their vehicles for income generation. AVs and conventional vehicles will gradually mingle although geo-fenced designated areas with specifically provisioned AV corridors are likely to be in place, linking key transit nodes.

14.4.4  Matured: Dominant AVs A mature AV era would be marked by the dominance of AVs. This stage would realize a reduction in spaces for parking and roads, and therefore, encourage urban revitalization by repurposing parking lots and road lanes. However, this may take several decades or never be realized because current vehicles might remain dominant, infrastructure for AVs requires massive public investment, and drivers might follow a strong path dependency.

14.5 Conclusion As Brown et al. (2009, p.7) suggest, “given the confluence of actors in play— public and private—and the competing visions they offer, the challenges that AVs present for policy and strategic planning, are very complex to address.” Technology presents an unprecedented opportunity for shared mobility services yet this rests within complex regulatory environments that struggle to understand the implications of this major disruption (Porter et al., 2018). The major benefits of AVs include safety, productivity, consumer convenience/comfort, and environmental benefits, yet, these also come with significant risks toward social disorder. To achieve progress toward social innovation, policymakers will need to ensure equitable access, limit urban sprawl and environmental negative externalities, integrate with existing public transport networks, prepare for job displacement, and ensure privacy and network security.

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The advent of AVs might be realized sooner than the current policymakers think. Once AV policies are adopted, technology will likely be rapidly transferred to many cities. The operation of AVs is at the point where interdisciplinary professionals and researchers must continue to collaborate, including IT engineers, transport planners, engineers, technocrats, car manufacturers, and ordinary drivers. To reap the benefits from the driverless future rather than a social disorder, it behooves all actors to ask the critical questions of what kind of mobility future we all want to see.

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Chapter 15

Diversified development paths of smart cities Hyung Min Kima and Anthony Kentb a

Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, bCentre for Urban Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 15.1 Introduction 15.2 A wide scope of smart city approaches 15.2.1 Technological perspectives 15.2.2 Institutional perspectives 15.2.3 Problem-solving perspective (I): Natural disasters 15.2.4 Problem-solving perspective (II): Energy alternatives and the SDGs

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15.2.5 Comprehensive exemplar approach 15.2.6 Planning system perspectives 15.3 Social issues of smart cities 15.3.1 Equity 15.3.2. Contradictions of target geographies 15.4 Conclusion References

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15.1 Introduction The term “smart city” has become a buzzword with attention paid by a wide array of information and communication technology (ICT) experts, urban specialists, policymakers, and to a lesser extent to date, the public. As this book has shown, the foci, means, and aims of smart cities are diverse. Nevertheless, technological input is a key emphasis for the current practice of smart cities, and the technological embeddedness within built environments appears in different formats due to unique development paths, the level of technology used, and the institutional environments of each city. Technology-oriented approaches might be borne of the thought that ICT is a solution to urban challenges, including social issues. Citizens have seen unprecedented growth of ICT and smartphones and access to the internet is now a part of everyday life. Due to virtual c­ onnections, Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00015-0 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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it is much easier to know about events and developments in the world. There is still a generalized assumption that technology is somehow value-free, floating above social and political conflicts. There is then something of a fantasy in understanding smart cities nurtured by assumptions of objectivity. What we have seen in this book, however, particularly in Choi and Kim (Chapter 4) and Korah (Chapter 9), is on the contrary, the emergence of a neoliberal hegemony that ensures the benefits and disbenefits of technology are distributed unequally, between countries and within them. This chapter compares and contrasts smart city approaches on that, but is also interested in social innovation, although to be sure, we are still interested in the technological features of smart cities. Being a smart city is not, and should not be, an end in itself; it is unfortunate that some at least of the official narratives have developed as if it is just that. The point of the smart city is to contribute toward a good city of valuable urban outcomes: improved productivity, environmental sustainability, and livability.

15.2  A wide scope of smart city approaches 15.2.1  Technological perspectives While the advancement of ICT has spread ubiquitously, there are variations in the capacity to employ ICT solutions in urban settings. As discussed via an evolutionary perspective in Chapter 13, the adoption of ICT urban solutions varies in form, reflecting the readiness and the development phase of cities. In general, developing countries prioritize physical infrastructure over software-oriented ICT solutions such as e-government, spatial information systems, intelligent transport systems, and mobile phone applications as can be seen in Chapters 3 and 4. We might theorize, also, that there is a critical mass of urbanization required before smart cities are seriously contemplated. Technology-oriented approaches seem to perform better when preexisting physical infrastructure has been in place. South Korean comprehensive smart new towns appeared only after urbanization reached 90% of the population. Developing countries also seem to prefer comparatively low-level technologies, as can be seen with Vietnam (Chapter 8), Ghana (Chapter 9), and Chile (Chapter  11). Accra in Ghana is pursuing its City Extension Project without high-level technological input, although this is not to suggest that all developing countries direct their technology at the “grassroots.” The City Extension Project is planned as a luxurious urban development with connections to regional and international markets although jobs, housing, services, and culture are also on the agenda. The question is, of course, if it is to be a high-end development, for whom will those jobs and housing be and of what caliber? The Chilean experience with the SoSafe mobile phone application demonstrates that the proliferation of mobile phones with location information can enhance safety by sharing crime-risk information (Chapter 11). This application is adding a social value using technological infrastructure in the global positioning

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system which has been in use since the 1990s. The Vietnamese case sheds light on the possible shortcomings of a top-down government-led smart city development project in an urban peripheral area, while also showing the vibrancy end users of mobile phones have brought to the under-utilized locations of inner-city areas. Simple websites, the technology for which has been employed since the 1990s, were built on by handy smartphones and tablets offering streamlined connections between suppliers and buyers. But smart city projects have also adopted high-tech urban solutions with Digital Twins (Chapter  10), Smart Grids (Chapter  12), and AVs (Chapter  14) being outstanding examples. The use of Digital Twins supports decision-making by establishing a virtual city, identical to the real city, with the hope of avoiding “planning disasters” (Hall, 1982). The smart grid system in the USA has been developed to enhance the efficiency of energy generation, transition, and storage (Chapter 12). With growing uncertainties, borne of climate variability and climate-related disasters, renewable energy sources, as well as efficient energy management, are of increasing significance. Rather than transmitting generated power over a long distance, locally contained power supply with self-sufficiency is more desirable, for which smart grid systems have been promoted. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are one of the most controversial embodiments in built environments due to foreseeable impacts on the way of life, land uses, transport planning, and car industries. In interpreting the likely impacts of AVs, Ng and Kim (Chapter 14) juxtaposed “social disorder” and “social innovation” frameworks to provide insight. While the optimism expressed on AVs by the car industry, infrastructure-related institutions, and technocrats should not be dismissed as a technological daydream, nonetheless, the operation of AVs has the potential to worsen (or improve) livability, productivity, and environmental sustainability. Urban issues require innovation in ICT to ensure the safety and feasibility of implementation. They also require human capital, public and private financial resources, and institutional transformation. The process of technological development inevitably involves high costs, possibilities of failure, and public criticism. The higher the level of technological development, the more likely this is to be the case. Technological innovation tends to come out of technology leader countries and firms and this “received wisdom” is imposed outwards and downwards. The future trends of technology-oriented urban solutions are determined, largely, by wealthier countries with confidence in technological achievement.

15.2.2  Institutional perspectives Institutional evolution in the making of smart cities is important in at least the following three interrelated aspects. First, cities with institutional evolution, but lacking significant technological advancement, can be perceived as smart cities. For instance, as described by Korah (Chapter 9), Accra’s City Extension Project has included weak technological input, but it has demonstrated a shift in planning ideals and processes toward “smart urban development” to better achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) via planned urban development.

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Second, institutional conditions are, on many occasions, barriers to technological development and its realization in cities. Without institutional backups, new technological inventions are unable to be implemented. AVs are an outstanding example of the mismatch between technological innovation and institutional resistance. Even if AVs are safe enough to be implemented, they might face a strong objection by the workforce and labor unions that fear the loss of their jobs to automation. Third, institutional revolution can be a driver to promote technological innovation and the making of smart cities. The Australian case study detailed how the government has fostered smart infrastructure investment for economic vitalization through smart city policy (Chapter 6). The case study of Glasgow, UK illuminates the significance of national urban policy and the competition between cities for nurturing smart cities (Chapter 13). These two case studies shed light on the interplay of institutional support with technological input into cities.

15.2.3  Problem-solving perspective (I): Natural disasters As elaborated in Chapter 2, technological innovations embedded in smart cities attempt to tackle social problems in cities. Key drivers to Japan’s smart cities are outstanding examples of this perspective. Chapter 5 stresses the significance of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 and the declining population size and aging population when driving smart city discussions. Hence, Japan’s implementation of smart city solutions has revolved largely around energy security as manifested in pilot projects such as the Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town and the Hamamatsu Smart City, and government-funded energy-related infrastructure. In the case of natural disasters, access to power is essential for emergency management and recovery. Also, securing energy supply is an urgent task in response to extreme weather conditions in Japan as it aims to achieve more sustainable energy generation as an alternative to nuclear power plants that are high risk in the face of natural disasters.

15.2.4  Problem-solving perspective (II): Energy alternatives and the SDGs As energy issues are becoming more and more important given the growing unpredictability of climate-related natural disasters, these concerns have driven investment in smart grids worldwide including the USA (Chapter  12). Cocks and Johnson (Chapter 12) identify three interlocking problems—a high rate of power outages, high costs of renewable energy, and securing public funding for energy management. These problems are pushing policymakers to reconsider the current way of energy generation toward more efficient systems assisted by smart grids. Also, smart grids are designed to reduce energy consumption, peakdemand costs, and therefore, emissions from fossil fuels, for which incentives have been offered in electricity pricing. Growing concerns about climate change,

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environmental sustainability, and resilience to external shocks have attracted attention in planning discourses. In examinations of the place of energy in smart cities, attention has been directed at energy-wide technical a­ dvancement—smart grids. Smart grids can play a core role in the implementation of the SDGs, in particular, SDG 7 renewable energy, SDG 9 innovation and infrastructure, and SDG 11 sustainable cities and communities. The relevance of the SDGs to smart city development has been manifested more broadly in Japan’s Society 5.0 (Chapter 5) and smart grids, in particular, are a central component of the South Korean smart flagship development project, Sejong (Chapter 4).

15.2.5  Comprehensive exemplar approach Ordinary citizens might think a smart city is a completely new city full of technological innovations. While this book has shown that smart cities can be made by a wide array of tactics and inputs, this is not to suggest that a comprehensive approach is not possible. Notable examples of the latter are the South Korean Sejong New Town (Sejong 5-1) at a city scale (Chapter  4) and the Japanese Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (FSST) at a neighborhood scale (Chapter 5). The former was led by the Korean government on a greenfield site, but the latter was driven by a private manufacturing company, Panasonic, on a brownfield site, supported by the Japanese national government. Both cases can be seen as a keenness to promote their smart city project in order to sell smart city solutions more broadly (see Fig. 15.1). These smart city making projects are comprehensive in a “master plan” fashion rather than sectoral. Sejong 5-1 will be built on an extended area as shown in Fig.  15.1. The plan for Sejong 5-1 intends to create a comprehensive set of smart city solutions including seven key areas—(1) mobility, (2) health care and public safety, (3) education, (4) energy and environment, (5) governance, (6) culture and shopping, and (7) employment. Making a town from scratch was perceived as less complicated than incorporating smart ­infrastructure into an existing city that may involve additional costs for the removal of existing infrastructure and incompatibility with new infrastructure.

FIG. 15.1  Comprehensive smart city making projects: Sejong New Town, South Korea (left), and Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town, Japan (right). (Source: Photo by H.M. Kim in 2018.)

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Consequently, peri-urban locations are, in general, favored for new smart city production. This pattern also appears in the FSST. Although it is a brownfield development project on a former Panasonic factory site, it is located at a 50-km distance from Tokyo and 20 km from Yokohama. Both projects undertook land pooling, a requisite condition for new development, without difficulty, due to South Korea’s public land development process and Panasonic’s land ownership of the site. These conditions offer well-fitting environments for the production of a brand-new master-planned smart city. These two projects intended to promote what has been installed in the city with other cities. Interestingly, their desire to demonstrate their projects has been reflected in the operation of a smart city gallery (or smart city tour).a However, in most cases, the making of smart cities is largely sectoral. Various industrial sectors are keen to incorporate ICT solutions for the wider society. For instance, efforts in developing geospatial maps provide important information for planners. The Vietnamese and Chilean case studies elaborate on the use and adoption of applications via smartphones and smart devices (Chapter 8 and Chapter  11). Cocks and Johnson (Chapter  12) discuss the evolution of smart grids in the USA and Ng and Kim (Chapter 14) review the development of AVs. These are specific as opposed to comprehensive. However, as almost all emerge in urban infrastructural arenas, they will need integration into the broader planning system.

15.2.6  Planning system perspectives Throughout the case studies discussed in this book, an undercurrent is the changing features of urban planning. The growing dominance of neoliberalism in influencing planning regulations and decisions has influenced the pace, form, and direction of urban development. Governments have become more entrepreneurial as facilitators of development rather than as regulators and providers (Harvey, 1989). The combined effect in the urban domain of technological dominance with neoliberal thinking has resulted in an even further extension of the definition of planning. Planners “work to ensure that cities have what they need to grow and prosper” (Bayer et al., 2010: p.1). Technocrats and experts in technology are also dedicated to this purpose. Conventional comprehensive planning processes undertake site analysis, the formulation of goals and objectives, and the design of the alternative plan, implementation, and feedback. Technological elements can be adopted in every step and, furthermore, they can transform any of the processes in various ways. For instance, site analysis requires data about land use, people, connectivity, networks, and socioeconomic activities within the site and surrounding areas. Big Data from sensors, mobile phones, and the internet of things can provide precise, extensive, and a. Smart City Sejong, http://sejong-smartcity.com/index_en.html#first, Sejong Promotion Center, http://www.naacc.go.kr, and FSST, https://fujisawasst.com/EN/.

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updated information for planners (Chapter 10) and geospatial systems provide detailed maps (Chapter 3). Indeed, as aspirations toward smart cities have become more comprehensive, with the objective “smart city” the overall goal for city development, smart city techniques are applied comprehensively as exemplified in Japanese and South Korean smart city projects (Chapter 4 and Chapter 5). Not only is the idea for the city “smart,” but so too are the tools of implementation. Outstanding examples of ICT-assisted implementation are found in transportation, with AVs at the forefront (Chapter 14). Public participation in such plans is similarly tooled by smart city technology. For instance, the “living lab” approach aims to inform city management by reflecting userexperience, in the case of providing new public facilities (Chapter 4). However, even where “the smart city” is not the stated aim, the strong emphasis on ICTs in almost all planning processes render the latter a de facto smart city exercise. In this sense, cities are becoming “smart” even if that is not the terminology or stated objective. Kim and Feng (Chapter 7) identified the differences in perception on and interest in smart cities among key actors—government, nongovernment, and residents. Due to the growing significance of technological input in urban management, nongovernment sectors, especially ICT firms, are expanding their role. For example, they can offer semi-public transport services as seen in the plan of Sejong 5-1 (Chapter 4) and AV shuttle buses (Chapter 14), develop mobile applications for the sake of crime prevention (Chapter 11) and tourism support (Chapter  8) and even create smart towns on their former industrial sites (Chapter 5). Given the growing influence of the private sector, how to coordinate multiple actors remains a key planning issue. Beyond a conventional planning tool—zoning—that regulates land use and density, establishing efficient governance structures with planning and design firms, ICT firms, land developers, and residents and efficient funding mechanisms will be a key to the success of future urban planning.

15.3  Social issues of smart cities 15.3.1 Equity Advanced ICTs virtually connect to all locations. The adoption of ICTs creates new opportunities in formerly neglected areas. Thai et  al. (Chapter  8) report that internet networks, through mobile phones, have empowered isolated, hidden locations of inner Hanoi by connecting those neglected areas with visitors and tourists. These areas have undertaken land-use changes to mixed uses by home-based businesses including formal and informal economic activities and residential and commercial functions. A Chilean mobile application, introduced by Tironi and Albornoz (Chapter 11), has benefited locals by sharing geo-localized crime information which can reduce emergency response times. These software-based services, largely developed by private ICT firms, benefit the public if there is access to the internet.

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However, ironically the case studies in this book also show growing inequality through smart city-making projects. Korah (Chapter  9) reviewed Accra’s City Extension Project which is likely to be a gated, high income, new town development. Choi and Kim (Chapter  4) note the high development costs in the Sejong 5-1 plan which will similarly exclude low-income groups. Spatial inequality is seen in peri-urban Vietnamese regions. Binh Duong, known as the first Vietnamese smart city, is becoming a speculative real estate development project (Chapter 8). Despite the illusion of context-free services, smart city projects are an expression of neoliberal ideals. They are driven by profit-seeking developers and ICT firms. Although the inclusiveness in smart city development is acknowledged and aspired to in comprehensive smart city plans, it has been rarely prioritized.

15.3.2  Contradictions of target geographies While any city can be smarter, this book has demonstrated geography matters in the making of smart cities. The introduction of infrastructure for urban activities is common in inner-city areas (or broadly speaking, brownfield sites). Development of most smart city solutions in these inner-city areas is likely gradual or sectoral due to expected disruption during the construction, the complexity of existing infrastructure networks, and (in)compatibility of new with existing infrastructure. However, once smart city solutions are in place in these inner-city areas, these infrastructures immediately influence the people and the economic activities within the service coverage area. The introduction of AV fleets is an example (Chapter 14). Peri-urban areas, on the other hand, would struggle to host an AV fleet due to the lower population. However, smart grids can be constructed in peri-urban areas or even locations distant from existing cities more easily due to low barriers such as less complicated land ownership structures and lower land acquisition and construction costs. Peri-urban areas are more convenient for the construction of smart city facilities as these areas can easily secure large land without strong resistance from the local population. However, the disbenefits of an isolated location remain significant, despite the benefits of ICT. Such locational challenges are well expressed in the South Korean experience (Chapter 4). The site selection of the flagship smart city projects of South Korea have been greenfield sites such as Songdo and Sejong. Songdo is still a subject of public criticism due to its lack of urban vibrancy, human activities, and investment attractions, although it has achieved smart-looking futuristic physical environments. The most updated smart city plan, Sejong 5-1, will again be implemented on a greenfield site. The coverage of the plan is wide, extensive, comprehensive, and ambitious, but whether it can overcome the locational disadvantages is doubtful (Chapter 4).

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15.4 Conclusion The path-dependent character of urban regions (greenfield versus brownfield, peri-urban versus inner-city) ensures that smart cities evolve from what is already in place—existing practices, expectations, and urban forms. Even in the case of greenfield development of smart cities, it is difficult to find a “new start” as such because these preexisting factors assign undesirable features associated with isolation. It is also suggested in this chapter that smart cities should be viewed from a variety of angles. However, they have things in common. In particular, it is noted that smart techniques have become almost ubiquitous in urban planning, as have neoliberal approaches. The inevitable result is that smart city processes and outcomes are commercialized and unequal. As was remarked upon in Kim et al. (Chapter 2), it remains a challenging idea that smart cities are necessarily public goods. The smart city ideas are, as they always have been, molded and expressed and ultimately will find solidity through unequal power relations.

References Bayer, M., Frank, N., Valerius, J., 2010. Becoming an Urban Planner: A Guide to Careers in Planning and Urban Design. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, N.J. Hall, P., 1982. Great Planning Disasters: With a New Introduction. University of California Press. Harvey, D., 1989. From managerialism to entrepreneurialism: the transformation in urban governance in late capitalism. Geogr. Ann. Ser. B 71, 3–17.

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Chapter 16

Smart cities beyond COVID-19 Hyung Min Kim Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Chapter outline 16.1 Introduction 16.2 Steps for future smart cities 16.2.1 Rights to innovation 16.2.2 Land value capture in smart city development

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16.2.3 Beyond rigid institutional path dependency 16.2.4 Incentives to innovation 16.3 Lessons from COVID-19 16.4 Conclusion References

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16.1 Introduction Innovation has always been a part of human history, but the current development of information and communications technology (ICT) is changing the daily life of almost all people in every urban affair. While the current practices of smart cities are the direct outcome of technological advancements, technological innovation is strongly associated with social changes and institutional evolution. The combined effects of the two interrelated innovations—technological and social—expedite smart city making and smart cities, in turn, spur further innovations. This chapter provides suggestions to this “self-reinforcing” relationship between innovations and smart city development—rights to innovation, land value capture in smart city development, disruptive institutional breakthroughs, and incentives to innovation. To illustrate the significance of ICT development, this chapter reviews the changes made over the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. ICT infrastructure has enabled work from home via online networks and online meetings when physical contacts are discouraged due to the contagious plague. The example of the actions taken during COVID-19 sheds light on the smart city’s resilience to emergency situations by using preexisting ICT facilities.

Smart Cities for Technological and Social Innovation. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818886-6.00016-2 Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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16.2  Steps for future smart cities Cities and innovation are inseparable. Human beings are by nature innovative, seeking out new ways in all circumstances, and cities are, by definition, the geographical expression of the presence of human beings. Innovation is a core element to smart cities and current discussions about smart cities are technology-­driven, futuristic in image, and aspirational in perception. This book provides conceptual frameworks in Chapter 2 and case studies about reciprocal relationships of innovation with smart cities—innovation is making smart cities and smart cities strengthen innovation. Technological innovation and social innovation constitute a key part of smart cities. In the current practice of smart cities, technological innovation, generally achieved by technicians, scientists, programmers, and engineers, is centered on ICT. Social innovation is an important topic in institutional studies but has not attracted much academic attention in the smart city discourse. These two innovations can be understood at a conceptual level, but this binary approach can obscure the understanding of transformation processes as it overlooks the tight interactions between them. The outcomes of technological innovation change the ways people live, work, interact, and enjoy. As reviewed by Thai et al. (Chapter 8), online websites, smart devices, and technological innovation have changed the way of running businesses, communicating with customers, using space, and sharing information with neighbors. The implementation of autonomous vehicles, also technological innovation, is highly dependent on a consensus among citizens, a socially agreed decision (Chapter 14). Technology is part of social relations and social decisions guide the use and the development of technology. A key in smart city making is to create self-reinforcing environments for technological innovation via social innovation and vice versa. Barriers to self-reinforcing environments are unequal access to the benefits of innovation, privatized windfall gains from smart city development, rigid institutional path dependency, and disincentives to innovation.

16.2.1  Rights to innovation The benefits from innovations should not be monopolized by selected groups but shared by citizens. “The right to the city” argument conceptualizes how cities should be shaped, changed, and governed beyond access to urban facilities (Purcell, 2002; Lefebvre, 1996; Harvey, 2003). ICT infrastructure in smart cities seems a technological enabler to rights to the city due to ubiquitous access to information and virtual services. Although ICT provides and creates new opportunities for citizens regardless of their physical location, the power of smart city development tends to remain with leading actors. ICT experts, ICT firms, and technocrats assume leadership in initiatives for technology-driven urban solutions, actions, processes, and the evolution of the urban governance of smart cities. Technological availability has become a precondition to decision-making

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in tackling urban issues. Given the growing significance of ICT, government investment is likely to favor technology-oriented industries and research and development (R&D). In fact, the OECD found that public expenditure in sciencebased R&D was as high as business R&D and innovation among 27 countries in the European Union in terms of per GDP expenditure (OECD, 2012). The growing reliance on the advanced-technology class means the potential exclusion of those who are unable to catch up with rapidly changing technological environments to access the benefits of innovations. While basic technological skills are now required to live with ICT in smart cities, there are still the technologically disadvantaged such as the uneducated (or the untrained), seniors, and the marginalized who are unable to afford ICT devices and internet connections. The gap in access to technological innovation is a source of growing income inequality as they limit opportunities. The user-friendliness of all kinds of technological innovation is essential for widespread benefits. Those innovations enhance the productivity of firms and individuals. Thus, efforts must be made at government, civil, and private sector levels to provide new technology with training for citizens. The key to technological equity is to strengthen the capabilities of citizens to access the benefits of innovation.

16.2.2  Land value capture in smart city development One of the by-products of smart city development is an increase in land values. This is due to two factors. First, one of the distinctive features in smart city development is the urban focus on land development. Similar to any other urban land development projects, smart city development requires public investment in infrastructure and land pooling. Any improvement in land results in land value increases. Regardless of whether contributions to technological innovation are made or not, landowners are winners by taking windfall gains. Therefore, there is no direct incentive to innovate. As reviewed in the South Korean smart city case study in Chapter  4, smart city development, in particular on greenfield sites, is not a cheap option. The Sejong smart city project was an outcome of land acquisition with compensation for landowners who also received windfall gains. The land development agency, Land and Housing Corporation, undertook land pooling and sold serviced land to private developers or reserved public uses such as government offices, hospitals, schools, and social housing. Revenue from selling serviced land to private developers partially funded the Sejong project. The national government also funded this project and private firms were invited to invest in ICT infrastructure. All these actions led to physically superior built environments which resulted in expensive land prices. In Chapter 9, Ghana’s smart city project illustrated how government actions could advance sustainable development goals. However, the Accra City Extension Project is at risk of becoming a luxurious new town development worsening inequality. Second, as discussed, ICT infrastructure is meant, in principle, to improve productivity for all. Changes in productivity are also reflected in land values.

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However, as Henry George (George, 1879: Chapter 20) alerted, “every improvement or invention that gives labor the power to produce more wealth, no matter what it may be, causes an increased demand for land and its products… every labor-saving invention has a tendency to increase rent. This is true whether it is a tractor, a telegraph, or a sewing machine. There will be a greater production of wealth—but landowners will get the whole benefit,” which discourages innovation in the long term. Therefore, a fine-tuned reward system should be established for innovation and enhanced productivity. From a land development perspective, land value capture is an institutional basis to recoup the betterments and lessen land speculation (Medda, 2012; Peterson, 2008). A monopoly or oligopoly of land contradicts the smart city ideal of sharing the benefits of technological innovation. Land value capture (or land tax) is theoretically sound and widely implemented in various formats (Hughes et al., 2020). Smart city development should not be an exception in the implementation of land value capture measures.

16.2.3  Beyond rigid institutional path dependency ICT is becoming a fundamental part of daily life and business operations. Interactions beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries will create more opportunities and enhance productivity. The ideals of the smart city center on innovation to boost productivity, sustainability, and livability, which can be achieved by collective actions beyond a single sector. Integration is a current trend for future growth in businesses, governance, and academia as the combination (or mix) of different sectors can have the potential to create new products and added values. As this book provides multiple examples, smart technologies can be embedded in almost all sectors and urban policy is now responding to this trend. Australia’s nationwide smart city program was introduced to break the legacy of Australia’s underinvestment in ICT infrastructure with a focus on the strategies for place-based knowledge economies. The rapid growth of first-tier Australian cities has motivated the employment of smart technologies to improve environment and congestion conditions and manage infrastructure as seen in Chapter 6. An effective place-based approach requires objective-driven and site-specific coordination. In recognition of the city’s challenges, Adelaide’s smart city approach is to restructure the economic and industrial base toward knowledge economies and boost population growth. The coordination can be backed up by interactions between stakeholders including multiple government departments, citizens, private ICT firms, and technocrats. Smart city infrastructure is designed to facilitate communications and support data management. The path dependency of institutional behaviors is an outcome of fear of possible risks involved in new ways of decision-making. The government is often criticized for its rigid and inflexible ways of running public administration. However, smart technologies offer platforms to deal with risks and uncertainties from new data sources, as ICT is a multipurpose infrastructure. Data from

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sensors, mobile phones, and signals are becoming available for analysis and simulations, as exemplified in Digital Twins in Chapter 4, geospatial information systems in Chapter 3, and the use of the Internet of Things in Chapter 10. These simulation tools and data analysis can be used to identify threats to cities and to formulate various policy options before implementation. In so doing, ex ante policy evaluation, via smart technologies, encourages institutions, including government, to embrace disruptive innovation.

16.2.4  Incentives to innovation Although human beings are naturally keen to innovate, lack of incentive discourages it. While formal recognition, such as intellectual property rights and patents, secures inventors’ exclusive rights, this does not always apply to the broader society. Incentive systems within institutions and government should be established, such as offering opportunities to experiment with new ideas, encouraging start-ups, and embracing suggestions from the public. Entrepreneurialism has already been embedded in the undertakings of local governments seeking global investment and market efficiency (Scott, 2012). The right reward systems for innovation within institutions will enhance organizational efficiency. Those reward systems are not limited to recruiting capable government officials as illustrated in Japan and South Korea (Hill and Kim, 2000), or to offering high salary rates as implemented in Singapore (Han, 2005). All available means can be employed to bring innovation into organizations. These aspects to make smart cities have been expressed in responses to the recent pandemic disease, COVID-19. The next section will illustrate how countries and cities have responded to this disastrous plague by adopting smart technologies.

16.3  Lessons from COVID-19 When COVID-19 first appeared in Wuhan, China in late 2019, the world underestimated the hyper-connectedness of 21st-century cities. It was considered a problem for the epicenter or the country only. National governments arranged evacuation flights to Wuhan to rescue their citizens living in the epicenter. However, very soon the coronavirus was viral enough to spread not only around China but also all continents and almost all countries. The World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic on 11 March 2020 (Taylor, 2020). The number of confirmed cases in the world has increased exponentially, as has the number of deaths. Governments recognized the seriousness of COVID-19 and implemented various measures to control its spread. Some firms and nongovernment organizations have also been proactive in managing faceto-face interactions which might cause transmission of the coronavirus. Resilience to sudden detrimental shocks like flooding and the outbreak of plagues can be understood as comprising different phases: predisaster, during

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TABLE 16.1  Reactions to COVID-19 by key actors. Key actors

Major responses

Government policy

• Social distancing • Regulating social gathering (initially over 500 and rapidly changed to smaller gatherings such as under 50) • Shutdown of nonessential businesses • Shutdown of schools • COVID-19 tests • Urgent financial supports for businesses and households • Strong border control by regulating the inflow of foreign nationals

Citizens’ reaction

• Panic buying, for example, nonperishable goods and face masks • Personal hygiene such as washing hands • Shift from face-to-face to online • Staying at home, leading to more use of online data

Firms’ reaction

• Implementing “work from home” • Canceling business trips • Canceling new investment

Schools, universities, and hospitals

• Changes from in-class teaching to online teaching modes • School closure or extended school holidays • Robot medical staff • Online medical consultations

the disaster, and postdisaster. During the disaster, at the time of writing in April 2020, citizens have shown (ir)rational responses to the shock financially and psychologically, by for example, panic buying of nonperishables such as toilet paper, food, sanitizers, and face masks (Norberg and Rucker, 2020) (see Table 16.1). Firms, universities, and religious organizations have adopted online modes to avoid possible transmission of the coronavirus. Most universities in the USA, Europe, Australia, and Asia have canceled in-person classes (or delayed commencement) and changed the teaching mode to online (Fazackerley, 2020). Hospitals introduced robot nurses to take care of patients and medical staff in Italy (Scalzo, 2020) and some medical consultations were via online conversations. Regulation on social gatherings started from large-size gatherings (over-500) and this policy was rapidly tightened up to small-size gatherings, for example, social gatherings over 50 people with at least 1.5 m distancing between individuals or more than 4 m2 per person. Then, many countries further implemented even stricter policies by shutting down nonessential businesses. Religious organizations ceased gatherings, voluntarily or involuntarily, and changed to online services or drive-in services. These restrictions violate the freedom of movement and customary political and social activity, but the health threat from COVID-19 was high enough to overrule the usual expression of democratic values.

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ICT infrastructure, a core element to smart cities, was an enabler to the actions taken by key actors. During the urgent and disastrous event, regular human and economic activities were greatly disrupted. However, without preexisting ICT infrastructure, the damage from COVID-19 would have been far worse. Face-to-face interactions are the most favored mode in business operations (Storper and Venables, 2004), in particular, knowledge-intensive business services (Growe, 2019) and intragovernmental decision-making processes (Hur et al., 2019). COVID-19 created new environments to force face-to-face contacts to be paused, which caused losses in productivity and efficiency. Nonetheless, ICT infrastructure enabled far more work from home, online teaching, online meetings, online-based entertainment, online shopping, and online-assisted food delivery. As reviewed in this book, online activity is a small, but important part of smart cities. Cities with ICT infrastructure could continue essential activities with a shift from in-person to online. COVID-19 provided momentum to accelerate the use of online modes in various fields. IT-based service providers gained customers within a short period of time during the COVID-19 shock. Among them, teleconferencing applications such as Zoom, streaming services for movies and TV programs such as Netflix and Stan, and food delivery applications such as Uber Eats are outstanding examples that have benefited since the COVID-19 shock. At the time of writing, the precise statistics of the users of these applications are unavailable to ascertain the actual short-term impact of COVID-19 (although media reports estimated the increase in Zoom users from 10 million in December 2019 to 200 million in March 2020 over 3 months). Stock price changes give a hint of Zoom’s gains. The stock price of Zoom Video Communications Inc. at NASDAQ was US$62 a year ago (April 2019), but it increased to US$160 in March 2020, more than a 2.5-times increase. The outbreak of COVID-19 played a role in expediting online-based communications, meetings, and conferences and, therefore, strengthening the hegemony of ICT firms in how cities and their functions are shaped. It is foreseeable that the adoption of online modes continues after the COVID-19 in some ways, although face-to-face interactions will return as the primary mode. The massive use of online communication modes means more integration across cities, regions, countries, and continents. On the one hand, COVID-19 showed the hyper-connectedness of individuals and cities through the rapid spread of the virus. Invented ICT facilities, on the other hand, can be used to control, monitor, and maintain the connectedness virtually. South Korean approaches demonstrated the role of ICT through surveillance technology such as CCTVs, the tracking of credit/debit cards, and mobile phone location data, while other more socially laissez-faire countries primarily implemented the restriction of personal mobility (Sonn, 2020). Through these surveillance tools, the location information of where confirmed cases had visited was shared with citizens, which assisted to identify those who had close contacts with the confirmed patients and who therefore needed a coronavirus

306  Smart cities for technological and social innovation

test (Sonn, 2020). This approach was generally well-received in light of the activities of Shincheonji, a religious cult group, which refused to disclose the details of their gatherings although being a primary cause of the spread of the virus (Hancocks and Seo, 2020). The South Korean approach was often acknowledged as a best practice to slow down the spread of COVID-19 without declaring the lock-down of urban functions. However, the exposure of personal information was inevitable when using the tracking of patients. The data were used by health authorities, national and local governments, and even geographic information system (GIS)-based smartphone applications that alerted citizens to the hotspots of the confirmed cases (Sonn, 2020). This surveillance approach was supported by preexisting systems such as CCTVs, the GIS, and personal smart devices, and the data from the surveillance infrastructure were, in turn, shared with citizens through smart devices in a timely manner. They received or accessed updated information more easily than ever before. The responses to COVID-19 demonstrated the role of technological innovation when unexpected, irregular, and uncertain circumstances appeared. As in-person interactions were discouraged to prevent the coronavirus from transmitting, ICT infrastructure and high-speed internet connections established virtual platforms. Citizens were not socially isolated due to alternative ways of communication, work, study, and entertainment. In this sense, smart cities, assisted by technological innovation, can be resilient to sudden external shocks mitigating devastating impacts. With the exception of Japan’s disaster management in Chapter  5, the chapters in this book illustrate technological innovation and its contribution to smart city making in normal circumstances. This concluding chapter provides evidence that ICT facilities are useful in urgent disaster environments. Although ICT technology might not be fully utilized in ordinary daily life, it can easily retrieve and create available functions using the infrastructure.

16.4 Conclusion The review of smart city making approaches discussed in this book raises important questions: who are smart city planners and what is their role? The inclusion of ICT infrastructure in urban affairs has obviously expanded the domain of planning, blurring the role of planners and of urban planning as an activity. While the conventional planning concerns of land use and statutory planning are still valid and important, smart city planners are required to understand the role of ICT in urban development, be equipped with flexibility in tackling emerging urban issues and have the ability to coordinate a wide array of stakeholders, including ICT sectors. Data handling is becoming a necessary part of the planner’s role, with data analytics adding valuable information. Out of inundated available data, skills required for smart city planners are to identify key planning issues and invent solutions to the identified issues by various means in collaboration with the multiple stakeholders. Thus, the ability to coordinate and

Smart cities beyond COVID-19  Chapter | 16  307

work with frameworks to judge values are increasingly important for smart city planners in addition to understanding how ICT works for urban systems. With the unique contexts of each city, the focus varies for smart city planners. For instance, Japan’s repeated earthquakes have ushered Japanese smart cities to pay attention to disaster management and locally-contained energy generation in the event of an emergency (Chapter 5). The focus on smart cities seems an inevitable step for the future direction of current cities, as ICT is becoming an essential part of daily life. The difficulty to define smart cities reflects their broad scope in terms of the input of sources, the process of city-making, and the objectives of planning. Nonetheless, difficulty in the definition does not mean smart city making is undesirable or unlikely to be implemented. Rather, the efforts to make smart cities are likely to continue for the foreseeable future and dominate planning practices in favor of the increases in productivity, livability, and sustainability that smart cities can possibly enhance. A transition to a smart city approach is one of the ways cities are evolving with available technologies. There is no reason to restrain from integrating new innovations into urban transformation. Urbanization and informatization are, in general, irreversible. Informatized people are unlikely to choose to return to a disconnected lifestyle away from ICT. With the evercontinuing development of new technologies, what citizens and urban planners can and should do is to maximize benefits for all, strengthening the links to selfreinforce technological innovation and social innovation.

References Fazackerley, A., 17 March 2020. Universities having to adapt fast to the coronavirus crisis, The Guardian. George, H., 1879. Progress and Poverty. Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, New York. Growe, A., 2019. Developing trust in face-to-face interaction of knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). Reg. Stud. 53, 720–730. Han, S.S., 2005. Global city making in Singapore: a real estate perspective. Prog. Plan. 64, 69–175. Hancocks, P., Seo, Y., 28 February 2020. How novel coronavirus spread through the Shincheonji religious group in South Korea. CNN World. Harvey, D., 2003. The right to the city. Int. J. Urban Reg. Res. 27, 939–941. Hill, R.C., Kim, J.W., 2000. Global cities and developmental state: New York, Tokyo and Seoul. Urban Stud. 37, 2167–2195. Hughes, C., Sayce, S., Shepherd, E., Wyatt, P., 2020. Implementing a land value tax: considerations on moving from theory to practice. Land Use Policy 94, 104494. Hur, J.-Y., Cho, W., Lee, G., Bickerton, S.H., 2019. The “smart work” myth: how bureaucratic inertia and workplace culture stymied digital transformation in the relocation of South Korea’s capital. Asian Stud. Rev. 43, 691–709. Lefebvre, H., 1996. Writings on Cities. Blackwell, Oxford. Medda, F., 2012. Land value capture finance for transport accessibility: a review. J. Transp. Geogr. 25, 154–161. Norberg, M., Rucker, D., 2020. Psychology Can Explain Why Coronavirus Drives Us to Panic Buy. It Also Provides Tips on How to Stop. The Conversation, 20 March 2020.

308  Smart cities for technological and social innovation OECD, 2012. OECD Science, Technology and Industry Outlook. OECD. Peterson, G.E., 2008. Unlocking Land Values to Finance Urban Infrastructure. The World Bank. Purcell, M., 2002. Excavating Lefebvre: the right to the city and its urban politics of the inhabitant. GeoJournal 58, 99–108. Scalzo, F.L., 2 April 2020. Covid-19: Tommy the Robot Nurse Helps Keep Italy Doctors Safe from Coronavirus. TheStar. Scott, A.J., 2012. A World in Emergence: Cities and Regions in the 21st Century. Edward Elgar Publishing. Sonn, J.W., 2020. Coronavirus: South Korea’s success in controlling disease is due to its acceptance of surveillance. The Conversation, 20 March 2020. Storper, M., Venables, A.J., 2004. Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy. J. Econ. Geogr. 4, 351–370. Taylor, D.B., 12 March 2020. A Timeline of the Coronavirus. The New York Times.

Index Note: Page numbers followed by f indicate figures and t indicate tables.

A

Accra City Extension Project (ACEP), 177 discourses and rationale for, 169–170 evolution of, 167–168 implementation and governance, 175–176 overview of, 166–167 resources for, 173–174 stakeholder participation and ownership, 170–173, 171–172t Accra, foreign direct investments, 159 ACEP. See Accra City Extension Project (ACEP) Adelaide City Deals, 100–101, 105–108 policy challenges, 109–110 Advertisements, 142–143 AEP Ohio. See American Electric Power Ohio (AEP Ohio) Africa, smart urban development in, 5 Ghanaian urban and economic growth, 160–166 analytical framework, 165–166 urbanization and complex challenges, 162–163 study context and methodology Accra City Extension Project (see Accra City Extension Project (ACEP)) methodology, 167–168 Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE), 86 Aizuwakamatsu smart community, 81 American Electric Power Ohio (AEP Ohio), 228–230, 237 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), 222–223 ANRE. See Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) ARRA. See American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Artificial intelligence (AI), 188 Asia-Pacific region, 2–4 Australia, smart city and progressive urbanism in, 3–4, 95–96

Adelaide project, 101–110 city deal, 105–107 from Citylan to 10 gigabit city, 103–105 selling innovation, 107–110 setting the scene, 101–103 government and smart city policy, 98–101 smart infrastructure, 97 theorizing smart cities, 97 Autonomous vehicles (AVs), 3, 266, 291–292 air and rail, 271 batteries, 272 environmental sustainability, 272–273 governance and public policy, 273–274 healthcare, 271 livability, 269–270 media and advertising, 271 plans, 63 policing, 271 power generation, 271 productivity, 270–271 prospects for development, 280–281 matured, 281 pilot projects, 280 public acceptance, 280–281 test, 280 widespread, 281 safety, 267–269 in Singapore, 274–280 consumer acceptance, 279–280 infrastructure, 278–279 policy and legislation, 275–277 technology and innovation, 277–278 social innovation, 267–274 AVs. See Autonomous vehicles (AVs)

B

Binh Duong Smart City, 147–150 Black Box camera, 63 Blockchain, 188 Brainstorming outcomes, 123, 124f Built form, 139

309

310  Index Busan Eco-Delta, 60 Business opportunities and market demand, 22 Business-to-consumer (B2C) platform, 142

C

Car parking and economic restructuring, 270–271 CARTS. See Committee on Autonomous Road Transport for Singapore (CARTS) CEAVs. See Connected electric anonymous vehicles (CEAVs) Central and local governments, 23 Central business districts (CBD), 272 Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), 236 Centre of Excellence for Testing and Research of AVs—NTU (CETRAN), 278 Change process, 185, 187–189 Charging stations, 65 Chile Smarty City circuit, 6 ambiguous and polysomic catalyst, 200–204 case of SoSafe, 204–209, 290–291 coordinating urban safety, 205–207 ecology, 206 negotiation with municipalities, 208 projecting urban life, 207 emergence of idea of smartness, 197–199 experimentation and pilot projects, 199–200 smart citizen, 202–203 sociotechnical imaginary, 196, 199 from state, 203–204 technological enterprise and innovation, 201–202 urbanism, 211–213 City Deals, Adelaide, 100–101, 105–108 City Engagement, 257 Citywide efforts, 15 Clean energy, 222, 273 Columbus, Ohio, 228 additional funding for public transportation, 236–237 electric vehicles, 237–238 implementation of challenge funding, 233–236 smart city challenge funding, 231–233 smart grid funding and implementation, 228–238 Committee on Autonomous Road Transport for Singapore (CARTS), 275 Community-based urban planning and design, 40 Community-stay, 150–153 Comprehensive perception, 121 Compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, 236–237

Concourse identification, 122–123 Connected electric anonymous vehicles (CEAVs), 234 Connected vehicle environment (CVE), 233 Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) platforms, 142–143 Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), 19, 22, 303–306 COVID-19. See Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) Cross-Ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP), 87–89 Cultural circuits, 200–201 Culture and shopping, 65 CVE. See Connected vehicle environment (CVE)

D

DART. See Dynamic Autonomous Road Transport (DART) 3D digital map, driver for, 31–33, 46–47 3D mapping initiative, 32 fundamental datasets, 32, 32f mapping and modeling, 32–33 Department of Transportation (DOT), 222, 231 “Developmental state” model, 52 Digital geoinformation, 31 Digital Government Blueprint, 30–31 Digital Gusu (2013–2015), 4 Digital On-Ramps app, 20–21 Digital Twins strategy, 18 Digitization, 31 Dimension of formalization, 185 Disaster Area Smart Grid Communication Interface Projects, 87, 88f 3-11 disasters, 74, 91 Dominant autonomous vehicles, 281 Driverless light railway, 280–281 Dubai Internet City (DIC), 186 Dubai, smart city strategies, 5 artificial intelligence, 188 Blockchain, 188 change process, 187–189 formalization, 186–187 Happiness Meter, 189 physical infrastructure, 187 social innovation, 183–186, 183f social outcomes, 189 social welfare, 182 technological innovation, 183–186, 183f Dynamic Autonomous Road Transport (DART), 278–279

Index 311

E

Education, 64 EFC. See Environmental Future City (EFC) program Electric vehicles (EVs), 237–238, 267 Electronic road-pricing (ERP), 275 EMC. See Environmental Model City (EMC) program Employment, 66 Energy alternatives, 292–293 Energy and environment, 64–65 Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, 222–223 Entrepreneurialism, 303 Environmental Future City (EFC) program, 77 Environmental Model City (EMC) program, 77 Environmental sustainability, autonomous vehicles, 272–273 E-participatory planning, 176–177 EPM system. See Event parking management (EPM) system ERP. See Electronic road-pricing (ERP) Event parking management (EPM) system, 233 Export of cities initiative, 55–58 Extensive interconnection, 121

F

Face-to-face interactions, 305 Factor analysis, 122, 126 Factors interpretation, 122, 126–130 FCGP. See Future City Glasgow program (FCGP) FCI. See Future City Initiative (FCI) First-mile/last-mile (FMLM) challenges, 231 Flood level impact assessment, 45 Forced choice method, 125–126 Formalization, 186–187 Fujisawa sustainable smart town (FSST), 80, 293, 293f Future Cities Demonstrator Competition (FCDC), 250 Future City Glasgow program (FCGP), 248, 255–256, 262 Future city initiative (FCI), 77

G

Gap identification, 204 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), 273 Ghanaian urban and economic growth, 160–166

analytical framework, 165–166 City Extension Project, 290 foreign direct investment, 161, 161f structural adjustment policies, 161 urbanization and complex challenges, 162–163 Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), 161–162 Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), 160 Glasgow, 7 economically activity population, 254t economic performance, 253 employment, 253, 254f open manifesto-future city principles, 256–257, 257t population, 253, 253f urban and societal policies, 253 Glasgow City Council, 253 Global climate change, 267 Globalization, 22–23 Global positioning system, 290–291 Governance, 65 and funding for smart cities, 221–225 smart grid funding, 222–224 transportation, 222 Government digital transformation, 30 Government-led smart cities, 77–78 Government perspective, 127–129 GREDA. See Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) GSS. See Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) Guidance on Promoting a Healthy Development of Smart Cities, 118

H

Hamamatsu smart city, 81–82 Happiness Meter, 189 Healthcare and public safety, 63–64 Ho Chi Minh City, 149 Homestay rooms, 144 Human beings, 300, 303 Human-centric urban solutions, 33–34

I

ICT. See Information and communications technology (ICT) Idea of smartness, 197–199 IEDSS. See Intelligent environment decision support system (IEDSS) IMEUM. See Integrated multiscale environmental urban model (IMEUM)

312  Index Incentives to innovation, 303 Industrialization, 12–13 Industrial Revolution 4.0, 141 Industrial Transformation and Upgrading Plan (2011–15), 118 Informal homestay businesses, 138–139, 138f Informal economy, 146 Informality, 139–140, 145 Information and communications technology (ICT), 9–11, 15–16, 22–23, 52, 67–68, 116, 166, 181, 247, 252, 289–290 advancements in, 137–138 firms, 23–24 infrastructures and tax incentives, 148–149 peripheral villages, 140 residents and end users, 24–25 urban activities, 141 Information technologies (IT), 158 Inner-city areas, 139–140, 296 Innovation, 299–300 Innovation hub, 104 Institutional evolution, 55–58, 56–57t, 291 Institutional framework, 85–89 Institutional perspectives of smart cities, 291–292 Integrated multiscale environmental urban model (IMEUM), 37 Integrated planning approach, 55–58 Intelligent environment decision support system (IEDSS), 43–47 Internet of things (IoT), 18, 104, 109, 187, 227–228

J

Japanese smart cities/communities, 3, 73–75 challenge, 89–90 development of, 75–82 Aizuwakamatsu smart community, 81 Fujisawa sustainable smart town, 80 government-led smart cities, 77–78 Hamamatsu smart city, 81–82 joint venture smart cities, 78–79 Kashiwa-no-ha smart city, 80 institutional framework, 85–89 policy framework, 82–85 version 2.0, 90 Japan Reconstruction Agency (JRA), 87–89 Japan Smart Community Alliance, 85–86 Joint venture smart cities, 78–79 JRA. See Japan Reconstruction Agency (JRA) Jurong Town Corporation (JTC), 277

K

Kashiwa-no-ha smart city, 80 Key actors, of smart city making, 23–25 Key drivers, of smart city making, 22–23 Korean smart cities, 3 conceptualizing, 58–60 earlier initiatives, 53–54 new town development, 55 Sangam digital media center (DMC), 54 Songdo new city, 54–55 institutional evolution, 55–58 Sejong 5-1 plan (see Sejong 5-1 plan) technological and urban development contexts, 52–53

L

Land and Housing Corporation (LH), 55 Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2 NIC), 30, 35–36 Land Transport Authority (LTA), 275, 277 Land Transport Industry Transformation Map (LTITM), 279 Land Use and Spatial Planning Act, 163 Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA), 163 Land use planning and management information system (LUPMIS), 163, 164f Land Use Planning and Management Project (LUPMP), 163 Land value capture in smart city development, 301–302 LGAs. See Local government authorities (LGAs) Livability, 16, 269–270 Living in hidden locations, 143–145 Living Laboratory, 55–58, 60, 65, 68 L2 NIC. See Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge (L2 NIC) Local Governance Act, 175 Local government authorities (LGAs), 98, 100, 104 Local resident perspectives, 129–130 Location, 139–141 LTA. See Land Transport Authority (LTA) LTITM. See Land Transport Industry Transformation Map (LTITM) LUPMIS. See Land use planning and management information system (LUPMIS) LUPMP. See Land Use Planning and Management Project (LUPMP) LUSPA. See Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority (LUSPA)

Index 313

M

MAFF. See Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) Mapping initiative, 32 Mass Rapid Transit (MRT), 278–279 Megacities, 197 MFP. See Multifunction polis (MFP) MHLW. See Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) MIC. See Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC) Minimum Viable Product (MVP) logic, 206 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), 87 Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) project, 78, 85–86 Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), 87 Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC), 84–85, 87, 89 Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT), 86–87 Mobility, 62–63 Multifunction polis (MFP), 102–103 MyGlasgow app, 257

N

National and local policies, 22 National broadband network (NBN), 98–99, 104 National Resilience program, 85 National Safety Council, 267–269 National Urban Policy (NUP), 163 Natural disasters, 292 NBN. See National broadband network (NBN) NEDO. See New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) NEPC. See New Energy Promotion Council (NEPC) Network of actors, 184 New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), 85–86 New Energy Promotion Council (NEPC), 86 New town development, 55 makings, 53 New Urban Agenda, 158 New urban areas (NUAs), 145–147

Ningo-Prampram District Assembly (NiPDA), 170–173 Nongovernment perspective group, 129 NUP. See National Urban Policy (NUP)

O

Open Glasgow, 256, 259 Outdoor thermal comfort tool, 43

P

PAA. See Policy Arrangement Approach (PAA) Participation process, 184 Participatory planning, 166, 170 Path dependency of institutional behaviors, 302–303 Peri-urban areas, 296 Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), 276 Pilot projects of autonomous vehicles, 280 Planning system perspectives of smart cities, 294–295 Platform capitalism, 196, 204 Platform urbanism, 211–213 Plug-in hybrids, 237 Policy Arrangement Approach (PAA), 165 actors, 166 discourses, 165 implementation and governance, 166 resources, 166 Political push, 23 PQ method, 126 Problem-solving perspective energy alternatives, 292–293 natural disasters, 292 sustainable development goals, 292–293 Project management unit (PMU), 175 Public acceptance, autonomous vehicles, 280–281 Public investment, 301 Public participation, 294–295 Public-private partnerships (PPP), 175

Q

Q methodology, smart Gusu project, 117–118, 121–122 concourse identification, 122–123 evaluation tool, 122 factor analysis, 122, 126 factors interpretation, 122, 126–130 government perspective, 127–129 local resident perspectives, 129–130 nongovernment perspective, 129

314  Index Q methodology, smart Gusu project (Continued) planning implications drawn from, 130, 131f Q sorting, implementation of, 122, 125–126 Q statements, definition of, 122–125 qualitative and quantitative features of, 130–131 Q sorting, implementation of, 122, 125–126 33 Q statements, 117–118, 125–126 Q statements, definition of, 122–125 Quantitative urban environment simulation tool (QUEST), 16, 33, 35–40 components and work packages, 36, 36f micro-climate level, 40 smart cities platform, 37 socio-economic and community-based urban planning and design, 40 urban greenery, 37–40, 39f urban heat island (UHI) effect, 35 mitigation measures, 37–40 urban planning and design, 37 urban ventilation, 40 using proprietary GIS software, 33–34

R

Railways, 12–13 Regional development, 184 Regulatory sandbox, 66 Religious organizations, 304 Research and development (R&D), 300–301 Residents and end users, 24–25 Revitalization via mural paintings, 150–153 Rights to innovation, 300–301 Rigid institutional path dependency, 302–303 Robo-taxi fleet, 270 Rural villages, 150–153

S

Safety, autonomous vehicles, 267–269 Sangam Digital Media Center (DMC), 54, 54f Science, smart cities as, 116–117 Science, technology, and innovation (STI), 251–252 Scotland Act 1998, 251 Scotland, national policy toward smart cities, 250–252 Sejong 5-1 plan, 70 government and private sectors role, 69 neighborhood, background of, 60–61 objectives, 61

plans for, 61, 61f seven strategic themes, 62–66 critical evaluation, 66–70 culture and shopping, 65 education, 64 employment, 66 energy and environment, 64–65 governance, 65 healthcare and public safety, 63–64 mobility, 62–63 Selling innovation, 107–110 Seoul, urban challenges in, 53 SGIG. See Smart Grid Investment Grant Program (SGIG) Shared autonomous vehicles, 270 Shared economy, 145–147 Singapore, 2 autonomous vehicles (AVs) in, 3, 274–280 consumer acceptance, 279–280 economic benefits, 279–280 industrial restructuring, 279–280 infrastructure, 278–279 policy and legislation, 275–277 public transport networks, 278–279 technology and innovation, 277–278 trials, 277 Road Traffic Act (RTA), 276 smart city in, 2, 29–30 digital government, 30–31 government digital transformation, 30 human-centric urban solutions for urban planning, 33–34 intelligent environment decision support system (IEDSS), 43–45 flood level impact assessment, 45 outdoor thermal comfort, 43 smart urban mobility, 44–45 quantitative urban environment simulation tool (see Quantitative urban environment simulation tool (QUEST)) SLA’s 3D National Topographic Mapping project, 30–33 3D digital map, driver for, 31–33 digitization, 31 urban heat island (UHI) and climate change, 34–35 Singapore Autonomous Vehicle Initiative (SAVI), 275 Singapore Cybersecurity Act, 276 Singapore Digital (SG:D) movement, 30–31 Singapore Land Authority (SLA), 32 Sixfold key changes, 55–58

Index 315 SLA’s 3D National Topographic Mapping project, 30–33 Small-scale energy trading, 64 Smart built environments, 247–248 Smart cities, 137–138, 153 beneficiaries of, 68 challenge funding, 231–233 in China, 118–119 classification, 116–117 comprehensive exemplar approach, 293–294 costs, 66–67 definitions of, 10–12 development COVID-19, 303–306 incentives to innovation, 303 land value capture, 301–302 public investment, 301 rights to innovation, 300–301 rigid institutional path dependency, 302–303 steps for, 300–303 drivers and actors, 22–25 dynamics of, 16–17, 17f on greenfield site, 69–70 institutional perspectives, 291–292 in Japan (see Japanese smart cities/ communities) in Korea (see Korean smart cities; Sejong 5-1 plan) missions in Vietnam, 141–142 overview of, 12–15 planning, 165, 170 Australian government, 99–101 system perspectives, 294–295 problem-solving perspective energy alternatives, 292–293 natural disasters, 292 sustainable development goals, 292–293 in Singapore (see Singapore, smart city in) smart city making initiatives, objectives of, 15–16 initiatives vs. status, 16–17 key actors of, 23–25 key drivers of, 22–23 social innovation and, 20–22 social issues of contradictions of target geographies, 296 equity, 295–296 strategies in Dubai (see Dubai, smart city strategies) technological perspectives, 290–291 views of, 115–116, 116f

Smart Cities and Communities Act, 224–225 Smart Cities and Suburbs scheme, 100, 105–106 Smart Citizen app, 20–21 Smart citizen concept, 202 Smart city winter, 55 Smart decision-making, 121 Smart devices and e-commerce in Vietnam, 142–143 “Smarter Planet” campaign, 217–218 Smart financing, 99 Smart Grid Investment Grant Program (SGIG), 222–223 Smart grids, 218, 225, 292–293, 296 funding, 222–224 in Columbus, 228–238 infrastructure system, 226 Internet of things, 227–228 management and protection systems, 226 two-way communication, 227 Smart growth management, 12 Smart Gusu project. See also Q methodology, smart Gusu project, 4, 119–121, 123–127 Smart homestay businesses, 143–145 Smart infrastructure, 97 Smart meter, 227 Smartness, 139–140 Smartphones, 137–138, 142, 144–145, 290–291 Smart urban development in Africa Ghanaian urban and economic growth, 160–166 analytical framework, 165–166 urbanization and complex challenges, 162–163 study context and methodology Accra City Extension Project (See Accra City Extension Project (ACEP)) methodology, 167–168 Smart urbanism, 195–197, 211 development, in Africa (see Smart urban development in Africa) mobility tool, 44–45 in U.S., 218–225 governance and funding, 221–225 smart grid funding, 222–224 strategic planning, 221 transportation, 222 Smart-wired technologies, 102–103 Smarty City circuit in Chile ambiguous and polysomic catalyst, 200–204 case of SoSafe, 204–209

316  Index Smarty City circuit in Chile (Continued) coordinating urban safety, 205–207 ecology, 206 negotiation with municipalities, 208 projecting urban life, 207 emergence of idea of smartness, 197–199 experimentation and pilot projects, 199–200 smart citizen, 202–203 sociotechnical imaginary, 196, 199 from state, 203–204 technological enterprise and innovation, 201–202 urbanism, 211–213 Social cost of congestion, 269–270 Social disorder, 291 Social e-commerce channels, 142–143 Social innovation, 19–22, 30, 150, 184, 267–274, 291, 300 citizens and governance, 20 conceptualization model, 184, 185f genesis and concept, 19–20 interrelated dimensions of, 19 in rural areas, 184 and smart cities, 20–22 sustainable urban development, 184 urban resilience, 184 Social issues of smart cities contradictions of target geographies, 296 equity, 295–296 Social media, 144–147, 150–153 Social welfare, 182 Society 5.0, 82–85, 83f, 91 Socio-economic objectives, 40 Sociotechnical imaginary, 196, 199 Soft capitalism, 200–201 Solar energy, 81–82 Songdo new city, 54–55, 54f SoSafe, 204–209, 212 coordinating urban safety, 205–207 ecology, 206 negotiation with municipalities, 208 projecting urban life, 207 South Korean smart city initiative, 3 South Saad Al Abdullah (SSAA) smart city project, 55–58 Spatial inequality, 139–140 Special purpose vehicle (SPV), 119 Strategic planning for smart cities, 221 Structural adjustment policies (SAPs), 161 Studies, smart cities as, 117 Success of overall innovation process, 184 Sunshine Project, 85 Supersmart society, 73–75

Surfing, 144–145 Sustainable development goals (SDGs), 158, 247–248, 291–293 Sustainable urban development, 184 System, smart cities as, 116

T

Technological advances, 266 Technological availability, 300–301 Technological development, 291 Technological evolution, 13, 68 Technological innovations, 18, 55–58, 183–184, 218, 291, 299 Technological perspectives of smart cities, 290–291 Technology-oriented smart city initiatives, 18 Technology Strategy Board (TSB), 249 Ten Gigabit Adelaide (TGA), 108 network, 105–106 plan, 104–105 TGA. See Ten Gigabit Adelaide (TGA) Thermal sensation vote (TSV) index, 43 Tokyo Eco-Net 62 project, 76, 78, 89–90 Traffic congestion, 269–270 Transformative investment, 100–101 Transportation, funding for smart cities, 222 Two-way communication, smart meter, 227

U

Ubiquitous City (U-City), 51–55, 56–57t UK, development of smart thinking, 248–250 UN-Habitat New Urban Agenda, 158–159 Urban heat island (UHI) effect and climate change, 34–35 Urbanism, 12–13 Urbanization, 157–158 in African countries, 158 in Ghana, 160, 162–163 of poverty, 162 Urban life, 207 Urban management, implications in, 18 Urban peripheral areas, 140 Urban physical settings, 139 Urban planning, 14–15, 40 Urban policy, 265–266 Urban professionals, 24 Urban resilience, 184 Urban safety, 205–207 Urban sprawl, 14 Urban technology innovation, 224

Index 317 USA, smart city technologies in, 6, 217–218 case study: Columbus, Ohio, 228–238 smart grid, 225–228 smart urbanism, 218–225 governance and funding, 221–225 strategic planning, 221

V

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) concept, 227 Vietnam, ICT and smart cities in, 4 Binh Duong smart city, 147–150 community-stay and social media, 150–153 e-commerce in, 141–143 Hanoi, 143 Ho Chi Minh City, 149 living in hidden locations, 143–145 revitalization via mural paintings, 150–153 shared economies, 145–147 smart city missions in, 141–142

smart devices in, 142–143 smart homestay businesses, 143–145 social media platforms, 145–147 socioeconomic reform policy, 143 Tam Thanh village, 151–153 transport infrastructures, 148–149 urban population in, 141

W

Walkability analysis, 33–34, 44, 45f Web services, 33 Whole-of-government (WHOG), 2 Wi-Fi technology, 103–104 Wireless local area network (WLAN), 103 World Health Organization, 303

Z

Zero-energy building rating system, 65

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