CREATING LIVEABLE CITIES WITH PEOPLE · and local authorities take the lead in the digital development of our cities and communities. As outlined in the report “Rethinking Strategic

CREATING LIVEABLE CITIES WITH PEOPLEHOW TECHNOLOGY CAN IMPROVE URBAN LIFE

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2 SMART CITIES, SMART PEOPLE

CONTENT

Executive summary 5Liveable places for people 6Smart where it matters – connecting to citizens 10Build to scale – the city as a laboratory 14 Bringing everyone on board 18Moving forward 22

3NORDIC EDGE WHITEPAPER

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• We must have a Nordic answer to a global challenge. The smart city is being built at this very moment. But it might end up looking very different from what we would hope for as global citizens who value sustainability and liveability. There is a lot of evidence that inclusive decision making, citizen involvement and trust is key to success.

• We must build, test and scale together with people. Development should be driven by people’s needs for sustainable and liveable cities. Citizens must be brought into the process of building and testing solutions, not just for efficiency, but also for liveability. Without people, smart city technology may not be relevant and therefore will not scale in a sustainable way.

• We must break barriers. If we want society to set the course forward, we should put a strategy in place and start delivering now. Every day, we sink new investments into infrastructure that is not opti-mised for the digital future. Decision makers need to actively break down the barriers between engineers, digital experts, finance people and citizens in order to co-create from a holistic perspective.

In the following, we lay out a fra-mework approach on how to achieve this together with five specific building blocks for a successful, sustainable smart city strategy.

Across the Nordics, researchers, municipalities and the private sector are reaching the same consensus: people’s comfort and needs and the sustainability challenges of a city must be the starting point for smart city development. Not technology itself.

This study describes an approach to the liveable, smart city and some important strategic building blocks for how to deliver this. Based on decades of work with some of the world’s most liveable cities, interviews with experts and practitioners, and a survey of 4000 citizens of Nordic municipalities, we present three key findings:

METHODOLOGICAL BACKGROUND

This whitepaper is written with the intention of sharing our visions, knowledge and expertise in the field of smart city development with stakeholders in the Nordics and globally. It was produced in summer 2019.

The insights in the paper are based on our experience with developing and implementing a wide range of solutions. In addition to this, we have conducted a series of national roundtables and interviews with 30 experts in the field, including researchers, practitioners, government representatives and entrepreneurs from the four Nordic countries Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Ramboll also surveyed 4000 citizens of the six largest municipalities in four Nordic countries to learn their attitudes toward smart technology and city development. The expert input, roundtables and survey results are reflected throughout the paper, which has been produced in a partnership with Nordic Edge and Århus University.

4 LIVEABLE CITIES FOR SMART PEOPLE

LIVEABLE PLACES FOR PEOPLE

Any ambition we have to become sus-tainable must include making our cities sustainable. Cities should offer quality of life for its inhabitants while looking after the needs of future generations, both locally and at the global scale. If cities fail, we fail.

Smart technology is a powerful and cost-effective way of making cities more liveable. A McKinsey report estimates that digital technology can improve some quality-of-life indicators by between 10 and 30 per cent. Crime can be cut by a third, water con-sumption halved, and greenhouse gas emission brought down with up to 15 per cent just by using technology that is already available.

The challenge is turning this promise into reality in a way that is both sus-tainable and liveable, in short: Liveable Places for People.

People: The key to the smart cityThere is a risk that technology can take the driver’s seat. Researchers, municipalities and the private sector that we have spoken to in connection with this study pointed to one central agenda item: people and the challenges of a city must be the starting point for development of smart solutions. Not technology itself. The same realisation resonates globally among key thinkers and practitioners within the field: With technology on the rise we need to insist on a people centric approach to urban development.

Half the people in the world live in cities. Today, our planet is home to 47 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants, and the number is rising.

SMART ENERGY GRIDSMART ENERGY GRID

CREATING A SMART CITY

Our research shows strong indications that the people-centric approach to decision making, citizen involvement and trust in public authority will be the key to the smart city.

Smart cities use data and technology to create efficiencies, improve sustainability, create economic development, and enhance quality of life factors for people living and working in the city.


When we look at the input from Nordic experts, there seems to be strong indications that the people- centric approach to decision making, citizen involvement and trust in public authority will be the key to the smart city.

From citizen hearings at one end of the spectrum to championing an experimental and design-driven approach with living labs and small-scale experiments at the other, these methods give people an active role in innovating, building and scaling solutions alongside experts from municipalities, technology providers, academia and consultancies.

SMART ENERGY GRIDSMART ENERGY GRID

SCALING WITH PEOPLE

A bicycle counter interacts directly with Copenhagen’s large community of bicycle commuters, sharing information on how many bicycles have passed on a daily and annual basis.

Christian Lindgren/Ritzau Scanpix

HOW TO AVOID THE TRAPS

In the following chapters we will present a compelling case for a blue print for the people-centric approach and for the roadmap to make it a reality.

An important driver will come from the realisation that a people-centric approach shows a way around some of the traps that we can see on the road right up ahead, but don’t know how to avoid.

TRAP NO. 1: FAILURE OF TRUST

Today, tech companies and others are moving fast in expanding their services and infrastructure. While this is vastly improving interconnectivity and creating value for people, it is becoming increasingly urgent that national and local authorities take the lead in the digital development of our cities and communities.

As outlined in the report “Rethinking Strategic Autonomy in the Digital Age” by the European Political Strategy Centre, taking the lead and defining a strategic framework for how to implement digital platforms and services is crucial for maintaining autonomy on industrial, operational and political levels. In other words, if Nordic authorities want to ensure that our future cities are developed by and for people, the authorities themselves need to define a framework where this can become reality.

If authorities fail in this effort, if they leave city development up to global platform companies, we have every reason to believe that trust will suffer. The free flow and sharing of data is dependent on trust, which is in turn enabled by solid data standards, such as e.g. the stronger rules on data protection that came into force through the recent EU GDPR regulative. Data trust and security was put forth as a global issue of primary importance by Shinzõ Abe, prime minister of Japan, at the G-20 summit in June 2019. At this moment, the Nordic model has a lot to offer in the form of high trust in society and authorities combined with a strong ability to implement solutions in a safe and pragmatic way.

LIVEABLE CITIES FOR SMART PEOPLE6

Photo: Ben Grubb


TRAP NO. 3: FAILURE TO SCALE

Technologies don’t scale on their own. Technologies scale with users. They scale with people. Putting technology in the driver’s seat is not a good strategy for scaling, as it might catch you in a state of perpetual hit and miss. Being technology driven can work up to a point when we are making incremental improvements to existing systems and services, and these can indeed be very powerful. But as soon as the technology moves above ground and manifests itself in a visible way in the public space or in our homes, this approach meets the user. And then people’s values, beliefs and behaviors become the lens through which technology must work.

People must be brought into the process of building and testing solutions, not just for efficiency, but also for liveability. Without people, technology will not scale in a sustainable way. The Nordic experience has valuable contributions to offer here.

TRAP NO. 2: FAILURE OF HOLISTIC THINKING

The second trap is optimising for single challenges or sectors and forgetting the holistic view of sustainability and liveability. For instance, viewed only through the lens of crime prevention, it makes all the sense in the world to install thousands of cameras to ensure 24-hour complete documentation of all activity in a city. However, the city should be viewed through many lenses at once, including as a place where you enjoy the right to be just one in a crowd.

Respect for the rights of citizens and tradition of involvement is a valuable starting point and prerequisite. One very important quality of people is that in the large scale of things, they don’t care about technology. They care about liveability, and they intuitively bridge across challenges and sectors because after all, that is how life is lived. Decision makers need to actively break down the bureaucratic barriers between engineers, digital experts, financial experts and citizens in order to co-create from a holistic perspective.

This is not an easy task, but the current global traction on striking a balance between the uncoordinated drive of the free market forces at one end and an authoritarian top-down implementation with a myopic view on the other holds a lot of promise. Climate change awareness shows the potential for engaging people in the broad-based discussions that cuts across sectors and challenges. This energy can be channeled into the traction towards technology-enabled sustainable development now.

8 SMART WHERE IT MATTERS - CONNECTING TO CITIZENS

The city of the future must be driven by people’s needs for sustainable and liveable cities. This is the heart of the smart city blue print. We must build, test and scale with people.

But first we need to align our focus with what is important to citizens. We must show them what we are already doing to build the city of tomorrow. So as a first step, let us look at where we are in meeting this task.

Closing the gapsWhat do people want from the liveable city of the future? Quite a lot, it turns out, according to our survey of 4000 citizens in Nordic municipalities.

Infrastructure, traffic safety and waste management are perceived as

challenges for a large number of Nordic urban citizens . However, these classical areas of city management are ranked side by side with key sustainability and welfare challenges such as air quality, security against crime and access to healthcare. Delivering the modern city takes more than technical skills.

This is even more evident when we ask citizens if these challenges are being tackled by cities today. Then we see significant gaps when it comes to quality of elder care, traffic noise, security against crimes and air quality. Here cities need to step up and deliver if we want to connect our future visions with the needs and dreams of citizens.

When working to make the city of the future relevant to people and their needs, it is necessary to look beyond the classical technical side of city management and embrace welfare, health and environment as areas that can become “smart”.

This conclusion is shared across the Nordic countries with only minor differences. In Denmark, traffic noise and traffic safety are higher up on the agenda. In Sweden, it’s crime. Norwegians and Finns are more preoccupied with elder care. Looking at the gaps, however, and we find that the same four areas stand out as the most important unsolved challenges. When asked about their own personal needs, the picture is the same. Healthcare, welfare and security against crime is perceived as more important than the more technical areas of infrastructure, traffic and resource management.

Get the ball rollingThe potential is great for addressing the gaps where cities do not deliver. In fact, there are hardly any services or

SMART WHERE IT MATTERS – CONNECTING TO CITIZENSThe city of the future must be driven by people’s needs for sustainable and liveable cities. This is the heart of the smart city approach. To deliver on this, we must build, test and scale with people.

Quality of eldercare

54%

Other

14%

Airquality

47%

Public welfareservices ingeneral to

citizens

46%

Security against crimes

51%

Waste and resource

management

43%

Green energy

42%

Water quality

33%

Protection against flooding

28%

Access tohealthcare

48%Infrastructure,mobility andaccessibility

48%

Safety intraffic

50%

Trafficnoise

49%

AREAS THAT COULD BENEFIT FROM SMART SOLUTIONSWhen we asked the Nordic citizens to name the most important priorities in urban smart development it was significant that all the items listed were marked as areas that could benefit from smart solutions. Protection against flooding was the only item which below 30% listed as significant.


aspects of city life that you can’t make easier, cheaper, healthier or simply more enjoyable according to leading Nordic experts, if you apply data and technology in the right way.

We must of course be careful not to substitute one limiting vision with another. The priorities from the citizens will change if traffic collapses or waste is left sitting in bins for weeks. We must sustain all aspects of liveability and sustainability through the most relevant technologies, no matter if our instincts are to view them as “hard” or “soft”. If you want to address traffic noise, this is already mapped and data is available thanks to implementation of the European Noise Directive. In Denmark, prospective house buyers are presented with clear and useful noise visualisations when they look at new homes on the leading online portal for home buyers.

Social imagination and political entrepreneurship are important ingredients for a better and more

NOISE MAP

In 2017, the Danish municipalities in the Copenhagen area and in Aarhus, Odense and Aalborg mapped the road noise in their urban areas, and at the same time the Ministry of Transport mapped the noise from the major roads and railways. The noise map shows with color codes how powerful the noise load is from the different types of noise sources - roads, railways and airports, and can guide potential home owners.

Source: Danish Environmental Protection Agency

0

10

20

30

40

Quality of eldercare

Security against crimes

Access to health-

care

Infra-structure, mobility

and accessability

Air quality

Public welfare services in generalto citizens

Waste and ressourcemanage-

ment

Green energy

Water quality

Protection against flooding

OtherTrafficnoise

Safety in traffic

50

60

70

80

LOOKING AT THE UNSOLVED CHALLENGES

sustainable approach to traffic noise. These are falling behind, while technology and data are forging ahead. The same is true for air quality. Telemedicine and welfare technology solutions could enable elderly citizens to receive convenient and trustworthy help in their own homes. It is a question of finding the will and the way both politically, among stakehol-ders and in communities to get the ball rolling.

10 SMART WHERE IT MATTERS - CONNECTING TO CITIZENS

Show the power of smartTraditionally, we have been happy with using technology to solve challenges and optimise behind the scenes. One guiding principle appears to have been invisible data driven hands that run our city in the most optimal way possible. Realtime data on everything from water to waste enables automatisation of processes, increases efficiency in use and effectively increases the sustainability of the city.

Take HOFOR, the Danish Greater Copenhagen utility provider. In their waste water management, HOFOR has established a radar grid that com-plements the Danish Meteorological Institute in terms of local accuracy. They have invested in their own local weather radar in order to get a better spatial and temporal resolution of the rainfall over greater Copenhagen. This serves the following purposes: the rain measurements are used for our hydraulic models that in turn are used for dimensioning purposes.

Furthermore, the operational depart-ment can check whenever overflow to the harbor area happens if this was caused by the rain or some fault in the sewer system. All overflows to the harbor in Copenhagen are monitored

by sensors. The radar can also be useful for flow prediction to the waste water treatment plants by triggering a switch from dry weather operation to wet weather operation thereby avoiding bypass of untreated water to the sea. As a result, the water flow is optimised and HOFOR is currently working to install the first weather forecast based control system in our sewer system that will reduce bypass from the waste water treatment plant Lynetten (largest treatment plant in Denmark) significantly. Not many citizens of Copenhagen are aware of this solution, as invisible as it is effective in discretely answering people’s call for a sustainable city.

These kinds of services will benefit from, and are dependent on, being brought above ground and made visible to citizens. This is important for democracy and to ensure awareness and public support. Also, the solutions sooner or later will impact citizens’ lives. This is felt very keenly with the smart electrical grid that demands every household has a new meter installed. Down the road people must become familiar with new functionalities in appliances and develop new habits to support smart use of electricity.

USING REALTIME DATA TO IMPROVE LOCAL LIVEABILITY

Realtime data on everything from water to waste enables automatisation of processes, and minimises the risk of e.g. flooding after heavy rains.

Martin Frøland/Ritzau Scanpix

LOW AWARENESS OF SMART CITY SOLUTIONSOnly 17 per cent of Nordic citizens are aware of any implemented smart city solutions in their cities, even though they benefit from these solutions every day. The only country that seems somewhat on track with raising awareness is Finland

31%

17%

of nordic citizens are

aware ofsmart city solutions

of Finnish citizens are

aware ofsmart city solutions


HOFOR is increasingly controlling the sewer system from sensors (level meters, flow meters) in order to utilise the existing capacity better to save bypass from the waste water treatment plants i.e. outlet of untreated waste water to the sea.

Another example of this is the district heating schemes in the Copenhagen Region which are interconnected, forming one of the largest integrated district heating systems in the world, and a smart grid that gives the citizens connected to it almost CO2 neutral heat.

Today people are to a large extent left out of the conversation. Only 17 per cent of Nordic citizens are aware of any implemented smart city solutions in their cities, even though they benefit from these solutions every day. The only country that seems somewhat on track with raising awareness is Finland, where 31% are aware of such solutions.

Awareness in all Nordic countries is primarily driven by digital services and mobility solutions. This means that even the low number of citizens who are aware of smart city solutions are at risk of developing a very limited view of what the smart city is, and how it

28%

35%

26%

5% 3%3%

Very little extent

Little extent

Some extent

Great extent

Very great extent

I do not know

WOULD YOU ACCEPT MORE PUBLIC SENSORS TO ADDRESS CURRENT URBAN CHALLENGES?35% of Nordic citizens asked would accept more public sensors to address current challenges in their cities. Only 6% answered ‘to a little or a very little extent’.

ARE PEOPLE WILLING TO SHARE DATA?

Data is the lifeblood of the smart city. We need to keep working on access to relevant and high-quality data, according to experts and practitioners we interviewed. Unfortunately, increased data collection also brings up the image of surveillance and authoritarian control of city life and the risk of a backlash similar to what has hit Facebook and other social media. The good news is that Nordic citizens from the outset are positive when it comes to systematically collecting and using data. One way this is used is when public sensors monitor traffic flows, pollution, and weather data. 61% of Nordic citizens to a great or very great extent support more public sensors to improve the city. Only a very small minority of 6% are opposed.

People are also willing to share their own data. Around 60% are willing to a large or to some extent to share behavioural and localisation data from their devices. The willingness to share is even a bit

higher when only public authorities are given access to the data. This willingness drops if private companies or NGOs are granted the same access.

Cities can build on this positive attitude by establishing systems to display and utilise data. This can help create more value from data and at the same time inform the public conversation around data and data use. True digital urban twins is a solution that achieves this goal. It’s a digital model that continuously monitors the city and displays updated information in real time about all relevant aspects of city operations. True digital twins have been pioneered for example in the offshore industry.

This methodology could be extended to the city. Specific solutions are available today. Take for instance the technology developed by Ramboll, ShAIR, that enables mapping of an entire city’s distribution of air pollution down to street level, thereby enabling decision making all the way from the political level to citizens planning outdoor activities.

Or take the area of water management: Massive improvements of 3D rendering tools mean that today, water flows and waste water management can be made visible and relatable to people.

With the right approach that merge data collection and analysis with accessible visualisation and transparent decision flows, such a service could support more effective city management, open an innovative space for development of new services and products, and help facilitate citizen engagement in novel ways. By making data available to the city’s stakeholders, we can have a more transparent and fact-based debate about the future of the city, debunking public myths and expanding horizons beyond our own neighbourhoods.

For some, this democratic perspective is actually one of the most important benefits of the smart city, offering an approach which includes involving civil society and citizens in public policy and administration.

can improve liveability in all areas of city life. This could turn out to be a serious impediment to connecting with citizens around a shared vision of the liveable city.

So how do we bring citizens into the conversation? One important aspect is to make the invisible visible by showing all the technology that people can’t

see in everyday life. We need to demonstrate both potentials and actual results. But this is only the first step. If we want to succeed, we need a more comprehensive approach as we discuss in the next chapter.

12 BUILD TO SCALE - THE CITY AS A LABORATORY

BUILD TO SCALE – THE CITY AS A LABORATORY

We need to involve citizens in building the smart, sustainable and liveable city. People must be brought into the process of building and testing soluti-ons, not just for efficiency, but also for liveability. Without people, solutions will not scale in a sustainable way.

Before we move into a discussion of how to do this, let us establish whether citizens actually do want to be involved. Fortunately, 70% of Nordic citizens would like to be engaged in the development of new solutions for their city.

Not everyone is an engineer, city planner or data specialist. With all the complexity of new technology, how do we engage citizens in the development of the smart city? Sharing ideas and getting feedback, in other words engaging citizens in conversations are part of the tool box, but we should also explore other opportunities. What can we achieve if we become really ambitious in creating new digital forms of engagement e.g. using new digital platforms and data?

We need a broad-based involvement strategy to meet the wishes of different citizens. Both classical tools such as surveys and town hall meetings are relevant, as are innovative approaches such as involvement through digital applications, innovation labs and specific local and citywide action. Let us explore what this might look like.

Giving voice through new platformsSurveys and town hall meetings. These are traditional ways of offering citizens a chance to voice their opinions and feed ideas into city development. Digital platforms can take this several steps further and at the same time produce highly useful data. One approach is to tap into social media. Many local citizens are already active in local groups. Here they discuss issues that they think are important in their neighborhood. It’s a new vein of data that anyone can tap into and learn what is at stake. With dedicated solutions, this approach can be made even more systematic.

When the City of Helsinki embarked on developing a new urban master

70%of nordic citizens would to some

or a greater extent like to be engaged in the development of

new solutions for their city

We need to involve citizens in building the smart, sustainable and liveable city. People must be brought into the process of building and testing solutions, not just for efficiency, but also for liveability. Without people, solutions will not scale in a sustainable way.

0

20

40

60

80

Through local actions such as improvements

in my neighborhood e.g. for thelocal park

Throughinnovation

labs

I don’t know

Through actions that

address city wide solutions e.g. green energy

strategy, mobility strategy

Throughsurveys

Throughdigital

application

Throughtownhallmeetings

100

HOW TO INVOLVE CITIZENS IN SMART SOLUTIONS

Nordic citizens are least likely to contribute to smart solutions at town hall meetings, and most likely to contribute through surveys and digital applications.


plan, citizen involvement was essential. A large-scale map-based survey was conducted using a so-called Public Participation Geographic Information System (or PPGIS for short), among other things.

In the PPGIS survey, 3,745 citizens contributed with a total of 32,989 data points distributed all over the city. By placing pins on a map, people could plot in such categories as “A place for residential building”, “A poorly mana-ged/undefined area that should be improved”, “This area is not necessary for recreation, it could be built up”, or “My completely new idea”. Through analysis of this data, planners could see the potentials and challenges from the view of inhabitants. It became a quantitative map of the dreams and concerns of people.

The technology also applies for improving day-to-day operations. Take

for instance Copenhagen Solutions Lab that enabled bicyclists to report mis-sing or damaged bike paths through an app. They collected 10,000 data points in a few weeks, facilitated by the city of Copenhagen.

Digital platforms make it easy to con-tribute. They have other benefits. The individual contribution is very specific and visible, and this creates a sense of reward for the citizen.

In the case of Helsinki, the total number of contributors greatly exceeded the usual number of participants at a town hall meeting. The map based survey resulted in extensive input from people aged 20 to 49, a group otherwise hard to engage.

Making citizens producersCitizens today expect to provide a lot more than just voice. They are more than willing to engage themselves in

HEART RUNNERS

The Heart Runner Project is an attempt to help more people survive cardiac arrest when they are not at a hospital in Denmark. Through an app, volunteers can sign up and are prompted when there a cardiac arrest is registered through the emergency 112, so they can run to support the victim until the ambulance arrives.

Source: Trygfonden

concrete solutions. Our survey shows that 78% of Nordic citizens would be willing to participate in digital solutions to improve a public service.

Take for instance the case of “Heart Runners” in Denmark. As three out of four heart attacks happen outside the hospital, TrygFonden in Denmark created a digital platform to save lives. Private citizens can sign up, and when somebody suffers a heart attack nearby, they are alerted on their phone to run and provide first aid.

The case proves the enormous power of combining technology and people power to solve a public pain. So far, over 25,000 “Heart Runners” have signed up in Denmark to improve survival rates and safety among citizens.

With meaningful social challenges to tackle and well-designed user-friendly

14 BUILD TO SCALE - THE CITY AS A LABORATORY

platforms at hand, it is easy to feel as a valuable contributor. With the under-lying technology, cities can activate civil society in new ways. This solution should be even more relevant when city development turns towards health care, eldercare or security, the areas where it is important not only to have technical efficacy, but how and by whom the service is administered. Where the human touch matters in terms of user experience and effectiveness.

Put the tools in the hands of peopleThe previous chapter discussed the potentials in new ways of gathering and displaying data in a way that is accessible to all stakeholders. What would happen if we took this a step further and gave citizens access to digital tools, enabling them to start sha-ping solutions on their own? It might sound ambitious, but there seems to be a genuine interest. We asked citizens if it was important to them to be involved in developing new digital solutions and improving public services in their city. 69% found this important to a least some extent. 28% found it important to a great or a very great extent.

Emerging cases show that citizens can actively contribute when allowed to work with data and tools. This can take the form of innovation labs, or other formats. The key according to

many practitioners is to involve citizens in exploring the strategic value of the digital tools we have access to. Allow citizens to take possession of the tools and work with them, and we might find new insights, or even discover new ways of working with the tools.

In one example from Sweden, occupants gained access to use the security cameras in their local parking garage. Instead of camera surveillance being a tool only for authorities, it was made a resource that people in the approximately 100 flats could use. The locals gained a feeling of control over the security in their own area. Crime rates dropped. In an area otherwise marked by crime and insecurity, citizens were given access to the tools and allowed to explore benefits of the technology.

At the core of this approach is the willingness to experiment in order to explore how technology might improve liveability and sustainability, and then designing for that which will make the biggest difference. Empowering citizens through digital tools may in fact be a key element in using resour-ces right and preventing public fear and resistance to technology. This leads to solutions that have the potential to scale, while also engaging the citizens who can make this happen.

LET THE CITIZENS MAP

Public participation GIS as a planning support system in the Helsinki master plan process.

Source: M Kahila-Tani, A Broberg, M Kyttä, T Tyger - Planning Practice & Research, 2016


USER INVOLVEMENT

Tools such as Maptionnaire enable planners and researchers to collect, analyse and visualise map-based data, as well as citizens to co-design project areas and express their preferences and opinions.

Source: TrygFonden

There are many ways to build smart with people, giving people voice through new platforms for engaging them in actively solving the problems at hand. For this, we need dedicated tools and processes. So where should we look? We have gathered two suggestions from conversations with Nordic experts and practitioners:

Public Participation Geographic Information SystemsPPGIS are specific examples of GIS or Geographic Information Systems. They are designed to facilitate input from citizens into planning processes. These systems allow users to input data. They provide decision makers with a much more comprehensive view of what users experience and what are the issues at the very local level. One specific example of a tool which is used by Ramboll in Finland is Maptionnaire, a commercial tool designed to create mapbased surveys

to get ideas and insights from residents. However, many tools are available, and it is worth seeking help with selecting the right one for any specific project.

Service designPeople-centred design methods such as service design today comes with a complete toolbox. It offers a way to tap into the true needs of users before a service is scoped, thus ensuring that the result is meaningful to users. It also helps to keep users involved throughout the design process to avoid costly mistakes thanks to bad design choices. One example is the double diamond, developed by the British Design Council. To read more about this tool, follow this link:https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/ news-opinion/what-framework-innovation-design-councils-evolved-double-diamond

TOOLS WE SHOULD USE

?

16 BRINGING EVERYONE ON BOARD

Following a traditional approach to city development, inclusivity leads to better, more sustainable solutions. Partly because inclusivity is a precondition for scaling. And because the very concept of a livable city implies social coheren-ce and tolerance.

These principles apply to how we develop the smart city. Human centered design processes go far to ensure inclusion, but we need to be aware of groups which might otherwise be excluded. The young generation, people with low digital

skills, and the socially marginalised should be given special attention, while remembering that diversity is never fixed and could include many variations in sexuality, gender types, lifestyle and beliefs.

Interestingly, this principle is very strong among Nordic citizens. When asked to choose the most important personal benefits from engaging in the development of digital solutions, what comes out as the most important for Nordic citizens is ensuring solutions that consider all citizens. This is chosen

BRINGINGEVERYONE ON BOARDA people centered approach must be inclusive. When we focus on the dreams and concerns of people, this must include those who may have a harder time voicing their dreams, nor have the technical skills or even equipment to engage with data or services.

INVOLVING EVERYONE IN URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The ’school strikes for climate’ -movement is a powerful example of how global issues are moving out of town halls and into the public spaces - and proof that young people want to be involved on their own terms and using their own platforms.

Roger Turesson/TT/Ritzau Scanpix


almost twice as often as ensuring tailored or personalised service solutions. In other words, inclusivity seems to lie close to the heart for Nordic citizens.

Engaging the young City development requires us to think far into the future: how do we want our city to be in 20 years? In 50? These questions are tough to answer even for the experts. And yet, we need to ask a key stakeholder on this topic: namely, the young. It goes to the heart of what sustainability is all about, as it concerns the right of future generations to enjoy the same conditions of living as the generations of today.

The young generations will inherit the cities we develop today. They will have to understand the development and be motivated to carry it on. Fortunately, there are many signs that the young generation today is engaged in society. Take the recent global climate marches as an example.

Involving yourself in complex questions about the future of your city may not be straight-forward, not even to digital natives. A recent Swedish study by Kantor Sifo shows that 53% of 13-26-year olds are not familiar with the concept of “smart city”. In addition to lack of familiarity with the term, another barrier pointed out by experts is an increasing skepticism towards governmental institutions and, in particular, privacy issues and data protection.

Municipalities are faced with quite a challenge when they try to engage young citizens. They need to be very clear in their communication that this

concerns their future. Tap into issues youth can relate to. Make it easy to engage. Be on their platforms. Find out how the young talk about their dreams and concerns.

In short, engage on their terms. When asked in our survey how they would like to be engaged in city development, young people to a larger extent than older generations prefer digital means of engagement to townhall meetings. We need to follow that preference to get them onboard.

But most importantly, we need to show how their contribution makes a difference. Whether it’s through offering opinions or co-creating s olutions, they need to feel a real impact.

Low digital skills and the pace of changeDigital technology develops fast. Many learn and adapt quickly and with ease. Many older citizens have adopted smartphones, iPads and social media.

Not all citizens are ready or comfor-table with the pace of technological change. A recent global survey among populations shows that 40-44% of people in the Nordic countries feel that the digital development is too fast. While this is well below the global average of 57%, the numbers still caution us to think twice when we want to introduce new digital solutions in our cities.

Older generations are obviously a point of focus here. Technology should bring people together, not become a barrier. Simple and easily understandable user interfaces are important, right down to simple things like using large and

PEOPLE THAT FEEL THE DIGITAL DEVELOPMENT IS MOVING TOO FAST.

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The Nordic Globally

18 BRINGING EVERYONE ON BOARD

easily readable font sizes on displays you meet in the city. User friendliness and willingness to invest in pedagogical support should be among the impor-tant efforts.

Failure to engage with digital solutions can also come from a feeling that the new solutions do not fit well with the way we think about our private and social life. Take for instance the case of a Danish municipality that developed a new app for free rides from coun-tryside to the city. The app never took off since people were not ready to take strangers into their cars and the practice clashed with traditional norms and raised questions such as “Is my car clean enough?” and “Will I be expected to pay for the ride?”

Municipalities need to invest in developing digital competence among citizens, communicate about the technology that they introduce, and apply service design to meet user needs.

On-boarding the socially marginalisedSocially marginalised citizens are hard to reach. Low involvement with new technologies is often just one in a

range of issues, e.g. in relation to child education and disease detection.

Fortunately, technology can help us reduce marginalisation. Take for instan-ce a current project in Aalborg East. Here, a driverless mini electric bus will increase mobility for a group of citizens with less social capital who are in risk of segregation. Or take the robot AV1, developed by Norwegian start-up No Isolation. The AV1 enables children with long term conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorders to participate in school from home. Using the robot, they can listen, answer questions - even whisper with classmates during class!

New solutions can help break down barriers between socially marginalised and the rest of the community. They must be built not for, but with the citizens on the edge of society. If municipalities do not involve socially marginalised groups early and with de-termination in smart city projects, their needs and behavior may be excluded from the final solution, and we risk that socially marginalised groups miss out on the benefits of new digital tools and solutions in their cities.

DRIVERLESS MINIBUSES IN AALBORG

Aalborg Municipality has, as the first in Denmark, submitted an official application to the national RoadDirectorate for the use of driverless busses. The driverless busses are intended to increase mobilitywith self-driving technology on a pathway in Aalborg East, allowing more people to get around in aneasy, safe and sustainable manner. The project is supported by both the local community and by thebusiness network, and has many stakeholders.

Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix


SMART CITY, SMART COUNTRY?

When talking to experts around the Nordics, many point out that the concept of “smart cities” can be rather confusing. In large parts of the Nordics, population densi-ty is low. We are not a region of megacities. So surely, the Nordic approach to smart development should not only be reserved for cities.

According to these experts, we should rather start talking about “smart communi-ties” to include the perspectives of towns, villages and rural areas.

Obviously, some solutions work best in cities. Take for instance city bike systems

or comparable mobility services. Without a certain density in the population, they are unsustainable.

Other technologies have different appli-cations depending on whether they are used in the city or in smaller communities. In the city, solutions for managing traffic flows aim to relieve junctions, decrease friction and increase flow. In rural areas, the same technologies may help to avoid empty busses driving along main roads and redirect public transport vehicles exactly where they are needed.

Some solutions are even particularly rele-vant to small communities. Sensors in street lamps mean they can be lit for as little as

10 minutes per night thereby conserving power and limiting light pollution. Or, consider how digital platforms for the local community can increase connection across a wider area.

Becoming a smart community has great potential for municipalities across the Nordic countries. The pathway is fundamentally the same whether you are a major city or smaller town: start with people and the challenges you as a community are facing. Then figure out how to solve that through technology and people.

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20 HEADER

MOVING FORWARDThe Nordic countries have seen their share of smart city projects in recent years. Despite many successful pilot projects, municipalities and investors time after time have faced the same issue: how to scale?

Photo: dissing+weitling


22 MOVING FORWARD

Throughout this paper, we have laid out the blue print of how to make this change happen by involving people and ensuring we work from a holistic and people-centered perspective. Now we need to look at how to put this blue print into practical action.

Looking across the evidence from the viewpoint of both experts, practitioners and citizens, five points stand out as the most important we need to grasp and bring into our strategy in order to achieve an attractive model of the future city.

Partnerships across silosConnections are vital to building the smart city. Experience has taught us that new solutions don’t grow, thrive or scale in silos. To move forward, we need to approach the smart city holi-stically and look across public service domains as well as across sectors and institutions.

Among plenty of examples, let’s look at clean air. If data shows elevated levels of pollution in certain parts of the city, this data should be vital input for many departments of city management, including transportation, commercial and residential development, social ser-vices for children and the elderly and other vulnerable groups. Perhaps even for landscape and gardening when planning new outdoor vegetation? Or the department of tourism working to develop attractive routes for visitors?

The need goes beyond city mana-gement and to other public-private partnerships, NGOs and private sector companies working within the same areas. From small, local organisations working to develop new healthy acti-vities for inner city children, to Google who plays a major role in directing

traffic around all the world’s cities through Google Maps and thereby also impacting local levels of particle pollution.

The need for partnerships goes to the heart of all solutions and initiatives to involve citizens. Our experience as citizens is not guided by traditional administrative boundaries. Liveability can be the result of solutions from both public, private or other stakeholders. Concepts and solutions must be alig-ned with all stakeholders. Institutional barriers and inertia should be attacked head-on. Competencies and priorities from Finance, ICT and engineering should be brought together. Nowhere is this more important than in public administration.

Municipality and government leadershipIf we are to make connections across silos and sectors, public institutions have a special role to play. This view is widely held among Nordic experts, and it is echoed by Nordic citizens. When the latter are asked who they expect to drive the development of digital solutions in their city, the city council comes out as the most important. This is closely followed by public-private partnerships and governments. Commercial partners and citizens themselves are viewed as less likely leaders.

One very good reason for this is the trust that Nordic citizens in general place in public authorities. If we are to share our data, we would rather do it with a civil servant from town hall than a customer service manager in a private business. Public administrators often balk at the idea of being owners of data, but there seems to be no way around it.

If we want society to set the course forward, we should put a strategy in place and start delivering now. Every day, we sink new digital investments into infrastructure that is not optimised for the digital future. Decision makers need to actively break down the barriers between engineers, digital experts, finance people and citizens in order to co-create from a holistic perspective.


One important effort is standardisation and sharing of data, both public and private. Today, the majority of data generated within municipal solutions as well as in private companies are incompatible. Nordic governments today are working to realise the mas-sive social value hidden in public data. In Denmark, a specialised government agency has been given this task. For municipalities to be successful across the Nordics, there is a need for strate-gies at the national level and common standards to ensure data is shared.

Often private agents are also not willing to give access to their data. Securing open access and standardisation must be a top priority for public institutions. To manage this task is not only a matter of imposing standardisation. Municipalities need to ensure that skills are available to develop and apply the data. Competence is needed to wire

the connections between data suppli-ers and users, as well as to transform raw data into valuable insights while maintaining the highest levels of cyber security..

As difficult as it might seem, this is only one area that calls for public sector leadership. It is equally important to create new spaces for entrepreneurship and innovation. Many municipalities are already working on this. In the city of Århus in Denmark, work with smart technology began in the technical departments of the municipality when they tried to improve the traffic lights in intersections. Today it has transformed into processes designed to make it interesting for citizens to explore solutions in the laboratory City Lab and the exhibition space DotX. Here citizens experiment and create, and the municipality learns.

MONITORING TRAFFIC WITH SENSORS

Århus is using a system of Bluetooth sensors. These sensors are placed on the entire road network, including adjacent highways, to provide the city with real-time and historic traffic information. This data includes driving times, speed, dwell times and flows throughout the city.

Another example is found outside the Nordics in Bristol, where Bristol Open (a collaboration between University of Bristol and Bristol City Council) works continuously from the principle of “created by us”. Citizen and stakeholder participation is integrated in all pilots to ensure that opportunities for scaling is discovered and improved through ownership. These processes allow everyone to find new applications and connections that create real value for people.

Public institutions are the most likely to get this ball rolling. They play a key role in coordinating between the projects and initiatives that spring from new connections. Working from a big picture overview, they need to connect the dots between various stakeholders and projects in order to scale.

24 MOVING FORWARD

Incentives and investmentsGovernments have always had a special role to play when it comes to throwing money at problems. It even tends to work. Municipalities and other public authorities need to provide regulatory frameworks with the right incentives, and to invest directly in devising strategies and lifting them off the ground.

The success of promoting electric car ownership in Norway shows how effective government can be. In the first quarter of 2019, more than half of the passenger car market in Norway was fully electric according to Electric Vehicles Norway. Much is owed to the incentive scheme put in place by the Norwegian government.

Incentives are powerful, but upright investment is needed too. Moving on from pilot phase to full implementati-on requires both resources and an ap-petite for risk. This can be a challenge, as gains from smart technology may be rather a long way down the line financially speaking. Unfortunately, according to several experts, there is a widespread tendency in the Nordic countries to be too risk averse. Investments are insufficient to drive the digital leaps we currently see in Southern Europe or Africa.

In these regions, risk-taking and investments seem to be fueled by a clearer urgency to improve life in the city. Perhaps a reason for Nordic risk aversion is that we, after all, still have a high degree of liveability in

our cities and communities. Without a strong urgency, the digital leap may come too late.

Moreover, investment is needed to ensure that the development of our physical infrastructure keeps up with the pace of technological development. Rails, roads, energy and water infrastructure needs to become responsive to real-time data and digital services. Take autonomous vehicles as an example. While the past years have seen a heavy investment in this technology mostly from the automotive industry, players in this field will not be able to go to market without a road network sustaining the solutions.

Investments and incentives are ne-cessary for scaling but require public support to be realised. Politicians who have the courage to take up this task must be rewarded by the electorate. Again, this will only happen if citizens are engaged in the process and realise the gains in terms of liveability and quality of life. Another reason these gains must be made tangible and visible.

Accessible involvement processesA vision of scaling with people quickly falls flat if people don’t show up. So what will it take for them to come to the party?

Today, the barriers for engagement are primarily the usual suspects. Of those not wishing to be involved in city development, almost four in ten

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40%of nordic citizens asked say that they do not have enough time

to engage in contributing to the local liveable city initiatives


point to not having the time. 20% see it as too complicated. On the positive side, these are barriers that we can work to remove. One way is to offer a number of different avenues for involvement, as discussed earlier. We must make sure to include low effort options such as surveys and to tap into existing engagement on social media.

More fundamental resistance is found in the form of arguments such as citizens not seeing it as their responsibility, or nor being interested in developing solutions for their city. These reasons are given far less often by the Nordic citizens in our survey.

The involvement does however seem to be faced with a more fundamental obstacle in the form of too little com-munication to citizens. As discussed in chapter 1, many citizens are not aware of solutions that are available in their own cities. When asked what would make them more willing to share their own data, almost half of citizens ask for more information, specifically more information about the data collected, more information about what kind of data is collected, and increased knowledge about the improvements made from the collected data. Similarly, 30% state not seeing their inputs being used as a reason for not wanting to engage in city development. If we do believe that citizen engagement is a key to scale smart city solutions, then we need much stronger communication about the visions, and stronger

feedback loops to citizens if and when they do engage.

Trust in dataThe whole endeavour of the smart city today is faced with a massive stumbling block, namely a poten-tial lack of public trust. With rising skepticism towards data owners, citizens have to be able to understand the value of data, while at the same time being comfortable in sharing their data with the broad group of stakeholders involved in developing new solutions.

What would actually make the most difference for Nordic citizens’ willing-ness to share their behavioural data? The answer according to citizens themselves is increased data security, which almost 60% of citizens point to. We should be careful, however, not to make light of this challenge. There is no quick fix, but a need to conti-nuously inform and engage citizens to make sure they understand what the data collected is, why it is collected, and how it is used to improve city life. We need to provide practical and accessible ways for citizens to under-stand the use of data and take control themselves. Options for opting in and out, requiring deletion of data etc., as for instance imposed by the EU GDPR, are some examples of how we can sustain trust by offering concrete tools for citizens to make their own decisions. The EU is championing this approach with initiatives like ”Data sharing with trust” and ”Free flow of non-personal data”.

Historically, the Nordic countries have been helped by high levels of trust both horisontally between citizens and vertically between citizens and authori-ties. The whole effort towards a truly people centered smart city development hinges on this social trust. To be sustainable, we should require the processes put in place to not only draw from but contribute to and rein-force this social trust. We need to steer clear of the many pitfalls related to the use and misuse of data and ensure a high level of social responsibility from all groups of stakeholders involved in city development.

Without this social lubricant and empowerment of citizens, solutions will never scale, as all attempts will run into resistance, either in the form of voiced opposition or just a discreet walk-out of people, taking their data with them.

69%of Nordic citizens say that increased

data security would increase their willingness to share behavioral and/or localization data for implementing digital solutions in their municipality.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Smart solutions hold a vast potential for improving the liveability and sustainability of our cities, now and many years ahead. They hold answers to many of the great challenges that urbanisation brings about. They can improve social inclusion and decrease distance between city and rural areas.

26 HEADER

TAKE A BROADER VIEW COMPARED WITH TRADITIONAL PLANNING

A broader view means continuing and expanding the Nordic tradition for put-ting people first. Building the smart city should not be driven by technology but by the dreams, concerns and needs of people in the long run. Only then will new solutions be met with support; only then will it be possible to scale in a manner sustainable to citizens, city and environment.

The Nordics offer a different approach from both the Asian government-dri-ven planning model with its roots in top-down decision making and enforcement, and the American market-driven model where smart city development is left to the market. The Nordic model puts people at the center and involves all stakeholders in coordi-nated processes with plenty of room for local innovation. This approach should inspire Nordic decision makers and can also help inform approaches in other parts of the world.

DEVELOP THE EXPERIMENTAL AND PEOPLE DRIVEN APPROACH

In a smart city context, the people driven approach goes beyond town hall meetings and survey questionnaires. Digital tools and data need to be open and accessible. Citizens should be empowered to explore new, meaningful ways to put technology to use. When technology makes sense in people’s lives and solves real problems, it contributes to liveability, and it has the potential to scale.

Because the applications and conse-quences of new technological solutions are many and hard to predict, we should involve people radically in the development process. Municipalities and government must take the lead in ensuring inclusion of the young, the digitally lowskilled and the socially marginalised.

1. 2.

Smart solutions can make our ma-nagement of everything from waste to energy and welfare services more efficient. New solutions can improve quality of public services and strengt-hen democratic decision making through new ways to share data.

To get there, municipalities together with stakeholders must lay down the right strategy. A strategy that does smart the Nordic way. Based on the findings in this paper, we believe the strategy should take the following five points on board:

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS


MAKE SURE COORDINATION IS IN PLACE AND LONG-TERM GOALS ACHIEVED

While authorities open up and invite all stakeholders in, they also play a key role in keeping sight of the longterm goals and coordinating the efforts. The people-driven, bottom-up approach especially requires a strong facilitator. That responsibility lies with munici-palities. Standardisation of data and technological infrastructure, shared procurement, regulatory frameworks that create incentives and new invest-ments; all are needed for the smart city to scale from local experiments to city- or even countrywide realities.

The demand for sustainable choices ensuring the liveability of societies has to be driven by the governments and cities. At the same time the private sec-tor and communities hold a strong role in the implementation of new solutions. The time has passed where passing the buck around can be defended as a viable strategy. The sustainable city of the future is materialising, driven by stakeholders who are willing and able to look beyond this year’s budget and into the next 20, 50 or even 100 years where the effects of all the decisions we make today will be felt.

MAKE SMART SOLUTIONS TRAVEL ACROSS BORDERS

Knowledge of best practices and proofs of value must be shared. The Nordics comprise many smaller municipalities and communities. While agility may exceed that of larger urban areas, the possibility for heavy invest-ment and accumulation of competence is limited. Thus, sharing experiences between municipalities and regions as well as private companies is the key. Invisible smart solutions must be made visible. We need an open discussion of the effect of technology and other new practices on our cities, both good and bad. Otherwise everyone has to invent fire on their own.

Cross-Nordic, regional collaborations should be facilitated. These already exist, but we can still increase focus on sharing experiences, business cases and solutions pertaining to smart city development.

EMBED SMART SOLUTIONS WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY IS THERE

Digital and data-driven solutions are at the core of how we deliver and design solutions to today’s and future challenges. Though tomorrow’s challenges are unknown to us today, we need to be able to adapt to future needs. This goes for all sectors and areas in a city. In other words, we need to build the platform and agility that can help us adapt and develop our solutions and services to address new needs and challenges. To do that we need to think about how each sector interacts with other sectors, and how solutions in one area affects solutions in another area. Building in smart today, can help us deliver the smart solutions of tomorrow.

3. 4. 5.

Ramboll employs more than 15,500 experts globally and has especially strong representation in the Nordics, UK, North America, Continental Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific. With 300 offices in 35 countries, Ramboll combines local experience with a global knowledgebase constantly striving to achieve inspiring and exacting solutions that make a genuine difference to our clients, the end-users, and society at large. Ramboll works across the following markets: Buildings, Transport, Planning & Urban Design, Water, Environment & Health, Energy and Management Consulting.

Documents

CREATING LIVEABLE CITIES WITH PEOPLE · and local authorities take the lead in the digital development of our cities and communities. As outlined in the report “Rethinking Strategic