HERE has committed to a European Commission partnership to create smart solutions for the cities of today and tomorrow – starting with smart citizens.
With over 70% of people estimated to live in cities by 2050, the stress on urban ways of life will be immense – and require smart solutions.
Cities will always face unforeseen events – from natural disasters to economic crises. They are living organisms, and their physical infrastructure is in a constant state of deterioration and rebirth.
Citizens are perhaps one of the only constants in cities as they evolve. ‘Smart cities’ aim to better manage resources and better integrate and connect their various components – such as infrastructure, mobility and energy – through technology.
A smart city, a decade or so ago, sounded like a machine – highly technical, highly controlled, highly optimized as discussed by Anthony Townsend in his book Smart Cities, who traces the tech-driven and grassroots elements of smart cities. As mentioned there, cities like Songdo, South Korea were created from the ground to achieve these goal (with heavy private sector backing – Songdo is jointly owned by three companies).
However, no matter how intelligent the technology and how automated the interactions with it, a city will never run like a Swiss watch.
We don’t think a smart city reads its citizens’ minds
Citizens play a crucial role. They must be encouraged to participate, question and innovate. Arguably, citizens have already gotten much ‘smarter’.
They are challenging the status quo with new business models, providing feedback like pothole reporting, and taking a more active role, such as through open government.
Citizens and communities speak up and take charge to solve problems.
How we’re creating smart cities
Over the past year, HERE has been active in the European Innovation Partnership for Smart Cities & Communities.
We worked with diverse stakeholders – from the chemical sector to consultancies and regional governments – to help define collaboration opportunities to combine ICT, energy and transport management to create innovative solutions to the major environmental, social and health challenges facing cities.
What we’ve done so far
Earlier this year over 2,500 companies, governments, academic institutions and cross-sector consortia from 32 countries submitted 340 commitments to solve these pressing urban issues.
Now, along with the City of Barcelona, HERE is leading the Citizen Focus Action cluster – a group of initiatives from across Europe with the goal of creating smarter citizens and communities.
Over the coming months, we’ll post updates on our work in Brussels and with the companies and groups working together to achieve these goals.
Cities will change, but they will always have citizens
We are particularly excited to lead the Citizen Focus component of the project because citizens are core to cities and crucial components in enacting change necessary for the new urban world.
Location intelligence provides an invisible infrastructure that helps companies and citizens understand and organise the world. We already work on urban services.
But as mapmakers, we also focus on our end users: people. Maps make it easier for people to move through the world, to get places, to meet others, to quietly and simply remember where something important happened. They are also important tools for transparency and awareness.
Maps are a crucial tool for citizens as citizens are crucial components of cities. As other stakeholders in the city space, we can facilitate this. Throughout this project, we have identified two main goals:
Facilitate dialogue between citizens and their industrial and governmental counterparts, ensuring the citizen’s voice is included in new solutions
Empower citizens, enabling them to drive innovation.
Throughout the year, we will be working with groups across Europe on these goals.
Mapping our urban future
As mapmakers, we sit at an interesting intersection in the smart city discussion. On the one side, we’re technology providers, delivering detailed computational models of the real world.
On the other side, these are tools for people – to understand data, make decisions, to move around and explore the world.
We are excited to work with other companies and governments from across Europe to help create more inclusive, sustainable and efficient cities of tomorrow.
Stay tuned for updates on HERE Three Sixty from our work on this project. And if you find yourself in Graz on November 18 and 19, stop by our booth at the Urban Futures conference to say “hello” and learn more.