Our world is constantly changing and new, modern technologies are rapidly taking over our everyday lives - many of which we are not even aware of, we use as a matter of course.
In the blog "Next stop: Smart Society" Part I, we already looked at the concept of the Smart Society and the Japanese interpretation of this in the form of the Society 5.0 project. It became clear that the idea of holistic networking and the associated possibilities for the application of technological developments such as robotics or artificial intelligence seem to hold a number of solution concepts in store, particularly with regard to the problem of demographic change.
The establishment of a so-called smart city is currently being discussed, as urban centers are becoming denser and the challenge of using existing and limited resources as cleverly as possible is growing with them. In doing so, the rapidly advancing digitalization and networking are to be used and the challenges of our time that confront us are to be responded to.
The term smart city has been used since the 2000s by various actors in politics, business, administration and, in particular, urban planning, and describes a holistic development approach with the aim of making urban spaces more efficient, technologically advanced, sustainable and socially inclusive.
In this context, the concept is to be understood as a strategic and progressive process. It is also important that technical, economic and social innovations and their use are part of this concept and with the help of these various challenges such as environmental pollution, resource scarcity, demographic change, population growth and financial crisis are to be mastered.
This smart city, which in simple terms is something like the Internet of Things with intelligent services and offers, is to function with the help of many sensors, networking and data, which represent the three building blocks of the smart city: The existing structure is to be equipped with sensors. These collect information - the data is stored and archived in a cloud. Through extensive networking of various devices and applications, this data can in turn be retrieved for specific processes, states defined and data processed so that certain actions are triggered automatically. The resulting permanent interaction between the residents and the surrounding technology makes the urban population part of the city's infrastructure.
Simple examples of such applications that are not just part of a future version include smart parking solutions. Sensors in parking lots record the space and the available free spaces, so that user:inside can call up the data in real time via an app and know which nearby parking lot still has free spaces. Smart waste management works in a similar way, with garbage cans and containers also equipped with sensors, which in turn constantly report the filling quantities to the responsible companies. With the help of this data and the application of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, the routes of waste management vehicles can be calculated and adjusted quickly and individually.
Such and other smart applications affect not only administration and mobility, but all areas of a society. For this reason, various characteristics of a smart city have been defined to simplify the comparison of smart cities. These are Smart Economy, Smart People, Smart Governance, Smart Mobility as well as Smart Environment and Smart Living.
A smart cooperation of these different aspects should lead to a strategy that can answer today's questions and challenges of our societies. Environmentally friendly mobility concepts, resource-saving and sustainable energy management, digitalized administration with extensive and automated online services, and non-technical innovations such as the share economy should thus not only have a positive impact on economic growth, but also on the quality of life of all residents.
"Next stop: Smart Society"
In addition to the opportunities offered by smart city applications, however, the risks must also be considered and taken into account. Critics warn of misuse of the sensors and thus of the possibility of surveillance, as the People's Republic of China is already planning with its social credit system. They also question the actual benefits - does the technology actually serve the population and not the other way around? This raises the question of whether the smart city scenario will lead to the premature use of technologies that have not yet been sufficiently tested, and whether the tools of the smart city will not tend to dumb down the population instead of providing meaningful support.
Other critics point out that the concept of the smart city is an abstract model and is more like a market on which technology companies can sell their products and services. The fear that the concept primarily pursues the interests of global corporations and that people are only marginal consumers is widespread among critics. This concern about insufficient participation of the population leads to the demand that civil initiatives must be focused on just as strongly as companies.
How the transformation of cities into smart cities can succeed is described, for example, in the brochure "Smart City Charta - Digitale Transformation in den Kommunen nachhaltig gestalten" ("Smart City Charter - Sustainably Shaping Digital Transformation in Municipalities") from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety. This Smart City Charter was developed building on the Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities, the national urban development policy, the Urban Agenda of the European Union (Pact of Amsterdam) and the New Urban Agenda of the United Nations and is intended to promote the implementation of the sustainability strategy of the Federal Republic of Germany as well as the achievement of the global sustainability goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030. This charter, presented in 2017, is also intended to encourage people not to simply let the rapidly advancing digitization happen unchecked, but to actively use it in the sense of future-oriented, sustainable and integrated urban development, and appeals to the transformative power of cities for the common good. To this end, guidelines are to serve as a guide for action and ensure balanced cooperation between all dimensions of a smart city.
At first glance, the guidelines may seem somewhat abstract and crude, but they are explained in detail and in a comprehensible manner in the Federal Ministry's brochure and show that the design of a successful transformation toward a smart city, in which all dimensions and characteristics as well as possible hazard potentials are sufficiently taken into account on the basis of integrated development concepts, is highly complex and requires the cooperation of various actors and institutions from research, business and civil society.