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Welcome to today’s What is The Future For Cities podcast and its Research episode; my name is Fanni, and today I will introduce a research paper by summarising it. The episode really is just a short summary of the original paper, and, in case it is interesting enough, I would encourage everyone to check out the whole paper.

Our summary today works with the article titled Introduction: Innovation and identity in next-generation smart cities from 2018 by Hoon Han and Scott Hawken, published in City, Culture and Society journal. Since we are investigating the future of cities, I thought it would be interesting to see why it is important to critically consider urban identity and culture as central to the smart city. This article challenges smart city concepts from the urban identity, quality and value at a range of scales and geographic contexts point of view.

The world is experiencing a spart city boom with new radical technologies being integrated in smart cities to create an explosion of data flows, known as big data. The most valuable resource in the world is no longer oil but data and a new economy and networked business model have emerged to tap value from this growing asset. Cities are playing catch up, learning how to negotiate big data and disruptive business models or platform capitalism by huge companies like google or amazon.

The data economy is a major driver of urban change, and smart cities are seeking to process and manage their real time-data flowing from new digital infrastructure and services. The technologies worn every day by the citizens are networked within the smart city to form an informational footprint of startling complexity. Smart cities, by definition refer to the data economy, stimulation from ICTs and improved urban management from software algorithms, integrated within the urban fabric. Smart cities are increasingly driven by technically inspired innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. However, a technocratic focus will not deliver the outcomes that are necessary to create more liveable cities that innovate across all areas of society, from the environmental to social and economic areas.

First-generation smart cities have inspired research into digital technologies and their business potential, but this technology-and-business-based focus was questioned to be enough. Current smart city approaches can situate the citizen as subaltern. Social and governance networks help cities manage the risks associated with innovation, unexpected events and contextual factors. A more balanced application of technology will help smart cities negotiate this uncertain future. Smart cities must therefore be imagined in terms of their cultural and social innovations as much as their technical and economic prowess.

The digital landscape has altered the human experience in smart cities like the car and train changed the outlook and cosmopolitan make up of cities in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. This new reality is as challenging and disorientating as it is empowering. The cultural nuances, human behaviours and distinctions within the emerging smart city phenomenon are given increased attention and are critically considered as central to the smart city challenge. The current smart city rankings obsessed with technological capabilities reduce cities to a one-dimensional business model. But if the term smart city is to have any enduring value, technology must be used to develop a city’s unique cultural identity. This paper introduces six ideas which could critically enhance the theoretical and practical advances regarding design, management and planning of cities and their urban culture. This initiates a creative dialogue around the issues and complies an interdisciplinary commentary on the link between smart cities and urban innovation.

The six ideas are:

• Governance, urban data platforms and dashboards in diverse smart cities
• Smart cities, the digital workplace and the future of work in relation to the existing urban form of the city
• Smart city policy and governance in emerging economies with a focus on India
• Smart cities specifically the identity of their data and informational ecosystem
• Digital tools and systems for planning and managing smart cities
• Participatory urbanism and smart cities

These ideas are discussed within three main spatial themes, framing the debate on smart cities and urban innovation: 1. Local development histories, 2. Face-to-face relationships and 3. local community scales. Each of these themes is lacking in current smart city approaches and requires innovative approaches to integrate into the smart city of tomorrow.

Currently there are two major approaches to smart cities, as there is for all cities: greenfield smart cities, built from scratch, such as Songdo International Business District in South Korea, or the partial retrofit of older established cities, such as New York, Amsterdam or Barcelona. These distinctly different smart cities provoke important questions regarding evolution versus invention. Cities consist of a combination of diverse spatial and material technologies, and these technologies allow existing cities to be configured, experienced or imagined in new ways. Thus, smart city presents an astounding array of possibilities and innovation in the next-generation smart cities is about the recombination, and the greatest breakthrough will allow us to imagine more diverse possibilities and process this complexity.

Meta-technologies involving analysing data and using smart tools to select the best ideas for today and tomorrow’s cities are decision-making technologies that bring together human intelligence with a range of smart technologies and data flows. Governments worldwide are playing a more active role in the management of their cities’ data assets and the different approaches to synthesising and interpreting this data reveal as much about the culture of cities as it does about the informational footprint. On the other hand, technology in the smart city often creates uncertainty through disruption, but can also shape consensus, interaction, engagement and transparency. Planning support systems present opportunities for smart cities to tap into big data and apply data-driven approaches for envisioning and modelling future developments.

Since their inception, cities have been brilliant machines for social interaction and exchange. When cities are combined with digital technologies, our urban habitat becomes the most sophisticated technology for interaction ever created. The enduring relevance of face-to-face exchanges and collaboration has disproved the early predictions for the dissolution and irrelevance of the city. Instead, urban governments are considering how they can use smart technologies to better promote innovation through enhancing the urban qualities and performance of neighbourhoods and precincts, such as through living labs bringing together the innovation potential of citizens with business, scientists and researchers. The most innovative smart cities go beyond providing the conditions and resources to citizens shaping urban change and realising their ambitions.

Smart cities have been criticised as a generic concept that positions itself in generic space and time and promotes technology itself. Current smart city approaches can value local economies and communities as consumers rather than their distinct identities and culture. There is a need for assert locality and context. Even within established smart cities there are challenges in moving between global and local scales. Theory must also inform data analysis procedures, otherwise, patterns may be prematurely inferred. Big data needs to be investigated in more detail to enhance urban innovation, and the business bias within smart cities needs to be challenged. Smart cities need to address global issues that have sever local effects including mass urbanisation, global migration, and climate change.

Moreover, the associated micro-spatialities and morphologies of creative clusters need to be more researched and utilised in real life and practice. The importance of moving between global and local scales are also important aspects to innovative educational approaches and sustainability, among others. The ability for designers to work between digital global scale and local scale is of critical importance for designing smart cities that have local meaning and significance.

As massive new streams of data that describe movement and location patterns in city systems become available, there is an opportunity to better understand future trends that drive urban innovation. Closer attention to the informational footprints of smart cities can assist in addressing the generic approaches embedded in current smart city practice. Designing smart cities around the distinctive informational ecosystems of real cities will help counter this global generic bias. Fostering distinctive digital cultures that are increasingly evident in smart cities worldwide will allow cities to become more sustainable and resilient, and this resilience is essential in tackling the complex global crises at both macro and micro scales. This type of urban innovation is crucial if smart cities are to move beyond the hype to deliver meaning, quality and community values.

As the most important things, I would like to highlight 3 aspects:

1. Although smart cities are often associated with data and technology, this association should not be the final step – data and technology always need to be seen as tools to make cities better.
2. Fostering distinctive digital cultures that are increasingly evident in smart cities worldwide will allow cities to become more sustainable and resilient, and this resilience is essential in tackling the complex global crises at both macro and micro scales.
3. Urban innovation with the acknowledgement of localities, contexts, scales and human interactions is crucial if smart cities are to move beyond the hype to deliver meaning, quality and community values.

Additionally, it would be great to talk about the following questions:

1. Is smart city the summary of sustainability, resilience, liveability and all the other urban future terms?
2. How can the data be secured and properly de-identified for the sake of the consumers while also providing proper information for the users?
3. Has the city retained its collective meaning even after COVID? Are we sure we want to live in densely populated areas even if work can be done mostly remotely? Is the face-to-face opportunity an advantage for cities?
4. How do you see the different scales in your own life – micro and global and how do you accommodate for those?

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