How to Ensure Sustainability of Smart City Project
Oliver Mitevski
Business Administration, Skopje Metropolitan
MN7184: Innovation Management
Prof. Dragan Shutevski, PhD
25.06.2022
1
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to research the concept, planning and implementation of
"sustainable urban development" as well as the relationship between the concept of smart
city and its development with sustainable innovative processes, what are the links and
interactions in planning and implementation of sustainable urban development and how
that concept is practically implemented in the cities. The primary general goal is to prepare
an academic paper that will perform theoretical and practical analysis of the concept of
sustainable urban development, based on a review of the relevant literature on the
relationship between the concept of a smart city and sustainability-oriented innovations.
The results show a growing trend in research on this issue, and the findings justify the
multidimensional view of smart innovations and sustainable development of cities. The
scientific literature and documents prepared by international organisations define three
dimensions of sustainable development: economic-financial, social and environmental
dimension. There are different approaches to how these dimensions intertwine and affect
each other, but one interesting explanation is that: the environment is the necessary basis
for sustainable development, the economy is a tool for achieving sustainable
development, and the social dimension (good life for all) is the goal of sustainable
development. Although technological innovations predominate, much of the research
points to the importance of development and other factors and components, such as the
building and development of civil urban environments with the inhabitants in the centre of
it, with a central focus on a holistic approach in the process of development of smart
sustainable cities.
2
Introduction
According to world statistics, 50% of the world population today lives in cities, and
it is anticipated that more than 60% of the whole population will live in urban areas by
2030, and the real challenge will be the supply of these populations with basic resources,
as well as ensuring overall economic, social and environmental sustainability. Precisely
because of these facts, the traditional concept of cities needs to be transformed into new
models, in which key goals will be incorporated into new solutions to prevent the negative
impact on the environment and climate change resulting from expansive urban
development. The results of such strategic changes should contribute to reducing the use
of resources - mainly energy, water and municipal waste - both in terms of the amount of
funds that are spent on providing city services, and in terms of reducing CO emissions
2
and overall environmental impact.
The newly created conditions unequivocally indicate that the ways of management
of the city infrastructure and services must be adapted in parallel to the changes taking
place in cities globally and locally. As a result of the increasing use of digital technologies,
the flow and sharing of information and knowledge through social networks, the use of
the "Smart" concept, and the key areas on which this concept rests are precisely the new
business models and digital technologies.
To be in step with the world development trends, cities need to evolve from a
traditional model of governance, where citizens were positioned at the bottom of the
process of creating the values of public services, towards the so-called "Smart" model,
where the citizens are the ones who along with the city administration and the local selfgovernment create the public services, develop and propose channels and ways of
communication, but also take into account the appropriate level of quality of the created
public services. In addition to changing perceptions in the context of administrative
activities and public services, in the new "smart" model, increased emphasis should be
placed on innovation and the use of smart technologies - to achieve added value in the
domain of all urban spheres.
These rapid changes have significantly changed the cities and the ways in which
they are managed. Inevitably, government authorities must embrace the principles of
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sustainable development in their efforts to ensure economically efficient, socially
inclusive, culturally conscious and environmentally sound cities. "Cities must develop
sustainably and promote sustainable communities, or they are in danger of not
developing at all" (World Bank, 2010, p.5). Due to this shift in the axis to local levels,
international organisations such as the United Nations and the World Bank as well as
academic researchers began to narrow the focus on sustainable development and
formed a new concept or branch: "sustainable urban development" or "sustainable cities".
This term denotes the concept of urban development. Sustainable cities are "...resilient,
they promote economic, social and environmental change and are more willing to adapt
to them" (World Bank, 2009). Sustainable cities are harmonious cities that "... symbolise
the dreams, aspirations and hopes of societies" (HABITAT, 2008).
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Literature review
Smart City Concept
"Smart city" is a concept that uses innovative systems for integrated management
and connection of different domains of urban living. According to Bakici et al. (2012),
smart city is a high-tech intensive and advanced city that connects people, information
and city elements using new technologies in order to create a sustainable, greener city,
competitive and innovative commerce, and an increased life quality.
The six main city dimensions according to the relevant literature represent the
specific aspects of the city that are influenced by Smart initiatives to achieve the expected
goals of the Smart City strategy (sustainability, efficiency and high quality of life).
Technology itself is not considered a field of action, but an enabler that improves the
efficiency of projects. A project is considered "smarter" when it involves a larger number
of dimensions. The approach should be as integrated and holistic as possible.
The smart city concept assumes that a city should be a creative, sustainable area
that improves the quality of life, creates a friendlier environment and the prospects of
economic development are stronger (Lee et al., 2014). The ultimate goal is a better use
of public resources, the improvement of the quality of services offered to citizens, while
reducing operational costs of public administration (Zanella et al., 2014). According to
Anthopoulos et al. (2016), the smart city ecosystem consists of eight (8) components:
Smart infrastructure, Smart Transportation (or smart mobility), Smart Environment, Smart
Services, Smart Governance, Smart People, Smart Living and Smart Economy.
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SMART
INFRASTRUCTURE:
city facilities (i.e.,
SMART ECONOMY:
technology and
innovation for
strengthening
business
development,
employment and
urban growth.
water and energy
networks, streets,
buildings etc.) with
embedded smart
technology (i.e.,
sensors, smart grids
etc.).
SMART
TRANSPORTATION
(or smart mobility):
transportation
networks with
enhanced
embedded real time
monitoring and
control systems.
SMART
ENVIRONMENT:
SMART LIVING:
innovation for
enhancing quality of
life and livability in
the urban
space.
innovation and ICT
incorporation for
natural resource
protection and
management (waste
management systems,
emission control,
recycling, sensors for
pollution monitoring
etc.).
SMART
CITY
SMART SERVICES:
SMART PEOPLE:
measures that
enhance people
creativity and open
innovation.
SMART
GOVERNANCE:
smart government
establishment in the
urban space,
accompanied by
technology for
participation and
engagement.
utilization of
technology and ICT for
health, education,
tourism,
safety, response
control (surveillance)
etc. service provision
across the entire city.
Figure 1: Smart city ecosystem components (Anthopoulos et al., 2016)
Sustainable Development Concept
The widely accepted definition of sustainable development is "development that
satisfies the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their needs." (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987), is
increasingly linked to the context of urban development. It is acknowledged that to meet
the sustainable development targets, urban development should be guided by
sustainable planning and management vision.
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Sustainable development actually means a much more complex and holistic
approach to treating the planet, development and people. The concept of sustainable
development promoted in the Brundland Report combines concern for economic, social
and environmental development. This is not an ideological direction, but sustainable
development involves a process of change in which key components of society - the use
of resources, investment, technology, institutions, consumption patterns - will act in
greater harmony with ecosystems (Carter, 2018).
The scientific literature and documents by international organisations define three
dimensions of sustainable development: economic-financial, social and environmental
dimension. There are different approaches to how these dimensions intertwine and affect
each other, but one interesting explanation is that: the environment is the necessary basis
for sustainable development, the economy is a tool for achieving sustainable
development, and the social dimension (good life for all) is the goal of sustainable
development (World Bank, 2010 a).
The key principles of sustainable development set out in the Brundland Report,
according to (Carter, 2018) are:
-
Equality: multiple dimensions are intertwined here - equality of treatment of nature,
people and economy, equality of wealth in the northern and southern hemispheres,
reduction of the differences between rich and poor, and equalisation of consumption.
-
Democracy: this principle requires a political system that will make civic participation
in decision-making imperative. This means that sustainable development will be
based on inclusive decisions, with the local population having its word, spatial
planning or any other area that will later have an impact on their lives. This principle
also means apriori familiarising the public with all new policies, in order to gain
widespread support by providing sufficient information and involvement in the
decision-making process.
-
Caution: means that, in the complex area of environmental pollution, lack of evidence
(of pollution or negative consequences of economic activities) will not be considered
a sufficient reason to delay measures to protect people and the environment.
-
Integration of protection: one of the reasons for the limited effects of protection in the
classical approach is the fragmentation of competencies and responsibilities between
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different sectors such as industry, agriculture, social, etc. National ministries basically
take care of everyone in their own narrow area. Sustainable development as a concept
offers an integrated approach to finding solutions.
-
Planning: the last principle of sustainable development arises in fact from the previous
four and the complexity that their application requires. If we want to implement the
concept of sustainable development - there must be planning and coordination at all
levels of government: supranational, national, regional and local.
The idea of sustainable development from 1987 to this day has attracted a large
number of adherents and has become universally significant. In the meantime, several
different discourses on "sustainable development" have developed from it, some of which
are "mutually exclusive" (Redclift, 2005, p. 213).
Sustainably-oriented innovations and smart cities
Like other types of innovation, sustainably-oriented innovations exist at different
levels. Sustainably-oriented innovations often imply technological development and
invention, where the focus is on products, processes and system infrastructure (Klewitz
and Hansen, 2014). However, innovations exist at other levels, including organisational
(services, delivery, and business models) (Hansen and Große-Dunker, 2013), or
institutional and social levels (taking into account production and consumption systems)
(Jay and Gerard, 2015). Smart city innovation is seen as a combination of technology,
organisation and policy innovation (Nam and Pardo, 2011).
Technological innovation is seen as a mechanism for exploiting the potential for
transformation
of
various technological tools and advanced
information and
communication technology.
Organizational innovation relates to innovation management, i.e., mechanism for
creating managerial and organizational skills for efficient and effective management of
the use of technological innovations and work across organizational perimeters. Policy
innovation refers to the redesign of relationships, mechanisms for solving urban problems
and creating a favourable environment for a smart city (Nam and Pardo, 2011). Similarly,
sustainably-oriented innovations can occur at different levels, focusing on operational
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optimization, organisational transformation, and building entire systems (Adams et al.,
2016; Hansen and Große-Dunker, 2013).
Lindhult et al. (2016) emphasise the need for considering innovation management
capabilities in smart city planning and development towards sustainability. These
capabilities can be categorised through the five dimensions of strategy, organisation,
processes, linkages, and learning, also used in innovation management and sustainablyoriented innovations literature (e.g., Adams et al., 2016; Tidd and Bessant, 2018).
Another set of interesting principles is the Melbourne Principles for Sustainable
Cities. They are actually a list of aspirations for sustainable cities that were developed at
a conference in Melbourne in 2002, in anticipation of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg
the same year (Newman and Jennings, 2008). The Melbourne Principles require a
sustainable city to be based on:
a)
Vision:
The sustainable development of the city should be based on a long-term vision
that will encourage positive change. Vision is very important because it is through the
process of defining it that a conscious process of connecting today's generations with
future ones begins. What is important for the vision of sustainable cities is that this
process is based on strong civic participation and inclusion of all marginalised or minority
groups. Newman and Jennings (2008) suggest that the following questions should be
considered when formulating a vision for a sustainable city: “What do we value? How do
we define human progress? What are human needs? What is our ethics? How should we
treat each other and the natural world? What is the role of technology? What is the role
of a city in sustainability?”.
b)
Economy and society:
Cities were created and developed mainly due to trade and other economic
activities (Norton, 1994). The economy to this day is the main driving force of society, and
sustainable development recognizes this and embodies it in its principles. But what needs
to be done differently when applying the concept of a sustainable city is not to forget that
the economy is not a goal of development, but that it is a means of meeting the needs of
the people (Newman and Jennings, 2008). Some of the ways in which the city economy
can be focused on supporting society are: facilitating local companies, developing the
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municipal space, encouraging walking, and overcoming car dependence, encouraging
urban agriculture and city gardens, campaigns to buy local products, introduction of ecolabels and support for local artists;
c)
Biodiversity:
In a sustainable city, the importance of biodiversity and natural ecosystems is
recognized and the city makes efforts to preserve and restore them. The new methods
try to establish responsible human behaviour towards endangered species through:
•
restoration and maintenance of healthy bioregions on its territory;
•
reduction of ecological features of cities
•
organisation of events in bioregions and education about their importance
•
designing ecological architecture and infrastructure;
d)
Ecological features:
Cities as complex organisms absorb significant amounts of diverse resources and
thus have an impact on the environment and beyond their territory. Ecological features
are one of the ways in which this impact is measured, and the concept of a sustainable
city implies the development of strategies and activities for measuring, controlling and
reducing the ecological features of the city in nature. Newman and Jennings (2008)
outline four strategies for this: recording and assessing local ecosystems (rivers, land, air
movements), managing urban population growth according to ecological capacity,
managing urban expansibility, and rationalising consumer habits;
e)
Modelling cities according to the ecosystems in which they are located:
The characteristics of the natural ecosystems where the city stretches, as well as
the study of the traditional settlements and the way of life that existed in the city can help
a lot in planning the sustainable development of cities. This means that our ways of
operating the city should be as close as possible to the natural ones and to create
harmony between the city and its surroundings. Some strategies for applying this principle
can be:
•
use of solar energy as a resource and as a principle of architectural designs;
•
producing the necessary energy for the city from its own natural sources;
•
storage of energy and materials through biomass accumulation and erosion control
•
integrating functions;
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•
circulating matter to remove pollutants and putting in nutrients and energy;
•
use of mechanisms for regular monitoring and self-regulation of the system;
•
networking of institutions
This principle should permeate all other principles of a sustainable city in order to
be consistently followed;
f)
Sense of place:
This principle means recognizing the specific human, cultural, historical and
natural characteristics of the city and building development based on them. This means
that development must be compatible with values, traditions, institutional and
environmental realities (Newman and Jennings, 2008). A sense of place/ city needs to be
built and incorporated into sustainable development in order to preserve and adequately
upgrade the history of that city and its “context.” Ways that can be done include: protecting
important existing elements of natural and cultural heritage, increased visibility of current
as well as historical processes, strengthening the connection between the urban part of
the city and its wider natural environment, use of cultural practices and arts to nurture that
"sense of place" and preservation of traditional songs and other unwritten cultural
landmarks of the city;
g)
Emancipation:
Emancipation is often described as "targeted democracy" Carson & Hartz-Karp
(2005, cited in Newman and Jennings, 2008, p. 158) define it as a process that includes:
the capacity to influence policy and decision-making, the inclusion of diverse voices from
population, equal opportunity to participate and liberation: open dialogue, access to
information, respect, consensus building, transparency, educating citizens, using different
levels of citizen engagement for a variety of urban functions, including the most
powerless, and creating the resource base needed to implement emancipation (Newman
and Jennings, 2008);
h)
Partnerships:
People in cities are the key drivers of sustainable development and therefore, the
implementers of that development (local authorities) must use that energy of the people
and put it in the direction of improving life in the city. This can be achieved in an effective
way by building and enabling partnerships and networks of people and organisations
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within the city, but also by encouraging the connection of those networks with similar
networks that exist nationally, regionally or globally. Partnerships in cities can be
encouraged by government, business and citizens and their organisations, and beneficial
partnerships are those at the urban-rural level. Partnerships are complex mechanisms of
cooperation and in order to be implemented in a useful way, one should also invest in
their research;
i)
Sustainable production and consumption:
"Reducing resource consumption by the world's rich and meeting the basic needs
of the poor is vital to sustainability" (Newman and Jennings, 2008, p. 189). This is also
relevant locally. Sustainable cities promote sustainable production and consumption
through the adequate use of sound environmental technologies and the effective
management of demand for goods and services. To achieve this balance locally Newman
and Jennings (2008) propose the following strategies:
•
for sustainable consumption: encouraging voluntary acceptance of simple and
modest lifestyles, educating consumers on alternative ways of meeting needs,
establishing responsible public procurement systems, and adopting the principles
of the so-called "Slow movement" which promotes slow instead of fast food, slow
instead of hectic cities, slow traffic, etc.)
•
for sustainable production: use of technology based on local resources and
bioregions, the so-called biomimicry (the use of natural forms in the construction
or design of products), the use of environmental efficiency and industrial ecology,
and the assessment of technology in terms of sustainable development and
environmental impact.
j)
Governance and hope:
This latest principle for a sustainable city addresses local authorities, their role and
governance as a path to a sustainable city. Local authorities are the ones who should
have the vision, courage and hope for transformation into a sustainable city, so they
should, together with their citizens, think and work for their own needs, but equally
represent the interests of nature and local ecosystems. Local governments should strive
for continuous improvement of governance based on the well-known principles of
accountability, transparency and good governance. Among the possible strategies for
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achieving good governance and fostering hope as a primordial collective pursuit of a
better future Newman and Jennings include the following:
•
A combination of local governance and the ability to address and resolve global
issues;
•
Structures and processes of urban governance that are inclusive, cooperative and
emancipatory and aimed at reducing differences;
•
Sustainability as a principle should be included in the daily activities of the local
government.
The concept for a smart sustainable data-driven city needs specialized urban,
technological, organisational and institutional elements dedicated to improving,
enhancing and maintaining the contribution of such a city to the goals of sustainable
development (Bibri, 2019). This justifies the relationship between the basic components.
Furthermore, at the heart of the idea of a smart, data-driven sustainable city lies the
process of attracting all kinds of analytics related to urban life of one centre, supported
by the general public and open data analytics. This involves creating an instrumentalised
or centralised system across the city that combines data from many city agencies for
large-scale analytics and then directs it to different centres, labs, and offices. Urban
operating systems explicitly link multiple urban technologies to enable greater
coordination of urban systems and domains. Urban operating systems seek to bring
together and interconnect urban big data to provide integrated and holistic views and
synoptic urban intelligence through the processing, analysis, visualisation and monitoring
of vast amounts of urban data that can be used for real-time decision-making pertaining
to sustainability by means of big data ecosystems.
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Figure 2: A framework for the data-driven smart sustainable city. Source: Adopted from Bibri (2019)
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Conclusions and recommendations
Conclusions
Moving towards a sustainable city is a long-term and complex goal and this
process must not be allowed to happen spontaneously and thus succumb to the
influence of many different factors (policies, economic interests, influences of various
alliances and lobby groups, etc.). Planning the development and design of long-term
visions, strategies and plans and their implementation is key to the success of a
sustainable city. The main elements of its planning are: defining the vision for a
sustainable city, analysis and assessment of the current situation, developing strategies
and operational plans. The principles of a sustainable city should not be neglected in the
planning process, on the contrary, the main parameters, values and standards that will
serve as a starting point should be derived from those principles.
In many papers, sustainable development is considered a natural part of smart city
development. Despite most studies recognizing the three dimensions of sustainabilityoriented innovation (creating economic, environmental, and social value), the premises
for considering sustainability-oriented innovation in a smart city context have differed.
Areas for sustainable innovation are considered through the seven components of smart
cities, four of which can be considered to enable the development of sustainable smart
cities (technology, management, economic and human components) and three of which
work as a target for innovation (public services, natural environment and physical
infrastructure).
Sustainable city is a unique concept because it includes the design of the
development of the city according to its own dimensions and needs and with emphasised
civic participation. The concept of a sustainable city offers a broader concept of local
democracy where the voice is heard and the power of not only future generations is
respected, but also the voice of nature, the spirit of society and the time that moves
forward.
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Recommendations
The process of visioning the sustainable development of the city is key in the
transformation towards sustainable cities, and civic participation in it is centre. In order to
successfully transform, local governments need to use the tools at their disposal:
strategies and plans for sustainable development, the policies they adopt in support of
those strategies, and the partnerships the city concludes to facilitate the implementation
of those policies.
The application of this concept certainly has many challenges, which is why
sceptics criticise that a sustainable city is just a utopian idea. One of those challenges is
the awareness - among the citizens and the administration that the long-term effects are
more valuable than short-term wealth.
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