Opinion – Claudio Bernardes: The trajectory of cities that will become intelligent

Becoming a smart city has been a goal pursued by many cities around the world. However, the trajectory to reach this status, which is based on the perception of innovation, technology and sustainability, must be well planned and monitored.

Publication by the Center for Studies in Public Administration and Government of FGV (Fundação Getulio Vargas) indicates strategies for the digital transformation of cities. According to the publication, although the path is unique and particular to each city, it is possible to design a model with common stages of evolution, and international experts recommend that the evolution towards a smart city be developed in four phases.

The vertical phase, in which technology is applied to urban services to improve their management; a horizontal phase, in which a transversal management platform for the different services is developed; the connected stage, in which different vertical services interconnect and begin to operate on a management platform; and, finally, the intelligent phase, in which the city is managed in an integrated and real-time manner.

Furthermore, to increase the chance of success of cities’ digitization projects, the government must have a central role in leading actions to move from strategy to implementation. It is also necessary to have a governance model with the participation of society, which must directly integrate the process, monitoring and charging for the city’s projects.

Governance sustained in society is seen as a way to make actions permanent and, in this way, guarantee the transformation with the necessary quality and speed. Effective governance requires the establishment and monitoring of indicators that make it possible to measure the progress and results of initiatives in a transparent manner.

The benefits associated with the so-called smart cities are encouraging several cities around the world to improve their urban structures and seek a new level of development. However, a question remains: how do cities identify their current level of smart development and how to transform their infrastructure, taking into account the concepts of urban intelligence?

In this context, new models to determine the levels of intelligence and intelligent development in cities would be very welcome. The few that exist today have proved inconclusive, mainly for not considering all dimensions of urban space in their assessments.

Researchers from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Hong Kong have developed a technique called ASD (Diffuse Synthetic Assessment) to model a city’s levels of intelligent development using a six-dimensional framework that provides a comprehensive perspective on the characterization of urban structures of cities, which are mobility, economy, environment, governance, quality of life and people.

The study modeled eight indicators for each of the six dimensions, using the ASD technique to determine an index that measures the level of smart development for each dimension and thereby determine an overall smart development index for each city.

It is true that the vast majority of cities will start operating with some level of intelligence in the very near future, but the amplification and acceleration of this process will undoubtedly depend on well-structured digitalization strategies, and supported by the federal and state governments. Throughout this process, efficient monitoring mechanisms will be fundamental, and will help cities to become even smarter.