Future Cities Catapult Chief Innovation and Technology Officer Jarmo Eskelinen joined us to unpack the successes and challenges around smart cities and to share some global examples. Cities are growing all the time; they are the most enduring human achievement. A city consists of layers of time and complexity built up with history woven through its fabric. 

There are different approaches to developing smart cities, and most cities adopt a combination of strategies. Jarmo shared the benefits and challenges of each approach:

Legacy

Some cities adopt an anchor solution strategy – this involves focusing on one area of development at a time. This method allows concentrated time and resource to the development of one area, such as transport or healthcare.  The challenge with this strategy is that it can lead to vertical silos in development and potentially incompatible systems across different areas.

Speed

Another approach is a pilot strategy – this involves quick iteration and experimentation with city development. The challenges with this approach come with longevity and scaling it up when it works. 

Readiness

The third approach is a platform strategy – this involves addressing big issues and connecting everything up, often challenges are systemic and cross different sectors. This approach requires communication across many different stakeholders, and is a long-term strategy. 

Here are Jarmo’s top tips for smart city best practice:

  1. Have people in the middle. Copenhagen Solutions Lab and Glasgow Smart City Campus are good examples of successfully bringing stakeholders and citizens together.
  2. Get serious about data. Make data open source and build valuable analytics around it.
  3. Have an open approach. Having an accessible system allows services to be added in and removed, making it a living eco-system.
  4. Embed in the city strategy. Future Belfast is a good example of a well-developed city strategy.
  5. Smart procurement. Piloting modular strategies and buying innovation is key.