* By Fernando Matesco, technical director of the Smart Cities Institute (ICI)
An intelligent city is a city that uses means to improve the quality of life, efficiency in operations and urban services, with the main focus being the citizen. The citizen must be at the center of the programs of innovation and modernization of cities, the city must be attractive in relation to social, economic and environmental aspects. The biggest reason cities exist is the citizen.
For the construction of a smart city, participatory governance is essential, the public manager needs to provide effective channels of communication as an incentive for the citizen to support the evolution of cities. On the other hand, it is necessary to involve citizens more in the governance of the city.
Given this scenario, the use of technology to support the initiatives is essential. The solutions are increasingly creative and innovative, favoring a more collaborative and participatory environment, in which people are online all the time, with new services available to the citizen. All of this changes the current ecosystem. The application of technologies enhances the use of resources and services to make urban centers more efficient. Innovative solutions allow the government to act preventively, using management and monitoring systems.
Much is said about the construction of smart cities and what is the best way to go. However, the most important thing is to consider the expected benefits, focusing on the citizen. Along the way, it is essential to keep in mind some important steps.
The first is to define a multidisciplinary team, formed by specialists in public management, mobility, urban planning, engineering, information and communication technology, environment and other areas, depending on each project. From there, it is necessary to draw up a strategy according to the main stakeholder - the citizen - and carry out a diagnosis mapping the main problems, challenges, limitations and complexity of the projects to be developed in the city.
With a well-prepared diagnosis, it becomes easier to map the viable technological solutions for the city. At that moment, it is necessary to define an action plan (with priorities, schedule, costs, indicators) and pilot projects that test, in practice, the mapped solutions. The evaluation of the results can be done through a PDCA (Plan - Do - Check - Act) in all the steps of the process.
It is important to keep in mind that the construction of a smart city is a gradual process, composed of several stages. It goes through actions to expand e-governance or digital services, reaching the evolution towards intelligent solutions, raising the level of cities. The positive results at each stage will certainly be the motivations for future actions towards the main objective of transforming the traditional model of municipalities into truly intelligent cities.
Actions must contribute to sustainable development, providing greater transparency and democratization of information in the most diverse sectors of the city. The main objective is to create conditions for sustainability, improve the quality of life of citizens, governance and city management, ensuring that the needs of current and future generations are met.
Security, lighting, urban mobility, health, education, water supply, garbage and sewage collection and treatment are some examples of public services that can be adapted and improved with smart solutions. But we don't necessarily need to develop a new product. Seeking mechanisms to optimize the use of resources and improve the application of the budget in priority areas allows the needs of each city to be met.
A smart city is able to anticipate future needs. Can act promptly or even predict crises. In addition, the actions are now coordinated and integrated, with better use of resources and investments. And so the quality of services offered to the population improves and the city becomes more efficient.
* Fernando Matesco, technical director of the Instituto das Cidades Inteligentes (ICI), holds an MBA in Project Management from FGV, PMP certificate from PMI, ITIL certificate, ISO-27002 certificate. For more than 20 years in the Information and Communication Technology area, with solid experience in ICT service management, he has worked at ICI since 2001.
For the construction of a smart city, participatory governance is essential, the public manager needs to provide effective channels of communication as an incentive for the citizen to support the evolution of cities. On the other hand, it is necessary to involve citizens more in the governance of the city.
Given this scenario, the use of technology to support the initiatives is essential. The solutions are increasingly creative and innovative, favoring a more collaborative and participatory environment, in which people are online all the time, with new services available to the citizen. All of this changes the current ecosystem. The application of technologies enhances the use of resources and services to make urban centers more efficient. Innovative solutions allow the government to act preventively, using management and monitoring systems.
Much is said about the construction of smart cities and what is the best way to go. However, the most important thing is to consider the expected benefits, focusing on the citizen. Along the way, it is essential to keep in mind some important steps.
The first is to define a multidisciplinary team, formed by specialists in public management, mobility, urban planning, engineering, information and communication technology, environment and other areas, depending on each project. From there, it is necessary to draw up a strategy according to the main stakeholder - the citizen - and carry out a diagnosis mapping the main problems, challenges, limitations and complexity of the projects to be developed in the city.
With a well-prepared diagnosis, it becomes easier to map the viable technological solutions for the city. At that moment, it is necessary to define an action plan (with priorities, schedule, costs, indicators) and pilot projects that test, in practice, the mapped solutions. The evaluation of the results can be done through a PDCA (Plan - Do - Check - Act) in all the steps of the process.
It is important to keep in mind that the construction of a smart city is a gradual process, composed of several stages. It goes through actions to expand e-governance or digital services, reaching the evolution towards intelligent solutions, raising the level of cities. The positive results at each stage will certainly be the motivations for future actions towards the main objective of transforming the traditional model of municipalities into truly intelligent cities.
Actions must contribute to sustainable development, providing greater transparency and democratization of information in the most diverse sectors of the city. The main objective is to create conditions for sustainability, improve the quality of life of citizens, governance and city management, ensuring that the needs of current and future generations are met.
Security, lighting, urban mobility, health, education, water supply, garbage and sewage collection and treatment are some examples of public services that can be adapted and improved with smart solutions. But we don't necessarily need to develop a new product. Seeking mechanisms to optimize the use of resources and improve the application of the budget in priority areas allows the needs of each city to be met.
A smart city is able to anticipate future needs. Can act promptly or even predict crises. In addition, the actions are now coordinated and integrated, with better use of resources and investments. And so the quality of services offered to the population improves and the city becomes more efficient.
* Fernando Matesco, technical director of the Instituto das Cidades Inteligentes (ICI), holds an MBA in Project Management from FGV, PMP certificate from PMI, ITIL certificate, ISO-27002 certificate. For more than 20 years in the Information and Communication Technology area, with solid experience in ICT service management, he has worked at ICI since 2001.
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