Page 156 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

Figure 1 – Stages of Action: SSC Master Plan

3.1 Phase 1: Setting the basis for a Smart Sustainable City

Cities that decide to become smart and sustainable have to start by determining their motivations
and priorities, including the identification of the stakeholders that need to be involved, the
implications of this transformation on the city's governance, as well as the mechanisms needed to
ensure continuous citizen participation and feedback throughout the process (in the short, medium
and long‐term, and across scales).
Setting the basis for a smart sustainable city, is largely based on gaining a clear, yet in‐depth
understanding of what it means to become a 'smart sustainable city', and what the process would
entail (e.g., basic FG‐SSC technical specifications).

As stated in the preceding sections of the analysis, the concept of SSC is extremely broad, and there
are multiple and often competing approaches on how to achieve goals related to 'smartness' and
'sustainability' within urban settings. The concept of a 'smart city' also varies significantly in different
regions. For instance, Latin American SSC perspectives are strongly focused on the improvement of
security, local government management and mobility, Asian SSC initiatives emphasize the
importance of infrastructure and services provided to the citizens with the trend of urbanization,
while European SSC approaches often concentrate on the improvement of public services' efficiency
to strengthen citizens' well‐being.

Seeking to address this lack of consensus in the understanding of SSC, the FG‐SSC – WG 1 worked
on the identification of a comprehensive definition of SSC, presented in section 2 of this report. This
definition recognizes the pivotal role played by ICTs as enablers of sustainable and efficient city
services.

146 ITU‐T's Technical Reports and Specifications