Page 184 - Shaping smarter and more sustainable cities - Striving for sustainable development goals

Introduction

In the last 50 years, the world's population has grown exponentially at an average rate of 1.2% per
year. Globally, more people live in urban areas than in rural areas. In 2007, for the first time in
history, the global urban population exceeded the global rural population, and the world population
1
has remained predominantly urban thereafter. As of 2014, 54 % of the world's population resides
2
in urban environments and by 2050, 66 % of the world's population is projected to be urban. This
rapid urbanization is adding pressure to cities, with increasing demand for energy, water, sanitation,
as well as for public services, education and health care.
Strategies to implement Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC) are emerging around the globe as a response
to the challenges posed by this rapid urbanisation, by integrating Information Communication
Technologies (ICTs) into all aspects of the city's planning and operation. Acting as a platform, ICT
tools enable information gathering to increase the efficiency of the city's functions, allowing both
the municipality and the citizens to make better informed decisions, facilitating the integration of
city services, and the cooperation across different sectors.

The Focus Group on Smart Sustainable Cities (FG‐SSC) of the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) brings together a variety of SSC stakeholders (e.g. municipalities, academic and research
institutes, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs), ICT organizations, industry forums and
consortia) with the interest of identifying the standardized frameworks needed to support the
integration of ICT services in smart sustainable cities. Smart sustainable cities bring together a
variety of stakeholders. This is one of the key prerequisites for the success of SSC: the effective
integration of private, governmental and public bodies, the citizens, and also the academic and
scientific communities. This concurrence of actors also results in high complexity, evidencing the
need for an in‐depth analysis of the stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of SSC
strategies. This includes the design of a comprehensive map of actors involved in this new urban
landscape, including their potential role and contribution to the realization of SSC, defined by the
ITU‐T Study Group 5 and UNECE as follows:

"A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication
technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation
and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and
future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural
3
aspects."
This report is divided into four sections. The first section presents an overview of the main
challenges faced by SSCs, including operational, financial and technological aspects, as well as
human resource and citizen engagement. The report argues that, in order to overcome these
challenges and take advantage of potential opportunities, SSC strategists need to integrate the role
of multiple key stakeholders. The second section proposes a methodology for the identification of
4
stakeholders, based on the principles of the Logical Framework Approach (LFA).

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1 http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/policy/wess/wess_current/wess2013/WESS2013.pdf
2 http://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Highlights/WUP2014‐Highlights.pdf
3 http://www.itu.int/en/ITU‐T/focusgroups/ssc/Pages/default.aspx

4 Introduction to the Logical Framework Approach (LFA) for GEF‐financed projects. German Foundation for
International Development.

174 ITU‐T's Technical Reports And Specifications