Page 18 - Digital solutions for integrated city management and use cases: A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

1.3 Smart city sustainability and SDG objectives

Resources, in general, are limited and therefore are usually configured for a stable environment. Any
major crisis could affect multiple areas of the city and even different public and private institutions. In
this case, the provision or improvement of public services, especially to the vulnerable population,
is the main aim of the efforts of public administrations. In this section, information management
and interoperability are key aspects.

Since 2015, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) have been driving and inspiring governments and other stakeholders to
take transformative actions, both individually and collectively, for people, the planet, and prosperity.

For cities and communities, Goal 11 refers to “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable ”.
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To meet the targets stipulated within SDG11, there is a need to:

• Take an active interest in the governance and management of the city.
• Identify what works and what does not work.

• Develop a vision for its buildings, streets, and neighbourhoods, and subsequently act on that
vision.

Developments concerning job creation, health care, safety and security, mobility, environmental
quality, shared public spaces, and citizen welfare are all interrelated, and concerns about them
motivate city administrations to meet SDG 11. In that sense, an efficient holistic management
approach for creating a vision for implementing and improving action plans, with relevant key
performance indicators (KPIs), is an efficient technique to meet the objectives and improve the
global quality of life.

While “privacy” is an important aspect to be taken into consideration for the establishment of a
smart city platform, there should be a trade-off between privacy and citizen privacy rights.

1.4 International standards in the homogenization of city indicators

The development of international standards in the field of smart cities has made it possible to
have a common methodology of city indicators (in the form of KPIs) to allow cities to monitor the
fulfilment of their objectives and to be compared with other cities (if required). The definition of
these indicators allows for the identification of best practices and helps to define objectives for
action plans or projects.

The inclusion of standardized indicators in the dashboards of urban city platforms can be used to
measure and evaluate city performance to:

• Monitor and evaluate the progress in urban development and ongoing projects.

• Measure changes in the city after the implementation of its smart city project.

6 U4SSC: Digital solutions for integrated city management & use cases