Page 22 - U4SSC Simple ways to be smart

to create sufficient density for efficient service delivery. Shrinking cities may benefit from smart
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interventions that can provide services remotely. They have also benefitted from opportunities for
greater involvement from residents in deciding strategies to cope with the decline, as well as new
ways to communicate with residents.
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2.1.6 Rapidly-growing cities in developing contexts

On the other hand, many cities are experiencing rapid growth as people move into them in search
of better opportunities and living conditions. The fastest growing cities in the world are in low
income or developing countries. Faced with rapid population growth such cities experience
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multiple social, economic and environmental challenges. They often have growing slum areas
with poor housing and sanitation. Such areas are unplanned and can be very difficult to provide
with normal city services. Additionally, cities in low-income or developing countries often face
an infrastructure deficit which limits economic growth. With many city residents engaged in the
informal economy, cities may find that they have only a small tax base and they often find it difficult
to collect taxes effectively. 31

All of these challenges might lead such growing cities to conclude that being smart is beyond their
reach. However, such cities need creative ways to provide services and technology offers ways to
interact with residents and provide services at scale. Where government services are not functioning
optimally, the private sector has often stepped in to meet needs. This tradition can be usefully built
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on to develop innovative smart solutions that are suited to these often chaotic, expanding cities.

2.2 Local innovation

Cities have been described as “hotspots of human culture and ingenuity”. As well as brimming with
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life and culture, they are also sites of innovation. The proposition of Smart Cities is that innovations
in technology, policy and processes can help to address some of the challenges that cities face,
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which seem insurmountable, using existing tools and approaches. Because cities face very different
conditions, and smart interventions are difficult to transfer across contexts, innovation is required
to address contextual differences. Catalogues of smart interventions, including this one, should
not be viewed as cases to be replicated so much as examples to inspire.

A city does not become a smart city merely from the use of ICTs in its processes. A smart city is
one which seeks to capitalise on available technologies to find solutions for pressing issues society
is facing. To be smart, every city needs to innovate and to create the conditions for ongoing
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innovation. A smart city might be thought of as an urban innovation ecosystem that effectively
manages its own development by innovating constantly in aspects of city management and
operations as well as in the ways that the city is occupied and used by residents and visitors. This
innovation is likely to take advantage of technologies that extend our human capacities to learn,
remember and act.

10 U4SSC: Simple ways to be smart