Page 16 - Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

City Platforms-Transitioning to a new architecture", "Tourism, Health and Resilience Management
from the perspective of a Smart City Platform"

To help cities currently committed to the Smart and Sustainable Cities strategy promoted by U4SSC,
this document delves into different aspects related to the description of a reference framework
for integrated city management. The first chapter "Current context of cities" describes the current
challenges, the digital government of the city based on values, the regulatory framework, and the
enabling elements for an intelligent ICT management.

In the chapter “IT Government of a city”, a conceptual vision of the SSC is described, what are the
main levers of transformation in strategic management, as well as the organization and functions
of a possible department of a transversal nature that leads the execution of the strategy and the
future vision in the medium to long term.

Because the reality of cities is complex and heterogeneous in terms of their own urban nature,
degree of technological development and available resources, the following chapters describe
a technological architecture objective, “Urban digital reference architecture” that encompasses
the connectivity and technological systems of an SSC, and that can serve as a model for the
technological evolution of the city.

In a sustainable and intelligent urban ecosystem, the convergent communications network must
be able to support the deployment of thousands of heterogeneous devices (Internet of Things, or
IoT) to provide intelligence to physical infrastructures, ensuring the quality and availability of the
underlying services. This aspect is relevant because a large part of the success of this transformation
depends on adequate connectivity and how these devices are deployed in the city area.

Moreover, urban platforms – understood as the set of collaborative information systems – provide
cities with a solid technological base to incorporate, in an organized manner, the necessary elements
for their digital transformation.

The chapter “Business and application components” deals with different initiatives for the
development of innovative, efficient, secure, and economical digital services. Different initiatives
such as GovStack, allow these objectives to be achieved with re-usable functional blocks, thus
achieving economies of scale, avoiding duplication of investments, and allowing municipal
managers to focus on providing innovative services and solutions to citizens, companies, and the
public sector.

Lastly, the chapter "A Path to City Transformation" provides a set of recommendations based
on authors experience in the strategic, technological and management areas, which can serve
as an introductory guide to city managers and other stakeholders related with the process of
transformation towards a smart and sustainable city.

2 Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC | June 2023