Page 174 - Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

8 A Path to City Transformation

The backgrounds, capabilities, strengths, and strategic objectives of cities are very
different, and it is not possible to develop a single global solution for their transformation,
intelligence, and sustainability needs. Nevertheless, new technologies and new ways of
working create opportunities to improve cities, and these opportunities should be used by
all cities, regardless of their size, capabilities, resources, or stage of development.

This people-centred digital transformation of cities must be based on strong governance
together with leadership at the highest levels of decision-making, the alignment of
stakeholders’ expectations and the use of the experience accumulated by other cities.
The use of standard, ready-to-use solutions, along with regulatory support of national
standards and other ITU and UN resources publications and reports, represent a valuable
source of information that allow to avoid investments in expensive solution development
from scratch and establish a path of growth capable of adapting to an uncertain demand
for solutions for citizens.

• How to develop a smart city strategy and who to involve?

• What role can cities play in adopting smart city solutions from the point of view of their
own digital transformation?
• What projects are relevant and how to avoid silos?

• How to measure the evolution of the city through KPIs and other tools?

• How to involve the different stakeholders?

The U4SSC Thematic Group of City Platforms has published different documents related to the
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transformation of a city into sustainable and intelligent, and that may be of interest to managers,
citizens and actors interested in this market.

The first paper “IT Solutions for integrated cities management & Use Cases” describes the experiences
of different cities in their transformation process into SSC and provides some interesting insights
into where the “smart city platform market” currently stands, some of the barriers faced by cities
that lead to non-implementation (or limited implementation) of platforms, how these barriers can
be overcome or mitigated, and what are some of the key success criteria and factors for successful
implementation and utilization.

The second document “Smart Public Health Emergency Management” explores the context of
public health and the importance of active surveillance mechanisms in the urban ecosystem to
enable emerging communications for public health disasters and the incorporation of IoT, Artificial
Intelligence and data-driven frameworks to provide timely responses to epidemics and pandemics,

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