Page 18 - Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

Problems such as climate change, energy, food security, pandemics, poverty and pollution can
hardly be solved by the national governments alone. It is precisely within the area of sustainability,
and in the relationship and proximity with citizens where cities play a greater role.

Participation in transnational municipal networks such as the United for Smart Sustainable Cities
(U4SSC) has become an opportunity to make local policies visible at the international level, and
to contribute to the dissemination of good practices or the exchange of ideas, knowledge and
experience, which contributes to invigorating relations between cities.

The current governance of cities, e.g., political and social neighbourhood, necessarily involves
making appropriate decisions, or at least decisions aligned as much as possible with citizens’
demands, without giving up compliance with internationally established sustainability standards.
The idea of having adequate data and information management frameworks is key in the good
governance of cities and as a reinforcement in the motivation of the discretionary decisions that
define:

• Urban planning and changes in urban design.

• Citizen participation.
• The reduction of the digital gap.

• The integration of municipal services with other entities, whether regional or national.
• The exploitation of public data for use by the business ecosystem.

Nowadays, any public entity should define itself and focus on providing an efficient and effective
service to citizens based on at least two essential principles: intelligence & smartness, and
sustainability. A Smart City is not only a sensorized city, but also a city that obtains value from the
data it generates and acts accordingly considering the opinion of citizens. A Smart City is a city
that learns to adapt to its circumstances and its environment and has the capacity to transform all
sectors of the population.

A Smart City is a city whose inhabitants have opportunities and safe spaces for learning and sharing;
a place to experiment in collaborative processes that expand creativity and collective wisdom for
the design and implementation of common projects. A city with attentive citizens connected to
its purpose, with businesses that are aware of their social responsibility; knowledge entities at
the service of societal challenges, and an open and enterprising government that assumes its
leadership responsibilities in the face of challenges. As defined in Recommendation ITU-T Y.4900:

“A Smart Sustainable City is an innovative city that uses information and communication
technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, the 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 aspects”.

These notes on global management, the use of information and communication technologies
to improve citizens’ quality of life, and reinforcement through them converge in the conceptual

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