Page 30 - Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

to react appropriately. Specifically, digitized cities could ensure the well-being of their residents
and maintain the continuity of urban functions.

Technology has increased participation and social connection, improved physical and mental
health, and maintained the functionality of educational and economic systems. These have been
achieved through various solutions and technologies such as social media, remote assistance
(telehealth, teleworking), and IoT sensors & monitoring.

Improving urban resilience in Smart Cities implies the analysis of the role of technology in crisis
management to understand what policy changes they need to implement to respond successfully
to these challenges. Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic show how smart city solutions
and technologies can enable cities to better prepare for and respond to future similar disasters. 11

City Applications must comply with Data Protection Regulations fully. In some cases, if necessary,
they must be installed voluntarily, approved by the authorities, and dismantled once the crisis is
over. They must exploit the latest solutions to improve privacy and interoperability. In addition, apps
should rely on anonymous data so that they can alert people who, for example, might have been
in close proximity with an infected person, without revealing the identity of the latter.

2.5 The digital transformation of cities as a basic piece in innovation

Smart City transformation has become clearer than ever. The successful reinvention of our cities
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requires the adoption of a human-centred design approach. This focuses on harnessing the
collective intelligence of communities to understand the human experience from the diverse
perspectives of the people who live, work, learn and play in cities every day. This approach has even
greater value as we are seeing a greater focus on the role of local neighbourhoods in strengthening
community resilience.

The improvement of the municipal organization, at the organic, functional and resource level, as
well as the means of management and preparation of services to the citizen implies not only the
electronic collection of data and information and their proper treatment but also their practical
use as an objective parameter for decision-making. This entails the possibility of offering citizens
access to certain municipal information, “open data”. The Smart City model is no longer a model
of public rationalization of power: horizontal coexistence of agents or subjects (of transformation
of the city) but makes the citizen an essential protagonist and receiver of all the actions developed
in their natural habitat and a fundamental pillar of the digital transformation of this environment.

The most relevant feature of Smart and Sustainable Cities is the massive and growing use of
information and communication technologies in city planning and management tasks to facilitate
efficient, inclusive and integrated urban development. ICTs are the central element of this new
paradigm that provide real-time information with which to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency,
and sustainability of public services through commonly accepted KPI’s based on international

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