Page 31 - U4SSC Data and API requirements for centralized smart city platforms

optimize the flow process, reduce waste and emissions and enhance recycling. Rules for material
flows could be included in the SC Hub that could work as protocol rules between devices (e.g.,
start a food delivery only when a condition is satisfied like, traffic downtown is less that a threshold).

As regards service co-design, citizens can connect and design with others in virtual spaces that
are accessible via the SC Hub. Services could go beyond typical eGovernment ones (Vrabie &
Tirziu, 2016); new services could be based on existing data and interfaces. This engagement can
be established with methods like design thinking and participatory design (Mainka et al., 2016),
under a framework that could be applied via the SC Hub.

Additionally, service and product co-creation means the implementation of the above co-designed
services. Co-design and co-development interactions are not limited to those between citizens and
the local government, they also create the basis for start-ups, which can develop new business
models and services based on the SC Hub’s data. However, depending on the role of the citizens,
this requires the appropriate skills including, development, design, workflows and knowledge
about processes and regulation. According to Nambisan and Nambisan (2013), citizens can play
four different roles in the co-creation process: identifying, discovering or defining a problem
(explorer); conceptualizing a solution (ideator); designing and developing the solution (designer);
and implementing the solution (diffuser).

Furthermore, people can also meet in person and return to the SC Hub. Physical places like public
libraries enable open innovation processes, which has changed their role towards “digital libraries,
special services, and the provision of spaces” (Henkel et al., 2018). In this respect, public libraries
are an indicative example of a physical link between the citizens of a city, the administration,
the stakeholders, and the SC Hub. At these locations, people can develop ideas, discuss, and
implement novel products together, and the results can be made available as products and services
via the SC Hub.

These meetings require multichannel features from the SC Hub. Hartmann et al. (2017) describe the
American citizen relationship management system 311 as a multichannel communication system.
Citizens can communicate via different technologies, like Web self-service portals, social media, a
hotline, and mobile applications. Such an approach is an indicative example to address services
and products that should be available through the SC Hub.

Bringing people and materials together via a hub is also a socio-cultural task that needs to be
implemented carefully. In this regard, a sustainable strategy is needed to keep these processes
active in the long term and to make the results available without great hassle, so that new results
can emerge in cycles. The active involvement of citizens in such a cycle creates the motivation to get
involved and to experience that the efforts also lead to concrete implementation (Jong et al., 2019).

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