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"The future of the city doesn't belong to us, it belongs to those we leave behind"
By Astrid Zweynert
Cities from Singapore to San Francisco and Barcelona to Bangalore are buzzing with efforts to become smart by teaming up with companies to integrate information technologies to make urban spaces more liveable.
But to be really intelligent they need to do more, experts said at a panel discussion in London on Tuesday.
The city of the future must also answer the needs of future generations, be inclusive and collaborative rather than act in isolation to push its own agenda, they said.
Smart cities aim to create urban spaces where green, high-tech initiatives bring more efficient management of resources, including water and energy, and better services to citizens.
"The future of the city doesn't belong to us, it belongs to those we leave behind. This is incredibly important when we're thinking about technological innovation," said Michael Keith, director of COMPAS, the University of Oxford's Centre on Migration, Policy and Society.
The new global development goals (SDGs) adopted a year ago by the United Nations introduced an urban goal that calls on enhancing inclusive and sustainable urbanisation and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable planning.
Inclusive urban development will also be a key theme next month when global leaders meet in Quito, Ecuador, to agree a new 20-year development plan for the world's cities, which will be home to 70 percent of the world's population by 2050.
But the inclusion of residents in planning decisions has not always kept apace amid a proliferation of smart solutions, which include public transport run on clean energy, solar-powered street lights and green buildings to create a low-carbon future.
Thibaut Nguyen, an official at the U.N. Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, pointed out that efforts to make cities smart had in some cases been undemocratic and led to people being evicted.
In India, where more than 100 cities have joined the smart cities effort, local authorities have come under pressure because of plans to evict thousands of slum dwellers without consultation.
"Such efforts to make cities smarter have become controversial because they are being used as justification to destroy neighbourhoods," Nguyen said.
More efficient data collection that is mindful of the needs of the most vulnerable urban residents would go a long way to improving decision-making, said Jarmo Eskelinen, chief innovation and technology officer at Future Cities Catapult, a London-based centre for the advancement of smart cities.
"It has become quite clear that the smart planning of cities and the new urban agenda don't quite meet yet," he said.
Astrid Zweynert is head of digital news at the Thomson Reuters Foundation
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