Smart Cities involve the interplay of multiple contents and stakeholders. Hence, it can be regarded as the Art and Science of Systemising Complexity. Through this systemization, it aligns various city stakeholders involving governments, communities, private sectors, youth, academia and NGOs, towards addressing the key challenges of urbanization and climate change in cities.  There are 6 key steps to get started on Smart Cities namely Planning, Governance, Innovation Hub, Delivery Office, Data Management, and eventually leading to the pinnacle of operationalising the Integrated Operation Centre (IOC). With these 6 systemised steps, it will also de-risk delivery and private investments in smart cities.

 

STEP 1 - SMART CITY VISION

Smart City Vision is translated through a common document, the Smart City Action Plan (SCAP) at the local level. For developing countries that are dependent on private-sector partnerships, this SCAP will in turn indirectly translate into the private-sector business plan. The key components of SCAP are Aligning to current policies, baseline digitalization readiness, strategy development, maturity roadmap, action plan development, and implementation management.

 

STEP 2 - SMART CITY GOVERNANCE

To operationalize the SCAP, its implementation governance needs to be first put in place. Smart City Governance involves the establishment of Terms of Reference (TOR) for two-level governance namely Program Steering Committee and Program Implementation Committee. The Secretariat for these two committees is the Program Delivery Office (PDO). The Program Steering Committee oversees city services, operations, data management and risk management of the program. The Program Implementation Committee on the other hand oversees the implementation coordination of smart solutions and related enablers

 

STEP 3 - CITY INNOVATION HUB

Upon operationalizing the governance system, other external stakeholders need to commence their participation in jointly delivering the program as outlined in the SCAP. As these stakeholders are from different backgrounds and perspectives, they need to interact on a neutral platform to spur an open mindset and collaboration. Hence, a neutral platform such as the City Innovation Hub is a critical element in smart city delivery to unleash city innovations. To sustain the hub, it needs to operate on 3 key elements Community, Contents and Place

 

STEP 4 - PROGRAM DELIVERY OFFICE (PDO)

Through the Innovation Hub, collaborations among stakeholders are derived and spurring various smart city projects and initiatives, involving the related smart domain namely smart community and living, smart economy, smart mobility, smart government, smart environment and smart digital infrastructure. These multi-projects must be planned, coordinated, monitored and reported through a central coordination team, namely the PDO. The PDO also manages the progress in smart cities through the Smart City Maturity Roadmap. Apart from overseeing projects, the PDO also carries out Program Management involving operationalisation of the Integrated Operation Centre (IOC), Data Management, Funding Planning, Risk Reporting, etc. Given these required Program Management capabilities, partnership with the private sector (at the program level, beyond just projects) is a necessity in delivering and realizing the smart city aspirations.

 

STEP 5 – DATA MANAGEMENT

Through various smart solution projects, there will be a high volume of data to be consolidated, integrated, and processed towards value creation, as one of the key objectives of smart cities. Hence, Data Pipeline Management is an important capability to facilitate data sharing policies, data cleansing, data aggregation, data profiling, data cataloguing, data modeling, data analytics, data platforms and data services. Data output from these processes is translated into the form of digital twins, urban observatories, citizen apps, reports, etc.

 

STEP 6 – INTEGRATED OPERATIONS CENTRE (IOC)

Data management therefore plays a critical role in supporting the operationalization of IOCs in city planning, surveillance and decision making. The IOCs operate on 3 modes namely Mode 1: Daily Management (to spur Digital Economy and citizen well-being), Mode 2 : Incident/Accident Management (by police, fire brigade, and health authorities) and Mode 3 : Disaster Management (Disaster Management agencies). The early and accelerated recovery of cities from Modes 2 and 3, returning to Mode 1 demonstrates the city’s sustainability and resilience.

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STEP 7 – DISASTER/CRISIS MANAGEMENT

For cities to be resilient and sustainable, it need to accelerate their preparedness for disaster and crisis scenarios encompassing : Pre-disaster activities focus on preparedness and mitigation, including risk assessment, early warning systems, education, and infrastructure improvements to reduce vulnerabilities. During a disaster, efforts shift to response, prioritizing saving lives, providing emergency aid, and ensuring effective coordination among agencies. The recovery phase involves rebuilding and rehabilitation, restoring essential services, and supporting affected communities through financial and psychological aid. Finally, post-disaster activities emphasize evaluation, learning from the event, revising strategies, and implementing sustainable measures to better prepare for future risks, creating a continuous improvement loop in disaster management.

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TAKE-AWAYS :

Based on the above holistic and integrated approach, cities will be able to strengthen their capabilities and capacities in order to accelerate and strengthen their resilience towards fulfilling the aspirations of SDG11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities.

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