Smarter Cities: An Analysis of Our Future’s Cities
A city is a living, breathing phenomenon. It grows, evolves, and transforms. Although cities change of their own accord, they may not always be efficient. Is there such a thing as an efficient city? How do you build a city that is smart, adaptable and efficient for not only the humans that dwell within it, but the ecosystems that we depend on?
Captured by Ryoji Iwata
“Cities magnify humanity’s strengths ”
André Corrêa d'Almeida, the founder of ARCx-Applied Research for Change and former senior advisor to the United Nations Development Program, attempts to tackle these questions in his guide Smarter New York City: How City Agencies Innovate'. Building on the words of Edward Glaeser when he says “cities magnify humanity’s strengths”, Corrêa d'Almeida’s guide heavily focused on the idea that modern cities are not reliant on technology and digital media to ignite innovation as they acted as accelerants. He emphasised the idea that the environment of innovation can be fostered by municipal governments if they pay attention to specific innovation drivers and constraints. By harnessing the true potential of drivers such as leadership and organization; networks and interagency collaboration; responsiveness and decision making; and results and impact, cities will be able to actualise real change which leads to the positive growth of innovation within a city.
Smarter New York City : How City Agencies Innovate by André Corrêa d’ Almeida
In the book, these principal innovation drivers were then brought to life with the use of case studies of city agencies across New York. These case studies included Midtown in Motion, and their attempts to create a large-scale traffic management system, Business Atlas and their open data, cross-government collaboration creating new economic community, OneNYC and their establishment of a holistic multi-sectoral vision that will respond to environmental and economic challenges as well as 9 other agencies all aiming to achieve innovation through different means.
New York City captured by Robert Bye
By combining this lens of innovation drivers with real case studies a conceptual and practical model was developed - The Becoming Smarter Framework (BSF). Corrêa d'Almeida conveys that the Framework “has been built to help mitigate fear of change and failure, encourage investment in curiosity, support trial and error and offer a methodology for program design, pivoting and scaling up.” The goal, ultimately, is to create an efficient, productive, innovation-rich city that does not rely on new technology alone for growth to occur.
The author fundamentally utilizes city agencies as the focus of building a smarter city; however, this is not the only way to get there. In a changing world, we are constantly searching for models and solutions with proven success. Bio-inspired design works exceptionally well as it is immensely inspired by the world around us, with 3.5 million years of proven success through evolution and adaptation. As such a novel and unique approach to problem solving, it is no surprise that many have begun to use biomimicry, and bio-inspired design to build better and smarter cities. The most radical and ambitious of these is the Abuja City Centennial Design Plan.
Abuja City, Nigeria captured by Obinna Okerekeocha
In 2014, Nigeria celebrated its centennial as a nation, and became introspective to the future of their country. One of their goals was to develop a new 1000 hectare city district through the Abuja City Master Plan. This plan was conceptualised with a mission to demonstrate harmony between man and nature, deviating from typical exploitative models. Through a collaboration with biomimicrySA, Actuality and Greg Wright Architects, biomimicry was used as a lens to approach urban infrastructural development within the African context.
“A city is a powerful mediator of human behavior. The way it is planned, built and developed can have a profound effect on how people react to and interact with others within it.”
Through the biomimicry lens, Nigeria addressed the challenge of creating a vibrant, flourishing city that functioned with the efficiency and complexity of a mature ecosystem, while also integrating cooperative relationships across socio-economic boundaries with positive feedback loops of information. Although ambitious, the necessity for such a large success has become exceedingly clear, as the city was to be centred on the idea of “integration, not segregation. A city is a powerful mediator of human behavior. The way it is planned, built and developed can have a profound effect on how people react to and interact with others within it.”
Comparison of Nature Cell and Urban Cell Model by biomimicrySA
To Abuja City, the definition of a smarter city is one that is as adaptable and resilient and exists in a symbiotic relationship with nature. This requires resources and materials being generated, utilised and disposed of as efficiently as possible, emulating the circular metabolism of a complex ecosystem. It also incorporates self-contained but interdependent cellular arrangement of districts. The city will also be people-focused with highest priority going towards pedestrians and non-motorised transport, encouraging people to live and dwell within the city for enjoyment as much as commerce.
What do these models have in common, and what can we learn from them? The most notable and strongest common thread between André Corrêa d'Almeida’s Framework and Abuja City’s Design Plan is undoubtedly the necessity of networking and collaboration, specifically with regard to information exchange. Corrêa d'Almeida stresses that city agencies need to develop communication protocols and organizational culture that promotes the decentralization of data access across strategic partnerships and supporting networks. This would allow a thriving system of agencies which save time and solve problems. These thoughts are echoed with the Abuja City City Design Plan with its call for positive feedback loops of information, viewing information as a vital resource to be shared, and utilized with maximum efficiency as all others. The city would thereby thrive as innovation and collaboration are encouraged strongly if it means there is an increase in the city’s symbiotic relationship with its interdependent districts, and their efficiency to perform their functions.
“A smarter city is one that is built on the informed collaboration of all people, working towards a better and more ideal, yet tangible, future for all its inhabitants. ”
Although both these models differ in approach, they both call for a decentralisation of data access, allowing for the learnings of any body to be shared. A smarter city is one that is built on the informed collaboration of all people, working towards a better and more ideal, yet tangible, future for all its inhabitants.
