Smart cities: can they work?

Amsterdam is lauded as the most energy-efficient city in Europe but emissions are rising. Bruno Berthon, managing director of sustainability services at Accenture, writes in Guardian about what lessons can be learnt from various smart city initiatives.

According to Mr Berthon much of the cities talk is about smart technologies: smart grids, smart buildings, water systems and intelligent transport. But it’s clear that they cannot be seen in isolation. All too often, fragmented projects ‘“ often of a prestige kind ‘“ have resulted in unsustainable and costly ventures.

Central to the success of intelligent cities is an open platform that unites all government departments, services and technologies.

Summarising about the guiding principles for the creation of successful intelligent cities, Berthon concurs with Philippe Delorme of Schneider Electric, who pointed to

the need for public leadership to incentivise private sector involvement, collaboration between sectors on standards for processes and technologies, and ownership by consumers and users of the new solutions that are being developed.

So even though Amsterdam has a long way to go, these are the reasons why we should hold it up as an example to the world.

More info

Smart cities: can they work? | Guardian Sustainable Business

Via: Human Scale Cities