We are glad to inform you that after intense months of work, we have finally concluded the elaboration of the Smart Cities Study 2019.

For this, success stories have been identified and the main keys on smart governance and its main areas of action, open government and advanced strategic management in cities have been analyzed as factors in the transformation of smart cities.

24 cities participated in the study, mostly members of the UCLG Community of Practice Digital Cities. In order to understand the cities’ current situation, a questionnaire was created asking about the key areas that characterize Smart Cities and an information collection form was designed.

The main conclusions of this work point to the need to deepen a Smart Governance by cities, both in the field of open government, and in advanced strategic management, where there is still ample room for improvement:

 

Open government:

  • It is necessary to go from having a Transparency Portal to accountability, both on the achievements and also on the failures.
  • To go from asking the opinion about something defined, to create a design with the citizens “from scratch.”
  • To incorporate in greater extent all non-organized citizens into the participation processes, approaching the spaces where the citizens are located.
  • Deepen collaboration with other stakeholders.

 

Advanced Strategic Management:

  • Strengthen strategic planning processes.
  • More and better assessments, giving more weight to the concept of “impact assessment” and developing “more participatory” assessments.
  • Give higher priority to Foresight Studies and Advanced Analytics. These are still emerging tools in most cities, but they are key for the development of a clear vision for the future and for efficient management of public resources that generate social value.

The study is available in Spanish and English

You may find more information in the following link:

www.uclg-digitalcities.org/en/smart-cities-study/2019-edition