Smart Cities Developments from the European Region
In Europe, smart city projects make use of digital technologies and public sector innovations to address a wide range of local challenges. This report builds on ICTC’s prior research on Canadian and international smart city developments to focus on the experiences of numerous cities in Europe. This European focus reflects the fact that the region is known as a global leader in smart city projects. These findings are primarily based on a series of interviews conducted with subject matter experts and municipal staff in cities with notable smart city initiatives.
As many of these European projects have similar areas of focus (or as ICTC has referred to them, “smart city priority areas”), the projects are consolidated into larger categories, noting specific insights and benefits. In addition to examining projects under the categories of Smart Government, Smart Mobility, Smart Infrastructure, Smart Energy and Environment, Smart Health and Wellbeing, and Smart Regulation, this report addresses a variety of shared insights and themes that have emerged.
Within the context of European smart city projects, this research identifies motivations and best practices, alongside the importance of partnerships, benefits and challenges of smart city development, the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and general labour market impacts.
Across the 20 key informant interviews conducted for this study, the following common principles emerged:
Quan, T. and Ye, Z., “Lessons from Abroad: Smart Cities Developments from the European Region,” April 2022. Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC). Ottawa, Canada.
Designed by Mairead Matthews.