For a smart city to succeed, it is essential to ensure any proposed technology serves the needs of the city’s residents. It isn’t enough for policy-makers to simply make all decisions around technology-use on behalf of those who will be most affected by it. The best people to tell you what technology will benefit them most is the citizens themselves, and that’s where consultation becomes essential.
What is a smart city?
A smart city is a term that is used with growing frequency. In 2024, Canberra was rated one of the best smart cities in the world, behind Zurich and Oslo. However, sometimes the definition of a smart city is vague or unclear.
So what is a smart city really? According to IBM:
“A smart city is an urban area where technology and data collection help improve quality of life as well as the sustainability and efficiency of city operations.”
A smart city is not simply a city where technology is used frequently. It’s more than a futuristic veneer made of glass and chrome. In order to be deemed a smart city, technology has to be used to actively improve the lives of citizens, and the lives of future citizens.
How smart city technology is used, and to what degree, varies. Integrated digital systems have been used for many purposes in various urban development planning. Examples include public transport, energy generation, tackling crime and reducing waste.
Although the exact use-cases vary, there are three common elements in every smart city:
- Data collection: Smart cities, by necessity, collect a great deal of digital data in order to continuously improve services.
- Interconnected infrastructure: Few digital systems exist in a vacuum, and having systems that “speak to one another” considerably reduces duplication of effort.
- Resident input: Digital solutions within smart cities typically allow residents to intentionally interact with systems, leaving feedback.
Across the Asia-Pacific region, governments are investing in smart city projects. Singapore, for example, uses interactive dashboards to improve public transport and road networks. In Sydney, their Smart City Strategy sets out to use GovTech and broader digital infrastructure to consult on opportunities in healthcare, education and public wellbeing.
Why public consultation is essential in smart city planning
Smart cities are premised on the idea that technology and innovation should serve residents and offer tangible benefits to the city. Those residents should therefore have a real voice in smart city planning.
Smart city consulting involves actively pursuing the views of citizens on all sectors that may potentially be impacted by smart city innovations. These consultations have a great deal to offer policy-makers and developers alike.
Building trust through transparency
A 2024 study of Singapore’s smart city policies found that public trust was enormously important to the way citizens felt about technology. Public support for smart city solutions involved a combination of trust in the technology itself and trust in the government. Both were heavily influenced by the quality of communication citizens received.
Perceived transparency – especially the idea that citizens have the opportunity to voice their thoughts and concerns in ways that will be heard – is particularly important to building trust. Public consultations are a formal framework through which governments can demonstrate transparency and build trust in the implementation process.
Identifying the needs of a community
Smart cities consulting can have real benefits to policy-makers. Through consultation, the needs of the community are made clearer. Do the public want to see technology improve buses or trains? Are they more concerned about crime or surveillance? Do they think technology is currently improving sectors like education and healthcare, or do they worry about the potential impacts this may have on existing services sustainability?
Often, policy-makers have one idea of what public priorities are that doesn’t necessarily reflect the full reality. This is particularly true when identifying the needs of often marginalised groups, whose views may not be well-reflected without active inclusion.
Consultation can improve the implementation process of urban planning, identifying issues early and introducing new ideas.
Legitimacy through consent
When citizens feel that they are being heard, this increases the legitimacy of decision-making. Introducing a radical new technology can sometimes feel abrupt and intrusive, but introducing that same technology following a clear consultation shows residents that decision-makers have first sought their consent.
Legitimacy is vital within public life. It is not enough to simply elect representatives. Sometimes, more participatory democracy is appropriate. Consultations reduce the likelihood of backlash and enhance public policy.
Providing reassurance around data security
When consulting on smart cities specifically, concerns about the technology itself can often arise. Data security, the vulnerability to cyber-attack, and the way information may be used differently in the future all post substantial questions to policy-makers.
Consultations are not just an opportunity to hear the public. Through a purpose-built digital engagement platform, policy-makers have the opportunity to provide factual information and important context to participants. This can be used to allay fears around a new technology and keep the conversation focused in a real world context.
Common smart city projects that need public input
Public input is crucial to successful governance in almost every sector of public life. By engaging communities, governments can identify priorities and address concerns. Typical projects that currently require significant consultations with the public include:
AI-powered public services
Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool that is now used in public and governmental technologies around the world. AI is used in everything from traffic management, to predictive maintenance, to customer support.
While this smart technology has the potential to radically reduce the resources required in certain sectors, residents often have concerns about AI. Public consultation can help to explain how AI is used and gives communities a voice in shaping policies around automation.
Data governance and privacy
Smart cities typically receive and store vast amounts of data from sensors, cameras, and online platforms. Everything from traffic cameras to hospital appointment systems may store data which is used in order to understand and improve services. While this data can be incredibly beneficial, this sometimes raises understandable questions about data security and informed consent.
Public consultations allow governments to explain their policies, and existing safeguards. It allows the public to have a platform for their concerns and creates a model based on public consent. When residents understand how their data is being used, they are more likely to be comfortable with it being shared.
Digital infrastructure planning
We think of advanced technologies as existing largely “in the cloud” or in an otherwise intangible state much of the time. Yet new digital technology involves quite a bit of physical urban infrastructure. From new cables to cooling stations, digital infrastructure often involves development that some may oppose. This is particularly true where there are unaddressed concerns about environmental or health impact, or changes to public spaces.
Consulting residents allows plans to be laid out clearly. Where possible, geospatial data can even be used to clearly show what and where new, smart infrastructure will be built. Addressing concerns clearly and early can do quite a bit to reduce resistance before it begins and improve understanding of these smart city initiatives.
Why smart cities need govtech for engagement
Smart cities are at the cutting edge of tech. Planners in smart cities consistently have to ask themselves “how can technology make this urban development better, easier, and cheaper?”.
It would therefore be ridiculous for smart cities to stick to using legacy methods for engaging their citizens. Paper surveys, static reports and in-person only meetings would be misaligned with the very systems being proposed.
That’s why smart cities depend on digital engagement tools to manage engagement and consultation processes. Platforms like Citizen Space allow city councils and planning officials to run successful consultations across cities. These digital tools include features like:
- Interactive maps to show proposed digital infrastructure.
- Detailed and accessible summaries explaining the detail in a manner a lay-person can understand.
- Clear timelines and feedback processes.
- Built-in analytics for identifying response patterns.
Purpose-built engagement platforms are more inclusive, more accessible and produce a greater variety of responses. It simplifies elements of consultation inclusion that previously added a great deal of admin. For example, language translation or being able to view a translation on any device, and therefore complete it from anywhere.
In Asia, where many cities have rapidly growing populations, digital engagement tools make it possible to run consultations across multiple regions without having to commit large amounts of time or money to the process. This gives decision-makers insights into what people are thinking across every neighbourhood and community for better urban mobility.
Case Study: Hamilton’s 10 year plan
In New Zealand, Hamilton City Council wanted to improve citizen engagement with their 10 year-plan. Previously, submissions had been paper-based, and usually distributed to local councillors. The process was long – sometimes more than six weeks – and it was difficult to view submissions in any meaningful way. This made it hard to engage the public in the process.
In order to modernise the process, the council used Citizen Space in order to enable residents to submit feedback online. Responses were published on the site, making them easily searchable and accessible. The platform’s response publishing features allowed interested parties (including councillors and local groups) to see where opinions aligned and differed. This allowed decisions to be made that took into account a broad range of viewpoints from the wider public.
“When you jump onto Citizen Space you’re straight in there giving your say. There’s no barrier…it increases the ability of access more than anything. That plays a huge part in terms of actually getting a response rather than just giving a reaction.”
– Julie Clausen, Hamilton City Council
Citizen Space is the go-to platform for connecting governments, developers, and citizens. If you’d like to learn more about how our software can be used to benefit smart cities, book a free demo and we’ll walk you through it.