Ecorys study on socially inclusive transition to smart cities
Client: Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA) | Sectors: Economic GrowthThe smart transition has been a reality across cities and communities for decades, and has rapidly advanced in recent years. The speed of the digital transition to which it is closely linked, the recognition of the need to build a more inclusive and connected society, as well as the deployment of new ways of working and learning hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic has made than happen. Nonetheless, no transformation comes without costs. Ecorys, together with IDATE Digiworld and Fraunhofer FOKUS, conducted a recently published study in 2022 for the Scientific Foresight Unit (STOA) of the European Parliament that explored the main impacts of such a transition on our cities and, in particular, on citizens. To that end, it identified policy measures to mitigate such risks, and best practices that allow for a socially responsible transition.
A smart city and its challenges
Our study developed a framework to deconstruct the concept of a smart city into five components: smart & safe living, smart governance and e-citizen, smart mobility, smart environment and smart economy. For each component, we analysed a number of concrete applications, or ‘use cases’. In our analysis, we mapped the impacts of use cases across different demographic groups and territorial scales, and we identified the most prominent risks, which can be generally clustered under six core macro-challenges:
European best practices and observations
Beyond identifying impacts and challenges, we mapped best practices across European cities to tackle the abovementioned challenges. In assessing and evaluating successful best practices, we noted that best practices are a valuable instrument for inspiring and promoting the upscale and replication of promising solutions, but we made the following observations:
Policy recommendations
Based on the insights gained from the best practices and building on our understanding of the risks and challenges that cities face, we have developed the following set of policy options to inform EU policy design and legislation:
If you are interested in more information, please read the full report (pdf) and the relevant options brief (pdf), or contact Agnese Macaluso or Alessandro Gasparotti (consultants Resilient Economies),