Possible pathway for resilient public transportation system:

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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A resilient transportation system is one–

a) that is made of entire low capacity to high capacity public transportation system, and has such system under single apex governing entity, for better control, cross-subsidisation, and better access to fund due to critical mass (applicable in both mono and multi-stakeholder arrangement)

b) that includes even last mile connectivity in its project scope, offering matching service experience (often excluded and usually only limited to feasibility studies or sometime complemented with poor last mile fleet services)

c) which still plans for future growth and expansion even when battling with low ridership at any moment

d) mobilises sound instruments beyond transit infrastructure, rolling stock and fleet, like TOD, value capture, rail and metro station real estate lease, advertisement space lease, monetising experience etc.

e) which forms partnership with other forms of complimentary transportation service providers and competitions like app based cab service, rideshare, micromobility services, bicycle rental; especially for seamless connectivity, healthy mutually rewarding competition, and making use of anonymised data for passenger flow modelling, network analysis and empirical predictions

f) which has opted for digitalisation of governance and operations from customer centric services, network management to, unified cashless ticketing system, to fleet management and tracking, to predictive maintenance, to fleet automation, to on-demand services

g) which focuses on customer service, customer acquisition and customer retention in all separate target age, gender and ability groups and creates channels to actively seek passenger and anonymous feedback

h) which has excellent online and offline information dissemination and audio-visual display system and hence can devise flexible network configuration and flexible coach configuration without disappointing customers, required to respond to fluctuating demand, many a times experienced due to seasonal and diurnal variation, route characteristics and force majeure event; required to stay financially afloat (system that not just focuses on expansion, but one that is able to sequester as well)

i) finally, public transportation system, which may consider to experiment with real time flexible ticket pricing based of fleet occupancy level using gamut of technological aids like sensors and analytical cameras.

Additional thoughts on real time pricing for public transport system can be found in my other Linkedin article here [https://lnkd.in/eaa28zat]

Author: Anoop Jha

#publictransport #metro #tram #bus #transitionpathways #transportplanning #automation #technology #micromobility #bicycle #rideshare #fleetmanagement #networkanalysis #ret #ns #urbanplanning #smartcity #Amsterdam #Utretch #Hague #Delft #Denbosch #Alkmaar #Tilburg #Eindhoven #Rotterdam #Netherlands

An inclusive city needs more than smart interventions!

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Inclusiveness is not a function of smartness of the city. A city that is labelled intelligent still can't guarantee inclusion across spectrum of inhabitants or equity of service level across range of end users with varying needs.

Talking of smart citizen app for instance, we must deliberate who are the end users and whether digital benefits get distributed across citizens equitably or is it even accessible to all. Thinking of those homeless, those who can't read, those who don't own phone not to speak of smart phone, those who speak a different language, those whose needs are not listed in app, those who are too young or too old to use it, those who cannot access app due to health conditions, those who are not aware that such app exist, those who are running outdated app, those who do not have best data speed plan or access to internet itself and many others - a citizen app may mean different things to different inhabitants of city and meaningless to some.

Likewise in case of smart public infrastructure, how many actually access and uses public wifi other than tourists and few motivated others; who all actually have time and mindspace to switch to public wifi to save a miniscule amount of money and why will they risk malware attack and phishing if they have to use it only once in a while and when their personal telecom provider already gives them enough data and bandwidth. Again benefits reaches to only limited segment, actually those who are already empowered.

Like health equipment market which is skewed in a sense that those who are already fit tends to buy or use it more to be more fit, similarly E-governance for instance is more empowering to those who are already privileged in some sense or other, while the life of most of marginalized or at fringe or having specific or special needs may still remain unchanged by the noble initiatives like E-governance and public wifi network.

A sense of inclusion, belongingness and well being in a city has a different meaning altogether than solving city functionality through digital intervention or otherwise.

So how do we make a city which accommodates everyone's need - digital way or old analog way or with a parallel system of high tech and low tech intervention or on demand digital services or near-omnipresent services delivery or tailored door step governance and service delivery especially for those forgotten, those having limited means, those in dier needs, those marginalized and those at the fringe to make an equitable society.

Author: Anoop Jha

#smartinfrastructure #municipality #digital #future #policy #governance #cityplanning #urbanplanning #townplanning #inclusion #socialscience

Solution of urban space constraints may possibly lie within existing spaces itself.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Part of the solution of urban space constraint lies in the shared use of space, infrastructure, amenities and real estate inventory. Problem that is apparently caused by selective temporal and diurnal use of indoor and outdoor spaces and associated opportunity cost of space, and solution that possibly lies in multifunctional use of space.

Decades of inertia in terms of concept of space based on segregation of function, activities and power hierarchy, makes it rather challenging to have a broader discussion on such subject. Only some emerging shared real estate space concepts are being realised here and there.

Starting with space module of residential unit, where there is no universally agreeable standard floor space threshold between the wide range of low income housing to multimillionaire mansions, and if we focus primarily on quality of residential experience instead of floor space area, it is evident that living experience of a compact star category hotel room, possibly having one fourth or one third of typical residential unit floor space area, might be considered far better than average residential unit. (To calibrate, you may think of last time you went on vacation and booked hotel). Which theoretically implies two things, one, that if hotel chains for instance could design and manage residential housing across city, they may offer better living experience in less floor space of residential unit and saved real estate space means better quality of living experience in same or less price; second that they can come up with interoperable residential arrangement and contract, that means while you are away working, travelling or on vacation, someone else can use that space, something in line of timeshare and shared living, but at mass scale, by creating and repurposing residential inventory.

Similarly interoperability of other land use functions can be devised like offices, malls and retail spaces which remains unused for two third to one third of the day. Something like creating or repurposing land use and built-up area for shared working and shared commercial purpose.

Likewise there is immense possibility of multi-functionality in city in terms of shared infrastructure, shared amenities and facilities, which can still also make social, environmental and commercial sense.

We need to slowly move towards thinking of 24x7x365 usage of entire land use categories, making most of every square feet of precious real estate and outdoor spaces in city. This may mean regulatory changes, a new architectural and urban planning approach, real estate business model innovation, lifestyle and societal changes.

Author: Anoop Jha

#realestate #architecture #hotel #circulareconomy #timeshare #coliving #coworking #architecture #smartcity #Amsterdam #Utretch #Hague #Delft #Denbosch #Alkmaar #Noordholland #Northholland #Tilburg #Eindhoven #Rotterdam #Netherlands

Cities as overlapping layers of supply chain networks.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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Cities can be looked at as an overlapping layers of supply chain networks where city function is characterised by transfer and exchange of resources and commodities sometimes physical and sometimes virtual. Where physical supply chain network comprises of resource and commodity distribution namely supply of distributed labour to centres of production (work place) as well as from food supply chain to e-commerce delivery network, to retail supply chain to hierarchy of logistics distribution. Virtual supply chain network may be understood as communication supply chain where information is being transferred and exchanged as knowledge commodity through a complex network of embedded channels like social, professional and educational media. Hybrid nature of network is also witnessed like in form of print media, which still essentially deals with transfer and communication of knowledge, again a commodity.

 

That being said, there is immense untapped potential of these network of supply chain which can be harnessed in a city or region, in a business as usual scenario (though some innovative use of such network is witnessed in times of crisis). Two clear advantages are there, first if each of these network could do some improvement in its existing network configuration, making network suitable for repurpose to serve additional objectives without much expenditure. Second, if these networks (like a conduit) could leverage each others network strength in some part of its supply chain, it may immediately yield in optimisation, and better rate of return for businesses.

To leave with some thoughts, in a hypothetical scenario, WHETHER, businesses of similar nature and trade, widely distributed in a metropolis (with their individual labour supply network) will collaborate, brainstorm and swap/ exchange with each other, some of their employees who commute from a very long distance every work day, with those employees (with comparable qualification) who live in neighbourhood of these businesses; in a way that both set of employees swapped get to live and work in its original neighbourhood. It may be a win-win situation for both businesses and individuals.

Likewise for instance global aid networks (like those dealing in emergency food and nutrition), who have reach to remotest parts of world, can use their existing distribution network to support and exchange other noble global causes by joining hands - like supply of frugal innovation test kits, knowledge and awareness OR documentation of native cultural traditions and craft OR linking native art and craft to global market using its existing food supply network for instance.

Author: Anoop Jha

#urbanmanagement #urbanplanning #supplychain #network #smartcity #sustainability #resilience #future #innovation

Not anytime sooner AI or ChatGPT will surpass human intelligence or completely fulfil human desire for excellence.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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As the saying goes - there are finer fishes in the ocean then ever been caught. Likewise, there is way too much human experiences than ever been documented, way too much knowledge then ever been published, countless layers of emotions then ever been fathomed. Worth mentioning, as above knowledge and experiences never made their way to big data with which machines are being trained in principle.

Machine intelligence may amuse one, may even trick one, for a moment or two for sure, may serve the worldly purpose to much extent as well, but not going to surpass human intelligence (not in terms of weather prediction) and instinct any time sooner, neither fulfil their quest and expectations. Needs of human intellect is more than ever possibly to be fulfilled by machine or AI, at least not in near term.

History is dotted with precedents. Take a look at art for instance, photography and digital media were perceived to have immense disruptive potential, and they actually disrupted creativity and aesthetics, but never could kill art, rather made art more stronger. Take example of internet, it had potential to disrupt knowledge and it did, but could never uproot academia, rather it strengthened it. Take for instance cars, there was technically no going back to non-motorised vehicle, but bicycle prevailed and rather going stronger. When there came polyester, there was no going back to handloom, but it left people longing even more for cotton. Likewise the advent of genetically modified food and reactionary human quest for organic produce. And robots that could never render manpower obsolete.

As human needs and reactions to external events are way complex, hence their self organising tendency around any new disruption is also evident. Human being prefer to dwell at the borderline of existence, to have a chance to immerse oneself in experience in one instance (sometimes driven by technology) and withdraw in private seclusion in next moment. Essentially delocalised and never to be confined in one orbit.

Human quest remains unchallenged, as there is no technology which can quench their thirst, their quest for excellence, and search for newness. The best thing one can do in such times of technological flux is to embrace the change and keep calm!

Author: Anoop Jha

#technology #ChatGPT #AI #ML #bigdata #machinelearning #futuretech #disruption #smartcity #urbanplanner #architect #Rotterdam #Hague #Eindhoven #Utrecht #Amsterdam #Netherlands

Image:Pixabay 

Digitalisation - possibly the only way forward!

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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We, take action (going from point A to B in a city) to accomplish day to day task and take smaller steps (changing transport modes, crossing road) to eventually complete the task (reaching destination in this case). Now lets take "digital" out of the equation to understand the role of digitalisation in this process. Which means it will be difficult to know the exact status of next bus, local train until reaching bus stop or station; add time spent in buying ticket possibly, and if running out of cash then may pay visit to bank first (as even ATMs won't be around), also traffic signals won't be syncronised, so it will be difficult even to cross the road quickly and safely; also after reaching a new destination spend additional time searching for exact address in absence of digital map, while it will also be difficult to get task completed remotely in absence of digitalisation.

This basically means we may have to add more minutes and hours in our planned action as cushion to offset uncertainty, and to overcome anxiety. Different versions of above case anyways used to be reality a decade or two ago.

If digital interventions in people's life equates to saved time per day, per action that means better planning, more freedom of choice, less efforts, relaxation, sanity, better health, better control of action (life) and also as a perk ever connectedness, omnipresent assistance and being more resourceful. The way digital services are embedded in todays day to day life, it may be difficult to chose alternative disconnected life, unless someone is on vacation in a remote eco-resort or beach retreat.

Even when people complain about constant surveillance in public space, the first thing they will possibly wish for will be CCTV coverage, in case they happen to be in a situation of threat or facing petty or serious crime.

There are some good examples of how digitalisation can work very well without much compromise, for instance in one of the South Rotterdam Neighborhood to counter the burglary etc. the pilot smart street lights uses audio visual clues to detect unusual situations, suspicious behaviors like burglary and theft, fight etc., and then intensifies light, raises alarm, record events only in such situations and alert law enforcement. Details of pilot here (https://lnkd.in/eHP7MNPh).

Digitalisation is sometimes synonyms with smart cities. While its a constant debate that what kind of and how much digitalisation is needed in a (smart) city; acknowledging the role and embeddedness of digital interventions in day to day life, the possible best way forward would be to embrace the digitalisation, and attempt to keep improvising same.

Author: Anoop Jha

#Digitalisation #urbanplanning #urbanmanagement #architecture #smartcity #Amsterdam #Utretch #Hague #Delft #Denbosch  #Alkmaar #Noordholland #Northholland #Tilburg  #Eindhoven #Rotterdam #Netherlands

Decoding architectural and urban planning profession, mannerism and dimensions!

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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How architects and urban planners possibly think, what all they encounter? What are the key challenges of profession?

Architects and urban planners are usually creative, imaginative, and practical enough to almost dwell at the border of science and philosophy. They often like to draw analogy, parallel and similarity, find harmony and juxtaposition, search for patterns, logic and inspiration, build complex compositions while capable of offering even more complex explanation of same, articulate subtle thoughts, envision rare possibilities and more; meanwhile juggling between, functionality, aesthetics and feasibility; which most of the time remains a trade-off. Their works also have to qualify on aspirations of range of stakeholder and users, today and in centuries to come; work that should also withstand test of time, finding continued relevance, facing weather, disaster, praise and criticism alike.

Sometimes, rather many a times architects and urban planners operate on different scales, but their quest and creative search remains similar, i.e., creating something for people, community; something that is functional, aesthetic, comforting and nostalgic; but also within reach and viable; may be complex but also abstract enough to be explained to and understood by all.

Architects and urban planners sometimes draw similarity between human and architecture, and between human and city, as possibly human, being the most complex functional entity. A vast and complex subject as it is, has equally vast challenging regime, where half of world may not be having proper access to architectural services, neither having means, representation or entitlement, searching from the pool of architects who don’t even exist today; Similarly scores of unauthorised settlements, suburban villages and small towns in different parts of world, big or complex enough to qualify for a city title, having little awareness, resources and empowerment, to have timely access to urban planning services.

Architectural and urban planning profession has been that way since quite few decades, that is asymmetric in its services and reach, no less than economic or digital divide; also characteristic of juxtaposition, from the epitome of expression and demonstration at one end to the absolute absence of same on other end.

What’s going on now and what’s the way forward? Increasingly resource gap is being filled, awareness within, and about architecture and urban planning is growing, architectural and planning services are increasingly reaching to areas of cities and areas beyond cities which remained unattended in past, and increasingly serving the remote parts of world.

Author: Anoop Jha

Architect Planner

#urbanplanning #architecture #smartcity #Delhi #Mumbai #India #Africa #Europe #EU #Amsterdam #Utretch #Hague #alkmaar #noordholland #northholland #Eindhoven #Rotterdam #Netherlands

The success of new concepts of city development usually either depends on wider demographic coverage or awaits a technological renaissance!

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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“Walk to work” has been a bit of an old concept, made popular by real estate advertisements while selling housing inventory way back. “15-minute city” comes to the rescue, but should possibly come with a disclaimer that it may have certain demographic and geographical relevance. That is because, a large part of the world and scores of cities may still not be prepared to immediately embrace the poised city planning concepts like above due to multiple structural challenges including real estate unaffordability, the uncertainty of job location over the years, dual and multi-income households, budget deficit etc. Thinking of a dual-income nuclear family and multi-income joint family for instance, at least one or several of such family members might still have to travel long distances to places of work, 5 to 6 days a week, these families may also not be getting time or have the motivation to visit recreational places, parks, sports centres etc., even in walking distances, due to work-life imbalance.

Thinking of millions of those who will still willingly prefer to use e-commerce sites for shopping or use food delivery apps instead of going out. Thinking of all those paying all the bills from home and those who never really required to visit utility kiosks, banks, post office, ATMs or municipal offices, for many of them the distance of neighbourhood facilities may not be of much importance.

It is noteworthy that while there are forces on one side trying to make cities accessible, meaningful and vibrant for wider demography, at the same time there are reverse combined forces of commerce, industry, real estate, and employment market instilling juxtaposing demographic changes, i.e., either forcing people to commute long distances causing exhaustion or making them habitual of a sedentary lifestyle.

The last real changes in city planning concepts that actually altered the urban morphology altogether across the world were driven by technology like high-speed transit and mass transit options. We are fortunately standing at a crossroads when real changes in urban morphology and urban management will possibly again be visible and will be driven by the force of technology only. Many such concepts being already tested in smart city pilots (#autonomous ground and #airmobility etc.) as well as city-scale projects, (#micro-mobility, #MaaS, etc.) as well as some new social change concepts seem to be finding ground (remote working, hybrid working, remote learning, etc). This new technological renaissance to be witnessed through aid of #startupecosystem #ML #AI #IoT ect.

Author: Anoop Jha

#urbanmanagement #urbanplanning #urbandevelopment #walktowork #15minutecity #smartcity #livinglab #infrastructure #UMD #WFH #micromobility #publictransport #MRTS #Rotterdam #France #Paris #Hague, #Eindhoven #Amsterdam #Netherlands

What with data protection and privacy in smart city debate?

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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DataProtection and Privacy must be assessed without fixating on SmartCity.

Data vulnerability and privacy is a subject that goes beyond surveillance and facialrecognition and many a times has nothing to do with smart city, as people are usually no less vulnerable even outside smart city jurisdictions.

To give this a perspective, from the moment a child is born they tend to become a data point for someone or other, sometimes with or without parental consent depending on which part of world they are in. From their medical test report, to vaccination record, to genetic database, to TV shows they watch, to all the schools they go to or not, even those drop out from school become data points for some research or statistics. Strange enough this is achieved without children necessarily requiring to own a phone.

Collecting data from adults is far easier. Child again become a goldmine of data as they become adult, the moment they are obliged to own a phone without which it may be impossible to access even many day to day or other services in almost every part of world, or whether they own phone by choice. Interestingly our interaction, inaction and rejection (e.g. with website) all becomes equally valid data element for someone out there. 

Hundreds of access and tracking permissions that we give to random sites and apps including saving passwords and what not, all the cookies sitting in our phones and laptops, altogether with our linked identity, possibly makes us more vulnerable sitting at home compared to being out there in street facing surveillance cameras and street sensors.

We entrust and never usually question scores of institutions who take our important data and identity information, including banks, e-commerce, phone manufacturers, assuming they will protect it, but use of data by #governments and entities for smart city purpose remains a much debatable subject. Fear surrounding data and privacy is real and natural, as threats are also real and stakes are high. It is seen that governments and knowledge institutions across the world are increasingly getting aware of this fact and are relentlessly working on safeguarding data of their citizens in smart cities, forming policies, laws and contracts. They are also seen transferring knowledge to other municipalities equipping them for future smart cities. What is also required is national, regional and global cooperation and common framework of data privacy and ethics. Bringing all possible stakeholders of smart cities in the common wider net of law is also important as you never know who is teaching their machines what bias language.

The focus has to be on how to #anonymize and #safeguard data within the network and hierarchy of stakeholders.

Author: Anoop Jha

#data #egovernance #governance #policy #machinelearning #ml #iot #mobility #AR #VR #urbanmanagement #Rotterdam #Delft #Eindoven #Amsterdam #Utretch #Hague #Netherlands 

With possibilities of real-time response, universal payment etc. today there should be a far better public transport pricing mechanism!

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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The following may be true for a range of cities across the world.

When it comes to public transport of all kinds, while the process of ticketing and payment methods and modes have seen a lot of innovation, driven by technology over the past years and decades, but there seems to have been little innovation in the pricing mechanism of public transport ticketing.

When we think of ease and equity of population, but you still see the same decade or so old handful of deferred pricing mechanism like tourist ticket, day ticket, regular passenger discount pass, off-peak hour discount, and maybe age bracket discount. This is so outdated, while you can possibly charge on a scale from one percent to hundred percent of the ticket price (still honoring various categories of tickets mentioned above) based on the real-time occupancy level of the specific bus, tram, etc. at any given time, still running a profitable venture.

The pricing mechanism which is actually one of the most important affairs of the public transport sphere and which directly touches the lives of millions has remained static while everything else about public transport has changed mostly through technology, it's surprising.

Root cause, no authority or transport service provider would like to run the risk of changes in projected revenue from public transport for instance. Even if it means losing out on big profit possibilities (for both parties), as there is comfort in known! 

City is a unique place. You see scores of vacant unsold houses in many cities and you also see those struggling to buy own house and those homeless on the streets, all in the same city.

You also see in a city, public transport of different kinds, many a time running partially or near empty on one or many occasions of day, on one and many stretches of the city, every single day and over the years, and you see people who are not allowed to board these near vacant public transport modes without paying a pre-fixed price or pre-decided discounted price and hence you also don’t see the latent flux of people you could have seen otherwise if authority or transport service provider would have allowed them to board the public transport on a fraction of standard or discounted ticket price i.e., as low as 1% to 5% to 10% or other of the standard ticket price, as a function of public transport occupancy level. Just because no one wants to do the math, both parties are at loss including operators and users. 

Now considering baseline criteria as public transport quality is good, everyone uses a multimodal touch-and-go payment card and payment is made inside or at the entry of the transport system say tram, bus, (possibly LRT, Metro, train as well) etc.

Now if we use embedded sensors inside tram and bus (and possibly metro and LRT) for instance calculate the occupancy of this particular bus or tram at any given moment and allowing real-time adjustments in ticket prices for "this particular" bus or tram to the extent i.e., near vacant tram or bus means near zero ticket price (as the operator is anyways getting zero if the system is running empty, even marginal profit over business as usual is still a profit), hence pricing will keep changing for every next rider, mostly lower than typical pricing and never exceeding the standard ticket pricing, also prompting more people to board the tram or bus if they see it running at lower occupancy, knowing that they will have to pay lower or just fraction. Apps can provide such projected pricing reduction information about any particular route in real-time to prospective travelers. If we tailor the existing transport system through upgrade or retrofit and adopt a real-time pricing mechanism at this granular level powered by tech (e.g., sensor fusion, etc) both transit service providers and citizens will be winner in terms of benefits and savings respectively, and it will help people switch from private to public transport, a much desired ”model shift”.   

So real issue and opportunity is how to deal with occupancy level for (sometimes mutual) benefit of supplier and consumer?

Occupancy is a wonderful tool!

The hospitality industry learned this long back and hence early bird and last-minute discounts. The rental market is already thriving on this in some places. Aviation also leveraging it somewhat. Taxi services learned the other way around, how to inflate the price 2X or 4X or more through congestion charges. The public transit segment world over is still lagging far behind wrt innovation on real-time occupancy-based pricing (for price reduction not increase) with the unimaginable potential using real-time pricing adjustment mechanism with help of sensors and other connected technology.

Author: Anoop Jha

#smartcity #transportplanning #its #intelligent #trafficmanagement #policy #surveillance #databreach #ml #machinelearning #iot #delhi #mumbai #india #camera #urbanmanagement #urbandeveloent #Rotterdam #Amsterdam #DenHaag #Delft #Alkmaar #DenBosch #Eindhoven  #Utretch #Hague #Netherlands

 

Its poised time for city administrations and urban management and development professionals.

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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It’s interesting to recognise how empowered a city administration can be today to take evidence-based decisions, depending on what kind of, how recent, and what level of access to information they have in their city dashboard; compared to few decades ago when decisions about “urban future” used to mostly get made in closed board rooms and on literal mechanical drawing boards; mostly based on past trends, white papers, fancy of the creative class, administrative zeal, and sometimes based on intuition.

To draw a parallel of insufficiency that old times had, imagine the great architects and planners of history who somehow still managed to deliver all the job old school way, in absence of now integral and pervasive modern survey and modelling tools like satellite imagery, Geographic Information System (#GIS), #LIDAR, #DGPS, #drones, Building Information Modelling (#BIM), #TrafficSimulation and #CrowdManagement software, structural, hydraulic, lighting and range of #EnvironmentalModelling software, including some more which are still taking shape and trying to find widespread application in urban management and development including #DigitalTwin, #ParametricDesign, #AI and #ML.

Technology and data combined (proliferation of data, universal access to technology and open data) has not just minimised the information asymmetry between public and private entities but has also provided a level play field for urban professionals in different parts of world. It has been a journey from then “private entities educating city administrations about how to approach urban problems” to now “city administrations finally resourceful enough to ask ‘why this and not that’ while increasingly interrogative private entities about checks and balances of ethical practices they follow (e.g., data anonymity). Technology and information have made this journey possible from “just a handful” in history to “so many” great young architects and planners who exist today for instance. Technology and wider access to information (data) have made possible the faster diffusion of creativity today and also created an abundance of highly skilled manpower including multi-disciplinary urban managers, at the same time minimising the gap between low-skilled and highly skilled professionals.

As urban problems have become more and more complex and wicked, access to tools, resources, and technology to manage these problems has also become sophisticated and widely available today. There wasn’t a more promising time ever than today in the area of urban management and development.

Author: Anoop Jha

#smartcity #urbanmanagement #urbandevelopment #governance #egovernance #publicpolicy #ml #machinelearning #iot #Rotterdam #delhi #mumbai #gurugram #Amsterdam #DenHaag #Delft #Alkmaar #DenBosch #Eindhoven #Utretch #Hague #Netherlands

 

While working in a fuzzy space of smart city development public institutions may like to think of innovative approaches in different parts of the world!

Please visit my web page "Urban Tenets" at https://urbantenets.nl/

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[01] For instance, #PublicInstitutions may (a) address the apprehensions of the community at large, upfront, by acknowledging the legit concerns over #privacy, #datasecurity and may like to widely publish how they intend to tackle such issues including what safeguard mechanisms are in place, before actually launching the project.

[02] While role of community involvement in smart city development process is increasingly being considered important, the approach should consider exploring innovative ways to go beyond conventional notion of #CommunityParticipation and #CommunityEngagement; i.e. going beyond community workshop venues, road shows and smart city webpage to seek stream of timely inputs from community and expert members and think of devising mechanism (b) to seek early input (e.g. through #LinkedIn, series of short #VideoConference etc.) from wider professional segment who are anyways going to write much of their critical insights on professional media sooner or later about the subject, post-implementation, suggesting what could have been done better (c) Likewise, need of a mechanism to find ways to offer a chance of involvement for wider latent community members to contribute in the process (eg. through #Facebook, #Twitter, #Instagram etc.), those who are going to post, share and possibly vent much on social media (direct #stakeholder), about what interventions couldn’t work well in their city or challenges they are still facing post implementation.

[03] While the critical role of #academia in developing smart cities can’t be denied (d) it may be a good idea to form a mechanism for the active representation of students as well, as they can leverage more creative freedom and contribute through out of box thinking, adding to much-needed innovation.

[04] While the #industry is invited or offers innovative and disruptive tech and solutions, (e) there can also be room for engaging those in the smart city development process who may be having sound innovative ideas but lack the entrepreneurial spirit or resources to launch a #startup or to make it to VC round. Like shopkeepers pitching ideas for the redevelopment of the street next to their shop, or kids floating ideas about retrofitting streets around their school for instance.

When there is no clear pathway to #innovation or maybe multiple pathways, then it makes sense to also innovate on approaches we take towards making better cities, sometimes under the title of the smart city.

Author: Anoop Jha

#smartcity #urbanmanagement #urbandevelopment #governance #egovernance #publicpolicy #ml #machinelearning #iot #Rotterdam #Amsterdam #DenHaag #Delft #Alkmaar #DenBosch #Eindhoven #Utretch #Hague #Netherlands

Why planning and development efforts should increasingly shift focus from confined city boundaries to city-region scale.

City regions, made of multiple cities and towns are characterised by mutual influences, unavoidable impacts and necessary interdependencies.

For instance, when the housing demand in one city exceeds supply of residential stock, nearby cities and towns start to feel the pressure and real estate activities start to accelerate. When real estate prices start to escalate in one city then businesses start to flee to other nearby cities and neighbourhoods. When one large city feels infrastructure capacity constraints, the nearby towns start to witness increasing investments in infrastructure upgradation and augmentation to leverage and embrace growth they are about to witness. When one city starts to experience frequent congestion, it may also be a result of simultaneous development several miles away in nearby satellite towns and neighbourhoods.

With city boundaries increasingly getting blurred on functional parameters like mobility and housing; environmental parameters like microclimate and pollution; economic parameter like commerce and trade; it makes sense to have a renewed focus on concerted efforts at regional or cluster level, in terms of shared vision formulation, spatial planning and development framework preparation. In a regional, setting nearby satellite cities and smaller towns are seen to have dyadic and complimentary relationship with larger city and stimulus effect on neighbouring towns and neighbourhoods.

Acknowledging that the problems and opportunities of any town is a resultant of regional dynamics, it is imperative that cities should look beyond its physical administrative boundaries for resilient, timely and appropriate answers i.e., at a city-region scale. City-regions shall benefit from coordination and cooperation to achieve a critical magnitude to attract national and international attention, actors, skillsets, investments and public funding.

Based on the regional strengths, shared history, resource characteristics such city-regions can formulate shared growth vision, thematic identity (smart city region, specialized regional hub, heritage tourism circuit, ecological zone etc.), prioritise investments, forge new partnerships and devise new joint governance mechanism.

This case is especially relevant for the #Netherlands as there are more than 40 such poised city municipality regions which may benefit if they adopt a shared growth vision, create or revisit common unified development framework for city-region.

Author: Anoop Jha

#smartcity #smartcityregion #smartregion #urbanplanning #regionalplanning #networkgovernance #transportplanning #urbanmanagement #urbandevelopement #technology #urbanplanning #exhibition #globalnorth #Amsterdam #Utretch #Hague #alkmaar #noordholland #northholland #Eindhoven #Rotterdam #Netherlands