ICT for city management using information and communications technology to enable, engage and empower city stakeholders

Mobile phones, the Internet and wireless technol-ogy are transforming the way citizens and businesses interact with city officials, en-abling them to monitor the impact of their actions

ICT for City Management

ICT for City Management

Using information and communications technology to enable, engage and empower

city stakeholders

A research project conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit

Sponsored by Siemens

of increasing urbanization that can hinder economic activity and damage the natural environment.

This study draws our attention to eral important characteristics of ICT Firstly, the virtual world reflects the realities of the physical world, so leveraging ICT for improved city governance requires orga-nizational change in city administrations

sev-Conflicting regulations, complicated dures, and silo mindsets must change be-fore e-government can deliver on its poten-tial Secondly, the medium of technology

proce-is interactive: as many of the case studies included in this report indicate, the average citizen has an important role to play, not just in contributing data anonymously but also in developing applications for anything from spotting trees to crime prevention measures The creativity and contribution

of citizens must be tapped

Lastly, it is important to remember that in networked technology, the road to

Recent research by the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and

Develop-ment (OECD) indicates that a little more

than half the population of OECD countries

lives in cities, and that capital cities account

for about half of gross domestic product.1

In developing countries, cities are often

even larger relative to national

econo-mies Globally, urban centers account for

an overwhelming proportion of national

population, employment, output, industry

clusters and patents This is not a new

phe-nomenon Since the Industrial Revolution

in the nineteenth century the importance

of cities has been growing steadily The

vi-sionary social observer Jane Jacobs noted

many years ago that cities are the engines

of national economic development.2

A much more recent development is the

emergence and proliferation of

informa-tion and communicainforma-tions technology (ICT)

In the past half century ICT has already

changed our lives and our behavior in

nu-merous ways With the advent of 24-7

con-nectivity and cloud computing we are

start-ing to get a glimpse of how this technology

can achieve significantly more, and reach

its true potential Indeed, it is fast

becom-ing the “fifth utility” (after electricity, water,

gas and telephony), in that some basic level

of service is increasingly considered

essen-tial to meet citizens’ everyday needs

Foreword

1) “Competitive Cities in the Global Economy”, OECD (2006)

2) Jane Jacobs, Cities and the Wealth of Nations: Principles of Economic Life, Vintage Books, New York (1985).

ubiquity is a long one, riddled with tainties For instance, I first encountered intelligent vehicle highway systems as a researcher for the Canadian Royal Commis-sion on National Passenger Transportation

uncer-in the early 1990s Nearly twenty years have passed but the technology is not in common use; far from it This is because

a sponsor of new technology must play two games: a game of value and a game

of perceptions This study is important cause it addresses the latter: by adminis-tering surveys to public officials, business and private individuals it can help city of-ficials get a sense of the perception gaps between city stakeholders that often put the brakes on the adoption of new tech-nologies

be-I feel fortunate to be associated with this effort, albeit in a very small way, and

I am confident that it is of value to private citizens, business and public officials to ap-preciate not just the challenges but also the opportunities that ICT can provide for urban governance

Ashish Lall Associate Professor Asia Competitiveness Institute Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy National University of Singapore June 2010

Foreword 03

Chapter Table of Contents

Table of Contents

ICT for City Management

Case Studies

Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City: A Sustainable Metropolis

Berlin: Controlling Green Buildings

Buenos Aires: Capacity Building

The Copenhagen Wheel

Delhi’s Mission Convergence: Welfare to the People

Dubai: Saving Time, Saving Money

Istanbul: Safer Streets Through Technology

London: Adaptive Signalling

Madrid’s Modern Metro

Mumbai’s Citizen Services Portal: Power to the People

Munich: Efficiency Through E-Government

New York: Dial 311 in a Non-Emergency

Shanghai: Smart City, Smarter Transport

Singapore: Smarter Grids, Cleaner City?

Vienna: Public Transport Information on the Move

50 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66

Executive Summary

ICT for City Management

Executive Summary

More than half the world’s population

lives in cities This level of urbanization

is unprecedented in human history—and it

is expected to keep increasing By 2050 the

world’s total population is forecast to grow

by 3.1bn people while the urban

popula-tion is expected to grow by 2.5bn,

reach-ing nearly 70% of the total.3 Urbanization

on this scale brings numerous governance

challenges Increasingly, information and

communications technology (ICT) is

help-ing to meet these challenges

A revolution in city management is

underway, comparable to the adoption a

century ago of widespread electrification

Systems to collect and analyze data are enhancing the safety, security, usability and efficiency of city infrastructure Mobile phones, the Internet and wireless technol-ogy are transforming the way citizens and businesses interact with city officials, en-abling them to monitor the impact of their actions on the natural environment

The nature of this revolution in city governance warrants closer examination

Previous research sponsored by Siemens,

“Megacity Challenges”4, investigated the three overriding concerns that city manag-

ers must balance: achieving a high quality

of life for all citizens, maintaining economic competitiveness and protecting the natural environment Traditionally, the provision

of an effective and efficient infrastructure system was the principal tool used by pub-lic administrations to meet these gover-nance challenges, and this was the focus

of the first report But it is only one side of the story ICT is becoming as vital a tool in the governance balancing act as buildings, transport networks and utilities systems.The chapters of this report therefore examine the importance of ICT in four ar-

3) World Urbanization Prospects, the 2007 Revision, UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs

4) “Megacity Challenges: A stakeholder perspective”, GlobeScan/MRC McLean Hazel, 2007

Competitive-an attractive investment destination But

so too are e-government services, such as online portals and processes, that can be used to drive efficiencies and make interac-tions between businesses and city officials quicker and more transparent These are all areas that business executives claim have a major impact on competitiveness

The second chapter, Managing Physical Infrastructure, looks at ICT’s crucial role in making the operation of cities’ transport, buildings and utilities systems more ef-ficient This includes technologies such as congestion charging, traffic-flow manage-ment, smart payment systems and video surveillance Here, new technology can be applied to old infrastructure, for example

Competitiveness

Governance

EnvironmentQuality of life

ICT for City Management

managing traffic flow more efficiently in

older transport systems creaking under the

strain of population expansion

The third chapter, Protecting the

Natu-ral Environment, examines how

technolo-gy is enabling stakeholders to keep track of

their use of scarce resources and their

im-pact on the natural environment The

provi-sion of knowledge about energy and water

consumption—combined with the right

fi-nancial incentives—could lead to more

en-vironmentally sound behavior on the part

of all stakeholders Meanwhile, online

envi-ronment monitoring tools are empowering

citizens to hold city managers accountable

for substandard air and water quality, two

pressing quality-of-life concerns

Finally, Improving Public Administration

looks at the role of services like

e-govern-ment in improving the efficiency and

trans-parency of public administration Here the

role of ICT in making life easier (for example

when filing taxes or applying for licenses) is obvious But the research demonstrates the importance of changing people’s attitudes

in order to make the most of what ICT can offer

To ascertain the opinions of each holder group of the role of ICT in city gov-ernance, research for this paper involved surveys of public officials, residents and businesses in 15 cities across the world The cities were chosen to represent a broad mix

stake-of size, economic maturity, level stake-of opment and importance to national econo-mies The report compares the survey re-sults across three city archetypes related

devel-to their economic development: emerging, transitional and mature (explained in more detail on page 48) Examples of successful deployment of ICT solutions in cities world-wide across the four topic areas are also described in case studies at the end of the report

The key findings of the research include the following:

Businesses and public officials think a strong Internet network is crucial for a city’s competitiveness Some 77% of busi-

nesses surveyed think an improved band network would have a significant im-pact on city competitiveness, making it the most important ICT technology for attract-ing private-sector investment City authori-ties therefore need to consider that such technologies are as fundamental to a city’s infrastructure as are its buildings, transport networks and utilities

broad-Businesses feel that government ciency and opacity are among the biggest constraints to a city’s competitiveness— but expect e-government to help. More than half the businesses surveyed cite a lack

ineffi-of efficiency, transparency and

account-Executive Summary

ability in government; complex and lapping regulations and policies; and lack of engagement with businesses and investors

over-as major barriers to city competitiveness

These are all problems that e-government can address to some degree More than 89% of business respondents picked “High-

er efficiency” as an expected key benefit of using electronic service delivery However, businesses also see “silo mentalities” be-tween public-sector agencies as a barrier to the adoption of electronic services Though connecting departments through common technology platforms and sharing data can help resolve this, organizational change is equally as important

Emerging cities are integrating ICT into their new infrastructure, while mature cities can make use of ICT to prolong the life of existing systems A higher propor-

tion of public officials in emerging cities than in mature cities (67%, compared to 57%) agree or strongly agree that investing

in ICT to manage infrastructure is as tant as building the infrastructure itself

impor-Though these cities are often more likely

to invest heavily in new transport systems, buildings and other physical infrastructure, doing so from scratch enables them to in-corporate cutting-edge ICT systems from the outset In mature cities, the basic foun-dations of the physical infrastructure were often put in place before ICT was available, and hence the key application of ICT is to enhance the efficiency (and prolong the life) of legacy infrastructure

While solutions like congestion ing are known to be effective, citizens may not necessarily see their value

charg-Residents in all cities agree that road fic congestion has a severe negative impact

traf-on quality of life (cited by 50% of resptraf-on-dents, making it the most commonly cited quality-of-life problem) And in cities where they have been implemented, ICT solutions like congestion charging have been shown

respon-to be effective Yet transport does not rank highly in terms of citizens’ priorities for ICT investment—nor do many citizens think congestion charging in particular will have

a major impact on their quality of life or the natural environment While this contradic-

ICT for City Management

tory view is doubtless due to the financial

penalties that congestion charging

impos-es, getting public support for such schemes

requires more from public officials in the

way of education and information sharing

This also applies to other “top-down” ICT

infrastructure management solutions, such

as video surveillance systems

Citizens feel that ICT can influence

behav-ior towards environmental conservation

by giving them more information about

their usage of resources such as energy

and water Some 74% of citizens globally

claim that they would be likely to change

their energy and water consumption if their

access to information about their own

us-age improved Some 61% of businesses say

the same ICT technologies that provide

such information therefore have the

poten-tial to help city stakeholders moderate their

consumption of natural resources

How-ever, citizens admit that changing behavior

ultimately depends on the right financial

incentives and disincentives being in place

This admission suggests that public officials

need to play a leading role in driving the

adoption of such innovations, as well as put

in place the right policy and pricing work to encourage environmentally sound behavior

frame-Stakeholders blame each other for the slow adoption of electronic service de- livery. Businesses perceive the attitude of public officials to be the biggest barrier to the more widespread use of online public services A majority of citizens surveyed also think public officials would not respond to them online By contrast, public officials in the survey cite citizens’ resistance to online transactions as one of the greatest chal-lenges to e-government (second only to a lack of appropriate technology in the first place) Such finger-pointing reflects the fact that the successful adoption of elec-tronic service delivery requires attitudinal shifts on the part of all stakeholders This

is recognized to some degree: citizens mit that for many transactions they would still rather interact in person (although email is by far the most preferred form of communication with public officials), and public officials admit they lack training and equipment Public officials need to address the organizational and attitudinal barriers that may prohibit the adoption of e-govern-ment, which are as important to address as getting the right hardware and software in place

ad-Citizen-developed applications are an emerging trend around the world The

proliferation of citizen-designed ICT plications to improve urban living is phe-nomenal, demonstrating the real power of

ap-citizen engagement though ICT Though much of this is convenience-related, it may have direct benefits for city authorities For example, platforms enabling citizens to contribute their own assessments of envi-ronmental factors could lead to a more ac-curate assessment (and closer scrutiny) of urban environmental conditions For mu-nicipalities with limited budgets, citizen-designed apps are a cheap source of inno-vation: some city governments have been launching competitions for applications that not only increase transparency but also improve city services

These findings show that while ICT has the power to address the four city governance challenges described in each chapter—and thereby improve quality of life for city residents—the successful use

of ICT is about far more than merely ing in hardware and software City officials must understand the needs of citizens and businesses to ensure they are effectively meeting them They must educate and in-form stakeholders about contentious (but effective) technologies They also need to

invest-be aware of the attitudinal and tional change needed to make the most of e-government

organiza-Finally, municipal governments can use citizens’ engagement (and creativity) to their own advantage, whether by collect-ing data or promoting the development of citizen-designed applications Unlike other technologies that have transformed city life

in the past, ICT enables stakeholders to volve themselves directly in how cities are run, and thereby play a part in meeting the challenges of urbanization

in-Enhancing Competitiveness

01

Public-sector officials and businesses think a strong Internet network is crucial for a city’s competitiveness

Businesses also think an ICT-savvy workforce is vital to competitiveness

Businesses feel that government inefficiency and opacity are the biggest constraints to a city’s competitiveness, and want interactions with officials to be quicker

Businesses feel that public sector officials are still averse to electronic service delivery But online government services can improve efficiency and help break down bureaucratic silos

Key findings

ICT for City Management

Enhancing

Competitiveness

Considerations of competitiveness are

crucial in the city governance balancing

act In the “Megacity Challenges” report,

81% of city managers cited the economy

and employment as key issues driving their

decision-making.5 ICT has a dual role in this

aspect of municipal governance Firstly, a

city needs to provide core ICT infrastructure

(or allow the private sector to provide it) to

enable businesses to function effectively

Secondly, authorities need to be able to

of-fer streamlined and efficient public services

to business through online e-government

platforms

A strong Internet network is crucial for

a city’s competitiveness Access to

uni-versal high-speed broadband services is now seen by business as a prerequisite for competitiveness In the survey, 77%

of businesses globally think an improved broadband network would have a major

or significant impact on competitiveness, while 65% thought the same of citywide Wi-Fi coverage The latter is increasingly important in enabling seamless connectiv-ity to broadband services Public officials in fact prioritize this: 71% think citywide Wi-Fi coverage would have a significant impact

on competitiveness while 60% think the same of an improved broadband network (see Figure 1)

The importance of high-speed Internet connections for business is difficult to over-state In an increasingly 24-7 professional world, to be competitive means being able

to pitch for contracts, make deals, and liver goods and services regardless of the day of the week or the time of day Sara Draper, head of knowledge econo-

de-my at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK’s leading business lobby, cites the example of one of its member compa-

5) “Megacity Challenges: A stakeholder perspective”, GlobeScan/MRC McLean Hazel, 2007

Enhancing Competitiveness

nies, which would like to run all sales sentations from a central database to which its sales agents can connect remotely

pre-“They don’t do this because they can never guarantee that their reps can log on to re-trieve the presentation,” she says “So each sales rep has different versions on different laptops—and from a quality control point

of view that’s not great.”

Such is the fundamental nature of ternet infrastructure in modern globalized economies that there is very little differ-ence between the views of businesses in emerging, transitional and mature cities on the importance of broadband—although it

In-is notable that a higher proportion of

execu-tives in emerging cities (60%, compared to 46% elsewhere) give this the highest rank

in terms of its impact It is no surprise that,

in general, countries that are more geared towards attracting services investment tend to place a higher emphasis on upgrad-ing the communications infrastructure Cities that are rapidly expanding have the chance to include such vital ICT infra-structure from scratch (or put in place the regulations and guidelines to allow the pri-vate sector to do so), rather than upgrad-ing legacy technology piecemeal From a planning perspective technologies such as broadband should be treated as part of city infrastructure, not separate from it

ICT with biggest expected impact on

competitiveness

% respondents expecting each technology

to have a major/significant impact on city competitiveness (ranking 1/2 on 5-point scale of expected impact, where 1=major impact and 5=no or negative impact)

Improved broadband network

Citywide Wi-Fi coverage

ICT for City Management

“ICT needs be considered in the same

category as water, electricity, roads and

public transport,” says Peter Siggins, a

mobile business expert at PA Consulting

Group “And if business is being attracted

[by improved connectivity], governments

need to consider what speeds and capacity

are needed and how that can be built into

the urban planning process.”

An ICT-savvy workforce is also vital to

competitiveness. In the surveys 71% of

business executives globally say greater

public use of ICT in education, training and

development of the workforce would have

a major or significant impact on city

com-petitiveness This is to be expected, since installing world-class ICT infrastructure is pointless unless employees know how to use it Having a workforce that is skilled in the use of ICT is another crucial component

to attracting investment

Singapore recognizes the tary relationship between ICT infrastruc-ture, education and competitiveness As a city-state it is in the fortunate position of being able to marry municipal and national goals: building a workforce with good tech-nology skills will attract businesses to the city, while also enhancing the competitive-ness of Singapore’s own national ICT indus-try Ronnie Tay, chief executive of Singa-

complemen-pore’s Infocomm Development Authority, cites a number of specialized training plans for high-school students to postgraduates that aim to create “a pipeline of experts in high-end, niche areas” such as cloud com-puting and ICT security that will ensure an available supply of highly-skilled employ-ees

Cities that are aiming to become tech clusters will need to follow a similar strategy Even those that do not have such lofty aspirations need to ensure that, at the very least, to maintain their competi-tiveness their workforces are ICT-savvy National education curricula, over which individual cities may not have much con-

high-Enhancing Competitiveness

trol, often dictate core workforce skills And budgetary limitations often hinder the ex-tent to which ICT can be used in education, training and development But municipal authorities nonetheless need to ensure that the workforce is trained in using ICT effec-tively

Businesses feel that government ficiency and opacity are among the big- gest constraints to a city’s competitive- ness, and want interactions with officials

inef-to be quicker If a modern ICT

infrastruc-ture is a major enabler of competitiveness, then slow and inefficient interactions be-tween authorities and businesses are ma-

jor barriers A majority of businesses see complex and overlapping regulations and policies and a lack of efficiency, transpar-ency and accountability in government as the biggest constraints on city competitive-ness (see Figure 2) These could be seen as symptomatic of old-fashioned bureaucratic inefficiency—as well as more serious issues like corruption, which is unsurprisingly seen

as a bigger problem in emerging cities

To be sure, complex rules and tions often have deep legislative roots not easily untangled through the mere appli-cation of technology But many practical problems related to interactions between businesses and city authorities can be re-

regula-Biggest barriers to competitiveness

% business respondents mentioning in their top three competitiveness constraints

Lack of efficiency, transparency

and accountability in government

Complex and overlapping

regulations and policies

Corruption

Poor physical infrastructure

(roads, airports, ports, etc)

Poor air quality/

ICT for City Management

Registration of new business/

application for approvals and

licensesFiling of taxes

Trade (export-import) approvals,

licenses and clearances from

customs/ border agencies

solved through making processes simpler

and quicker Business executives cite

“Re-ducing process time or complexity” as the

most important factor where

improve-ments should be made by the government

and regulatory authorities This was true of

all business-government transactions with

the exception of procurement, where

“Im-proving transparency and accountability”

came top (Figure 3.)

There are some straightforward ways

that municipal governments can reduce

process time and complexity by moving

services online Businesses expect

signifi-cant competitiveness benefits from doing

so More than 89% of business

respon-dents globally pick “higher efficiency” as

an expected key benefit of using ICT in the delivery of public or regulatory services

to businesses—followed by lower costs (67%) and improved transparency and ac-countability (55%) In emerging cities, 75%

of businesses think ICT will improve parency and accountability, which is sig-nificant given their greater concerns over corruption

trans-There are numerous examples of this sort of improvement in efficiency In Dubai, where a high proportion of business execu-tives are non-residents, the city has used ICT to make it easier for expatriates to book the medical tests and obtain the certifi-

cates needed to renew their visas Putting the application process online has reduced the time taken to do this from seven work-ing days to an overnight service (See the case study on Dubai on page 57.)

Meanwhile, in Barcelona, the city cil is making efforts to streamline govern-ment-to-business procedures Pilar Conesa, chief information officer and e-government director of the Barcelona City Council, ex-plains that the goal is to make government-to-business transactions far quicker and simpler For example, the city believes that

coun-a new e-licenses service—coun-avcoun-ailcoun-able online

or through self-service machines—will cut the processing time for obtaining licenses

Businesses want clearer, quicker

cheaper interaction with authorities

% business respondents mentioning

in their top two most sought-after improvements

Enhancing Competitiveness

and permits by 70% and reduce the need for businesses to travel into city offices The time taken to obtain public road occupancy permits (used by companies such as con-struction firms) should fall from 35 days to

15 days

Businesses feel that public sector cials are still averse to electronic service delivery The solutions discussed above

offi-depend on public officials being willing to adopt online service delivery But business-

es are not sure that they are ready to do so

Figure 4 shows that, when asked to tify the key challenges in driving the use of online administration services targeted at

iden-businesses, executives picked “Public sector

is averse to online transactions with nesses (e.g., insisting on paper documents)” and “Lack of inter-departmental connectiv-ity and communication in the government”,

busi-in equal measure The latter suggests tinuing problems with the “silo mentality” that can afflict bureaucracies—exemplified

con-in the need to deal with multiple agencies

or offices, each of which often has little idea of what the others are doing

Two examples serve to underline the frustrations that such a mentality can pro-duce One is when trying to implement cross-departmental initiatives targeted at

a broader goal, such as climate change

Top barriers to usage of business-related e-government

% business respondents mentioning in their top three barriers to usage of online administration services targeted at businesses

Public sector is averse to online transactions with businesses (eg,

insisting on paper documents)Lack of inter-departmental connectivity and communication in

the governmentLack of suitable training and skill development for

public-sector executivesLack of strong leadership within the government/

regulatory authoritiesLack of appropriate technology in the public sector

Businesses are averse to online transactions with public agencies

(eg, concerns over privacy security, complexity, etc)

31%

23%

22%

42%42%33%

Figure 4

ICT for City Management

6) “E-Government Models: Cases from European Cities”, Barcelona City Council, 2007

“Some of these [city] systems have grown

up without central control so the

transpor-tation system is not necessarily controlled

by one department and lighting systems

might be controlled by different boroughs,”

says Molly Webb, head of strategic

engage-ment at The Climate Group, an

internation-al non-profit organization that promotes

environmentally sound policy and

tech-nologies

This can be a particular frustration for

the private sector, notes Ms Webb

“Com-panies like IBM, HP, Cisco, Siemens and GE

all have systems integration capabilities or

large-scale software deployment capability

but there isn’t one owner [at city

govern-ment level] so green initiatives become complex to deliver.”

A second example is with procurement,

in which keeping track of opportunities can

be a headache given the involvement of many different jurisdictions “There are still some difficulties [in the UK] in that there are thousands of portals that agencies use,”

says James Fothergill, head of public vices at the CBI “So it’s difficult for a small company to monitor all the opportunities coming out.” Business respondents cite better transparency as the most sought-after improvement relating to procurement (picked by 37% of respondents)

ser-The adoption of ICT systems can help drive bureaucratic connectedness and improve communication between de-partments For example, the Vienna City Administration has networked all its busi-ness-related administrative departments, and the local chamber of commerce is also part of the system This means that busi-ness customers only need to deal with a single entity when conducting tasks such

as applying for a business license, ing the appointment of a new managing director or changing a business address in Vienna The system, launched in 2001, has proved popular Online business registra-tions rose sevenfold in the four years after

register-it was introduced.6

Installing systems that require the use across different departments of common data can also help improve bureaucratic connectedness Shanghai, for example, is working to enable several departments to use a common database (see the case study

on page 64) Another example of such gration is evident in Munich When the city was developing its e-government services, public agencies had to agree upon single data standards to facilitate seamless data exchange with other registration offices

inte-in the federal states, and a sinte-ingle onlinte-ine interface was adopted as a national public agency standard for transactions (See also the case study on page 62.)

Broadly, therefore, the biggest boost

to competitiveness can come from city agencies transforming themselves from departmentally confined institutions to being customer-driven service providers Barcelona’s government recognizes this

“It’s not enough to simply switch paper to electronic documents,” says Ms Conesa “To reduce the number of signatures, you need

to change the process inside the city cil and take account of the external actors that take part in the process.”

coun-ICT can help drive this process but it is far from easy “We should never underes-timate the power of entrenched organiza-tional cultures,” says Mitchell Moss, profes-sor of urban policy and planning at New York University’s Wagner Graduate School

of Public Service “There’s still an amazing capacity of different public service agencies

to try to act as if they’re monopolies.” If nicipal agencies can temper this mentality they will improve their city’s competitive-ness

mu-The research therefore suggests ICT’s role in urban competitiveness is twofold First the provision of ICT infrastructure, par-ticularly high-speed Internet connections,

is crucial to attracting investment This

is no longer a matter of convenience—it should be considered equally vital to a city’s smooth operation as its transport networks and utilities Secondly, public agencies can use online service delivery to speed up and simplify government-to-business interac-tions, while common data platforms can help inter-departmental connectedness But organizational change is necessary if such ICT solutions are to yield their full ben-efits

Managing Physical Infrastructure

Emerging cities are integrating ICT into their new infrastructure, while mature cities make use of ICT to prolong the life

of existing systems

While solutions like congestion charging are known to be effective, citizens may not necessarily see their value

Key findings

ICT for City Management

Managing Physical

Infrastructure

Acity’s core physical infrastructure

in-cludes its buildings, transport networks

and utilities The emergence of ICT allows

city managers to manage this

infrastruc-ture more efficiently Data from transport

systems (for instance traffic lights or

con-gestion charging cameras) can help

au-thorities manage passenger or traffic flow

and prioritize transport investments

Sen-sors that gather data and send it wirelessly

to central databases can monitor the use of

buildings and public spaces Systems

con-nected to CCTV around the city can track

security threats Municipal authorities are

increasingly aware that investment in such technologies is needed as much as invest-ment in the built environment

Emerging cities are integrating ICT into their new infrastructure In emerging and

transitional cities, ICT appears to be taking

on a greater role than in more mature ies A higher proportion of public officials in these cities than in mature cities (66-67%, compared to 57%) agree or strongly agree that investing in ICT to manage infrastruc-ture is as important as building the infra-structure itself (Figure 5.)

cit-At first take this is a surprising result: one of the key characteristics of emerging cities is the incredible level of investment in physical infrastructure that has taken place

as they have expanded This has often been driven by the needs of competitiveness In-deed, businesses themselves in these cities (59%) are far more likely to agree with the statement “Investment in roads, buildings and physical infrastructure should be priori-tized ahead of ICT” than businesses in ma-ture cities (27%; Figure 6) And in emerging cities, not surprisingly, far more businesses (44%) cite poor physical infrastructure as a

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Managing Physical Infrastructure

barrier to competitiveness than in tional or mature cities (14% and 15%)

transi-Nonetheless, public officials in ing cities are surer than their counterparts elsewhere of the power of ICT (nearly 80%

emerg-agree that ICT can solve competitiveness problems, compared to 60% in transitional and mature cities) This may be because they often have the opportunity to include cutting-edge ICT systems within the physi-cal infrastructure they are building from scratch

E-payment systems for public transport are one example Such payment methods

are certainly more popular in emerging ies, where public transport systems are new-

cit-er, than in more mature cities (particularly

in Western Europe and the US), where they have been grafted onto older systems, and more antiquated payment methods persist Some 57% of respondents in emerging cit-ies say they used smart cards or e-payment for public transport, compared to 33% in transitional cities and 25% in mature cities.Transport systems are not the only kind

of physical infrastructure that can benefit from the application of ICT Shanghai, for example, is taking a broad approach that in-

“Investing in ICT systems to manage

infrastructure is as important as physical

Figure 6

* % business respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with the statement

ICT for City Management

volves the aggregation of data on the usage

of a variety of buildings and public spaces

(as well as transport systems) The

munici-pal government has a bureau dedicated to

collecting, collating and using this data,

part of the Shanghai Municipal

Commis-sion of Economy and Informatization

Ac-cording to the Commission, its priority is a

“grid-style public management information

system” that integrates information across

various city departments—including land

and housing development, environmental

protection, and public safety agencies (for

example in the reporting and handling of

criminal cases and residents’ complaints)

The Commission is planning to use the data

it collects to manage the city’s entire built environment

A key focus of the integration of mation across departments is space man-agement, the target of a project known as the “Shanghai Digital Space” initiative In this program, the city has installed wireless sensing devices to gather and report data

infor-on issues such as building management and traffic flow The Commission keeps a central database that can be shared among the city’s various departments—including

the transportation, housing and land velopment, and environmental protection agencies The goal is to integrate public-space-related information both for day-to-day management purposes and to inform policymakers’ long-term decision-making (The transport-related aspects of this plan are examined in more detail in a case study

de-on page 64.)

Mature cities need ICT to support

lega-cy infrastructure Shanghai’s holistic

ap-proach may be contrasted to the situation facing mature cities In some of them, es-sential systems—from water supply net-works and sanitation systems to under-ground rail transport—were designed and installed more than a century ago and are deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, making it difficult to replace or upgrade them except on a piecemeal basis

Information technology can still hance the efficiency of older systems in

en-a ven-ariety of wen-ays For exen-ample, cessors such as remote telemetry units that connect the physical infrastructure to monitoring systems help companies and municipalities manage the water supply or wastewater collection and disposal In wa-ter management, this kind of information flow enables the detection of leaks remote-

micropro-ly without the need for manual inspections, while software allows companies to control water pressure to minimize the occurrence

of leaks

Among the systems coming under most pressure in mature cities is transportation Here, building roads or railways may not be physically, financially or politically possible, whereas investing in ICT to help manage the situation is

“The real change in transportation is not the building of new infrastructure but the use of information to make the infrastruc-ture more efficient,” says Mitchell Moss of

Managing Physical Infrastructure

New York University “In Western countries we’re going to be relying more and more on information technology to manage existing infrastructure—especially if we can’t afford

to build new systems.”

London, for example, has deployed various ICT systems to optimize the use of its roads, the layout of some of which dates from the days of horse-drawn transport “It’s about having the technology in the road to gather information,” says Alan Bristow, di-rector of traffic operations at Transport for London He says about 1,400 cameras on London’s streets help build up a picture of what is happening on the road network At the same time, Scoot (Split Cycle Offset Op-

timization Technique), a traffic light control system, has road sensors on the approach

to a junction to monitor the traffic and set the appropriate duration of the green light This can result in a 12% reduction in delays, says Mr Bristow (See also the case study on page 59.)

While solutions like congestion charging are known to be effective, citizens may not necessarily see their value The ap-plication of information technology to the management of passenger and vehicle flow

is essential if urban transport systems are to continue to support the growing number of citizens using them However, implement-

Citizens don’t necessarily see the value of ICT solutions to

congestion

Figure 7

* % respondents mentioning in their top three quality-of-life concerns

** % respondents ranking impact on quality of life 1 or 2 out of 5, where 1=major impact and 5=no or negative impact

Road traffic has a big negative

impact on quality of life in the city*

Congestion charging will have a major or

significantly positive impact on the natural

environment**

50%

40%

33%

Congestion charging will have a major or

significantly positive impact on quality

of life**

ICT for City Management

ing such systems is not always

straightfor-ward The survey suggests that even with

proven solutions for addressing some of the

most pressing urban infrastructure

prob-lems, not all stakeholders recognize their

value This is often because technologies

for managing a city’s physical infrastructure

are invisible, or may put a financial burden

on the end user

A good example of conflicting priorities

is road traffic congestion In the surveys,

residents in all cities agree that traffic

con-gestion has the most severe negative

im-pact on quality of life—especially in those

emerging cities experiencing the fastest

population growth Some 54% of citizens

7) Figures in this paragraph cited in “Transit and Congestion Pricing: A Primer”, US

Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, April 2009

in emerging cities, 58% in transitional cities and 44% in mature cities pick this in their top three quality-of-life concerns

There are numerous examples of ICT being deployed effectively to combat con-gestion and carbon emissions One solution

is to impose restrictions or disincentives such as road pricing and tolls to reduce the flow of traffic into the city centers These systems can be highly effective, often persuading citizens to change their sched-ules, embark on car-sharing schemes with friends and colleagues or use public trans-port more often

For example, in Singapore between

1998 (when it upgraded its system from

paper permits to electronic tags) and 2003, road traffic was reduced by 13% and vehicle speed increased by 22% In Stockholm, dur-ing a trial period from January to July 2006, use of public transport rose by 6%, with 97%

of this increase occurring at times when the congestion tax was charged, while use of park-and-ride systems increased by 23%

By the end of the trial, traffic was down by almost 25% Meanwhile, in San Diego, rev-enues from a toll—which varies based on the congestion level that is analyzed every six minutes—have allowed the city to make improvements to public transport, contrib-uting to a 25% increase in bus ridership.7

Despite these impressive results, gestion charging is not widely deployed And the surveys in this report show that transport does not rank highly among citi-zens in terms of priorities for more informa-tion via ICT Nor do many people think con-gestion charging in particular will have a major impact on the natural environment Transport-related technologies, for exam-ple, were seventh (of 14) on the list of ICT investment priorities for citizens globally In emerging and transitional cities, transport services ranked 12th and eighth respective-ly—although in mature cities they ranked fifth on aggregate

con-In addition, congestion charging itself

is not regarded as having (or likely to have)

a positive quality-of-life impact, doubtless because of the financial penalties it im-poses One in five citizens globally think congestion charging has either no impact

or a negative impact on quality of life, while only a third see it as having a significantly positive impact—making it by far the least popular ICT technology among those in the surveys (Figure 7.)

City governments planning to ment such systems (or that have already adopted them) therefore need to do a bet-ter job of selling their benefits The survey

imple-Managing Physical Infrastructure

shows that lack of awareness about such technologies is common When asked whether or not congestion charging was available in their city, and whether they used it if so, some 45% of citizens on aggre-gate responded “don’t know/no opinion”

Even in the cities where congestion ing has been adopted, a surprising number

charg-of people picked this option

Financially punitive systems like road charging are never likely to be popular But better awareness of their benefits could influence the way citizens perceive them

The surveys show the potential power of information to change behavior is signif-icant—particularly when it comes to en-

vironmental issues (discussed in Chapter 3) Some 65% of citizens, for example, say they would change their driving behavior given better access to information about public transport options Sharing informa-tion is therefore important to getting broad stakeholder support for contentious ICT so-lutions like congestion charging

Keeping citizens informed is important

The principal benefit of such ICT systems

is that they enable more efficient ment of infrastructure through the collec-tion of better usage data But there is no reason why they cannot also be used to keep citizens informed about contentious

“Public safety and security concerns should always be

prioritized ahead of citizens’ privacy concerns”

ICT for City Management

issues like traffic management and

securi-ty—and thereby help them understand the

benefits ICT can confer

Some cities are beginning to recognize

this For instance, the information collected

by Transport for London’s road cameras is

posted on the website, given out through

third parties such as the BBC’s local radio

stations, and broadcast by the Highways

Agency via a digital radio station, while

150 “JamCams” can be viewed by the

pub-lic New York City’s 311 service, through

which citizens can register their complaints

or concerns on a host of public services—

examined in the case study on page 63—is

another example In both cases, data is

used both to make better decisions about city management and to inform the public

Even in areas such as safety and rity, some cities are using ICT to keep the public informed This has become an espe-cially sensitive issue, with authorities need-ing to maximize safety and security while addressing citizens’ privacy concerns In recent years, with cities such as New York, London, Mumbai and Madrid targeted by terrorist attacks, ensuring safety and se-curity has become stakeholders’ topmost priority

secu-Poor public safety is cited as a key ty-of-life concern by a third of citizens in the survey (and 40% in emerging cities) Some 57% of citizens globally (and 75% in emerg-ing cities) also say public safety and secu-rity should be prioritized ahead of citizens’

quali-privacy concerns (Figure 8.) Despite vocal opposition in some Western cities—such

as London—about the implications for vacy, such results tend to support the intro-duction of technologies like CCTV Indeed, some 51% of citizens (60% in emerging cit-ies) say more remote CCTV surveillance of public areas would have a positive impact

pri-on their quality of life

Some cities recognize the need to share information when introducing such tech-nologies In Istanbul, for example, the city’s

police department has been rolling out a scheme called Mobile Electronic Systems Integration to manage its security infra-structure (examined in more detail in a case study on page 58) The system is accessible

to the general public

“Cameras, pointing to 175 different points in Istanbul, are accessible for the citi-zens whenever they want via our website

or using the IMM Mobile application,” says Hakki Tok, head of the information technol-ogies department at the Istanbul Metropol-itan Municipality Clearly Istanbul is having some success in engaging its constituents

“Lack of transparency in government or gagement with city residents” is cited as a problem by only 1.3% of its residents.ICT is therefore playing a dual role in the management of physical infrastructure: enabling the more efficient use of physical systems but also informing citizens Surpris-ingly, it is the emerging cities in the survey that seem to recognize the power of ICT in this regard more than their counterparts elsewhere Given they are experiencing the most rapid growth, it is as well that authori-ties in these cities are aware of the ICT tools available to cope with the challenges of ur-banization It also suggests that in the fu-ture technology in these cities may surpass that used in richer countries

en-Protecting the Natural Environment

ICT for City Management

Protecting the

Natural Environment

Managing a city’s impact on the natural

environment was not always seen as

being as important as managing its economic

environment or physical infrastructure This

is no longer the case: protecting the natural

environment is a key part of the governance

balancing act Citizens across the world cite

“poor air quality” as a major quality-of-life

concern, for example (picked by one-third

of respondents in the survey) City officials

are also increasingly seeing this as vital for

the viability of the urban economy: globally

“poor air quality and environmental

stan-dards” is the second-most-frequently

identi-fied constraint on city competitiveness

From a global perspective it is also ticularly important that cities manage their impact on the environment The C40, a global group of cities united in tackling cli-mate change, estimates that cities account for 75% of energy consumption and 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.8

par-Often, reducing cities’ impact on the environment means encouraging citizens and businesses to change their behavior—

particularly in their use of scarce resources

Here, ICT can play a vital role in gathering and providing information Water meters,

for example, can track water consumption and also relay information remotely to water authorities to manage leaks Smart energy grids can track energy usage data and allow flows of energy to as well as from the grid, encouraging the use of renewable energy sources by households and businesses And importantly, the Internet and connected wireless devices allow citizens to monitor air and water quality—and provide their own feedback on the natural environment—thereby holding authorities accountable

in their bid to manage the natural ment

environ-8) “C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, Seoul Declaration”; http://www.c40cities.org/news/news-20090522.jsp

Protecting the Natural Environment

meters, ranking above smart cards and payment systems for public transport as the most-used ICT initiative Additionally, 28% of citizens say that, although smart en-ergy grids are not available they would like them to be (Figure 10)

e-Such promises are encouraging, but

in practice changed behavior only comes through the application of sufficient incen-tives and disincentives Citizens recognize this point: 40% agree that when attempt-ing to change peoples’ behavior towards environmental protection, financial incen-tives and disincentives must be given more weight than education and awareness Only 20% think it’s the other way round

In some cases the technologies selves provide this incentive The reason why water meters are popular, for example,

them-is doubtless because in the long run they

Citizens and businesses feel that ICT can influence behaviour towards environ- mental conservation The surveys show

strong awareness among stakeholders that ICT can play a significant part in helping them reduce their impact on the environ-ment, in particular by giving them greater access to information Some 74% of citi-zens globally claim that they would be likely

to change their energy and water tion if their access to relevant information improved Some 61% of businesses say the same (Figure 9)

consump-Promises to act are encouraging and suggest that ICT solutions that provide such information to stakeholders might be ex-pected to have a significant impact Indeed, citizens’ use of water meters is already high

in the cities where they are available Some 36% of citizens globally claim to use water

Water meters

Available, and I use it

Not available but I would like it to be

Don’t know/

no opinion

Available but I don’t use it

* Survey totals may not add to 100% because of rounding.

* Survey totals may not add to 100% because of rounding.

“We are likely to change our energy/

water consumption if given better access

to information about usage levels”

ICT for City Management

save money for the business or consumer

involved (even if initially they may bear

the costs of purchase or installation) For

instance, research commissioned by the

UK’s Consumer Council for Water showed

that in 2007, 70% of households with water

meters said they paid less for their bill than

before, with 56% paying a lot less.9 Water

meters also offer the opportunity for

great-er capture of data—and hence efficient use

of scarce water resources and management

of leaks In many urban environments

pub-lic authorities are making water metering

compulsory

Smart grids and power meters have

sim-ilar potential In California, the Pacific Gas &

Electric Company (PG&E), for example,

of-fers smart power and gas meters for

house-holds and businesses in the state These

meters are connected to PG&E’s systems

nesses’ behavior Globally, when asked to weight the extent to which environmental initiatives should be driven by public au-thorities or the private sector, more public officials (59%) placed a heavier weighting

on themselves than on the private sector (12%) Businesses also weight the public-sector responsibility more highly, with 45%

of executives saying the public sector must drive green initiatives, compared to 27% seeing it as more the private sector’s re-sponsibility (Figure 11)

Given public authorities’ regulatory powers it is natural that they should take the lead in driving initiatives to reduce a city’s environmental footprint But while officials and business executives plainly recognize the need for such leadership, citizens are more ambivalent (with approxi-mately equal proportions in the survey say-ing either it is their responsibility, the public sector’s, or a joint burden)

As noted, to drive more tally conscious behavior citizens do see the need for financial inducements of the kind that only regulatory authorities can impose Importantly, though, citizens themselves are playing an increasingly important role

environmen-in addressenvironmen-ing urban environmental issues Open source-style tools are emerging for gathering and analyzing data on these is-sues, and these tools are no longer the pre-serve of city governments

Citizens are increasingly engaged in vironmental initiatives via ICT Individuals

en-are already able, for example, to monitor resources essential to quality of life such as air quality and water (Poor air quality is cited

by one-third of citizens globally as a major quality-of-life problem.) One example is an online portal developed by Microsoft and the European Environment Agency which has given 500m citizens access to real-time information on the quality of air and water

9) “CCWater Charging Research 2007”, ORC International, April 2008, available at

http://www.ccwater.org.uk/upload/pdf/Charging_Final_Report.pdf

on a dedicated radio frequency network and provide a two-way flow of informa-tion PG&E claims that 70% of the users of the system saved money on their summer energy bills in 2009 Smart grids, which in theory allow the greater usage of renew-able energy sources and real-time pricing based on energy demand, are not yet com-mon, but are being investigated by various national and municipal governments (One such trial, in Singapore, is examined in the case study on page 65)

The public sector needs to drive tives to reduce a city’s environmental footprint Attractive though such savings may be, the surveys suggest that public au-thorities do need to wield regulatory power

initia-to make the most of such pecially when it comes to changing busi-

initiatives—es-Who should drive green initiatives?

% respondents weighting responsibility of different stakeholders in driving initiatives to reduce a city’s environmental footprint

* Survey totals may not add to 100% because of rounding.

Equal responsibility

Initiatives must be driven more by public authorities

“[The Urban EcoMap] brings government closer to the citizens,” explains Nicola Villa, global director of Cisco’s Connected Urban Development, an initiative designed to show how ICT can enhance the efficiency of the urban infrastructure to reduce carbon emis-sions “So government is developing a more granular view of what the issues are at a neighborhood level.”

The idea is that, armed with this tion, citizens can not only make more informed decisions about the use of natural resources in their daily lives, but also start to initiate group efforts or competitions between different neighborhoods to reduce carbon emissions

informa-“We want the citizens to create content and services,” says Ms Villa “It’s an open architec-ture with a bottom-up approach as opposed

to a top-down enterprise.”

Protecting the Natural Environment

Known as “Eye on Earth”, the system maps more than 22,000 swimming sites and 1,000 stations monitoring air quality across Europe Citizens can make their own assess-ments and log comments, with standardized descriptions such as “clean” or “irritating.”

More than 64,000 environmental reports have so far been logged.10

Meanwhile, in San Francisco and sterdam, Cisco Systems has worked on the Urban EcoMap, an interactive website that helps raise awareness among citizens about the carbon emissions in their area On the site, users can look up emission levels by neighborhood The site also makes sugges-tions as to what actions citizens can take in areas such as transport, energy and waste management, with users able to set their goals and chart their progress

Am-Figure 12

Expected impact of ICT on a city’s natural

environment

% respondents expecting each technology to have

a major/significant impact on natural environment (ranking 1/2 on 5- point scale of expected impact, where 1=major impact and 5=no or negative impact)

More data available on individual

households’ energy usage

More data available on air and

water quality Water meters

“Smart” electricity grids that allow

greater control over energy usage

ICT for City Management

Citizens in emerging cities are taking the

lead Despite such ground-breaking

initia-tives in the West, the surveys suggest that,

contrary to expectations, stakeholders in

emerging cities are making more regular

use of ICT to monitor the natural

environ-ment and their impact on it More than

three-quarters of citizens surveyed in these

cities use communications technology such

as the Internet or SMS and mobile phones

for energy supply services, such as

check-ing energy use online This figure drops to

half among respondents from transitional

and mature cities A higher proportion of

re-spondents in emerging cities also use ICT to

access environmental information, such as

air pollution data: four-fifths do so in these

cities, compared to 67% and 36% in

transi-tional and emerging cities respectively

Moreover, citizens in emerging cities are more likely than those in mature cities to see ICT initiatives such as smart grids, water meters and online data about air and water quality as likely to have a positive impact

on the natural environment, with those in transitional cities the most optimistic about such technologies (perhaps skewed some-what by the predominance of state wealth

in cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi that can

be brought to bear to implement such nologies, as the latter is doing in Masdar City—examined in the case study on page 52) (See Figure 12.)

tech-The surveys did not reach the poorest sections of the population in emerging cit-ies, which often lack access to basic ameni-ties—let alone modern ICT—so the results should be interpreted with this in mind

But there are a number of common nations for the apparently higher level of stakeholder engagement in green ICT initia-tives in these cities For instance, pollution

expla-in these conurbations is more severe than

in mature cities, driving awareness of the sue In emerging cities some use of ICT may also be driven by necessity—for instance with monitoring energy usage, which may relate to the more widespread use in poorer cities of prepaid energy supplies

is-Citizens in mature cities, by contrast, may be motivated to monitor their power consumption by broader concerns about their impact on the environment Notably, citizens in mature cities are equally as con-cerned as those in emerging ones about air pollution as a quality of life issue, despite far better standards in these cities

Regardless of the driver, the ment of citizens in these issues is paying off—and in some cases superseding the efforts of public authorities In Hong Kong,

engage-for example, high pollution levels are near the top of the list of worries for citizens In

1995, the city’s Environmental Protection Department responded to growing envi-ronmental concerns by launching an online air quality index showing air pollution lev-els on a daily basis

However, the index has been criticized

as not providing an accurate picture of actual air quality, as it differs widely from international benchmarks, and for under-playing related health risks So in 2008, Anthony Hedley, a University of Hong Kong professor, launched an alternative index—the Hedley Environmental Index—to pro-vide real-time assessments of the health and financial impacts of the city’s air pol-lution Unfortunately for Professor Hedley, however, in the trade-off in policymakers’ priorities between economic competitive-ness and clean air, the former remains su-perior

In conclusion, ICT can play a crucial enabling role in managing a city’s environ-mental impact It is encouraging that citi-zens and businesses say they will change their behavior if given better information about their energy and water usage It is also encouraging that there is a growing trend of citizens using ICT to monitor the urban environment But promising action and actually changing behavior are two dif-ferent things The reality is that the public sector needs to drive green initiatives and tie them to suitable financial inducements

to maximize ICT’s potential impact times the right infrastructural solutions (for instance water meters and smart grids) can

Some-do this In other cases public authorities will need to ensure suitable policy and financial frameworks are in place to drive sustain-able urban living

Improving Public Administration

04

Citizens are still unsatisfied with the efficiency of public services but think ICT can help speed up and improve service delivery

Some emerging cities have made great strides in adopting e-government

Stakeholders blame each other for the slow adoption of electronic service delivery

Citizen-developed applications are an emerging trend around the world

Key findings