Connected Urban Development

In a final wrap up from the Partnership for Urban Innovation conference, here are some observations on what we took from the discussions and the key themes that ran throughout the day.

There are six main takeaways from the conference:
1. The nature of urban innovation partnerships is progressing to an inclusive, multi stakeholder network of networks to really scale and accelerate adoption of Smart+Connected urban innovation solutions. During the conference John Chambers handed over the Connected Urban Development program governance to Steve Howard, CEO of The Climate Group. Steve will bring the program forward under the new name Smart 2020: Cities and Regions initiative.

2. Urban partnerships have clearly moved progressively from what was exclusively a thought leadership discussion, through an operational stage, to the enabling of integrated decision making solutions for multiple communities, from individuals to governments and industries. Conference partners have made huge progress with multiple projects in cities globally.

3. The discussion within this and other urban innovation communities is clearly shifting towards the creation of an integrated urban approach to IT deployment across key program domains. This is very much in line with the urban services platform visions presented by the cities, Cisco and other speakers throughout the conference.

4. A number of speakers and discussions in the breakout sessions highlighted the need for cities to develop organically, beyond any grand master planning. Serendipitous, social, vibrant, inclusive communities can only develop full sustainability over the long term through the participation, innovation and drive from the many actors making up our complex systems of cities.

5. The Smart+Connected Community story has come of age, but there is much work to do to enable social innovation, governance frameworks and robust business models
 
6. Cities from all continents are extremely keen to engage with public-private partnerships in the deployment of innovative projects, based on the principles of economic, social and environmental sustainability. The opportunity for the partners at the conference is to engage on high impact transformational engagements, through a truly global community of cities focused on urban and technology innovation.

Please refer to presentations, briefings papers and video coverage from the conference at:
http://www.connectedurbandevelopment.org/conferences/shanghai_2010.

Also, The Climate Group have provided their thoughts on the conference at ‘Smart Solutions for Smart Cities’:

To underline the points raised here and in the observations from The Climate Group, the Banyan column in The Economist this week looked at ‘Asia’s alarming cities’. The need for holistic urban design, integrating complex urban systems, smart+connected solutions, the economic case for sustainable urbanization were among the topics explored at the conference to address the concerns highlighted in this article. Indeed, the quote from Christine Loh from Civic Exchange a think tank in Hong Kong, reflected her comments last year at our Connected Urban Development conference in Seoul last year.

Following the Partnership for Urban Innovation Conference, The Climate Group has provided its report on the conference and has interviewed two of the key stakeholders in the discussions at the conference, and in taking the findings from the conference forward.

John Chambers, Chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems and Josep Roig, Secretary General of Metropolis, the world association of major metropolises expolained their perspectives on public-private partnerships, their interest in the Smart2020: Cities and Regions initiative, why the smart+connected path to technology innovation is proving to be successful today and will take on great significance to the success and sustainability of our urban communities.