Inclusive Smart Cities: An Exploratory Study on the London Smart City Strategy
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- (1)
- How is inclusiveness embedded as a concept within the smart city strategy and implemented in practice?
- (2)
- What are the challenges for boosting inclusiveness in smart cities?
- (3)
- What are the types, purposes and impacts of assistive technologies used to enhance inclusiveness?
2. Inclusive Smart Cities—Definitions, Guidelines and Initiatives
2.1. Definitions
2.2. ISC Guidelines and Frameworks
2.3. ISC Initiatives
- EIP SCC’s Citizen Focus Action Cluster [26]: Within the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities Manifesto on Citizen Engagement and Inclusive Smart Cities, the following main goal was highlighted: “create and foster accessible urban services for citizens in order to improve the quality of life of all citizens and contribute to sustainable cities and a liveable environment”. And major commitments were determined based on exchanging experiences, collaboration, citizen engagement, citizen-centric solutions, and connectivity between big and small and between urban and rural communities.
- Smart Cities for All [27]: this initiative was launched to define the state of ICT in smart cities worldwide and to focus on eliminating the digital exclusion of people who are disabled and older people by partnering with leading technology companies and civil society organizations.
- The Assist-Mi Project [28]: this project, which was supported by Innovate UK [29], is an application that assists users who are disabled on the go, to access goods and services by providing real-time GPS location data and two-way communication with service providers, such as shops, museums, city services and leisure facilities, at destinations [30].
- Urban95: Creating cities for the youngest people [31]: The Bernard van Leer Foundation’s Urban95 initiative aims to make changes which endure over a long period of time in the landscapes of the city and opportunities which have profound effects on the initial five years of children’s lives. This initiative is a specific roadmap for improving inclusiveness considering children.
3. Previous Research on Inclusive Smart Cities
4. Material and Methods
4.1. Secondary Data Collection about London Smart City Strategy
4.2. Data Collection via Semi-Structured Interviews
- Do you think smart cities are inclusive in general? Is inclusiveness a feature that is considered as a part of smart city strategy? In other words, can we say smart cities are also inclusive cities?
- Considering London, what can you say about scope of inclusiveness? Which groups are considered? Do you think smart city strategies and technologies appeal to all? Are there any left behind?
- What are the current challenges for inclusive smart cities? (including ethical, legal, and privacy issues)
- What are your recommendations for the future? About smart cities in general, and then about inclusive cities?
- Do you think technology, including assistive and smart technologies can be integrated to create more inclusive environments? How and why?
- How can citizen engagement and user acceptance of technological solutions be increased?
- Can you please give some examples from technologies and smart applications (including audio- and video based Active and Assisted Living (AAL)?) What do you think about their impact on inclusiveness?
4.3. Qualitative Data Analysis
5. Findings from Semi-Structured Interviews by Content Analysis
6. Discussion of Findings
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Inclusive City Indicators | Scope of Inclusiveness | Content: Smarter London Together [51], The Future of Smart [52], Mayor’s Transport Strategy [53], The London Health Ine-Qualities Strategy [54], London Housing Strategy [55], Culture for All Londoners [56], Economic Development Strategy [57], London Environment Strategy [58] and Digital Health London [59] |
---|---|---|
Spatial Inclusion | ||
Housing | Rural disadvantaged, age, LGBT, migrants | “We use housing data to identify sites for small developers, model new school locations and identify brownfield sites (London Datastore)” … inclusive neighbourhoods; Neighbourhoods that are inclusive and welcoming, …” “These built environments support children in their healthy development, and adults through life challenges and ageing expecting” “… all social landlords to ensure their services are LGBT+ inclusive.” “making housing provision … support the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the capital, … support provided for all newly recognised refugees; …” “The Mayor expects social landlords to ensure that their services are inclusive of LGBT+ Londoners, …” |
Water and Sanitation | Other species | “…, including improvements to the water quality, biodiversity and amenity of the highway network” |
Infrastructure | Rural disadvantaged, age, disability, other species | “We are currently mapping the city’s cultural infrastructure across all boroughs. This data allows us to benchmark cultural venues and the supporting ecosystem for the first time, … identify brownfield sites …” “… enhanced biodiversity.” “Improving existing, and providing new, green infrastructure…” “…ensure that all children have access to nature”…“…to deliver a net gain in biodiversity.”“… demonstrate changes in biodiversity.” “…, cooling the urban environment and enhancing biodiversity and ecological resilience, as well as providing more attractive places for people.” “Enabling active, inclusive and safe travel, …” “Ensuring that the space provided for cycling is sufficient for groups, children and people using inclusive cycles” “Accessible and inclusive public realm at transport hubs/spots” “Vehicles, stops, stations and streets should be designed to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, taking account of the needs of all users.” “… (a) Using Inclusive Design, for example for station and train layout and facilities, including signing, information and seating, giving consideration to those with visible and invisible disabilities. (b) Providing step-free access at selected rail and Underground stations… (c) Providing step-free access at further national rail stations in London. (d) Improving the accessibility of taxi ranks, river piers and services, and Victoria Coach Station (and its potential replacement).” “Making bus services more accessible and inclusive” “Deliver wheelchair accessible bus stops, to achieve 95% in all boroughs”… ”Making Tube, rail and other services more accessible and inclusive” “Transport schemes will deliver a net positive impact on biodiversity” “Good performance against each of the ten evidence based Healthy Streets Indicators means that individual streets are fair, inclusive and sustainable environments.” “… support the growth of the low carbon, Clean Tech and resource efficient sector in London improve biodiversity and ecological resilience.” “Good performance against each of the ten evidence based Healthy Streets Indicators means that individual streets are fair, inclusive and sustainable environments.” |
Access to services | Socially disadvantaged, disability, age | “Develop new approaches to digital inclusion to support Londoners’ access to public services” “Engaging our citizens—putting Londoners at the core, through wide, inclusive digital engagement, and improving digital skills for all … to look at inclusion afresh, including an understanding of users from every background. For example, we want to ensure that there are no barriers that might prevent anyone who is hard of hearing or has visual, cognitive or motor impairments from accessing a digital service.” “We use air quality data to inform public health campaigns and notify children and people at most risk” “This will help focus public services and interventions on the people that need them most, such as those most affected by air pollution, fuel poverty or overheating” “… serve citizens better and reduce health inequalities.” “… improve the care and support of people who move between the NHS, council social care and third sector services.” “The Mayor already has access to the largest network of air quality monitors of any city, …” “In tackling fuel poverty, it is important to identify who is at risk … for the provisions of the Digital Economy Act relating to fuel poverty to be extended to local authorities in order that they can target fuel poor households with greater precision. The Mayor will combine data on Energy Performance Certificate data for London that he has already published with area-level indices of vulnerability such as fuel poverty and disability to identify priority areas. Guidance will also be issued to boroughs on how they can legally and responsibly use data to identify fuel poor households.” “Having a low income, disability, poor access to facilities and difficulty finding time to build exercise into the day are some of the barriers people face.” “allows people who live in London and meet the age criteria, or have an eligible disability, to travel for free on public transport.” |
Social Inclusion | ||
Equal rights | Gender, age, disability, diverse groups | “Mayor’s Foreword:…a fairer, more prosperous and more equal place for all Londoners” “Promote more diversity in tech to address inequality” “In 2018/19, the Challenge is searching for innovative solutions to reduce inequality, …” “This has to change—gender equality is the cornerstone of the Mayor’s #BehindEveryGreatCity campaign.” “… to work collaboratively in developing inclusive and sustainable cultural offers for disabled young people.” |
Participation of all | Gender, Unrepresented groups, disability, age | “Recognise the role of cultural institutions engaging citizens in the digital world” “Initiatives like this to increase the diversity of Talk London will be crucial when we discuss citizen views on the use of their data in public services.” “Accessibility and inclusion also means that all members of the public feel safe and secure when travelling.” “… where London’s diversity is celebrated, people are active citizens engaged in their communities and how they are changing, and where all Londoners feel safe.” |
Economic Inclusion | ||
Employment | Age, gender, socially disadvantaged, disability, ethnicity | “The GLA is evaluating the success of the MiWifi programme in Lewisham for the over 50s and unemployed where from June 2017 to January 2018 Lewisham residents were able to borrow a tablet for up to four weeks and offered six hours of digital skills training.” “Digital Talent Programme—The Mayor is delivering a £7m programme to inspire and train more young women and BAME Londoners to enter digital, technology and creative job roles.” “The Tech Talent Charter is a commitment by organisations to a set of undertakings that aim to deliver greater gender diversity in the tech workforce of the UK, to support diversity at entry-level jobs for young people, the Mayor’s Digital Talent.” “Programme increases training in digital technology with new industry-approved courses for 16–24 year olds. It focuses on attracting more young women and Londoners from a range of backgrounds to work in the sector.” “… the digital skills of young Londoners aged 16–24 will be launched throughout the year.” “… adopt inclusive employment and workforce development practices to achieve high standards in areas such as working conditions, diversity and inclusion (including the employment of older workers and disabled people),” “There is huge industry appetite to make the creative industries diverse and inclusive.” “Lead by example, promoting best practice for providing inclusive and diverse workplaces through schemes like Our Time” |
Economic growth | Gender, ethnicity | “Night-time economy”. “The Mayor and his Night Czar, Amy Lamé, have published a 24-h vision to create a life at night that works for everyone.” “Growth that is socially, spatially and economically inclusive …” “The industry must become more inclusive itself, reflecting London’s population.” “encouraging financial and business services firms to be inclusive workplaces for women and BAME Londoners.” |
Categories | Technologies |
---|---|
Audio–video-based technologies | My Health Guide, an app to assist adults with a learning disability in managing their healthcare and sharing information with carers, relatives and healthcare staff by recording info in written, photo, audio and video forms. Digital remote monitoring solutions to help multi-morbid patients attending the cardiology service. The Eirene Project, EIRENE—usE of vIrtual Reality hEadsets iN outpatiEnt manual vacuum aspiration for women who have experienced pregnancy loss. |
Sensors | Digital Greenwich—air quality sensor and data standards to measure air pollution. Lampposts including air quality sensors, public WiFi, cameras, electric vehicle charge points, electricity for filming and festivals, and the potential for 5G roll-out. |
Mobil devices/applications | Canopie is an evidence-based digital program that hinders and focuses on maternal mental, common complications of pregnancy and childbirth Little Journey is a digital eSupport platform created for reducing periprocedural anxiety in children. |
Artificial Intelligence | Ufonia’s solution utilises automation to deliver high-volume, low-complexity clinical conversations through Dora—an artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous clinical assistant. |
No | Interviewees | Years of Experience | Role on Inclusiveness |
---|---|---|---|
I1 | Access and Inclusive Environments Lead | >15 | Inclusive design Leader |
I2 | Urban researcher and socio-spatial data analyst | >30 | Socio-spatial analysis, spatial inequalities, urban health, sustainable mobility |
I3 | Urban planning scholar and researcher | >10 | Strategic spatial planning, circular economy, EU policy and urban governance and politics. |
I4 | Sustainability and Climate Adaptation Programme Manager | >5 | Campaigner for social equity and gender mainstreaming in city planning and policy making |
I5 | Inclusive Design Consultant | >20 | Inclusive design of built environment |
I6 | Architect, Consultant, Speaker and Writer on Inclusive Design | >30 | Consultancy on inclusive design |
Questions | Coded Themes | No. of Files | No. of Coding Ref. | No. of Words Coded | No. of Paragraphs Coded | Selected Quotations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Do you think smart cities are inclusive in general? Is inclusiveness a feature that is considered as a part of smart city strategy? In other words, can we say smart cities are also inclusive cities? | Inclusiveness is a feature of smartness | 2 | 12 | 389 | 20 | I1: So one example is if we are collecting data in order to inform these systems to make the city smart, it will be able to make the city and the infrastructure respond to people. |
Undecided | 2 | 4 | 220 | 16 | I2: …but I can’t say smart cities are inclusive or not inclusive because it depends a lot on which cities, which smart technologies being used, … | |
Inclusiveness is not necessarily the focus | 2 | 4 | 86 | 7 | I3: I wouldn’t say that smart cities are inherently inclusive because I don’t think that that is necessarily the focus of these strategies. I5: Not always. Inclusion is still intermittent in its consideration and implementation. | |
2. Considering London, what can you say about scope of inclusiveness? Which groups are considered ? Do you think smart city strategies and technologies appeal to all? Are there any left behind? | Everyone is included | 2 | 5 | 158 | 12 | I4: I think it just helps boost confidence of a citizen, every citizen, in fact, no matter if it’s based on caste, creed, color, ethnicity, every citizen can track their track and monitor the progress of their local authorities and governments, so I think digital enablement has definitely helped cut across the heterogeneity of the population present in London. |
Groups that need higher attention (vulnerable groups) | Women | 1 | 2 | 29 | 2 | I1: And I think a lot of the research that we’ve discovered that actually there might be things around the perception of safety for women. |
Children | 1 | 2 | 13 | 2 | I1: …because cities aren’t designed very well for children… | |
Socially disadvantaged (low income) | 2 | 2 | 58 | 3 | I2: There is a lot of types of cards and support for those who have higher needs and can’t afford to pay, but still there’s a lot to be done as in any other city. | |
Ethnic groups/minorities | 1 | 2 | 89 | 2 | I1: … around ethnicity and faith where people feel more vulnerable because of the environment … | |
Disabled people | 3 | 3 | 175 | 6 | I1: For disabled people, there’s lots of feedback around actually, if I’m a disabled person, then the type of bicycle that I have might be larger and actually the infrastructure doesn’t support that. I6: You’ve got stations that you can’t park if you’re an accessible vehicle because there’s no space park. | |
Older people | 2 | 2 | 89 | 5 | I1: But if we look 20 years in the future, we know that globally the population is aging, so actually people are living for longer, people are working for longer, so what does that mean for our spaces in 20 years time? | |
Immigrants | 1 | 2 | 53 | 2 | I1: So again, what does that mean in terms of the cultural diversity that we have within our city and what sort of things do we need to think about in order to accommodate that? | |
People who live in rural regions | 1 | 3 | 88 | 4 | I1: … the barriers that people experience are going to be different across different regions, as you say, in more rural areas. | |
3. What are the current challenges for inclusive smart cities? (including ethical, legal, and privacy issues) | Challenging process of getting permission from citizen for data collection | 1 | 1 | 28 | 1 | I1:… it’s how we get that permission from people in the first place, which I think is always a challenge. |
Interconnectivity problem between smart systems | 1 | 1 | 179 | 6 | I1: So actually, it’s how you connect all the information that different organizations are doing, so that from the user point of view, it’s seamless. | |
Lack of trust due to limited transparency | 4 | 13 | 1512 | 94 | I1: I think a lot of people are still quite nervous about their data being collected and where it’s going to be used and how safe and secure it is. I2: There should be an alternative way of dealing with ethics because no one can read all the terms &references. | |
4. What are your recommendations for the future? About smart cities in general, and then about inclusive cities? | Collaboration between stakeholders | 3 | 3 | 205 | 12 | I4: … most of the time such partnerships and collaborative data pooling is still not there and that’s exactly where we need to build on. I5: … which requires stakeholder engagement with seldom heard groups and solutions … |
Connectivity between different systems | 1 | 1 | 67 | 3 | I1: … if we’re wanting to introduce systems to help people use a city, then those systems have to speak to each other. | |
Improving transparency | 2 | 3 | 89 | 6 | I2: And then the technology, as I said, you know, all the process of collecting data, managing data should be transparent, should be ethical, should be focused on, you know, priorities within our, our society. I5: Privacy laws are in place and any technologies will need to be developed with this adhered to… | |
Incentives for best practices | 1 | 1 | 54 | 4 | I4: We need to think about the right set of incentives and penalties for whoever is using the data to encourage good usage of data, good practices in data, I think, yeah, economic incentives. | |
Legislative actions | 1 | 1 | 38 | 3 | I4: So I feel if we get the policies right around data privacy and data sensitivity, especially given the kind of technologies we live in, AI and ML and blockchain, I think we have to get our regulations right. | |
Addressing the cities’ needs rather than smartness | 2 | 4 | 912 | 59 | I2: …instead of improving this society and these cities, we’re investing in other cities that I’m not sure they will work better to be honest, that’s something we need to see. | |
Better representation of groups—inclusiveness | 1 | 1 | 41 | 1 | I1: …so making sure that we are actually designing thinking about the diversity of people that will be using the space and not just the people who have been represented historically. | |
5. Do you think AAL solutions and other technologies can be integrated to create more inclusive environments? How and why? | Connectivity with other systems/technologies | 2 | 3 | 170 | 3 | I1: …making sure again that it ties in with how what other initiatives and what other systems are actually in place. I6: How do they interact with the technology if they’re blind? |
These technologies should be accessible for all | 3 | 4 | 512 | 35 | I3: … if they are only available to to certain people or to those who can can afford them then I wouldn’t say that it is necessarily an inclusive solution so like they should be widely available preferably publicly owned… | |
Proper use | 2 | 3 | 105 | 6 | I2: … it’s quite interesting and important with these new technologies, if they’re used properly. I5: Information is key if technologies help provide the safety, security and information to move around a city. | |
6. How can citizen engagement and user acceptance of AAL solutions and other technologies be increased? | Better Communication of why these solutions are necessary and being used | 1 | 5 | 159 | 14 | I2: Maybe there’s a different way of doing it knowledge of what they have to be aware when they’re using this. But you need to tell people, look, I’m filming you, this has an impact, this is going to be recorded, this is going to be that of that. |
Dedicating more time for engagement part in developing technologies | 1 | 1 | 321 | 17 | I1: I think part of it is having more time in projects to be able to dedicate to the engagement part, because I think a lot of the time, at the moment, anyway, a lot of the time. | |
Training | 3 | 4 | 584 | 38 | I3: I guess some sort of like education campaigns can be useful to sort of like disseminate and promote certain solutions and sort of like educate people how to use them because… I4: I think here comes the importance of change management and the importance of educating our customers. | |
Ensuring access to smart technologies for all | 3 | 3 | 82 | 6 | I3: … pricing is a big great concern … I5: Barriers need to be addressed to ensure that everyone is genuinely benefiting from the advances and changes. | |
Getting feedback from different groups | 1 | 3 | 118 | 3 | I1: … we knew that we wanted to talk to people from ethnic minority groups as an example for this particular project because we knew that in that particular area there was a big population of people who weren’t … | |
Increasing honesty and transparency | 2 | 4 | 192 | 14 | I2: I think it’s about being honest, it’s about being collaborative, … I3: … we make the people convinced to engage more actively use these technologies and be part of this … | |
Policies, standards, master plans | 1 | 3 | 77 | 3 | I1: The city scale and the regional, a lot of that work might be more around kind of policies or standards or master planning as well. | |
Advertisement and promotion | 1 | 6 | 271 | 7 | I1: So we made sure that we contacted local press newspapers, social media, making sure that we advertised it, making sure that we also had leaflets that were printed in different formats, different languages so that we could actually hand those out to people as well. |
Technologies | Target Group | Impact |
---|---|---|
Data collection through sensors and cameras | People who are sensitive to noise, light and temperature (such as autism) | Improving work efficiency |
Pedestrian crossing system | People who are disabled and older people | Improving mobility and accessibility |
Navigator beacons connected to smart phones | Blind or partially sighted, people who are disabled who lack spoken language | Improving mobility and accessibility |
Delivery applications | People who are stuck at homes | Improving accessibility |
Sharing platforms for bikes | People who are socially disadvantaged | Improving mobility and socialization |
Heart defibrillators at subway stations | People who are at risk of heart attack | Improving mobility and accessibility |
Digital platform for monitoring citizens’ dialogue. | Citizens in complex stakeholder environment | Civil participation in a smart way |
Smart tools to monitor employees’ own carbon footprint | Employees | Improving health quality |
Easy payment alternatives for transport | Older, younger, socially disadvantaged | Improving mobility, accessibility |
Applications for sharing live data info on congestion, disruption | People who are disabled | Improving mobility, accessibility, health quality |
Increased surveillance and use of CCTV | Women, LGBT, older people and people who are disabled | Improving mobility, accessibility and safety |
Apps to help navigation | People who are disabled and older people | Improving mobility and accessibility |
Smart tags for tracking | Children and people with disabilities such as dementia | Improving mobility, accessibility, and safety |
Fall detection alert systems | People who are disabled and older people | Improving health quality |
Calling for assistance systems in public spaces | Women, children, people who are disabled and ethnic minorities, people who feel more vulnerable as soon as it gets dark | Improving mobility, accessibility, and safety |
Detecting wheelchair and women with buggies in lifts, buses through CCTV systems | People who are disabled and women with buggies | Improving mobility, accessibility, and safety |
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Tekin, H.; Dikmen, I. Inclusive Smart Cities: An Exploratory Study on the London Smart City Strategy. Buildings 2024, 14, 485. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14020485
Tekin H, Dikmen I. Inclusive Smart Cities: An Exploratory Study on the London Smart City Strategy. Buildings. 2024; 14(2):485. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14020485
Chicago/Turabian StyleTekin, Hamdi, and Irem Dikmen. 2024. "Inclusive Smart Cities: An Exploratory Study on the London Smart City Strategy" Buildings 14, no. 2: 485. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14020485