From Smart Cities to Human Smart Cities

This paper argues that current technology-driven implementations of Smart Cities, although being an important step in the right direction, fall short in exploiting the most important human dimension of cities. The paper argues therefore in support of the concept of Human Smart Cities. In a Human Smart City, people rather than technology are the true actors of the urban "smartness". The creation of a participatory innovation ecosystem in which citizens and communities interact with public authorities and knowledge developers is key. Such collaborative interaction leads to co-designed user centered innovation services and calls for new governance models. The urban transformation in which citizens are the main "drivers of change" through their empowerment and motivation ensures that the major city challenges can be addressed, including sustainable behavior transformations. Furthermore, the authors argue that the city challenges can be more effectively addressed at the scale of neighborhood and they provide examples and experiences that demonstrate the viability, importance and impact of such approach. The paper builds on the experience of implementing Human Smart Cities projects in 27 European cities located in 17 different countries. Details of the technologies, methodologies, tools and policies are illustrated with examples extracted from the project My Neighbourhood.