Our enlightened future:The journey to smarter cities

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Contents

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01_Executive summary

02_Introduction

04_Research findings

12_Spotlight on lampposts

16_Conclusions

The way we use and live in cities is changing across the world, as urban populations grow and as technology enables us to create smarter, more connected solutions. The UK has committed itself to a path toward smarter cities, pinpointing it as an essential element of our digital economy and allocating funding to kick-start the roll-out of new initiatives and trial new technology.

Executive summary

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However, the responsibility for making the transition to more connected cities lies at local government level. Cities will be responsible for identifying the right smart initiatives and technological solutions required to transform their services and improve the way the city works for residents, businesses and local communities. Despite this remit, the pace of change varies greatly across the country.

This report summarises the findings of research into the opinions on smart cities of senior contacts from councils across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, conducted by DJS Research on behalf of Lucy Zodion. The in-depth interviews conducted in May and June 2016 gauged the appetite for smart cities among UK councils and opinions on a range of topics, from the biggest obstacles to smart cities to the most pressing priorities for councils.

The research identified strong evidence for a lack of understanding within councils from the outset; over 80% of the 187 councils did not have an appointed lead for smart cities, and many confessed to a low awareness of the topic and what it could mean for them. Common barriers towards progression were identified, from securing funding and resourcing at a time of budget cuts, to a lack of collaboration between services and departments hindering progress.

The report identifies six key stages that councils appear to pass through on their journey towards becoming a smarter, more connected city. Yet the gap between those councils leading the way and those yet to understand the potential is significant, risking a three-tiered approach to the UK’s smart city roll-out.

Those enlightened councils with funding secured and projects underway are striving ahead of others aware of the potential benefits but struggling to gather the resource required to make progress. The remaining councils – seemingly the majority – appear less engaged, either unaware of the potential benefits or too focused on making budgets balance.

It is apparent that unless significant changes are made, we will continue to see inconsistent approaches to smart cities from councils across the UK. The report identifies recommendations to optimise a smart city transition, from the creation of an over-arching strategy to establish leadership and objectives to engaging citizens to ensure services developed meet the needs of those living and working in the city.

Whilst there are practical steps that councils can take to build and optimise a smart city plan, the report identifies some fundamental barriers to a consistent and cost-effective roll-out across the country. It is only when councils are able to make smart cities a strategic priority and work together to implement them efficiently, putting the citizen at the centre of their plans, will we be able to realise the potential of our future cities.

Introduction

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Introduction The evolution of our citiesThe transition to smarter cities is happening across the globe. There are now more people living in cities than in rural areas, and that number is continuing to rise: in 2014, the urban population accounted for 54% of the total world population. This is set to rise to 66% by 20501, with urbanisation accelerating particularly quickly in less developed countries. In the UK, over 80% of the population is expected to be urbanised by 20302. Consumer expectations are also growing as technology becomes smarter and as they access more responsive and tailored services from commercial organisations.

This pressure on urban systems presents a significant challenge for national and local governments. From enhancing infrastructure, to identifying technology and solutions that meet the growing expectations of smarter, more connected citizens, the way we use and live in cities is changing.

Our cities of the future While the concept of smart cities is still in its infancy, the movement towards smarter cities is gaining momentum. Smart city projects are being trialled in countries across the world – from smart ticketing in London, to smart traffic lights in Barcelona. The term ‘smart’ can also mean different things to different people, as can be seen in the wide range of definitions for a ‘smart city’, from one which “brings together hard infrastructure, social capital including local skills and community institutions, and (digital) technologies to fuel sustainable economic development and provide an attractive environment for all”3, to a more technology-focused concept of, “one that makes optimal use of all the interconnected information available today to better understand and control its operations and optimise the use of limited resources”4.

The UK has committed itself to a path towards smarter, better connected cities for the future. The government recognise the potential for data-driven, smart solutions to boost city economies and improve their delivery of public services. There are substantial savings to be made - by utilising smart water solutions, it is estimated that utility companies could save between $7.1bn and $12.5bn every year5. The benefits of smart cities aren’t purely economic either, as there are opportunities to improve citizens’ standard of living in many other areas; for example, road sensors could reduce congestion, and health apps could connect patients with doctors remotely.

In recent years, the government have been investing in a number of initiatives to stimulate the progression of smart cities; they have committed over £50m to the Future Cities Catapult through Innovate UK. In 2015, UK government announced £40m funding for smart cities - including investment in demonstrator programmes, business incubators and a research hub to develop health and social care applications. Smart infrastructure is now a key component of the UK’s digital strategy:

“Future infrastructure is another major priority for the government, to enable future growth. Increasingly, high quality new infrastructure will be smart infrastructure, digitally-enabled, whether rail, roads, buildings or street lighting.”– Ed Vaizey MP, Digital Economy Minister (August 2015)

The path to enlightenmentThe task of achieving smarter, more connected cities in the UK lies with local councils. With the government’s drive for devolution, they are placing the responsibility on the individual council to take the initiative when it comes to improving their city. Yet growing strains on public services and budgets could negatively affect the ability of all councils to dedicate the resources required to trial technology, progress smart projects, and identify the most cost-effective path to prepare our cities for the future.

The purpose of this report is to gain a deeper understanding of local government attitudes to smart cities across the UK. Research conducted with councils from across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland examined the opinions of those tasked with delivering new solutions and smart infrastructure to identify progress to date, barriers to delivery and identify what they believe are the key drivers to improve services and efficiency in future cities.

1World Health Organisation, 20142Euromonitor International, 20163Department for Business Innovation & Skills, 20134IBM, 20115Department for Business Innovation & Skills, 201303

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Research findings

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Research findings In April 2016, Lucy Zodion commissioned public sector experts DJS Research to conduct in-depth qualitative research with senior management from councils across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The research explored the level of awareness around smart cities, progress to date in each council, and where they best felt smarter solutions would improve city services.

Interviews were undertaken during May and June 2016. DJS Research, an MRS accredited research agency, spoke to contacts from 187 councils during the research and went on to conduct in-depth interviews with members of 35 councils with varying degrees of involvement in smart cities. Respondents came from a range of departments including Planning & Environment, Economic Development and Environment & Economy.

Participants were asked for their views on the key drivers for smart cities and the biggest obstacles facing smart city planners. To provide context, the research also intended to examine the priorities of councils and how smart cities could improve council services, enabling them to reduce costs or raise income. Finally, participants were asked for their opinions on new smart city technologies and whether they thought that existing infrastructure – such as lampposts – could be used to improve city services.

Whilst the final participants had varying degrees of involvement in smart cities, it became clear that those with greater knowledge were more likely to sit in dedicated smart city teams, or departments focused on economic development and/or the environment. Job titles of those involved included:

A path to enlightenmentThe level of awareness, knowledge and involvement varied greatly between councils. Of the 187 councils contacted during this research, the vast majority (c150 councils) had no teams or individuals responsible for smart city development or delivery, and awareness of smart cities was often limited. Some had little to no awareness, typically having read about smart cities or attended a conference on the topic, but with little to no progress underway in their council. For others, awareness and knowledge had grown, leading to greater engagement and projects either underway or in plan.

Six key stages on the path to enlightenment were identified:

• Smart Project Manager• Economic Growth & Enterprise Manager• Service Manager for Infrastructure • Solution Architect • Head of Digital • IT Service Manager/

Customer Programme Manager

Stage 1: In the darkMinimal awareness of ‘Smart Cities’ - “It doesn’t mean a great deal to me”

Stage 2: Ears pricked Awareness but no involvement -“We don’t have the scale to get involved”

Stage 3: Eyes and ears open Awareness and partial involvement - “As a council we have seen technology applied; we are interested in the potential of smart cities.”

Stage 4: Eyes, ears and minds alertAwareness and involvement - “We have seen it implemented well and have started to implement our own smart technology…we are in the early stages but hoping to learn more.”

Stage 5: The enlightened Leader in Smart Cities - “We have people working on ‘Smart Cities’, we understand how the technology can improve services and make the city more liveable in the future”

Stage 6: The connected city Delivering smart solutions and engaging citizens at every stage, from design to delivery - “We’re moving to a customer-orientated business model. If they don’t want to use it, it won’t work.”

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Smart cities: a positive changeWhilst the majority of councils across the UK fell into stages one and two on the path to enlightenment, even those with limited knowledge of the topic were still positive about the possibilities of smart cities and the benefits it could bring to their local communities.

The idea that a ‘smarter’ city could run more efficiently was popular among respondents. The benefit of greater efficiencies was a common theme in their understanding of what a smart city actually is. This ranged from more efficient use of resources and achieving better value for money, to a city running more efficiently and delivering better quality services for its citizens.

“Where it works, it’s a case of better outcomes and ideally lower ongoing costs.”

“[It’s all about] being a bit more clever… the organism of a city can operate more effectively and efficiently.”

“It’s more for less; the only way I can see it is to provide more services for less cost.”

Those who were further along their smart journey were also more likely to identify that a smarter, more connected city would achieve more than financial savings. These councils acknowledged that a better use of data would inform their ability to target services and develop technology or solutions to make them more effective.

“As a service provider within the council, we want better value for money out of public services so we’re looking at smarter ways in which we can do that.”

“It means better use of data and digital technology, to have better targeting of resources and services [and] improve quality of life in the city.”

When asked to identify the key drivers to enable investment for smart city technology, improving the quality of services and wellbeing of the citizen was crucial.

“Councils get to run services more efficiently, keep on meeting their obligation, and citizens would hopefully get better quality services.”

4 3 2 1Costsavings

Revenue generation for local business

Revenue generation for local councils

Improved health

Reduced pollution

Better services for the community

The individual citizens

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Research findings The barriers to deliveryOne respondent, a smart city project manager in a council leading the way in future cities, listed what a council must do to deliver a smarter, more connected city.

“You need collaboration, accountability, governance structure…you need performance management, you need open data sets from government departments, and you need to be talking to private organisations about open data sets, you need to work with your SME’s and be able to help them to develop innovative solutions to the current problems of our city.”

Whilst there was consensus on the positive opportunities that smart cities provide, it became clear that councils face significant barriers that prevent them from progressing along their smart journeys. Navigating the ‘path to enlightenment’ is not always as easy as it first appears.

The barriers to delivery listed by research respondents were:

FundingThe current financial pressures of councils in the UK are well documented, and the strain on public spending was cited as a major barrier to investing in smart technology trials or projects. Despite the acknowledgement that smarter solutions have the potential to save money or streamline services, many councils less involved in smart cities struggle to siphon budget away from core spending (largely health and social care) and dedicate resources to progress smart cities projects and invest in new initiatives:

“We have no budget, we have no money…we do have the possibility of grants…but there is no allocated slice of the budget”

“In the current financial situation that local government and others are in, with a lot of these things it’s ‘invest to save’ …and getting that initial investment is very, very difficult.”

“Local authorities are having to just make budgets balance…a lot of time is spent just looking at budgets and looking downward rather than upwards and outwards.”

“The end outcome after the journey will be savings for everybody, the economy will benefit…but at the moment a lot of local authorities are having to be very accountant-based in terms of their approach.”

Those councils leading the way on smart cities were more likely to have secured external funding – and those who were more advanced along their smart journey and keen to progress further admitted to having bid for funding but lost, or needing more funding to meet their strategic aims.

“We aren’t hindered by funding, we are finding it from Europe, the funding available by UK government in terms of superfast broadband, and finding our own resources from government too.”

“The obvious [barrier] is obtaining finance for projects…we had a bid in last year but lost.”

“Our competition [funding] helps about three projects…it’s frustrating because the skills are here; we just need a little bit more, not a massive amount more. The government pots of funding are so small compared to India and the US, if you put it in proportion in terms of our country sizes, we’re really underinvesting.”

For those respondents working at county council level or in regions with smaller cities and towns, the inability to secure external funding was a point of frustration.

“It’s not considered as a city – it’s a city region, but despite that we don’t get access to the city’s alliance funding or Smart Cities funding.”

“We haven’t deployed [our preferred solutions] yet; we’re working on it, but we don’t have the money because we’re not a city. We’re not getting access to the funding even though we’re bigger than a lot of the so-called cities.”

Those councils leading the way in smart initiatives had also harnessed the power of collaboration to overcome the barrier of funding, from working in partnership with private organisations and academics, to encouraging local businesses to actively participate in the development of solutions. One example of SME engagement is supporting local businesses and developing solutions for city issues.

• A lack of funding • A lack of internal prioritisation• A lack of evidence or proof• Not enough collaboration• A general lack of confidence

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“We have a Small Business Initiative…if we have a particular problem in the city we put that information out to SMEs and run a competition and we will give them funding to develop a prototype…so we’ve helped businesses to develop a relevant product for the city and then we’ve also developed a product that we can develop in our city to help us resolve a problem.”

Whilst there are some councils that are finding ways to secure funds to engender innovation and progress activity, the lack of sustainable funding is hindering many councils from building a strong business case for their projects.

“Everyone knows that the future is probably bright and it’s all going to…apply technology fantastically, but how exactly do we start – and that I think is stopping action happening, that and the fact that people are afraid - are worried about where the funding’s coming from.”

“I think, without a major investment from government, it’s going to happen very slowly.”

Internal prioritisationWithout sustainable funding in place, smart city projects are failing to achieve internal buy-in, according to many councils. Research participants were asked how high a priority smart cities were on their council’s agenda. The overwhelming response was that, faced with budget pressures and shrinking resources, finding internal buy-in to progress with smart initiatives was an uphill struggle for many.

“The most important [factor] is internal prioritisation…if it’s a priority for directors it all flows on from there.”

“This idea that we’re going to put that at the top of our spending priorities, there’s just not enough evidence to justify that.”

“I can only do stuff that clearly has a budget saving, which can steer us away from getting involved in things like Smart City because they’re big and not as tangible in terms of return on investment.”

Lack of evidence The downgrading of a smart transition as a priority for many local councils was often pinpointed to a lack of evidence to support a business case, particularly when funds are limiting and projects are competing to secure what little there may be available. Whilst some councils are enjoying the benefits of early implementation of new technology, the vast majority have struggled to obtain results and proof that would convince council leaders to divert funds to support new initiatives.

“I think a massive barrier is the cost to get into it at the moment…there’s not enough proven technology out there that would make you invest in that.”

“It has to generate savings in the longer term; it has to be transformational and have realisable benefits that actually justify the effort and the investment.”

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Research findings Lack of confidenceThe concept of the ‘Smart City’ is still quite new for many councils and some respondents admitted to not knowing how to get started, as well as being cautious about spending any money whilst being unclear whether they will produce cost savings or generate income:

“My level of confidence in the current climate of budgets and financial pressures, it’s a bit of a leap of faith, it’s not awfully tangible at this point.”

“[Our directors] don’t really know what they want, they like the idea and the sound of it but they’re not really that clued up on what the possibilities are and they’re a bit timid.”

“It’s very risky for a council to do at the moment: there’s no obvious business model and reward model.”

“I think the market and the local government in this country are terribly confused and rather intimidated by it.”

Internal collaborationA frustration felt by many respondents was the fact that local government departments were not always sharing information freely or working together to advance the smart agenda in a collaborative way. From systems that don’t communicate to a lack of knowledge sharing between colleagues, these were seen as barriers to successful smart delivery.

“We have lots of little siloed bits of data and information and little systems that don’t talkto each other…”

“There are opportunities to make savings on lots of stuff, but there are overlaps as well; there’s one department in one area doing something and they don’t know that there’s loads of potential there.”

“[The funding] barrier is a bit of an illusion because there’s money in, what I would call, the system; if you think about the city, public authorities in the city – health, council – there are budgets there. Sometimes by working together you can all agree something can be spent in a certain way.”

Knowledge gapsA perceived lack of knowledge from those within councils can also put a block on the pace of progression. A recurring theme amongst those respondents at an early stage of their smart journey was the recognition that there is a strong desire for the potential benefits that a smart city could bring, but a lack of knowledge about the solutions that already exist to achieve them is holding many councils back.

“There’s an appetite for the outcomes, they just don’t realise that a Smart City way of thinking or agenda - whatever is the mechanism to get you there… [eg] they don’t realise that through connecting the city it would become more of an attractive place for companies to invest in.”

“I think people want the outcomes and are probably driving the outcomes, it’s just doing it in a Smart City sense, recognising what Smart City is, what other cities or cities in other countries do:…understanding benefits, shaping and thinking strategically and planning what they do and whogets involved.”

Building the business case Securing the resources needed to develop a connected city is clearly the biggest barrier to overcome, yet despite the external funding available to many cities, respondents consistently highlighted that without a sustainable funding model and demonstrating return on investment, they were struggling build a solid business case. Without the ability to demonstrate that a project is sustainable and can deliver tangible benefits, many councils felt funding would not be given and projects would not be prioritised by local authorities.

“It’s early days yet – but if someone could come up with business cases and articulate it then that’s what’s going to help it flow – [for] a local authority under the cost in terms of budgets and having to save money.”

“If you start to show the business return then it makes it easier to invest. That’s thede-risking element.”

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“[We’re looking at] a specific solution for a small area…we can use an example of something that’s small and measurable to see whether the benefits that were promised do get realised. So it doesn’t take a huge amount of investment to do it in the first place.”

Those most experienced councils in terms of ‘Smart Cities’ were more likely to have defined a clear strategy around the solutions they are developing, with defined budgets for each project and external funding secured. Importantly, they were also more likely to assess a project’s value not just in cost savings achieved, but also by improvements to services or benefit to residents.

“The most successful application of technology would be immediately apparent that this is something good to me as an individual but it is making my life more convenient and possibly less expensive, it’s making the city more attractive to live in: if you can combine all of those then it would be aslam dunk.”

“Our ethos is to develop partnerships with universities and businesses and organisation to slowly build up a business model to say: look, this will give us more efficiency, more savings,a better service etc.”

“[It’s] a win-win for councils and the community they serve. Councils get to run services more efficiently, keep on meeting their obligation, and citizens…get better quality services.”

“We are looking to develop a self-sufficient plan, we do need cash for this but we hope within a 5 year period we can make our model self-sufficient.”

Engaging citizensFinding funding and achieving consensus on a project may be critical to building a solid business case, but a fundamental step before this is identifying the right solutions to develop or implement. Whilst councils all have different priorities and focus on initiatives that best solve their individual cities’ problems, one constant across all local governments is the need to engage citizens at some point along the smart city journey. Those cities leading the way acknowledged that collecting and using data to understand how a city works needs to be accompanied by conversations with businesses and residents to understand how they use and live in the city, to help build a full picture of what problems need to be solved and what solutions communities want – this creates a truly connected city.

“[Citizens have] got to play a large part because it’s all moving to a customer-orientated business model. If they don’t want to use it, it won’t work.”

“You’ve got to involve [citizens] right at the beginning because we can’t anticipate what the answer will be. When we came up with [our smart solution] we didn’t set out with that in our mind. So including people earlier on and talking to them is absolutely vital.”

“Whatever you develop, even if it’s physical sensors, the software has got to be leading to something that’s useful to lots of people otherwise you won’t have a business model. You’ve got to work out what the customer wants.”

Respondents admitted engaging citizens at different stages in the development process, depending on the nature of the technology, from identifying issues to tackle in the first place to gauging opinions of business-led initiatives further down the line.

“We have quite a lot of consultation people [and] the citizen’s panel, which is about 2,500 people who are willing to be engaged in various topics and give back feedback. The people have volunteered to say, send me an email, send a link for people to have an opinion. It’s just a representative sample.”

“They’re actually telling us what their problems are in the real world – they’re not guessing. We have a very clear idea of what issues there are and some of these things are about bigger city ambitions.”

“[Residents tell us] ‘I can’t get through sometimes, I don’t feel confident’, then we say ‘well how can we help you be more confident?’ and that’s where the solutions come from. We’ve got nine or ten smart solutions in the area which [came from these conversations.]”

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Research findings A collaborative business planThe importance of collaboration between councils, private sector organisations and service providers, universities and the wider community is well documented.

There was wide recognition that working with external partners was also critical to success. Those who were identified as being in stages three or four of the ‘path to enlightenment’ were more likely to be commencing partnerships with universities, SMEs, organisations and private service providers. Those leading in smart cities already had these partnerships in place and were benefiting from funding and expertise as they embedded solutions into their cities.

“It’s not about council work, it’s about the city…the council is one service provider…but it doesn’t own everything in terms of energy, transport, unemployment skills…we have a bit that we do, central government have a bit that they do in terms of training and awareness and so our role is to bring the efforts across private and public sector together.”

The importance of bringing businesses on board to develop solutions and help fund initiatives was repeatedly stressed. Those leading in smart cities recognised that whilst councils themselves might struggle to earn revenue from initiatives, enabling businesses to make a return on their involvement was essential to bringing them on board.

“It would be harder to generate revenue for councils…large swathes of provision of services in this country is done on a private basis...”

“[Enabling] revenue for local businesses since it’s…local businesses that are going to end up putting money into this or business in general, then they’re going to want to see a return for themselves and are probably more willing to risk the money than a council would be.”

“We have a Small Business Initiative…if we have a particular problem in the city we put that information out to SMEs and run a competition and we will give them funding to develop a prototype…so we’ve helped businesses to develop a relevant product for the city and then we’ve also developed a product that we can develop in our city to help us resolve a problem”

“A lot of the services that are provided in cities are privatised. The councils won’t benefit from the information that is derived from how people are using infrastructure, how they’re using leisure resources, how they’re using transport and so on. The council can’t actually do much with that apart from planning how the roads would work, how you know when development happens, most people who are going to benefit are the ones actually making money rather than spending it in cities and towns, and that would be businesses.”

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Spotlight on lampposts

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Spotlight on lamppostsRespondents in councils already involved in smart cities were asked their opinions on a range of smart city technology and the positive impact it could make to demonstrate a return on investment through either cost savings or enhanced service offerings.

Faced with funding issues, finding the most cost-effective route to delivery is crucial. This includes using existing infrastructure or street furniture over funding brand new infrastructure, something that was deemed to be important by all respondents.

“There’s a massive potential for government savings in terms of infrastructure spend, because if we use it more efficiently we don’t have to build more.”

When asked whether they believed existing infrastructure was being fully utilised in smart cities, most respondents who were already involved in initiatives agreed that there was still more opportunities to optimise their existing infrastructure. The breadth of solutions available ranged from saving money through more efficient waste management, to reducing congestion through enhanced traffic management.

Spotlight on the lamppostA specific focus was placed on exploring attitudes to lampposts. Situated every 30 metres on roads and streets in every city, lampposts are publicly owned, connected to an electricity supply and, by their very nature, located in urban areas. Their height makes them suited to radio communications, and smart technology is already being developed for lamp posts, from air pollution sensors and parking meters to improving security and energy efficiency with smarter street lighting.

“We have previously seen street lights just as street lights, and now we see them as a piece of furniture that can host a whole load of different sensors that can do different things such asfree wireless for residents, monitor noise and air quality,host cameras for public safety – they are seen as multi-functional now”.

“You need poles/antennas that are in lots of locations across the place… and then you realise we have poles, we have street lights! It’s the same with the Internet of Things so they need potentially sensors and a place where infrastructure is consistently around an area, and again street lights do that.”

“We [have] 90,000 lampposts... We have used some of those for public Wi-Fi, as a divisive power, as a host for certain technology… we can do people counting, i.e. where people are walking to, what traffic is going on. It’s quite a large value in utilising the different kinds of services just on a lighting column beyond just lighting and we have successfully done that in a couple of areas.”

Enhanced connectivityThe ability to apply Wi-Fi connections to street lamps in city centres was the most cited example of a smart solution already rolled out in cities. This was seen as immediately offering benefits to citizens in a cost-effective way.

“Lampposts are real estate that can be rented to companies; we did that with the street Wi-Fi, BT did a wireless concession zone in the city so we had an agreement where they were allowed to use the street furniture in exchange for complete delivery of the Wi-Fi…there was no cost to us and quite a good outcome so those sorts of partnerships are ideal.”

“Anybody on a smart phone, which is what most people have got [can use Wi-Fi], some of the deprived segments of people…can’t afford to get connected, well they can go round the city and get connected - that returns itself in various ways which is for us it enables them to self-serve and it costs us a lot less to do transactions.”

Enhanced connectivity was also seen as a way to understand people’s movement around cities to help inform smart city planners.

“We can do lots of things because our [lampposts] are Wi-Fi enabled: we’ve got a central control room and we can build on that…we’d want people walking past those street lights and they’ve got smart phones –we’d want to understand people a bit more in our borough.”

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SensorsThe ability to place sensors on lampposts was also deemed to be valuable, from monitoring traffic to air pollution levels.

“Putting sensors on [a lamppost] to understand traffic flows…you apply it as some kind of point to help you understand the use of car parking spaces or availability, it’s a piece of street furniture with power in it, it’s an interesting structure”

“We are making use of big data tocollect info on traffic speeds in terms of lampposts”

“For floating data there’s usually a bias attached to them which they put in to retain anonymity of people so you need some sort of validation network…and the obvious place to put them wouldbe lampposts”

A council who had successfully deployed parking bay sensors to monitor car park availability was also exploring the ability to broaden these to lampposts to monitor street parking:

“We have developed an app linked to open data - you can drive into the city, you can check availability of different areas to save driving around, which is good all-round really, and it becomes a revenue thing too if we can become a bit more efficient.”

Efficient street lightingRespondents widely recognised that lighting itself could be improved, with more energy efficient lighting, features such as dimming and automatic switching on/off settings. This ranges from using controls to turn off street lighting, to using sensors to automatically switch on or adjust brightness when a passing pedestrian or cyclist is detected, increasing safety whilst also reducing energy costs.

“Riding on the back of LED replacement lamps, we are trying to get a pilot for intelligent lighting in three areas around the city”

“[We have] a central controlled street lighting system so that we can turn them on/off…lighting in certain areas where there are break-ins [for] crime prevention.”

PFIsOne barrier identified by some respondents was the existence of Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) in some areas, which could limit the ability to use the lamppost to its full potential or create lengthy negotiations to broaden the scope of a PFI contract.

“We haven’t done any PFIs or anything on our street lights so we’re in quite a good position. Other places are stuck in 20 year agreements so they have to work it out with their partners, so we’re in a better position.”

“Our street lights were replaced quite a few years ago under a PFI contract, so they’re actually quite new. We’re still getting the value back from them, so it’s not that we could replace every street light and if we did that we could do different things – the issue is they’ve already replaced the street lights; so anything you did to a street light would be additional costs now in putting anything else on it.”

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Conclusions

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Stage 1:In the darkMinimal awareness of ‘Smart Cities’“It doesn’t mean a great deal to me”

Stage 3:Eyes and ears openAwareness and partial involvement “As a council we have seen technology applied; we are interested in the potential of smart cities.”

Stage 2:Ears prickedAwareness but no involvement“We don’t have the scaleto get involved”

Stage 4:Eyes, ears and minds alertAwareness and involvement “We have seen itimplemented well and have started to implementour own smart technology…we are in the earlystages but hoping to learn more.”

Stage 5:The enlightenedLeader in Smart Cities “We have people working on ‘Smart Cities’, we understand how the technology can improve services and make the city more liveable in the future”

Stage 6:The connected cityEngages citizens at every stage ofthe journey. "Citizens have got to play a large part because it’s all moving to a customer-orientated business model.If they don’t want to use it, it won’t work."

The Path toEnlightenment

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ConclusionsThe research findings have indicated areas that must be addressed to ensure a consistent and cost-effective approach to smart cities by councils across the UK.

It is clear that not all councils are fully engaged in smart cities, despite the overwhelming recognition that smart solutions could have a positive benefit on their communities. Over 80% of the 187 councils approached to participate in this research had limited awareness and little to no involvement in smart cities. Even those keen to engage with smart cities were struggling to find resource or budget to deliver even small-scale projects.

The distinction of five stages on a council’s smart journey – its ‘path to enlightenment’ – has potentially serious implications. The UK risks a three-tiered approach to smart cities delivery. Those early-adopters who have secured funding or made a conscious decision to lead in the field are now leading the way and reaping the benefits of more efficient, effective and streamlined services and closer partnerships with third parties.

There is a second tier of councils, keen to progress projects and identifying solutions to their city problems. These councils have no designated smart council project managers or teams, nor do they have the power to siphon funding away from core service provision to invest in trialling projects. Others may have applied for funding but failed.

The final tier – what appears to be the majority – are those who may not have fully grasped the concept of smart cities and the benefits it could offer them, or who are too focused on balancing the budgets to look to the future.

The learnings from those ‘enlightened’ few who are leading the way in smart cities is the need to collaborate both internally and with private organisations, create over-arching strategies, prioritise problems to pinpoint the right initiatives to progress, and obtain open data sets to enable third parties to develop solutions.

Yet a clear message from councils further down the path is that, faced with tightening public purse strings, they have not yet found the sustainable business models to make the compelling case to gain funding and internal prioritisation.

Without the initial resource or an ability to prioritise smart initiatives, interested or informed senior teams in councils are less able to build a team, conduct research to confirm priorities for smart initiatives, and secure the partnerships and funding needed to make progress. Knowledge sharing is also an issue: many respondents had not yet identified proven examples to follow, or were developing similar solutions to other cities – but without sharing learnings, each city must reinvent the wheel. It is this vicious circle that could be preventing the UK from smart city success.

Future cities: a strategic priority todayIt is clear that councils are unable to make smart, connected cities a priority. A lack of prioritisation – from national government down – is a root cause of the issue.While empowering local governments will enable cities to create a smart infrastructure that is tailored to the specific needs of their citizens, it’s important that devolution does not lead to isolation or de-prioritisation.

Until this happens, councils across the UK may not allocate the right funding or resource required to achieve a consistent approach across the country. In a current climate, where the vast majority of councils are focusing on balancing budgets, the potential benefits of streamlined services and savings may not be realised because the initial outlay isn’t made available.

Diverting funds and resources and focusing policies to support all towns and cities to focus efforts on smart solutions is crucial to achieve consistent progress and avoid the tactical and tiered approach that is the status quo in the UK.

This report recommends four priority areas that must be addressed to maintain momentum and achieve connected cities across the UK.1. Make future cities a strategic priority2. Encourage greater collaboration3. Place citizens at the heart of smart cities4. Optimise existing infrastructure

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More collaborationSharing knowledge is crucial in smart cities to engender best practice and encourage collaboration. Initiatives such as the Future Cities Demonstrator events and Knowledge Transfer Networks have delivered this, but more is needed to engage councils from every stage of their smart city journey. This will achieve not just greater awareness of successful projects and sound returns on investment, but also avoid the status quo where many councils are developing similar initiatives but, without sharing lessons learned or routes to success, each region is in danger of reinventing the wheel each time. A cost-effective route to achieving connected cities across the UK is essential.

Sharing knowledge, ideas and objectives is not restricted to inter-council collaboration. Cross-departmental co-operation was often limited in those councils who were less involved with smart initiatives.

A segregated structure like this is not conducive to a smart city environment, where data is shared freely and citizens can access any government service with ease. To optimise the potential of our smart cities, local government must be more open, sharing data not only between different departments but also with local businesses, citizens and other city councils. But they must also have the resource, budget and authority to progress such partnerships.

Optimising existing infrastructureIn a climate of squeezed budgets and tough competition for funding, delivering smart solutions in the most cost-effective way is crucial. The research highlighted a consensus for optimising existing infrastructure with smart solutions as one way to achieve this, from traffic flow monitoring to enhanced connectivity.

The lamppost could play an important role in our future cities. A publicly owned asset situated along virtually all roads and streets in every city in the UK, its ability to act as an antennae and post for enhanced connectivity and monitoring means it could serve a multitude of functions beyond a smart lighting system for improved security and energy efficiency.

Identifying ways to broaden the functions of existing assets could make a material difference to the cost and ease of a smart city roll-out across the UK.

Placing citizens at the heartEngaging citizens from the offset is a characteristic of a truly smart city. This is not just essential when developing solutions such as an app that citizens will engage with - it also applies to the very design of a smart city, understanding how a citizen uses and lives in a city and how their expectations are changing. Those that are leading the way in smart cities are already consulting citizens to understand the issues they have and the solutions they require. Placing citizens at the heart of a strategy is a true mark of a connected city – the final step on the path to enlightenment.

A city becomes truly smart and connected when it uses communications and technology to the enhance scope and performance of urban services, reducing resource use and engaging more wholly and beneficially with its citizens.

Leadership1. Create an over-arching strategy: whether it’s

installing sensors to monitor traffic flow or developing applications for residents with up-to-date public transport, all solutions must sit within an overarching objective: you need a clear strategy about what you want to achieve first.

2. Sustainable business case – When developing a project, decide benefits which could be a return on investment and consider which partners to engage to help deliver it.

3. Internal prioritisation – cross-departmental support and senior buy-in is crucial.

Collaboration4. Funding – Engaging external partners with

a clear proposition or inviting businesses to develop a solution too.

5. Engage citizens in plans for the design and architecture, to ensure that the services you provide meet their needs.

Technology 6. Consider expanding functions of existing assets

before creating new ones to achieve greater cost effectiveness.

7. Recognise that technology is an enabler, and your role is to facilitate the process.

Seven considerations: optimising infrastructure in a smart city

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