Document Overview
This is a 2024 Russian-language journal article by A.O. Fedorovskiy, a master's student at the Higher School of Economics, published by KiberLeninka (DOI 10.24412/1994-3776-2024-3-186-194, UDC 332.14). It examines the Smart City Berlin project as an example of effective management of an innovative and attractive city.
Context and Background
The article notes a growing number of cities adopting smart technologies, driven by big data and digital tools applied to transport, telecommunications, healthcare and education. It states that Berlin prioritises maintaining technological development to manage demographic, economic and climate risks. Social challenges cited include housing demand after the 2015 migration crisis, traffic congestion, unemployment and air pollution.
Definitions and Smart City Framework
The author states that at least 20 definitions of the smart city exist and proposes their own: a city integrating digital, ICT, cloud technologies and artificial intelligence across all urban spheres to maximise citizens' quality of life. The article also presents the Vienna University of Technology study of 2007, which uses 74 indicators, 31 factors and six characteristics: smart economy, people, government, mobility, environment and living.
Berlin's Position in Rankings
According to the IMD Smart City Index 2024, Berlin ranks 37th among cities worldwide. The article reports that Berlin takes leading places in the HSE Global Cities Innovation Index, sixth place in Euromonitor International's Top 100 City Destinations, and one of the leading positions in the Quality of Life Index by City 2024. Internations data places Berlin among the last of 50 cities for starting a career, with 78 per cent of respondents finding it difficult to find work.
Strategy and Governance Approach
The Smart City Berlin strategy was approved in 2015 by the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment, aiming at the city's sustainability by 2030. It sets out 12 main goals covering mobility, administration, economic development and environment. The 2022 strategy Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin complements it and includes five pilot projects running until 2026. A 'values compass' based on sustainability, cooperation, societal orientation and resilience underpins these projects, and citizens' opinions were gathered via the mein.berlin.de platform.
Methodology
The author analyses information from the Smart City Berlin website, managed by Berlin Partner für Wirtschaft und Technologie GmbH, and from the Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin strategy. The results are presented in the author's Table 1, which classifies 77 activities that are implemented or in progress into six aspects of the smart city.
Key Findings
The table lists the following activities by aspect:
- Smart economy: 28
- Smart living: 19
- Smart environment: 10
- Smart government: 8
- Smart mobility: 7
- Smart people: 6 The article notes that Berlin has over 300 research groups and that 11 Zukunftorte, or 'places of the future', involve about 2,200 companies. It concludes that the projects do not form a consistent sequence for full implementation and that individual projects only partly address societal needs.
Purpose and Intended Use for Other Cities
The article presents Smart City Berlin as a model whose experience and technological solutions could be used by other German and world cities in developing smart city projects. It states that the analysis shows considerable potential for successful completion of the project and for further use of its implementation experience in the smartisation of other cities.