We have always talked that the governments’ mission ever is to
Protect – keeping people safe and protected from disasters, economic shocks, crime and terrorism –,
Provide – more and better services for their constituents, communities and businesses, improving how people work, live and enjoy – and
Prosper – economy is becoming an even more critical element, the political mandate of the mayor is often judged on their ability to deliver upon the economy –.
This mission wouldn’t be of any value if doesn’t reflect in the fundamental goal of a Future City: a safe, economic, health, cultural, educational and inclusive
Improvement of People’s Lives.

That’s why we strongly believe that cities of the future must define a Strategy and implement initiatives focused on five domains:
Governance,
Economy,
Transport,
Environment & Resources and
People. These Domains cover the key process activities and services needs for any city and urban area.
Above Domains came out from various well recognized initiatives:
- The United Nations Sustainability Development Goal 11 that is dedicated to Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements
- The standard ISO 37120 fostering the World Council on City Data
- The EIC European Union Smart City Initiative Urban Platform Specification
- The DIN – Urban Platform Specification
When we talk about cities we need to create the right strategy and roadmap in order to ‘Eat the Mammoth’ and transform it in a succes story
Let’s see this from a different perspective. The government’s timeless Mission, driving the citizen’s fundamental Goals, supported by such Domains imply that both the public and private sector turs into an innovative Digital Transformation. This Digital Transformation usually extends beyond legal entities.
There are three important aspects this kind of initiatives must consider:
funding,
cross-industry expertise and
shared infrastructure and processes.
Because usually these initiatives extend different government and legal entities, geographies and even communities, funding and funding partnerships are important even with public and private sources.
Smart city initiatives also need to be supported by different industries expertise. Too many different requirements from too many different city functions need a high balance between government and Industry insights. Breaking down silos between private and public sector organizations is essential to working together to improve outcomes and increase the quality of citizens’ lives. Based on this relation, organizations from the utilities, waste and recycling, telecommunications, automotive, travel and transportation, healthcare, higher education, engineering, construction and operations sectors are critical contributors to the success of Smart Cities initiatives.
Finally, in order to take advantage of cutting-edge information and communications technologies to bring disparate organizations, enterprises, business and agency leaders, and buying centers into a unified whole, we need to create multidisciplinary teams. Siloes do not drive us to success. Not only are these smart cities able to deliver higher-quality services to citizens more efficiently, they can reduce operational costs.
It's not enough to pursue Smart Cities initiatives with a so called ‘holistic view’, the consideration of the above three aspects could give you a feasibility measure for success and… finally eat the Mammoth!
What do you think?