Flagship 2: People-Centered Smart Cities

The New Urban Agenda calls for the adoption of a “smart city approach that makes use of digitalization, clean energy and technologies”. Unfortunately, in many smart city, urban innovation and digital transformation projects, technology has been applied uncritically, based on supply rather than demand, and often fails to fully consider the real needs of local governments, city residents or the broader aims of urban sustainability and inclusion. Lack of capacity and limited resources affect many local governments, jeopardizing their ability to identify and procure appropriate technologies that meet their people’s needs.