Latest Smart Cities guidance for city leaders is published
12 March 2015
BSI, the business standards company has published a guidance document supporting the Government’s smart cities standardization strategy. PD 8100, Smart cities overview – Guide was sponsored by BIS (Department for Innovations & Skills) and is the latest in the suite of Smart Cities standards. As cities grow larger so does the need to develop smart city infrastructures. By enabling existing data and resources in a city to be shared effectively, a longer term vision of city planning and development can be taken. This will allow information to be generated in the city to be directed and utilized to support both the day-to-day management of the city and long-term plans.
At the forefront of this work are the city leaders and those in a strategic position within a city, for whom PD 8100 has been developed. It provides a clear and easy to use guide to everyone whose decisions have an impact on how a city functions and develops. It enables them to identify the standards they need for their work towards creating a smart city. PD 8100 continues to cement the UK as a global leader of the smart city standards agenda by providing the benchmark towards formal standardization work.
Scott Steedman Director of Standards at BSI said: "Smart cities need standards. The UK leads the world in shaping business standards. If we are to make the most of the global opportunities from smart cities, we need to work fast to structure the knowledge that can help city leaders, communities, innovators and technology providers recognize what good looks like and how these concepts can bring benefits for all. This latest best practice publication is intended as guidance for city leaders looking for a holistic approach to the development and delivery of smart city projects, part of the framework of BSI standards underpinning the UK smart city offering."
PD 8100 provides a balanced picture of the potential benefits of smart city strategies, with recommendations on taking the first steps towards making a city or town smarter, in ways that fit local conditions. It also covers the role of technology, data and standards as tools, based on good practice from successful smart city initiatives.
Greg Clark, Minister of State for Cities, Universities and Science, said: "We all use technology in every part of our lives, both inside and outside our homes. Technology is empowering people to help shape the future of their city, from London to Glasgow, cities are showing that they are ready to experiment with new ways to improve services and quality of life for citizens. Smart cities give power to their citizens - giving them the ability to directly interact with their city and local authorities in real-time. Giving citizens immediate access to a wealth of information, which they can immediately influence. Smart cities have the potential to allow local authorities to create more effective public services and provide the public with access to real time data so they can make more informed choices.”
PD 8100 was developed with collaborative input from experts such as Balfour Beatty Living Places, Birmingham City Council, Bristol City Council, Glasgow City Council, IBM, Imperial College London, Innovate UK, Royal Borough of Greenwich, Siemens, Space Syntax and Urban DNA.
Greg Clark commented: “This overview that BSI has developed helps take city leaders through the process of assessing new opportunities to improve services. I urge city leaders to use this guide and to engage with BSI so that their experience feeds back into developing further tools to help meet the needs of cities."
Further work in this area sees BSI and the Future Cities Catapult working together to create the City Standards Institute (CSI). The CSI will drive the development of a coherent standardization work programme to create the right conditions and help develop the future cities market. This initiative builds on solid foundations already established with the first phase of the Smart cities programme which set out the standards strategy and includes a series of standards and guides to help cities get started in developing their future city, by establishing a common understanding. Further standards will be necessary to support the development of a long-term future cities market, and the CSI initiative sets out the second phase of this work.
