Connecting Smarter Cities with Hapiness: Thoughts on ITU Smart Sustainable Cities Focus Group

Ben was in Reading this week for the International Telecommunications Union’s Focus Group on Smart, Sustainable Cities. The event brought together some of the brightest thinkers in the Smart City space for two days of debate and conversation on how to move forward the Smart City agenda through better use of standards. What became clear is that the biggest challenge facing Smart cities is a lack of understanding as to what the term means. Discussions from the ISO working group, the British Standards Institute and the ITU are all focussing on defining the concept of a Smart City in a standard way. While most of the speakers focussed on the technical outcomes of a Smart City, perhaps the most interesting view came from Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr from Smart Dubai. Dubai has now set out to measure the effects of their Smart city services in terms of the happiness of residents. The session provided a glimpse into the multitude of work happening around Smart City Standards while also pointing to the future of metrics in the Smart City: the happiness of residents.