With time never feeling enough, it feels indulgent to have the opportunity to pause and reflect upon our roles as citizens at the dawn of Industry 4.0 and consider communities as they evolve within this new age of entanglement.
For those who love numbers and statistics – the stories of cities are well documented. By 2030, more than five billion people (six out of every ten human beings) will live in cities and urban centers. This is an incredible statistic considering that a mere two centuries ago, three percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Now it is near fifty percent.
This astounding increase in density in one central place has created a demand for how citizens interact with services, transportation and infrastructure within cities.
And take our own city, Melbourne, – it is predicted we will live amongst eight million people by the middle of this century. To cater for this growth, we have to plan for the complexity and density of our city, as well as how we move our citizens from A to B and provide options for affordable housing. Building for the future means experiencing the highest levels of disruption which can be stressful, noisy and dusty. However, this period also offers opportunities to be innovative and find new ways to reimagine what the future of transport and housing can be in order to make our cities liveable.
What does it mean to be a part of a city’s renaissance?
If we select a central neighborhood – for example, from RMIT University across to Queen Victoria Market, and up to Melbourne University – this particular space is currently home to around twenty-five percent of all knowledge sector jobs in Melbourne.
This brains trust, passion and collective city leadership in about a two kilometre square radius is wonderful but equally means a great responsibility is placed on us to ensure that as a city, we not only remain livable and loveable, but evolve as a place that enables connectivity for all that call Melbourne home.
Richard Florida, Jane Jacobs and many other city thinkers and thought leaders often refer to cities as one of human kind’s greatest inventions. Why? Because cities are one of humankind’s greatest inventions as they are the engines of innovation, magnets for talented people and provide the density, diversity, interaction and networks to make us more creative and productive.
Poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox articulated it beautifully when she said “Cities read humanity’s great heart”. The biggest challenge for those working in this field is to get distracted by the lure of shiny, digital, smart technology and forget the human story anchored in the narrative of city making.
Cities must determine what will be their competitive advantage and the point of difference that makes them a place for smart citizens to not only want to live in but to improve and reap the value of what makes the place special.
There are many examples from thriving communities abroad that we can learn from; San Jose to Milan, Helsinki to Tel Aviv. From smart parking to artificial intelligence for public safety, many of the success stories come when a city invests in its education and innovation start up ecosystem. For example, one of particular interest to me is the rise of the smart stadium at Croke Park in Dublin, Ireland. This is a wonderful collaborative partnership between the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Dublin City University, Intel and Microsoft to fuel the Internet of Things (IoT) innovation and turn a beloved community hub (headquarters of the GAA and host stadium to iconic moments in Irish sporting history) into a smart living lab.
The cultural, political and economic divides that nations feel are certainly played out in and on our city streets, inside Ubers and around kitchen tables, online and offline, publically and privately. This unprecedented change felt at the heart of cities and communities evokes an urgency and responsibility to design a better future together.
Conversations are vital for understanding and unpacking the alpha drivers challenging us whilst exploring new ideas and strategies. The future is seeing the potential that smart and digital tools, technologies and optimistic mindsets can play to create cities that enable equitable, financial, social and cultural prosperity for all citizens.
About the Author
Meet Jacyl
With over 20 years’ experience delivering innovation, Jacyl is the Global Director of D-Lab working with multi-sectoral clients from higher education, industry, start-ups, accelerator hubs, government and research agencies, she provides tailored consulting programs, projects and services.
For more information please visit www.ghd.com/digital or contact Jacyl at Jacyl.Shaw@ghd.com