Welcome to the first module of our course!

In this module, we will start answering the question: Why do cities need to become smart and sustainable?

We will focus on Governing Smart Cities. The main target of this stage is to discuss the tools to promote Smart and Sustainable Cities (SSC) by exploring the strategies to promote the ultimate goals of an SSC: effective use of resources and, consequently, improving the quality of life for its inhabitants.

“Governance” is a very broad term that encompasses several dimensions. In this course, we will mainly consider Smart City Governance, which means a form of smart governance, allocating decision-making rights to stakeholders (in particular, citizens) and enabling them to participate in effective and efficient decision-making processes to improve the quality of life in cities.

In our “Smart City Governance Roadmap,” you will find an overview of drivers and challenges for SSC development and a few practical recommendations to strengthen governance capacity. We recommend a critical look at this roadmap. It will be fundamental for the development of the course and an important tool for future reference.

Furthermore, we will discuss the concepts and dimensions of governance, combined with the importance of stakeholder engagement and a regulatory framework for a functional SSC project.

Smart City Components by European Economic and Social Committee

Therefore, we will describe the importance of the Governance and Regulatory framework through the following sections:

1.2 – Smart City Governance Roadmap;

1.3 – IT Governance decision, framework, and standards;

1.4 – Legal Competences for Smart Sustainable Cities;

1.5 – Cybersecurity and Ethical Implications;

1.6 – Study Case: Do! Smart City’s Roadmap in Chile.

Our learning objectives for this module are:

• Identify governance drivers and barriers to smart, sustainable cities development;
• Understand the ethical, privacy, and cybersecurity implications of smart sustainable city projects.