Constructing Human Smart Cities

Abstract

This paper argues that current technology-driven implementations of Smart Cities, although being an important step in the right direction, fall short in exploiting the most important human dimension of cities. In a Human Smart City, people rather than technology are the true actors of the urban “smartness”. The creation of a participatory innovation ecosystem in which, citizens and communities interact with public authorities and knowledge developers, in a collaborative mode, exploiting the power of co-designed user centered innovation services, is the driving force. The authors argue that the city challenges are more effectively addressed at the scale of neighbourhood and they provide cases and experiences that demonstrate the viability, importance and impact of this model.