Smart City standards for citizens

Posted By John Ketchell
3 years 9 months ago
1 Replies

Smart City standards for citizens .

With ongoing urbanisation, cities are becoming more and more of a focal point for our economies and for society at large, and their growing share of resource consumption and emissions is a major concern. To meet public policy objectives under these circumstances, cities need to evolve, but in times of ever-tighter budgets, change needs to be achieved in a smart way. In an increasingly-intensive knowledge economy, the needs of a city's inhabitants must not be forgotten. We need equal treatment for citizens, and proper account taken of their accessibility, security and privacy concerns. More than ever in a post-Coronavirus world, these needs should be at the forefront of societal development, and given proper attention in the standards context.

In November 2020, ETSI's Human Factors Technical Committee released ETSI TR 103 455, a Technical Report assessing the different citizen-related issues that standards in the ICT domain need to take into account. This is the first time that local community citizen and consumer requirements have been addressed in a standards context. The Report covers fundamental aspects such as accessibility, usability, interoperability, personal data protection and security, and how services to the citizen should be designed to maximise benefits to the whole community. It overviews existing ETSI and other SDO standards for smart cities and their relevance, and aligns with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 "Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable".

The Report includes a comprehensive set of recommendations for improving local authority links with the standardisation world, and for the preparation of guidance material to help cities offering electronic services, codes of conduct for interaction with citizens, and the standardisation measures needed tp design citizen services in the digital society.

The CEN-CENELEC-ETSI Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities Sector Forum has been considering the implementation of the recommendations, and a first project on citizen services is curently being defined for the new CEN Technical Committee 465 "Sustainable Cities and Communities". If you're interested in more information, I'll be happy to provide it.