REPORT OF THE 4TH UCLG WORLD CONGRESS
Parallel Session
Smarter Cities
Organizers IBM
speakers Laudemar Aguiar, International Relations Coordinator, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Michael Dixon, General Manager, IBM Smarter Cities Hassan Ali Joho, Governor, Mombasa County, Kenya Annemarie Jorritsma, Mayor of Almere, Netherlands, and President of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG), Co-President of CEMR, Co-President of the UCLG Committee on Cooperation Development and City Diplomacy Josep Roig, Secretary General, UCLG Íñigo de la Serna, Mayor of Santander, Spain, President of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul, Turkey, President of UCLG Rapporteur Angela Warner, IBM Smarter Cities
22
| www.uclg.org
The challenges of cities around the world are pressing. With two-thirds of the world’s population living in cities by 2050, city leaders are pushed by their citizens to improve the quality of life for them with improved response to their concerns. People are becoming increasingly connected via social media, and massive amounts of new data are created every day. These changes are forcing leaders to rethink strategic plans, figure out ways to harness and drive insight and actions from the data to extract more value for their citizens, and continuously innovate to drive sustainability and relevance. Today, harsh realities are forcing city leaders to change. Innovative leaders will use that mandate not only to cut costs, but to lead into the future. They will leverage new tools, new technology, new media and methods of connecting – a constantly shifting paradigm that enables our ability to extract value from the massive amounts of data that are the backdrop of any city – to drive innovation, prioritize investments, build communities, and position for sustainability. Leaders are innovating across services to meet the increasing needs and expectations of citizens, with the citizen at the centre. Given the global recession, the need to innovate is critical – streamline services delivery, optimize scarce resources, manage