Citizen-Driven Innovation

Read this guidebook, which explores smart cities through a lens that promotes citizens as the driving force of urban innovation. It presents different models of smart cities that show how citizen-centric methods can mobilize resources to respond innovatively to challenges in governance. The living lab approach encourages agile development and the rapid prototyping of ideas in a decentralized and user-centric manner. How can mayors and public administrators create partnerships that drive value in their communities through citizen-driven innovation? How can sustainability be integrated into municipal strategies and solutions? How can city leaders join forces to learn and network globally?

Building a Strategy - Chapter 2

5. Make a Plan

By piecing together the different scenarios you have developed in the framework of the broad vision you defined at the outset of your process, you and your partnership can get an overall view of how your strategy can best be operationalized. It is unlikely that you will have the human or financial resources to do everything, so you will have to select priorities to focus on. A first criterion for selection is systemic impact: which actions are likely to have more transversal effects, bringing benefits to the greatest number of stakeholders?

An equally important criterion, however, is short-term feasibility. Ironically, long-term scenarios are often the best way to help you see what needs to be done tomorrow. In fact, they help build consensus on problems that do have a solution and that can be addressed by working together, being creative, and maximizing the opportunities offered by new technologies and your local strengths. You can start by identifying the main barriers present in the detailed scenarios you have defined, especially those that are common to more than one issue or area. From there, ask which of those barriers depend most on a lack of openness, collaboration, innovation? Which are most subject to a paradigm shift if new technologies are brought to bear? Which possible solutions have the greatest 'acupunctural' potential, in the sense that they could trigger innovation dynamics in other areas for other problems?

Once you have a set of such problems defined and developed, you are ready to get to work. On the basis of the resources and reciprocal availability of all of your stakeholders, you can draw up a short to medium term plan that identifies specific projects, roles, and goals for each, and how they contribute to the broader vision. 

Checklist for Building a Strategy

Have you...

  • Compared the principles and rules of different collaborative and fair trade groups on the web?
  • Reviewed a 'traditional' SWOT analysis for your city, transforming weaknesses into strengths?
  • Scanned the web for results of idea generation events (try GovJams) relevant to your city?
  • Written future narratives from the standpoint of an entrepreneur, a bus driver, and a mother?
  • Made sure that different types of groups have all expressed their goals, objectives, and contributions to
  • your action plan?