Smart city + smart citizens = civic intelligence ?? from Smart City Exhibition, Bologna
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Transcript of Smart city + smart citizens = civic intelligence ?? from Smart City Exhibition, Bologna
Smart Cities+ Smart Citizens
--------------------Civic Intelligence??
Douglas SchulerSmart City Exhibition, Bologna, Italy
October 17, 2013
Buongiorno e saluti!Vorrei ringraziare tutti voi per essere venuti.
Vorrei anche dirvi quanto apprezzo il lavoro che state facendo tutti.
Good Morning! I’m happy to be able to help — if possible — with your great work!
I’m going to concentrate on our motivation and some basic concepts and “home truths”
My Basic Argument• Problems seem to be growing faster than solutions.
• Current approaches to governance are insufficient.
• Citizen revolt is widespread (and not necessarily effective)
• Millions of projects / experiments exist worldwide.
• Diffusion and renegotiating of “governance” is necessary and in-work.
• Complex situations require complex thinking, not “click to like.” Technology will play a role but it can’t do all of our thinking for us.
The main question is this: Will we be smart enough, soon enough?
Civic Intelligence is How I Begin to Address the Question
• Civic intelligence is the ability of people to solve its problems equitably and effectively through working together.
• It encompasses both research and action
• If it didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent it.
• It exists to some degree in all individual and groups but it could always be stronger!
The first pattern of Liberating
Voices patternlanguage
Greetings from Seattle!
• “Most literate city” in the US
• Town Hall, NEPO, NW Film Forum, etc etc
• Department of Neighborhoods created the People’s Academy for Community Engagement; i.e. How to be an activist
• City government leader in carbon neutrality
• Maybe we need to join your networks?!
Seattle is a “smart city” and has
“smart citizens” but...
Does that mean it has civic intelligence?
All cities have some...
But all cities could have more...
I applaud adding “Human” to “Smart Cities”
“Smart Cities” by itself captures an innovative and important concept in relation to the infrastructure of cities.
Adding “human” however avoids the misleading view that technology “solves” problems by itself without the involvement of people.
Not focusing on humans can also lead to less usable and effective systems. It would miss the most interesting and important part: Civic Infrastructure.
Two main reasons for citizen engagement
With strong, engaged citizenry we may be able to address our problems.
Without strong, engaged citizenry we won’t be able to address our problems.
One is positive and one is negative
Societies / cultures need citizens that• help maintain the society / culture
• believe in the legitimacy
• contribute ideas and other resources
• feel like they belong
Societies / cultures (not just gov.) need to provide opportunities for citizens• to earn a living
• to feel purposeful
• to be safe
• to have rights
• to participate in the direction of society, culture
• Perception of problems
• Knowledge and skills to solve them
• Interest in doing so
• Mechanisms & processes & social capital
• Other resources — ICT, volunteers, money, etc
Elements of Civic Intelligence
And civic ignorance, the collection of forces that discourage civic intelligence, is always present but not always considered.
Civic Intelligence
Knowledge Attitude & aspirations
Organizational capital
Civic purpose
Emotions and empathy
Values
Social networks
Reputation
Norms
Organizational Structure
Enthusiasm & self-efficacy
Responsibility Opportunities
Access to resources
Financial assets
Diversity
Personnel
Issue & cultural fit
Information & communication
technology
Tools & equipmentCreativity
Social imagination
Leadership
Land, space, & buildings
Work practices, Processes,
& habits
Updated: August 27, 2013
Relational / social capital
Financial & material resources
Facts, laws, data, etc.
Access to knowledge
Skills or "applied knowledge"
Learning and meta-cognition
Searching & Monitoring
Salient knowledge
Courage
Theory
Solidarity
Social Critique
Computer models, simulations, apps
Other resourcesDecision-making
Focus, timing, & coordination
We Can Use Proxy Measures
• [high] social and political engagement
• [high] social capital
• [high] health measures
• [high] good neighbor (e.g. willingness to help — and not merely move problems out)
• [low] levels of inequality
• [low] corruption (political and otherwise)
(even though civic intelligence is best evaluated with actual cases)
Some Home Truths of Civic Engagement
The informed contribution of citizens to governance is not optional; it’s absolutely indispensable.
We need more creativity, dedication, humor, reason, compassion, etc. Fortunately, people often have these attributes!
Remember that governance is not solely a technological matter. And that the market or side effects won’t solve our problems for us.
And citizen engagement is not “one size fits all.”
Nor is it a “silver bullet” that is guaranteed to work
Social inequality is still the root of most of our problems.
Challenges• Acknowledge actual problems and think through
how your approach could help. We must keep our eyes on the prize
• Developing meaningful opportunities for excluded people
• Sharing information and collaborating
• Making activism cool again
• Educating everybody
• Doing what needs to be done quickly enough, but not without deliberation and common sense
Recommendations
• Use “civic intelligence” to orient your work — projects should directly or indirectly build it
• Strongly and loosely linked collaborations
• Agree on shared goals, or shared data objectives
• Continue to collaborate, even if resources are few
• Civic intelligence as part of “civic infrastructure?”
• Citizen “think tanks?”
• Work directly with mediators — civil society organizations, media, etc.
We’re all “laboratories” now!
We will continue to collaborate — directly or
indirectly!
Thank you and mille grazie!