How to measure the quality of life in smart cities?
From the Internet of Things to the Internet of “meaningful” Things. Nowadays several indicators aim to quantify the smartness of our cities. Next step will be to create a thermometer of citizens’ perception of well-being
From pollution levels and the number of traffic accidents to safer public spaces and more efficient heating in buildings: to what extent can the smartness of a city be quantified? And is it possible to measure the quality of life for an urban area through numerical parameters?
It’s all about collecting data that is reliable and making sense of the numbers afterwards. Without making the numbers talk, indicators such as smartphone penetration, renewable energy generation and household internet access will simply remain sterile digits.
In Europe, different organisations are trying to identify the best indexes for urban smartness.
“One of the main findings is that relevant and up-to-date statistics are generally lacking”, explains Philippe Compère, who collaborates with Remourban, a European project developing a replicable urban regeneration model for middle-sized towns.
“Some towns and cities lack information, and where existing resources do exist, these are not at city level. Therefore open data is urgently needed. It should be gathered for all European cities, and available for anyone to analyse”, he adds.
It has emerged that there are surprisingly more gaps in the energy sector than in mobility or information technology, despite power supply being a strategic priority in every country.
Smart cities should mean better services for citizens, more responsive administrations and less impact on the environment. In this context, is it also possible to measure the people’s well-being?
There has been an attempt to collect this kind of data several times a year across the 34 countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Since 2014, comparisons have been made with nine criteria, with open data available for researchers and citizens. They include access to services, civic engagement, environment, individual income, employment and education.
