Smart Cities: Information And Communication Technology
And Citizen Participation
by Antonella STRINGHINI, Lawyer graduated from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA),
Argentina. Assistant in the Office of Innovation and Law of the Public
Prosecutor's Office of the Ciudad Autonomy of Buenos Aires. Full member of the
Argentine Association of Administrative Law and the Forum of Young
Administrators (FORJAD). Collaborator in Special Supplement of Law and
Technology of the DPI Journal.
In 2015, the United Nations adopted the « The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development», a plan of action for
people, planet and prosperity, with the ambition to meet seventeen sustainable
development goals and one hundred and sixty-nine targets in the next fifteen
years.
The goal No. 11 is about making cities and human settlements inclusive,
safe, resilient and sustainable. The targets to fulfill this goal refer to
three dimensions: social, economic and environmental.
To fulfill the goals of sustainable development, information and
communication technologies play a fundamental role[1].
The United Nations recognized that it is practically impossible for the world
community to achieve these ambitious goals before 2030 if there is no paradigm
change that incorporates the effective, widespread and inclusive application of
technology and innovative ideas, understanding that one of the technological solutions
for sustainable development are smart cities[2].
The purpose of this paper is to approach smart cities based on
information and communication technologies and citizen participation. In
particular, I will try to demonstrate the need to create a culture of citizen
participation from the benefits that new technologies offer.
Smart Cities are innovative cities that use information and
communication technology to increase the efficiency of urban services and
operations and improve quality of life in ways that ensure economic, social and
environmental sustainability[3].
Also, Smart Cities try to create new ways of managing the city in an integrated
manner which include competitiveness, environment, urban planning, governance,
and human development.
Competitiveness. It’s characterized by the use of innovative solutions,
the promotion of research and development, and creativity to multiply the
possibilities of change, generating a greater impact on the variety of the
economy. Also, to manufacture or develop products and provide services through
the efficient use of available resources.
Environment. It’s characterized by protecting and conserving natural
resources, using renewable energies, promoting awareness and cultural change
and reducing environmental risk and negative impacts, both for present and
future generations.
Urban planning. The purpose is to ensure efficiency in services and
urban areas, from contemplating the conditions and quality of urban space to
facilitate the development of the same in the different areas: transport,
housing, public space, green areas and recreational areas.
Governance. Includes the use of new technologies and innovation to
optimize management, achieve greater efficiency, transparency, publicity,
citizen participation and cooperation between the public sector and civil
society.
Human development. It’s must guarantee the development of the
educational system, the health condition of the people, the preventive system
and the access to health, to mitigate to the maximum the risks of the people
and of the public and private goods before acts of criminality, risk to the
integrity physical and moral, equal opportunities, ensure physical integrity;
promote inclusion and human rights.
In this paper, I will describe the last two dimensions from information
and communication technology and citizen participation for two reasons.
First. Smart Cities can open in practical and real terms new spaces of
social participation that enable an urban transformation and the new models of
urban sustainability are not dictated only by capital, but reflect the
democratic will of the citizens[4].
Second. For a city to be truly smart it must use new technologies in
different areas of the city and all citizens must have access to the same
degree of participation in its development.
Citizen participation in public management is defined as «The process of
social construction of public policies that, according to the general interest
of democratic society, channels, responds to or expands the economic, social,
cultural, political and civil rights of individuals, and the rights of
organizations or groups in that are integrated, as well as those of indigenous
communities and peoples. »[5]
Definitely, citizen participation is the direct and immediate
involvement of citizens in the adoption of public decisions. It’s
content is much broader than the mere exercise of the right to vote, since it
implies an active role of citizens in the day to day of state decisions.
On the other hand, citizen participation is a mechanism to control the
functions of the branch of the State on the part of the citizens themselves.
In citizen participation the State and the citizens play a fundamental
role. On the one hand, the State, should promote the participation of the
citizenship by ensuring that all citizens have access to information and
knowledge about the issues that will be addressed. Ultimately, e-participation
highly depends on: a) a strong political commitment; b) collaborative
leadership; and c) vision and appropriate institutional frameworks that ensure
structured ways of engaging people, and guarantee that inputs provided become a
meaningful part of the policy-making process[6]. On the other,
the citizens, must have the will to debate on the proposed issues, have
knowledge about the issues and about the means of participation and want to
participate.
Also, citizen participation involves the involvement of the caretakers
in decisions and state actions that are closely related to their development
and the improvement of their own quality of life.
With new technological advances, the traditional approach of citizen
participation has become more relevant. Said participation, for example
e-participation, is part of a continuous process of autonomy, freedom,
communication and constant development, which guarantees a more creative role
of citizens and reduces common obstacles such as time and distance.
The application of information and communication technologies to citizen
participation processes enables the development of the right of citizens to
interact and communicate electronically with the State and provide greater
agility and speed to meet the needs of citizens.
The importance of new technologies lies in the fact that they can
contribute to sustainable development, create new means of access to public
information and services, guarantee greater transparency of state actions,
reduce time, distance and costs. However, there may be people who can´t have
access to this or the knowledge of how to use them.
The access to and use of information and communication technologies is
essential to increase people’s empowerment, including vulnerable groups.
Therefore, countries should aim at providing quality access to ICTs in order
for societies to fully benefit from e-participation[7].
Enabling universal access to e-participation tools and increasing the
capacity of governments at all levels to include the results of public
participation into decision-making should become a strategic goal of public
management innovation across the board[8].
In the Argentine Republic, guaranteeing the right of citizen participation
is a concern of the three branches of the State. In 1994, the National
Constitution recognized that «The legislation will establish effective
procedures for the prevention and resolution of conflicts, and regulatory
frameworks for public services of national competence, providing for the
necessary participation of consumer and user associations and interested
provinces, in the control organisms. »[9]
In 2003, the General Rules of Public Hearings for the National Executive
Branch[10] were approved,
in order to regulate the participation of citizens in public hearings, which
established that they will not be binding on the State.
The
national legislator recognized the right to citizen participation in different
topics. Let's see some examples.
In
2002, the Law of Environmental Policy recognized the right to citizen
participation in the preservation and protection of the environment through
consultations or public hearings as mandatory instances for the authorization
of those activities that may generate negative and significant effects on the
environment[11].
In 2016, the Law of Access to National Public Information, in order to
ensure the effective exercise of the right, promote citizen participation and
transparency of public management, established that the subjects obliged to
provide public information should facilitate the search and access to public
information through its official website of the computer network, in a clear,
structured and understandable way for those interested and trying to remove any
barrier that hinders or hinders its reuse by third parties[12].
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation[13] recognized the
right to citizen participation of public gas service users as a result of an
increase in the tariff schedule without having held a public hearing. The Court
understood that: a) the participation of users of a public service is not
satisfied with the mere notification of a fee already established; b) the
hearings constitute one of the various forms of citizen participation, but they
are not the only ones[14]; and that c) the
constitutional text recognizes citizen participation in public decision-making
with a broad content, translating a facet of social control that can be
manifested in several different ways whose weighting has been left to the
legislator, who must anticipate the mechanism that best ensures that
participation in each case[15].
In 2016, the modernization plan of the National State, proposed as an
objective to provide citizens with the means, channels and opportunities
necessary to express themselves, petition and participate actively in the
public policy cycle, for example through promoting the incorporation of new
technologies that promote citizen participation in government affairs[16].
Finally, in 2017, the Executive Branch, by Decree No. 891[17]
established that the agencies of the National Public Sector should provide the
mechanisms for participation, the exchange of ideas, consultation,
collaboration and democratic culture with the incorporation of these new
technologies.
In effect, the public hearing is the means of citizen participation
chosen by the Argentine Republic to allow and promote effective citizen
participation and to confront in a transparent and public way the different
opinions, proposals, experiences, knowledge and existing information on the questions
put in consultation. But actually, do citizen participate? Let's see an
example.
On November 15, a public hearing was held to inform and receive opinions
from the community on the tariff adaptation proposal and its fundamentals,
formulated by Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos
S.A.[18]. At the
hearing, fourteen (14) speakers presented, among them: 1) the representative of
the Secretary of Infrastructure and Water Policy; 2) the president of Agua y Saneamientos Argentinos S.A .; 3)
the Defender of the User of the Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entity (ERAS);
4) Ombudsman Office (among them, the municipality of Lanús,
the province of Buenos Aires, the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the
Argentine Nation); 5) mayors (of Almirante Brown and of the Matanza);
6) Associations of Users and Consumers (among them, the Association of Users
and Consumers (DEUCO), the Civil Association Users and Consumers in Defense of
their Rights, the Civil Association of Users and Consumers and the Free
Consumers Association Cooperativa Limitada
de Provision de Community Action Services) and 7) a representative of the GEN
Party[19]. Among which,
there was no citizen who does not belong to an Associations of Users and
Consumers or a State Branch.
But actually, why citizens do not participate? Some of the reasons may
be the lack of knowledge, access or interest in the means of participation.
Although the call to the public hearing is made in the Official Gazette
and in two widely circulated newspapers. It is a reality that people no longer
read the Official Gazette, and if they read a widely circulated newspaper, they
read directly the news that is of your interest. Therefore, citizens are not
aware that a public hearing is held if it is not by the media that disseminate
it.
Second. A factor that influences the attendance to the public audience
is the day and time of celebration, since it was convened for a Thursday at ten
in the morning and most citizens can not move to the
place of celebration because they must go to work. Therefore, time and space
are two obstacles that hinder the participation of citizens in public
additions.
Consequently, the biggest challenge facing citizen participation is that
citizens participate, to achieve a “culture of citizen participation”, from
ensuring that all the population has the necessary tools to participate in the
adoption of state decisions.
It´s in this context, where information and communication technologies
become an indispensable tool to achieve greater citizen participation by making
use of three advantages: time reduction, costs and distances which offer new
and easier means of participation by allowing anyone from anywhere to take part
in the adoption of a public decision.
Considering the above, I´d like to propose three solutions in order to
create a culture of citizen participation based on these new technologies.
First: Points of public access to information and communication
technologies. States must ensure universal access to state services and
activities, for example, by providing multiple points of contact. Although
traditional media, such as state agencies, can reach a greater number of
people, they involve the displacement of citizens towards them, which, as we
saw in the case of public hearings, ends up causing a negative effect because
citizens they do not move to the place where they are celebrated.
In the digital age, the State - as never before - has the possibility of
approaching the citizen. The establishment of points of public access to
information and communication technologies in places such as post offices,
schools, libraries and archives, can provide effective means for ensuring
universal access to the infrastructure and services of the Information Society[20],
and with it the interaction between the State and the citizens.
Thus, public access points to information and communication technologies
are effective means of overcoming the digital divide[21]
and reach segments of the population that are not at all familiar with Internet
applications[22].
Second: Digital literacy. Literacy and universal education are essential
factors for creating a fully integrating Information Society, taking advantage
of the new possibilities offered by information and communication technology.
Digital literacy requires content and local services in a variety of languages and
formats that are accessible to all people, who also need skills and
capabilities, including media, information, and digital literacy to make use of
information and communications technologies and keep perfecting them[23].
E-participation will require capacity development and training programmes for government leaders, public officials and for
civil society, including digital literacy for vulnerable groups, and those who
represent them[24].
For example, people with specific needs often face obstacles to the use
of such technology. It is possible that people with a certain type of
disability can not see the screens, hear the sound of
the phone or use the mouse commands, the computer or a touch screen phone.
These obstacles can be overcome when technology is accessible and affordable.
Women, youth and indigenous peoples who are currently not connected often need
basic and advanced training in digital literacy and learn to use information
and communication technology for their social and economic empowerment[25].
Third: Technological preparation. New technologies must be adapted to
the context and culture of each society. The technological preparation should
incorporate the cultural and ethical aspects of each place where it is intended
to be implemented. In this task, young people can help, either by adapting them
to the environment and/or translating them into the local language, especially
in marginalized communities.
Thus, the technological preparation and the models that are used to
determine the degree of preparation can help to evaluate the possibilities
offered by the technologies in different environments, since it is rarely
possible to experiment in situ[26].
Information and communication technologies are means to promote the
approach of citizens to the State, achieve greater transparency, access to
information and citizen participation. The new technologies allow establishing new
ways to request the opinion of the citizens and increase the participation of
the public in the realization, monitoring and evaluation of the governmental
activities.
It is necessary that States take advantage of the potential of these new
technological tools and create accessible and safe online spaces as platforms
for the provision of services, public participation and the exchange of
information and ideas. Also, that they adopt measures to ensure that all
citizens have access and knowledge of electronic media, for example, by
guaranteeing points of public access to information and communication
technologies, digital literacy and technological preparation of society.
The first refers to using places such as post offices, schools and
libraries as an effective means of guaranteeing universal access to
infrastructure and services. The second implies basic and advanced training for
the learning of how to use of these information and communication technologies.
The third is that the use of new technologies according to the context and
culture of the City.
In conclusion, the importance of guaranteeing access and knowledge to
new technologies is that these are a means to create a culture of citizen
participation, especially in the youngest citizens, which spend most of their
time in the network, by allowing anyone from anywhere to take part in the adoption
of a public decision.
Enriqueta E., “Citizen
participation in the local government. An analysis from the normative
perspective”, Monographs of the Aragonese Magazine of Public Administration, ISSN
1133-4797, XIV, Zaragoza, 2013.
Hug M. and R.F., Ramon, “A
critical review from the Urban Political Ecology of the Smart City concept in
the Spanish State”, Political Ecology,
No. 47, Cities, June 2014.
Maximino Matus R. and R. A. Rodrigo (Compilers), Smart Cities in Latin America; examples of
initiatives from the private sector, civil society, government and academia,
Center for Research and Innovation in Information Technology and Communication,
2016.
Sikora – Fernández D., “Factors of development of smart cities”, University Journal of Geography [online]
2017, 26 (June-No month): [Date of consultation: November 30, 2018] Available
at:
<http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=383252125007>, ISSN
0326-8373.
Teresa P.G., “The culture
of participation”, Psychosocial
Intervention, 2004, Vol. 13, No. 3, ISSN: 1132-0559.
Fundación Telefónica, ICT in Open Government: Transparency,
Participation and Collaboration, Editorial Ariel, S. A., 2013.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations E-Government Survey 2012,
E-Government for the People (2012), available at:
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan048065.pdf
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, E-Government Survey 2016: E-Government in Support
of Sustainable Development, 2016, available at:
http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/UNPAN97453.pdf
[1] My
statement is based on the fact that from 2008 to the present, the United
Nations recognized the potential of information and communication technologies
in development in ten resolutions of the General Assembly:
– Resolution No. 71/212,
General Assembly, “Information and communications technologies for development”,
A/RES/71/212 (18 January 2017), available at:
https://undocs.org/A/RES/71/212;
– Resolution No. 70/184, General Assembly,
“Information and communications technologies for development”, A/RES/70/184 (4
February 2016), available at:
http://undocs.org/a/res/70/184;
– Resolution No. 69/204, General Assembly,
“Information and communications technologies for development”, A/RES/69/204 (21
January 2015), available at:
https://undocs.org/A/RES/69/204; 66;
– Resolution No. 68/198, General Assembly,
“Information and communications technologies for development”, A/RES/68/198 (15
January 2014), available at:
https://undocs.org/A/RES/68/198;
– Resolution No. 67/195, General Assembly,
“Information and communications technologies for development”, A/RES/67/195 (5
February 2013), available at:
https://undocs.org/A/RES/67/195;
– Resolution No. 66/184, General Assembly “Information
and communications technologies for development”, A/RES/66/184 (6 February
2012), available at:
https://undocs.org/A/RES/66/184;
– Resolution No. 65/141, General Assembly,
“Information and communications technologies for development”, A/RES/65/141 (2
February 2011), available at:
https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/65/141;
– Resolution No. 64/187, General Assembly,
“Information and communication technologies for development”, A/RES/64/187 (9
February 2010), available at:
https://undocs.org/A/RES/64/187;
– Resolution No. 63/202, General Assembly,
“Information and communication technologies for development”, A/RES/63/202 (28
January 2009), available at: http://undocs.org/en/A/RES/63/202;
– Resolution No. 62/182, General Assembly,
“Information and communication technologies for development”, A/RES/62/182 (31
January 2008), available at:
http://undocs.org/A/RES/62/182.
[2] Resolution
No. 72/130, General Assembly, “Implementation of education for sustainable
development”, A/72/130 (13 July 2017), recital 55, available at:
https://undocs.org/en/A/72/130.
[3] Resolution
No. 72/257, General Assembly, “Science, technology and innovation for
development”, A/72/257 (31 July 2017), recital 30, available at:
https://undocs.org/A/72/257.
[4] M. Hug and
R. Ribera-Fumaz, “A critical review from the Urban
Political Ecology of the Smart City concept in the Spanish State”, Political Ecology, No. 47, Cities, June
2014.
[5] Ibero-American Charter of Citizen Participation in Public
Management, Approved by the 11th Ibero-American
Conference of Ministers of Public Administration and State Reform Lisbon,
Portugal, June 25 and 26, 2009.
[6] United
Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, E-Government Survey 2016: E-Government in Support of Sustainable Development,
2016, p. 78, available at:
http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/UNPAN97453.pdf
[7] United
Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, E-Government Survey 2016: E-Government in Support of Sustainable Development,
2016, p. 78, available at:
http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/UNPAN97453.pdf
[8] Ibidem.
[9] Article No.
42.
[10] Decree No.
1172/2003, December, 2003.
[11] The
opinion or objection of the participants will not be binding for the convening
authorities; but in the event that they present an opinion contrary to the
results reached in the public hearing or consultation, they must base it and
make it public. Law No. 25,675, November, 2002.
[12] Law No.
27.275, September, 2016.
[13] Supreme Court
of Justice of the Nation, Center of Studies for the Promotion of Equality and
Solidarity and others c/ Ministry of Energy and Mining under collective
protection, August, 2016.
[14] Recital
18.
[15] Recital
11.
[16] Decree No.
434/2016, March, 2016
[17] Decree No.
891/2017, November, 2017.
[18] Resolution
Nº 41/2018, Secretariat of Infrastructure and Water Policy, October, 2018.
[19] The
complete record of the Public Audience is available at:
http://www.eras.gov.ar/download/audiencia/Version-Taquigrafica-Audiencia-Publica-dia-15-11-18.pdf.
[20]
International Telecomunication Union (ITU),
specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for isssues
that concern Information and Communication Technologies, Declaration of
Principles, World Summit on the Information Society, Document
WSIS-03/GENEVA/4-S, (May 12th, 2004), recital 23, available at:
http://www.itu.int/net/wsis/docs/geneva/official/dop.html
[21] The term «
digital divide » refers to the gap between individuals, households, businesses
and geographic areas at different socioeconomic levels with regard to their
opportunities to access information and communications technologies (ICTs) and
to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities (Resolution No.
35/9, General Assembly, “Promotion, protection and enjoyment of human rights on
the Internet: ways to bridge the gender digital divide from a human rights
perspective”, A/HRC/35/9 (5 May 2017), recital 3, available at: https://undocs.org/A/HRC/35/9.
[22] United
Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations E-Government Survey 2012, E-Government for the People
(2012), p. 103, available at:
http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan048065.pdf
[23] Resolution
No. 70/125, General Assembly, “Outcome document of the high-level meeting of
the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the
outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society”, A/RES/70/125 (1
February 2016), recital 24, available at: http://undocs.org/en/A/RES/70/125.
[24] United
Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, E-Government Survey 2016: E-Government in Support of Sustainable
Development, 2016, p. 78, available at:
http://workspace.unpan.org/sites/Internet/Documents/UNPAN97453.pdf
[25] Resolution
No. 72/189, General Assembly, “Promoting social integration through social
inclusion”, A/72/189 (21 July 2017), recital 101, available at:
http://undocs.org/A/72/189
[26] Resolution
No. 2016/6, Economic and Social Council “Multi-stakeholder forum on science,
technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals: summary by the
Co-Chairs”, E/HLPF/2016/6 (24 June 2016), recital 14, available at:
http://undocs.org/E/HLPF/2016/6.