SPARCS PUBLICATION: A Comprehensive Methodology for Assessing the Impact of Smart City Interventions- Evidence from Espoo Transformation Process
In recent years, the world’s population living in cities has been rapidly increasing. Cities are transforming their infrastructure in a smarter and more efficient way so that sustainable development forms part of their long-term strategy. However, this transformation does not always result in expected benefits due to a variety of factors such as an absence of social acceptance, a lack of holistic design and the development of unilateral interventions. To this end, an accurate evaluation of implemented smart solutions is necessary in order to assess the expected and realized impact of each solution. The paper prepared by Aristotelis Ntafalias, Georgios Papadopoulos, Panagiotis Papadopoulos and Aapo Huovila, proposes a seven-step methodology for assessing the impact of smart city interventions and presents a use case for the city of Espoo. A number of major findings were the outcome of this research and development work, such as the need for a thorough analysis of the long-term vision of the city, a combined top-down and bottom-up approach and the ongoing cooperation between all stakeholders involved in urban planning and transformation, in which necessary Key Performance Indicators are defined.