The dream of good cities comes True

Roger Gonzalez, Deputy Director of Digital Know-how on the Mayor’s Workplace of Santiago de Cali

What makes a metropolis good? This is a superb query, and in contrast to what we’d think about, it can be fairly complicated to reply and obscure.

It’s of paramount significance that unusual residents have a transparent understanding of the good metropolis idea to allow them to demand that their governments embrace this imaginative and prescient for his or her cities.

If we search on the web about this definition, we are going to discover a number of info sources with a number of legitimate solutions. In abstract, a sensible metropolis is one which makes use of info and communication applied sciences (ICT) to enhance the standard of lifetime of its residents. This focuses on areas corresponding to mobility, safety, well being, vitality, atmosphere, schooling, and citizen participation, amongst others.

Nonetheless, I wish to add {that a} good metropolis is just not solely based mostly on the usage of expertise to make life simpler for its inhabitants but additionally those who break with the bureaucratic traditions that generate inefficiencies in governments. These cities work on the continual enchancment and transparency of their inner processes, and what’s much more vital is that they simplify their procedures and providers effectively and successfully, corresponding to simplifying the method of beginning a enterprise of their territory.

Latin America is just not far behind within the international pattern of remodeling cities into good environments. Nonetheless, we face challenges which are completely different from developed international locations. These challenges are framed by varied elements such because the socioeconomic scenario, poor infrastructure, the extent of technological improvement, and different points of our area.

 A sensible metropolis is one which makes use of info and communication applied sciences (ICT) to enhance the standard of lifetime of its residents 

Among the many a number of challenges we face in Latin America, we discovered the restricted monetary sources to put money into good options. As well as, many cities in our area lack the fundamental infrastructure essential to implement good applied sciences, corresponding to high-speed Web entry or sufficient and environment friendly public transportation methods. Additionally it is essential to deal with the digital divide amongst residents by schooling, selling the understanding and correct use of knowledge applied sciences. Lastly, the problem of paperwork and sometimes inflexible authorized frameworks can’t be missed, making it tough to shortly implement good metropolis tasks that require collaboration between the private and non-private sectors.

Regardless of these challenges, many cities in Latin America are working onerous to grow to be good cities. They’ve applied technological options corresponding to large knowledge fashions, synthetic intelligence fashions, Web of Issues, amongst others.

I had the chance to study concerning the curiosity of the federal government of Ecuador, which is defining a digital transformation route. I additionally realized about and took word of the initiatives within the cities of Sao Paulo, Jundiaí, and Campinas within the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. These cities have developed good metropolis tasks in areas corresponding to mobility, waste administration, city monitoring, and open knowledge. This has made them leaders within the transformation in the direction of good cities in Brazil.

At this level, it’s related to say the case of Santiago de Cali in Colombia, a metropolis that has been a benchmark in Latin America when it comes to good cities. In recent times, Santiago de Cali has labored tirelessly to outline itself as a sensible metropolis, not solely by the implementation of technological options but additionally by the transformation of its authorities. Town has developed its personal good metropolis mannequin along side the academy sector, the enterprise sector, activists, entrepreneurs, and residents. This imaginative and prescient is aligned with the UN sustainable improvement targets, the brand new city agenda, and Colombia’s nationwide digital authorities coverage.

Along with its personal good metropolis mannequin, and with the energetic participation of all of the sectors of society, Santiago de Cali has developed a Public Coverage for Science, Know-how, and Innovation. By way of this coverage, the allocation of a funds has been projected to hold out greater than forty actions in 4 strategic axes. The target is to strengthen the town as an clever and future-oriented territory.

Santiago de Cali’s personal good metropolis mannequin has grow to be the muse for the event of future tasks which are already starting to take form. Some examples are the clever visitors gentle system, the enlargement of free high-speed Web entry zones in city and rural areas, and the community of digital innovation laboratories that seeks to scale back the digital divide by offering residents with entry to technological instruments.

As conclusion, I can say regardless of the challenges in our area, quite a few cities in Latin America are demonstrating that by defining insurance policies that information their visions in the direction of conversion into good cities, they will obtain important progress that undoubtedly improves the standard of lifetime of their inhabitants.