The very idea of big data can be exhausting. However, data is just data. Without a context, strategic questions and well-defined opportunities, we lose the potential of truly harnessing the power of the smart cities agenda. Not only do we need to collect and communicate data to a central point, we need to crunch it.
Council Associate Partner Place Design Group explains in the article below the necessity of building a data culture within our government and non-government sectors. We hope you enjoy it. — Adam Beck
By Chris Isles, Place Design Group
Data is to smart cities as electricity is to the light bulb.
A simple analogy, but one that appropriately connects the data and the smart city concepts. For these two in my view are inseparable. One can’t reach its potential without the other and conversely, the other is nothing without a reason for it existing.
Data is ultimately just facts, figures and numbers and in and of itself not that important or useful. It is the insights we get from the data that creates the value and the opportunity. Data by itself is like electricity. Nice to know it is available at a power point for us to connect to, but without something to plug in and use that power, it is kind of useless. So, you need both bulb and power or in this context you need both the smart city and data to power it.
The world is quickly gravitating to the smart city concept but away from data at the same time. Perhaps this is to be expected after all, it’s pretty cool. How can you go past autonomous cars, sensors, parking apps and stuff, and not be captured? It is much easier for people to grasp onto some of this low-hanging sexy tech fruit and far sexier than big data concepts and elements, which was really our last fad from a few years ago that no one really jumped onboard.
Unfortunately, we can’t afford for the smart city agenda to move along without the old ‘Big Data’ story coming along with it. So, if we forget about the Big part of Big Data for now, and just talk about the ‘New and Improved’ data story, perhaps we won’t lose so many people on this journey. Because it is imperative that people new to smart cities understand the inherent and necessary data play that will empower smart city concepts.
But what I have learned from the missed ‘big data’ fad is that for data to have a big impact, it first needs to be understood. In making data consumable and visual, the goal must be to get the data to tell its story. Traditionally this was thought to be done via graphics, heat maps, geospatial overlays or infographics, all of which are okay, but still not overly consumable or friendly. But fortunately the smart city has the communication solution for data’s problem. It comes with inbuilt communication tools.
The reality is we will stop communicating the data and rather communicate the outcomes or experiences that the data creates for us. It will be the simplicity of the ‘app’ or parking solution that matters, and how easily I can find a park, not the frequency or quality of the data under it that matters. Do I want a map of parking sensors? No. I want to know where to park my car. Smart city apps will be the saviour of data communication. What data the app runs on and how it gets the knowledge will be irrelevant, yet also implicitly critical that we at least have the data.
In this sense data has gone from being 'nice to have' to be an essential part of the future of smart city thinking. Data will be the unseen infrastructure of smart cities and data will be as important as any road in these cities of the future. The future of our cities really hinges on how ‘city types’ (however you personally identify, be you a planner, architect, engineer or designer) learn to adopt and use data as a core part of these future cities.
The timing is ripe to have this discussion, because we are entering an unprecedented period in history in terms of our ability to learn about human behaviour, cities and urban ecology, through non-traditional observation methodologies. The proliferation of data and the ability to make sense of it, whether collected by governments or private entities via IoT sensors, citizen data or social media platforms, will create new opportunities to understand our cities, their residents and the urban processes that drive them, which is at the heart of the smart city premise.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) the amount of data collected and held by government will continue to grow, as will an increasing amount of data from outside government. We need to develop a 'data culture' when it comes to cities. Understanding how to use that data as a resource is the reason every business and government department needs to work towards developing data frameworks and strategies concurrently with any smart city strategies and elements they are adopting.
Beyond just culture, the delivery of comprehensive smart city data programs will require diverse skill sets, including city science, technological, research, statistical, analytical and interpretive skills, and creativity — as well as an understanding of the underlying city environment, ecosystem and the nature of data outputs expected. These skill sets are unlikely to be found in any one person, and this means that collaborative teams of specialists are likely to need to be assembled to allow cities to achieve optimal results from their data analysis efforts.
So how do you build a data culture? It’s been said that culture eats strategy for lunch. But what about when you have a strategy and the right culture? Data-driven culture and strategy is more likely to create an entrepreneurial mindset and spirit of investigation, testing and problem solving, with data as the backbone of this culture.
Whilst not necessarily having the answers on this data culture question, to me this is a question and challenge we need to explore and solve, before the ‘bright lights and shiny things’ of the smart city space attract our attention and we forget to circle back to develop this data culture. Because I fear we could end up with the smart light bulbs but not ‘data power’ to run them.
After all, what could possibly be smarter than using the data collected from smart city things to make the city even smarter in its raw unadulterated form, and focus on making cities just great places again, and then letting technology then push the city operating platform further again?
So, the challenge for us all, is to lead the evolution of a data culture within our organisations. To push them to think about the adoption of data strategies, that run in parallel with any smart city initiatives and lastly to ensure we don’t skip out on data in lieu of sexy attractive autonomous things, that might just take our money, our data and move on without making our cities better places.
Chris Isles, is the Executive Director for Planning at Place Design Group. Chris is a trusted advisor to the Australian government at all levels and private developers alike, and leads Urban Planning internationally across 10 offices throughout Australia, China and South East Asia.
Chris works at the intersection of planning, urban design, commercial viability and data science with his driving energy being the progression and recognition of the critical role that planners have in the cities of the future.
Awarded Australian Planner of the Year 2015/16, and current member of the World Cities Summit Young Leaders Program, Chris is recognised for his work exploring and facilitating the relationships between commercial feasibility, big data, crowd sourcing and new technology uses within planning and cities. His focus is guided by the global imperative for the planning profession to respond, and keep ahead of the global urbanisation trend to ensure that the future of cities for people is not lost during rapid urbanisation.
