Smart Cities and Smart Government Requires the 10 Ps class=

Smart Cities and Smart Government Requires the 10 Ps

Who doesn’t like alliteration? Many observers have been weighing in on what makes smart government smart, including me. It’s clearly not just one thing – like technology. That doesn’t mean that we should make the concept overly complex. That’s led me to a simple memory aid when evaluating the “smart” part of any smart city or smart government initiative – 10 things that begin with “P”.

  1. Public Goods: “smart” initiatives without linking to a public good that benefits most or all citizens, residents, tourists, businesses is pointless
  2. Politics: “smart” initiatives without considering messy political contexts is a non-starter
  3. Policy: “smart” initiatives without policy alignment means no political will
  4. Performance: “smart” initiatives without measurement means wishful thinking
  5. People: “smart” initiatives without citizens and public servants means lack of adoption
  6. Process: “smart” initiatives without process changes means “business as usual” with little or no transformation
  7. Programs: “smart” initiatives without integrating initiatives across government organizations in the form of programs means silos that reduce potential impact
  8. Public finances: “smart” initiatives without budget planning and funding means lack of financial sustainability and scale
  9. Partnerships: “smart” initiatives without partnerships with other levels of government, non-profits, academic institutions and the private sector means limited scale
  10. Predictability: “smart” initiatives without learning from previous projects and the experience of other governments means repeating failures of the past

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