Deutsche Telekom is a Business Reporter client.
Connecting people, cities, regions and data with sustainable digital networks is a big challenge. How can we tackle challenges such as rising populations, increasing traffic and the expectations of citizens and the economy with sustainable and future-proof solutions for safe, environmentally friendly, liveable cities and regions?
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Smart cities are the answer. A digital infrastructure ensures the intelligent connection of data, technologies and people. Ideally, the new solutions benefit the public sector, the environment, citizens and the business community. Since every city and every region has a different starting position, there are no patent remedies for digitalisation in the public sphere.
One success factor, however, is to integrate different perspectives, to understand needs as precisely as possible and to use the creativity of everyone involved. To help cities in the digitisation process, the Co-Creation for Cities masterclass, developed with Deutsche Telekom, aims to provide cities with a guideline on how to tackle the challenges that come with digital transformation.
Co-Creation for Cities was developed using design thinking methods. It means developing solutions or using existing ones together with all parties involved. In cities and regions, the involved parties can be citizens, but they can also be suppliers and interest groups. The more people that are on board, the easier it is to consider possible concerns from the start. This increases joint identification with the finished “product”. In addition, early cooperation can also minimise friction losses and costs.
Co-creation involves using a working method with which designers will be familiar. The five steps to Co-Creation for Smart City are:
• Understand and explore: what are the core challenges of citizens and administrations?
• Define the challenge: which are the most important challenges we need to focus on first?
• Ideation: what are the most promising solutions and problem-solving approaches?
• Prototyping and testing: does an idea work? How can it be optimised?
• Implementation: how to bring a solution to life.
In this video series you will be introduced to the co-creation approach from Deutsche Telekom, the main benefits of it, and how this method can help your city, with three different approaches – small, medium and large – tailored to fit your city’s needs, and drive the changes to truly make it a better place in which to live.
This article originally appeared on Business Reporter.
