Chapter 9: Innovation and Technology: Towards Knowledge-Based Urban Futures

Chapter 9:

Innovation and Technology: Towards Knowledge-Based Urban Futures

Quick facts

1. Innovation and technology play an increasingly central role in planning for sustainable urban futures.

2. Digitalization and automation are rapidly transforming urban economies.

3. The urgency to decarbonize urban economies is driving the convergence of green and smart technologies.

4. The demand for smart city systems and solutions is estimated to increase annually by 25 per cent, with an overall market value of approximately US$517 billion.

5. Technological advances risk exacerbating existing, and generating new, socioeconomic inequalities.

Policy points

1. The deployment of innovation and technology should be tailored to suit the diversity of the urban context.

2. Cities need to consider the negative environmental externalities when investing in lowcarbon, digital and connected technologies.

3. Urban economies need to be adequately prepared for the effects of advancing automation and digitalization.

4. To avoid top-down, one-way communication, the deployment of digital tools to address urban challenges needs to be inclusive, collaborative and empowering.