Public Policy and Skills for Smart Cities: The UK Outlook

The impact of information coupled with the effects of innovation is profound on all aspects of city life, from transport planning and energy use reduction to care provision and assisted living. But it also includes new ways of organising communities, as well as access to political process. The idea that information is key for the design and management of future cities matures in the relevant communities of architects, planners, engineers, computer scientists and urban innovators, so the time is right to also consider what citizenship skills are required. Familiarity, if not proficiency, in 'digital' skills emerge as essential aspect of future citizenship. We don't only mean however efficient digital consumption skills, but also digital creation skills such as computational thinking and coding, entrepreneurship and systems thinking, information architecting as well as a risk-informed perception of data privacy and security. The challenges of delivering such a skillset are many, from designing a 21st century curriculum, to ensuring fair access to technology for people of all abilities, race, gender, age and class.