People have to be at the heart of Hong Kong’s smart city plans
- The best technology in the world is not enough if there is no public engagement, or where there is fear and mistrust, especially over data privacy
- Beyond consenting to surrender personal data for smart city policies, the public should be invited to participate in policy design and implementation
According to the Institute for Management Development’s latest annual IMD smart city index, Hong Kong ranked 41 out of 118 major cities. Its technologies were given an “A” rating but its structures earned just “BB”. In particular, the city did not perform very well in areas concerning the environment, mobility, green spaces and governance.
The Smart City Blueprint 2.0 aims to deliver a higher quality of living and greater happiness for Hongkongers. But where are the plans to use technology to involve the public when designing policy, let alone in its implementation?
In the section titled “Smart People”, the list of key indicators mostly consists of hard figures, such as the number of years of free education; the percentage of students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics; the number of students in government-funded undergraduate or postgraduate programmes; research and development funding amounts; and, the number of civil servants attending information technology-related training.
When a government designs a smart city, its people’s needs and preferences should be considered. After all, the earliest roots of the word “city” emphasised community and citizenship – two things key to city development.
As a 2018 McKinsey Global Institute report on smart cities noted, “smart city strategies start with people, not technology”. It reminded leaders not to get caught up in technology for its own sake.
Ultimately, an effective smart city strategy is not just about installing hardware and infrastructure to improve efficiency. Rather, according to the McKinsey report, smart cities also “need to focus on improving outcomes for residents and enlisting their active participation in shaping the places they call home”.
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When a government ignores its people’s needs and concerns in designing and implementing smart city policies, people may become indifferent to the plans or even refuse to cooperate. This can potentially dismantle strategies to improve lives, as the success of many of these policies relies on wide adoption and voluntary cooperation.
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For smart city plans to work in Hong Kong, the government has to genuinely make people the centre of its focus. Officials should work to overcome public fear and mistrust, and realise that public consultation is not enough on its own.
The public should be invited to help formulate smart city policies, so they have more say in how much data they surrender, how that data will be used, and how it could improve lives.
For example, according to the IMD survey, most Hongkongers are willing to share their personal data to improve traffic congestion. To that end, the government could build a closed data system to monitor traffic, air quality, waste management and energy use in real time. Importantly, the public should be reassured that the data collected would be kept anonymous and not be used for other purposes.
Such transparency and responsiveness will help restore the trust necessary to enable the smart city initiative to run smoothly, with less resistance and reluctance.
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Smart city strategies should also be open to the idea of policy co-production, which encourages long-term relationships between professional service providers and users, with all parties making substantial contributions that go beyond mere consultation.
This is a way to encourage people to offer their skills and experience to help public or voluntary services. The extent to which citizens can participate in policymaking should not be underestimated, even in areas that involve more technical aspects such as in energy policy.
In Japan’s Kitakyushu city, for example, the smart city project established policy co-production mechanisms for citizens to participate in energy management, which has proved effective.
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Hong Kong can learn from many successful examples worldwide where citizens have engaged in policy co-production through smart city apps. For instance, Ireland’s “fix your street” online tool allows people to report issues to their local council, including graffiti, potholes and illegal dumping.
This solution capitalises on the ability of citizens to identify problems in the neighbourhood that local authorities may not otherwise spot. It also allows complaints to be collected centrally, and to be addressed more quickly.
In Hong Kong, beyond passively consenting to surrendering personal data for smart city policies, the public should participate in policy design and implementation.
Putting people at the centre of smart city policy, whether in design or implementation, is a crucial step to rebuilding trust and confidence in Hong Kong’s development, and can encourage and hasten behavioural change in the creation of a more liveable and efficient city.
Neville Lai is an independent researcher on global affairs. Justin Chan is a policy researcher
