Smart City also means safety

Urbanization is creeping up, and political leaders are increasingly confronted with the challenges of urban agglomerations: Population growth, demographic changes, traffic volume, energy consumption, digital integration, but also crime and other security aspects are issues. This was highlighted in the recently published analysis of the "100 Resilient Cities.-program of the Rockefeller Foundation. The evaluation showed that mayors are increasingly taking the importance of safety and resilience more seriously: After successful economic development, public safety is now ranked second among the top ten responsibilities of a city government.

Means to meet these challenges

The smart city approach is seen as a suitable means of overcoming the aforementioned challenges. Accordingly, private and public initiatives, projects and exchange platforms on the topic of "smart cities" have developed worldwide. The approach is increasingly gaining acceptance in Europe as well. Well-known early adopters include not only major cities such as London, Berlin, Vienna and Rotterdam, but also medium-sized cities such as Bristol. The EU launched the European Innovation Partnership Smart Cities and Communities at the end of 2013. From the point of view of citizens and companies, three core characteristics are essential for an attractive city: charisma, resilience and vitality.

The challenges facing urban agglomerations in this country are about the same as elsewhere. Similar approaches are promising, not least because Switzerland is highly networked anyway. Until recently, "official Switzerland" was limited to the topic of "Energy City". Recently, first approaches to a broader approach are visible (cf. www.smartcity-schweiz.ch).

In the September issue, the editorial team of the "SecurityForum" with the theme "Smart Cities.