SMART CITY AS A TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACH? CONCEPTUALIZING DIGITAL TOOLS IN SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT IN A CONTEXT OF AGEING 

Organizers

Karina Pallagst, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau
Annette Spellerberg, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau

Presenters

Annette Spellerberg, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau
Karina Pallagst, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau
Sascha Henninger, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau
Detlef Kurth, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau
Kirsten Mangels, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau

The cross-cutting function of digitalization in the context of spatial development was manifested in the European context in the New Leipzig Charter in 2020 (BMI 2020). In addition, an international discourse has become established in research that critically reflects on the Smart City movement (Grossi and Pianezzi 2017). While it is undisputed that the use of different digital tools and the use of AI will result in new requirements for the design of planning, decision-making and participation processes (ARL 2024), it is still largely unclear to what extent spatial planning and planning cultures, i.e. fundamental methods, instruments and paradigms of spatial planning, the requirements for data management and quality, and the skills of experts, will change in the course of digitalisation. Thus, more knowledge is needed on the role of Smart Cities as a transformative action in spatial planning. With this special session we will present results of the project ‘Ageing Smart – designing spaces intelligently’, funded by the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung, in which the presenters teamed up with software sciences to research the foundations of spatial decision support systems (SDSS) in view of ageing and demographic change. The aim is to create a digital and data-based decision support system that serves as a decision-making tool for public stakeholders in planning processes. With its help, infrastructures and services are to be planned in a demand-orientated, sustainable and future-oriented manner, particularly with regard to the needs and requirements of the ‘baby boomers’. Together with seven model municipalities from three spatial types (urban, suburban, rural), the development of the data-based decision support system for local and regional stakeholders is developed in a participatory mode. The session’s presenters will reflect on aspects of spatial requirements in spatial decision support systems, in particular the group of baby boomers and their wishes and demands in terms of (residential) locations, mobility, attitudes and behaviour, particularly with regard to healthcare. Further, solutions from Japan, are intended to shed light on the question how smart cities might affect planning cultures. Moreover, the session will present select requirements for spatial decision support systems in the municipalities, which go beyond the availability of quality data. By this means, the session will contribute to the discourse of Track 11: ‘Emerging technologies in spatial planning’ by further conceptualizing digital tools in spatial development for building sustainable, fair, and resilient cities and communities through technology. 

References:

ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft (Hrsg.) (2024): Künstliche Intelligenz in der Raumentwicklung – Impulse für die Praxis und Forschung. Hannover. Positionspapier aus der ARL 151.

BMI (2020): Neue Leipzig Charta - Die transformative Kraft der Städte für das Gemeinwohl; Verabschiedet beim Informellen Ministertreffen Stadtentwicklung am 30. November 2020.

Grossi, G.; Pianezzi, D. (2017): Smart cities: Utopia or neoliberal ideology? Cities 2017, 69, 79-85.

Key words: Smart city, digital tools, spatial decision support system, ageing, health care, climate change