Data collection, a major issue for French smart cities

In a report given to the Prime Minister on Tuesday, April 18, PS Maine-et-Loire MP Luc Belot draws attention to the risks and stakes of the smart city, knowing that the digital boom requires reforming local governance .

"The use of technologies does not in itself create a smart city," warns Luc Belot (MP), who is carrying a mission on the smart city that the government entrusted to him in November 2016. In his report "From Smart City to a Territory of Intelligence (s) "on Tuesday, April 18, sent to Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, the elected Maine-et-Loire draws the attention of the territories on the stakes and potential risks of the smart city.

Already, traditionally prone to technology to develop their public services, local authorities are invited to go beyond their organization by business. "The smart city calls for an open, cross-sectional approach of the city," says Luc Belot. Even with mobility, there is often a car park manager who favors the use of the car while the public transport operator encourages not to use it; They are both public service delegation (concessions), "he observes.

The elected official thus advocates the establishment within each community of a governance structure involving the elected representatives, the various departments of the local administration and even the economic actors. Because with the development of digital, new private actors develop an offer of urban services.

Governance at the inter-municipal level

"Beginning discussions and collaborations with all the players in the city, and especially the major digital players, is essential to ensure better complementarity between public and private offerings," says Luc Belot, who considers it necessary to establish this governance At the intercommunal level. To deny this complementarity does not favor an improvement of the services offered to the inhabitants. And limits the ability of local authorities to develop public policy. "

Navigation systems providing real-time traffic data, such as the one proposed by Waze, does not include, for example, community constraints in their route optimization system. Working with such an actor would allow for it to take into account the need to avoid the paved traffic areas and certain streets with schools, hospitals.

Such territorial governance is necessary in order to optimize this offer of services, but also because these private service providers hold data that can be useful to the city. The communities should be able to have broader, if not systematic, access to all the data that would allow them to improve the management of local public services, he said.

In this way, while cities will increasingly be called upon to create "territorial data" platforms, including an open data component, the "data" is likely to become a Policy in its own right. "It is up to the community to collect, store, secure, process, exploit and, if necessary, put at the disposal the various data of territorial interests," says Luc Belot.

Some communities have already begun to implement this requirement, as has Grenoble, which has set up an open data steering committee, or Rennes Metropole, which has launched a catalog of open data since 2010, The environment, transport, culture, town planning, housing, everyday life, etc.

Of course, the city is called upon to become the repository of a great deal of data, including individual data. Especially since "the community can itself be led to collect data from the citizens to meet needs, while encouraging the participation of the citizens," emphasizes Luc Belot.

And the elected official insisted: "the intelligent city is not made only of sensors, algorithms, efficiency in each area (traffic, energy, parking ...). Starting from technical possibilities, the risk is to create an unused city. To meet some success, the development of smart city projects involves drawing on the experience and expectations of citizens. This calls for greater consultation, an association of users from the conception of public services. "In the sensitive area of data in particular, the hon. Member recommends that a charter be developed with the citizens to define how the individual data are used by the community.

And the elected official insisted: "the intelligent city is not only made of sensors, algorithms, efficiency in each area (traffic, energy, parking ...). Some of the success stories, the development of smart city projects involves drawing on the experience and expectations of citizens.