It focuses on the technical side, so the administrative side should also be taken into account.

“ A smart city should be the perfect embodiment of the technological elements that are considered core to the 4th industrial revolution, such as big data, artificial intelligence, and robots.”

Speakers who participated in the 'Smart City Public Service Innovation Conference' held at KINTEX in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province on the 7th emphasized that ultimately, smart cities should become a future where smart people live and smart governance exists, and that not only technology but also administrative aspects should go together.

Professor Nam Tae-woo of Sungkyunkwan University cited Barcelona and Stockholm as examples of successful overseas smart city introduction. Barcelona set the goal of smart cities as improving the lives and communities of citizens by integrating urban planning, ecosystem, and information technology. It is also a representative model city for smart cities that apply low-carbon technologies. The overall promotion is carried out by the city council, and the project management committee is in charge of detailed planning, execution, cooperation, and project performance supervision.

Stockholm aims for sustainability in four dimensions: ecological, financial, social and democratic. It uses big data to control traffic signals to prioritize buses, pedestrians and bicycles, and to quickly notify of free parking spots. There are examples of services such as street lights and electric bicycles that adjust their brightness to match the length of daylight and demand.

Professor Nam said, “The smart cities of both countries have succeeded because they have struck a balance between continuous government-level attention, efficiency-oriented services, and capacity building based on self-reliance.” He added, “There is a conflict between development and regeneration, but it is not as apparent as in our country. We are reducing the conflict through institutional participation and providing desired services.”

After introducing overseas cases, discussions continued on building a Korean-style smart city innovation model.

Kyung Sang University Professor Myeong-jun said, “A smart city is one where people are connected and live smartly through ICT. That’s why domestic smart cities are biased toward the technical aspect. The city of the future is considered to be a city that can smoothly supply human needs and ideals.” He explained, “In terms of technology, software and hardware must be harmoniously integrated. In addition, social discussions on data copyright, standards, etc. must take place.”

Professor Lee Je-seon of Yonsei University said, “We were ahead in U-City, but we are falling behind as we move to smart cities,” and pointed out that we need to pay attention to the physical aspects where smart cities are actually implemented. He said, “It is impossible to create a perfect city. “It is important that advanced technology, human roles, and systems go together,” he said.

While overseas cities are planned and managed in a planned manner and have the conditions to become smart cities, questions were raised about how to move forward as local small and medium-sized cities in Korea are not managed in a way.

Professor Nam said, “We need to come up with a roadmap for governance in the area of regeneration of local small and medium-sized cities,” and added, “If we want to solve it in our own way, we need to change the control tower or legal system. Europe is using the top-down method, but this method takes a long time. We need to think about which method is right for our domestic situation.”