Course Syllabus

Smart and Sustainable Cities

Semester & Location:	Fall 2020 - DIS Stockholm
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Public Policy, Sustainability, Urban Studies
Faculty Members:	Mika Hakosalo
Program Director:	Neringa Vendelbo - nb@dis.dk
Time & Place:	Mon and Thu 11.40-13.00

 

Description of course

Smart and Sustainable Cities

In a rapidly urbanising world, cities need to become smarter, respond to citizen needs and reduce urgently their environmental footprint. The practical work of smart sustainable cities thus cover a wide range of study and work fields. This is an introductory course providing a unique opportunity for the student to grasp the multidimensional  praxis of smart sustainable cities in Europe. To introduce the concepts we will focus on the City of Stockholm. It has been awarded the World Smart City prize in November 2019. This is a starting point for the student to understand existent or needed practices around the world by comparing and contrasting. Euronews video about the smart sustainable work in Stockholm can be viewed here:

Learning objectives of the course

By the end of this course the student should: 

• have exercised critical thiking about the creation and implementation of smart sustainable cities
• be able to comprehend underlying concepts, indentifiy stakeholders and dimensions (individual and societal, economic, environmental, politicial) and phases of the implementation of smart solutions
• be able to analyse the problems and tensions related to the existence of a smart sustainable city
• be able to identify and understand how innovation and artificial intelligence can be integrated in an effort to accomplish sustainability and efficiency of a city
• have practical insight in creating citizen value through data driven innovations
• be able to make the leap from creating effortive awareness into creating real transformation.
• demonstrate possible risks, advantages and other critical aspects of smart sustainable cities

 

Faculty

Mika Hakosalo is a project manager at the City of Stockholm. He has more than 25 years of experience in leading development projects and was initiating, developing and managing all Stockholm activities in the 5-year EU-funded smart cities and communities (SCC) project GrowSmarter. Mika had as Site Manager the overall management responsibility for smart sustainable solutions implementation and demonstration in Stockholm and worked closely with industrial partners. Mika has also worked with the development and execution of Stockholm’s strategy for a smart connected city since 2016 and is currently working with the implementation of this strategy. He holds MSc degree in Environmental Protection from the Helsinki University and is conducting his Doctoral thesis in value driven innovations in Smart Cities for the University of Wasa, Department of Marketing and Communication.

Approach to Teaching

The class will meet twice a week during the semester. Readings, explorations and student presentations are the fundament for active class discussion. Assigned texts, videos and other materials must therefore be studied before class. In the course we will use many different learning methods. We will have some traditional lectures, different group works, workshops, quiz, role plays, but mostly we will go from practice to theory from problems to learning. 

 

Readings

Hakosalo (2019).  Will Videos Heat Up Stockholm.docx

European Commission (2016). The role of citizens in SCC solutions. https://eu-smartcities.eu/sites/eu-smartcities.eu/files/2017-09/D7_The%20Role%20of%20Citizens%20in%20SCC%20solutions_0.pdf

D’Auria (2018). Modern Conceptions of Cities as Smart and Sustainable and Their Commonalities

Calzada (2018). (Smart) Citizens from Data Providers to Decision-Makers? The Case Study of Barcelona

 

Field studies

 

Field studies are visits or workshops lasting half a day. The field studies will be made in Stockholm and will be both visits to different industrial partners, places where smart city technology has been implemented and visiting people involved in implementing smart city projects.  

 

Guest Lecturers

The guest lecturers will be confirmed in Spring 2020. We will have a guest lecture about Design Thinking and about how the city infrastructure supports Stockholm’s ambition to become the world’s smartest city.

 

Expectations of the Students

 

I want to have discussions in the class, I want the students to actively search for answers and be active members, as well as contribute to the group works. As I have a lot of practical experience I want to share this with the students and give them insights not normally found in articles and papers about smart sustainable cities. This requires that the students actively ask and challenge my findings especially if they are not what is written in research papers or other materials.

 

Evaluation

 

Class participation

Participation will be evaluated by the extent to which students attend classes, actively engage in class discussions, contribute to workshops, and critically reflect on the assigned readings. You are expected to bring your reading notes as well as questions to class. Responses involve analysis, synthesis and creativity.

Reflections of the module

This is your collection of class reflections, representing the connection between readings, discussions and field visits during each module. One critical thinking page per module, each with structured observations and critical reflections on what you experienced, learned, and thought about during and after the lectures. These reflections form the foundation for the final project.

Deadline for the Reflections page is Friday at 23.59 after each module.

Smart, Sustainable City Use Cases

During the course, workshops and fieldstudies a number of use cases will be presented. The student will produce three pages per use case to reflect the problem, the smart solution, the user and involved stakeholders as well as relevant theoretical models.  

These reflections form the foundation for the final project.

Deadline for the use case studies is after field studies on Friday at 23,59.

Citizen value co-creation in a smart, sustainable city context _ Final project

The assignment is a group exercise, consisting of:

1. Macro level - regional, national and international context for developing and implementing smart sustainable solutions in a city.
2. Meso level – The city context (service ecosystem) where value is co-created through developing and implementing smart solutions.
3. Micro level – The user (citizen) context where the service provider can create value through an innovative smart solution and in interaction with the user

Deadline is Dec 4, 2020.

 

Assignments are weighted by group:

Group	Weight
Class participation	15%
Reflections of the module	15%
City use case studies	30%
Final project	40%
Total	100%

 

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