Vienna - as a smart city to the top of the world

The innovative planning director of the City of Vienna DI Thomas Madreiter.I meet Thomas Madreiter in his office in the venerable City Hall - an architectural showpiece dating from 1872 in neo-Gothic style. For me, nothing yet points to smart or digital, things that are crucial to Vienna's success story in terms of quality of life."Digitization is a decisive driver of innovation".In response to my first question about the importance of digitization for urban development, Thomas Madreiter says: "Digitization was and is a decisive innovation driver for what we have achieved in the city of Vienna in recent years. Since digitization in society is developing in small steps, the effects are not as obvious - and yes, it is not an IT issue. "In this context, however, it seems important to him that the robustness of the systems and user security are guaranteed. People expect their data to be handled responsibly. For Madreiter, digitization brings with it a fundamentally different form of communication: faster, more immediate, more direct. It also changes processes; for example, a culture of discourse has been developed in the city with which consensus can be reached on key issues, which massively favors the implementation of projects.3-D city model and digital parking managementNow I ask about concrete examples of digitization in the city: "Being able to read and understand plans is not everyone's cup of tea, as we all know. With today's 3-D city model, which is also enriched with augmented reality, we can reach significantly more citizens and involve them in a participatory process." As another example, the planning director mentions the parking management system with online decision processing, which on the one hand has improved convenience for citizens and at the same time has realized considerable efficiency gains. Of course, I still wanted to know the opinion on the recent cab driver uprising against "Uber". Here, the director is pragmatic. For him, the only question is how to deal with these new business models (this also applies to "airbnb") in regulatory terms - the traditional trade structures must adapt.Efficiency thanks to digitizationNow I want to know whether Madreiter sees digitization more as a growth driver or more as a cost saver. "I see digitization more as a growth driver - when it comes to cost savings, people tend to overlook certain "rebound effects" that neutralize the short-term savings again in the overall view." He mentions the rail timetable as a positive example: From a thick book to a CD and then to an online timetable - which has led to a clear improvement in quality. And efficiency can be increased even further if assistance systems generate suitable suggestions in the future.Digital content freely availableMadreiter also mentions the "Open Data" project, which has already been launched. The aim of this is to make digital content - in accordance with certain standards - freely available to citizens. This means, for example, that the city's residents will be able to call up the solar potential of facades and roofs and thus calculate the profitability of corresponding investments. The expansion of the geographic information system will not only serve the city well as a basis for planning, but will also be useful for educating the population on certain topics. In passing, the director mentions that today all publications of the city planning department are available in digitalized form and can be processed with the most modern search tools.Security of the systems centralAnd where are the key challenges or stumbling blocks in implementing digital initiatives? The security of the systems is very central for Madreiter. If I can control my heating externally via smartphone, a hacker shouldn't be able to access it to find out when I'm coming home. The digital possibilities should be used smartly, which can mean that an urban development agenda can be discussed with a community. This leads to credible participation and integration of a city's citizens. For example, an "app challenge" uses the creative potential of city residents. In the future, the city no longer wants to develop the apps but simply provide the relevant data for them - a clever sourcing logic?At the end of the conversation, Thomas Madreiter emphasizes that despite all the opportunity orientation around the topic of "digital", the tail must not wag the dog - in other words: IT is only an enabler for further smart solutions to further strengthen Vienna's position as the world's most attractive city in terms of quality of life.As part of the digital series in Marketing&Kommunikation by Christoph Oggenfuss (markITing ag), the first season was entitled "Digital - not trivial". The articles are available here.