The so-called “future ambassadors” of this city in southern Schleswig-Holstein have developed a total of nine innovative ideas for a series of initial projects and these are now due to be implemented. The city’s “Norderstedt GO!” Smart City campaign has thus not only achieved an important milestone: Norderstedt demonstrates the importance of proactively moving forward in the area of sustainable and digital development.
We at Haselhorst Associates are likewise convinced: Smart City and sustainability should not be considered separately from one another, since they shape one another. Well thought-out and intelligent networking of every aspect of a city’s living and work environments is thus a basic requirement for responsible municipal development which conserves resources.
In order to achieve precisely this goal, there is a need to involve the affected general public in the overall transformation process early on – as Norderstedt has impressively demonstrated: From the development of its Smart City strategy via brainstorming for specific projects to the establishment of the first pilot measures, the city’s population was directly integrated in the process.
Idea Reservoirs for Future Projects
In this context, it is no surprise that the program developed is now explicitly concerned with empowering the future users of digital services. For if everyone is to benefit from the Smart City model, then every section of the population must have the necessary level of digital expertise. The city of Norderstedt and the local municipal utilities thus plan to hold a series of events providing information on various aspects of digitalization, passing on practical knowledge and in this way eliminating any possible areas of anxiety.
At the same time, during the brainstorming phase issues such as the introduction of a city app were discussed, as a means of direct contact between the city’s administration and the general public. The development of a locker system enabling contactless lending of useful items (such as rollator walkers or handcarts) in Norderstedt’s city park is another of the innovative project proposals developed. All of these additional project initiatives have been stored in an “idea reservoir” and can thus be implemented at some point in the future. In this way, Norderstedt’s Smart City campaign will be able to gather long-term momentum and continuously evolve.
Please see the program website and the related press release for further information about the “Norderstedt GO!” Smart City campaign.