Istanbul Smart City Vision Discussed

In the workshop organized by IMM Directorate of Information Technologies, Smart City Directorate, İPA, BİMTAŞ and EY, more than 200 participants discussed the effective use of technology in the changing city life with the pandemic process. Making the opening speech of the workshop, IMM Secretary General Can Akın Çağlar said, "It is the priority of IMM to equip our city with smart technologies while serving 16 million people."

The Smart City Directorate, affiliated with the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Department of Information Technologies, organized the "Vision and Mission Determination Workshop", which is the first in the series of studies in which it revised the vision and road map for Istanbul's smart city, innovation ecosystem in the changing world. The IMM Smart City Strategic Plan is the first plan of our country at the local government level. The plan also defines action areas and projects in different dimensions of urban life (environment, transport, energy, etc.). Thus, it is aimed to make the "Sustainable Development Goals" (SDGs) applicable at local scale.

Part of the smart city IMM motto

Making the opening speech of the workshop, IMM Secretary General Can Akın Çağlar expressed the importance IMM attaches to the "Smart City" vision with the following words:

“While serving 16 million people, our general motto is; To be able to add value to the city while solving the problems of the citizen. In today's world, it is among our priorities to be able to use technology to fulfill these two objectives, to make the city smart with all technological developments, and to provide services to our people in a way that can make their lives easier. "

Income inequality has increased eight times

The workshop program continued with the presentation of the IMM Smart City Directorate after the opening speech. The presentation, which started with the explanation of the trends that transform the world, proceeded with the explanation of the future business world and trends. In the presentation, which also shared remarkable information about Istanbul, it was stated that between 2006 and 2018, the inequality in income distribution in Istanbul increased, and the difference between the highest and lowest income groups increased eight times.

Transportation, one of the most important themes among the Smart City concepts. As a result of the researches in this field, another information conveyed during the workshop was the information that Istanbul was ranked 2019th in 9 in terms of traffic congestion, and 2020th as of 5.

Another remarkable information in the presentation is that Istanbul's net internal migration rate was 2019 percent in 7,9, while it was measured as -2020 percent in 3,4. In the light of the data conveyed: It has been observed that the changes brought by fundamental forces such as population growth, economic uncertainties and climate change have a direct impact on the needs of Istanbul.

The impact of 100 cities on carbon emissions is 18 percent

In the workshop information presentation, reasons such as rapid urbanization and population growth, climate change, economic uncertainties and inability to keep up with technology; It was stated that cities have difficulties in planning and implementation of basic needs such as infrastructure, urbanization, energy and transportation. As a result of the researches, it was stated that 100 cities, including Istanbul, have 18 percent of the carbon emissions in the world.

The researches made by Istanbul Planning Agency on the subject were also included in the presentation. Carbon emissions must be reduced by at least 2050 percent in 2030 in order for Istanbul to achieve its goal of becoming a low-carbon city by 40. In this sense, the current index and citizen needs are updated by the IMM Smart City Directorate in order to quickly complete the transformation of Istanbul into the city of the future. With the 'Vision and Mission Determination Workshop', these steps will be completed quickly and smart city thematic workshops will be held by the directorate in the coming days.

13 visions, 13 missions

To the workshop; Many representatives from IMM and its affiliate companies, district municipalities, ministries, academia world, NGOs and private sector participated. A 200-hour online workshop was held with over 4 participants. At the workshop where 13 different groups were formed, the participants carried out an active work and formed their vision and mission statements specific to the Istanbul Smart City. “13 visions and 13 mission statements” that emerged after two hours of group work were explained to all participants.

Following the statements, the participants voted on the online method, first "vision statements" and then "mission statements" over the application. After the announcement of the voting results, the participants took the floor and stated that the workshop was very useful and enjoyable.

Some representatives said that it was very important for IMM to bring together all sector representatives in this study, and it was stated that the completion and completion of these works with Istanbulites living and loving Istanbul by the IMM Smart City Directorate was of great value.