How to shape Europe’s future cities

As the clock approached midnight on 31 December 1999, a mother with two children sat in her armchair in Copenhagen wondering what the city would look like in the future and what her children would be doing when they grow up. Fast forward to the present day and one of the woman’s children is working on the city’s Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and the other is working within the city infrastructure ministry which is working towards Copenhagen’s ambitious goals to be the world’s first carbon-neutral capital by 2025.

According to the UN, a significant portion of the world's population lives in urban areas, with the number expected to increase to 70% in the foreseeable future.  UN projections also show the world’s rural population has already stopped growing, but the world can expect to add close to 1.5 billion urbanites in the next 15 years, and 3 billion by 2050.

However, while population is expected to grow exponentially across most of the globe, the trend in Europe paints a different picture and Europe would have to deal with challenges related to declining and ageing population (for example how to create inclusive neighbourhoods and the implementation of technology for ageing-in-place) as well. In the ‘Future of Cities: Opportunities, Challenges and The Way Forward’ report produced by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, some key challenges of what urban cities would be facing are highlighted. These include affordable housing; mobility; provision of services; ageing; urban health; social segregation and environment footprint and climate action.

New technologies & data

However, various players from governments to private citizens are taking steps using new approaches to tackle these old problems. Cities are increasingly using information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital technologies to address these urban challenges and transforming cityscapes with technology. The Internet of Things (IoTs), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and smart grids are accelerating smart city development worldwide. The use of data-driven technology is increasingly seen as key to approach urban planning and to solve some of the big challenges of city life such as the moving of people around – sophisticated technology is being used to better understand and transform cities and how extensive public transport networks can be run.

According to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Smart Cities Spending Guide, global spending on smart city initiatives will total nearly $124 billion in 2020, which is an increase of 18.9% over 2019 spending. IDC reported that in 2019, the top use cases related to resilient energy and infrastructure – primarily smart grids -- representing over one third of the investments. Data-driven public safety and intelligent transportation represented around 18% and 14% of overall spending respectively.

As technology is increasingly playing a bigger role in urbanization and development of sustainable and smart cities, it is also transforming the future of work and presents a new set of challenges.

"New and emerging technologies could help cities improve public services, better interact with citizens, increase productivity, and address environmental and sustainability challenges. However, they also raise several issues, including data privacy and ownership, appropriate and consistent legislation, data sharing and standards, and cybersecurity" Jean-Philippe Aurambout, Scientific Officer, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Directorate B – Growth and Innovation, Territorial Development Unit – B3

Will this ‘workforce of the future’ replace the need for human jobs? Does it warrant a fear of a dystopian jobless future where humans are replaced entirely by Artificial Intelligence and machines? But then again are all these anxieties completely blown out of proportion?  What are the competencies and skillsets current and future generation needed to be equipped with as we enter a world where technology is revolutionising the built environment? How do humans collaborate with these technologies to develop better cities?

Human skills

What is clear is that any future skills requirements need to be adaptive and digitally focused. One of the key skills needed is the flexibility to adapt to a working environment which will continue to evolve. For current and budding professionals, it would also mean cognitive flexibility – the ability to handle the plethora of opportunities and challenges that come with the rise of digital technologies. As Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) considerations become more important, the built environment would need to adapt and attract people from diverse background. We will also see an increase demand for digital skills (digital literacy and tech savviness) to match as the world continues to rely on highly technical and continuously evolving technologies. The 4th industrial revolution is bringing together a lot of major technology trends, on their own it’s already make headways transforming business but together they are changing and reshaping the world – the same goes for the built environment.

Elisa Rönkä, Head of Digital Market Development Europe, Siemens:

“As we are moving from Internet of Things to Internet of Experiences, human-centric competences become vital in selling innovations. Traditionally slow-moving industries, such as the building industry, need to change their mindset to keep up with the pace of change.”

Prof. Dr. Verena Rock MRICS, Course Director Digital Real Estate Management, Technische Hochschule Aschaffenburg:

“The young generation in real estate will need a skill set wider and more interdisciplinary than ever. Faced with a broad range of social, digital, urban, societal and environmental challenges, young leaders of tomorrow will be responsible for sustainably connecting people and technologies in the built environment. Education needs to adopt and adapt.” 

Creative, emotional and social intelligence remain uniquely human capabilities as they give humans a clear advantage over machines and software – in a way serving as a protection in ‘future proofing’ jobs. In some matters such as diagnostic solution and complex calculations, robots and automation technology might be more efficient than humans, it would still be humans who deal with the subjective side of data analytics (for example showing what numbers mean and their significance).

An open and engaging debate

To discover what European opinion leaders, technology experts, HR managers and education providers have to say on What are the skills and technologies needed to build future resilient, inclusive and sustainable cities, RICS invites you to join the European regional World Built Environment Forum webinar entitled “AI’s got talent, do humans? Who will develop the city of the future?”, Tuesday 15 September 2020 – 2pm – 3pm CET

An opportunity to meet Elisa Rönkä, Head of Digital Market Development Europe, Siemens, Jean-Philippe Aurambout, Scientific Officer, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Carlos Alvarez Ramallo FRICS, Google, Prof. Dr. Verena Rock MRICS, Course Director Digital Real Estate Management, Technische Hochschule Aschaffenburg and Alex Eugenio Sala, Head of Human Resources & Organization, Generali Real Estate.