=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-1675/paper6
|storemode=property
|title=SmartGov Advanced decision support for Smart Governance
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1675/paper6.pdf
|volume=Vol-1675
|authors=Malgorzata Z. Goraczek,Peter Parycek
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/staf/GoraczekP16
}}
==SmartGov Advanced decision support for Smart Governance==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-1675/paper6.pdf
SmartGov
Advanced decision support for Smart Governance
Malgorzata Z. Goraczek*, Peter Parycek, MAS, MSc**
Donau-Universität Krems, Department für E-Governance, Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Straße 30,
3500 Krems
*malgorzata.goraczek@donau-uni.ac.at
**peter.parycek@donau-uni.ac.at
Abstract. The SmartGov project seeks to strengthen contemporary urban gov-
ernance by offering decision support and two-way communication between citi-
zens, governments and other stakeholders in (Smart) Cities. There is a huge, but
underdeveloped potential of Linked Open Data and Social Media as
crowdsourcing tools that complement regular data collection for decision-
making. SmartGov will innovatively integrate these data sources with Fuzzy
Cognitive Maps (FCMs), to enable quantitative modelling of complex problems
and simulation of dynamic behavior of factors underlying these problems.
Hence, decision-makers and citizens can effectively utilize (currently inaccessi-
ble) Open Data, Social Media feeds and expert-based FCMs to simulate impacts
of different scenarios and to improve two-way communication between gov-
ernments and citizens.
Keywords: smart tools and services, smart data, linked open data, big data, so-
cial media, smart governance, smart citizens, policy simulation, urban govern-
ance, Fuzzy Cognitive Maps
1 Introduction
‘Smart Cities’ provide new ways of designing and managing public services, infra-
structure, sustainable mobility, economic development and social inclusion. Two-way
communication between citizens and urban policymakers is lacking strongly. This is
partly the result of underutilization of citizens’ Social Media feeds and useful Open
Data sets. The SmartGov project aims to create new support tools that effectively
incorporate Linked Open Data and Social Media into Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs).
FCMs will be used in the SmartGov project as a modelling and visualization tool for
discussing policy scenarios between citizens and governments. The developed tools
will be tested and implemented in four European cities. Limassol (Cyprus) and Quart
de Poblet (Spain) are pilot cities and Vienna (Austria) and Amsterdam (Netherlands)
are supporting cities.
Table 1 below presents an overview of the main objectives, used methods and ex-
pected results of the SmartGov project, which aims to offer advanced decision support
tools for Smart Governance.
Table 1: Project overview
Objectives Methods Expected results
Create new governance meth- Research on governance pro- Fuzzy Cognitive Maps:
ods and supporting ICT tools cesses for urban planning and Provide new decision
mobility methods, tools and guide-
lines
Simulate impact of policies for Visualization & modelling of Increase transparency and
urban planning in Smart Cities complex problems in Smart trust through visualization
Cities of decision scenarios
Support two-way communica- Fuzzy Cognitive Maps: Create knowledge and
tion with large stakeholder Linked Open Data & Social awareness for new policies
groups Media of sustainable mobility
2 Funding & current status of the project
SmartGov is funded by JPI Urban Europe, a joint programming initiative. The aim of
JPI Urban Europe is to create attractive, sustainable and economically viable urban
areas for European citizens and communities. The strategy of JPI Urban Europe pur-
suits to coordinate the research of Europe’s public funds: to transform urban areas
into centres of innovation and technology; to realize eco-friendly and intelligent intra-
and interurban transport and logistic systems; to ensure social cohesion and integra-
tion; as well as to reduce the ecological footprint and enhance climate neutrality. [1]
The SmartGov project supports the goals of JPI Urban Europe through creating
new tools for the simulation of policies for urban planning in Smart Cities. SmartGov
is funded with a total budget of 1.232.120 EUR. The project will last 3 years. It start-
ed on the 1st April 2016 and will continue until the end of March 2019.
Further information is also available online under: www.jpi-urbaneurope.eu/smartgov
3 Consortium
The consortium is an inter- and trans-disciplinary project team: 3 universities, 3 IT
service & software engineering companies & 2 pilot cities - which combine different
disciplines and knowledge.
3.1 Academic partners
The academic partners - Danube University Krems, TU Delft and Cyprus University
of Technology - contribute with different research focus to SmartGov:
Danube University Krems is specialized in continuing education and applied re-
search. The Department for E-Governance conducts trans-disciplinary research on the
effects of technological advances with regard to strategies, structure and processes in
the digital network era. The team will contribute with its knowledge in the domains of
E-Governance (E-Administration and Government), E-Democracy (E-Participation
and Cooperation), Open Data (Information management and organizational change
processes) and Data Protection Rights. Danube University Krems is the Project Coor-
dinator of the SmartGov project.
TUDelft ranks amongst the top universities in the world in the field of technology.
SmartGov will be carried out at the Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment,
Department OTB - Research for the Built Environment. OTB specializes in academic
research and policy advice in the field of housing, urban studies, sustainable energy
and construction, mobility and transport, urban & regional planning, and GIS tech-
nology. Delft University of Technology will lead the evidence review for the devel-
opment of smart urban governance through integration of FCMs, Social Media feeds,
and Open Data.
Cyprus University of Technology offers education and high-level research in lead-
ing branches of science and technology which have high impact on the economic,
technical, and scientific sectors. Cyprus University of Technology is participating
with the Software Engineering and Intelligent Information Systems research laborato-
ry. The team will be responsible for developing the FCMs software tool and their
interfaces with sources like social networks and linked Open Data.
3.2 Companies
3 IT service & software engineering companies companies – Active Solution, Interfu-
sion and Kenus Informatica - combine a diverse range of backgrounds for the devel-
opment, testing and implementation of SmartGov:
Active Solution AG is a leading software and engineering company. The company
implements large scale projects for multinational corporations. Its software develop-
ment team will contribute the expertise for web development, Social Media, GIS,
CAD and embedded systems for SmartGov. Their knowledge from FP7 in Social
Media and its use in urban governance is essential for carrying out the project.
Interfusion Services Ltd has specific expertise in the field of information technolo-
gy and socio-humanities. The team supports the project in the important core areas
such as e-learning, e-government and policy modelling, and most important: fuzzy
cognitive modelling. Interfusion‘s major involvement in the SmartGov project will be
within the development of the Fuzzy Cognitive Map software tool and its interfaces,
as well as the realization of the piloting.
Kenus Informatica S. L. as an IT service company provides know-how in deliver-
ing IT services for city councils and other governmental organizations. Kenus will
support the project through designing and validating the FCM interfaces. The team
will support the technical training and will create according training material to all
pilot cities (Limassol and Quart de Poblet) and the supporting cities (Vienna and Am-
sterdam), as well as first-level support to these cities.
3.3 Cities
Two pilot cities are in the consortium, in which the FCM tolls will be tested and im-
plemented:
Limassol (Cyprus) already participated in various projects dealing with local ener-
gy leadership (SUSREG [2], CONURBANT [3]) and with energy efficiency (FIESTA
[4]). In the context of SmartGov Limassol will tackle organizational components that
hinder resource-efficient governance, both in terms of citizen-municipality interaction
and internal communication, moving to a paper-less pro-active governance model.
The policy focus in SmartGov will be increasing energy awareness of citizens, em-
ployees, and tourists.
Quart de Poblet (Spain) has a leading position among other public institutions in
Spain regarding Accessibility and Open Government. Aspects like the availability and
access to updated information services about e.g. transport and mobility and infra-
structures of the information are considered of high-priority. The focus of Quart de
Poblet in SmartGov is to improve information accessibility with regard to transport
and mobility.
Further, the project SmartGov is supported by the city of Vienna (Austria) and
Amsterdam (The Netherlands). The supporting cities will co-operate during the pro-
ject with the aim to strengthen the knowledge base, networking and knowledge ex-
change function of city government to achieve the common goals in the context of
Smart Cities.
4 Outcomes, tasks and deliverables
The whole project consists of 6 work-packages:
─ Work-package 1: Consortium Management
─ Work-package 2: Urban Governance and Urban Policy
─ Work-package 3: FCM Modelling
─ Work-package 4: Social Media for Governance
─ Work-package 5: Piloting
─ Work-package 6: Scientific Dissemination and Exploitation
4.1 Work-package 1: Consortium Management
The outcomes of work-package 1 will ensure the academic excellence, the coordina-
tion of the technological progress, as well as administration of management tasks
according to the work plan. Tasks and deliverables of work-package 1 consist of the
control of the project stages and according reports. The overall project management
method of the SmartGov project is PRINCE2 [5].
4.2 Work-package 2: Urban Governance and Urban Policy
The tasks of work-package 2 focus on the requirements for contemporary urban gov-
ernance of smart cities: on the one hand based on an analysis with relevant stakehold-
ers, on the other hand using a systematic evidence review. Further legal frameworks
will be examined. The work-package also consists of monitoring and analysing stake-
holder experiences with FCM models and its interfaces. Deliverables are reports cor-
responding to these tasks.
4.3 Work-package 3: FCM Modelling
Work-package 3 will deliver specification documents for tasks related to the FCM
tool and its interfaces - as designing, testing and implementing. Three releases will
guarantee feedback loops for upgrades of technical and user requirements. The soft-
ware development will be based on SCRUM [6], which allows flexibility to changing
user requirements and unforeseen technical difficulties in R&D projects. The final
deliverable consists of user and administration manuals for the developed FCMs
tools.
4.4 Work package 4: Social Media for Governance
The tasks of work-package 4 focus on the development of an engine, which will col-
lect information from Social Media, newspapers and blogs. Advanced tools will clus-
ter and visualize information (e.g. sentiment analysis). Finally this engine will be
integrated with the FCM tool. Specification documents for design, testing and imple-
mentation, as well as three software releases are the main deliverables of this work-
package.
4.5 Work-package 5: Piloting
The piloting work-package aims to monitor, assist and ensure that all pilots success-
fully tackle a variety of pressing urban policy issues regarding different domains with
the developed tools and their methodologies. The deliverables of work-package 5 will
offer guidelines, execution documents and a final pilot evaluation report.
4.6 Work-package 6: Dissemination and Exploitation
The tasks of work-package 6 include dissemination of project findings of SmartGov
to a wide audience of policymakers, practitioners and scientists in Europe, in particu-
lar to actors related to pilot and support cities, national organizations and EU bodies.
The deliverables consist of reports about strategy and activities of dissemination,
communication & exploitation.
5 Market value, innovation and impact
5.1 Market value
The primary target groups for the SmartGov project tools are local governments,
mainly in Europe. There are 8.512 cities in Europe and the research and development
results are relevant to all of them. The strategy to reach them in an effective way
builds on cluster organizations such as EUROCITIES (a network 130 of Europe's
largest cities and 40 partner cities governing 130 million citizens across 35 countries),
Major Cities of Europe, ICLEI, the European Metropolitan Network Institute (EMI),
the European Urban Knowledge Network (EUKN) and business partners. SmartGov
will connect with existing networks of national knowledge platforms, e.g. Platform 31
in the Netherlands, to maximize outreach and the impact of its results.
5.2 User-driven innovation
A profound principle applied in SmartGov is the understanding of stakeholders needs
as a source and driver of the research and innovation process. This is referred to as
user-driven innovation, where the crucial role of citizens in smart cities is taken into
consideration. Their needs and demands will play an initial role during policy design
and implementation.
Two-way communication between stakeholder groups will show the requirements
for effective governance decisions, as well as their acceptance and effectiveness. In-
novative ICT-driven networking of stakeholders will offer new and smart ICT deci-
sion tools, based on Fuzzy Cognitive Maps.
Involving citizens and further stakeholders to participate in the policy decision
making process enables and encourages citizens to exert political influence by affect-
ing decision-makers through suggestions and feedback. Simulating various scenarios
will lead to new knowledge about societal and economic needs regarding mobility
and create awareness for new policies. SmartGov will show that citizens’ and stake-
holder needs, suggestions and feedback are fundamental for decision-makers. This
can increase trust in inclusive decision making.
Further SmartGov will foster equal rights for information by enabling the adminis-
trative staff to more actively provide citizens with detailed information, thus encour-
aging the latter to participate in decision-making processes.
5.3 Impact of novel methods based on Fuzzy Cognitive Maps
SmartGov aims to provide novel and proven methods, sustainable tools and guide-
lines, which improve efficiency and effectiveness by simulating potential impacts of
decision alternatives in urban planning for decision makers. SmartGov will be based
on Fuzzy Cognitive Maps which integrate urban Open Data and a Social Media en-
gine.
Further the Fuzzy Cognitive Maps tools will provide powerful visualizations of
these simulated scenarios. Displaying scenarios - in an easy and comprehensible way
- to decision-makers, but also to involved citizens and stakeholders represents an im-
pact on equal rights for information, transparency and openness.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank our project partners for the collaboration during the crea-
tion of the proposal: Bettina Rinnerbauer (Danube University Krems), Reinout Klein-
hans (TU Delft), Peter Sonntagbauer and Susanne Sonntagbauer (Active Solution
AG), Haris Neophytou (Interfusion Services Limited), Vicente Penalver Camps
(Kenus Informatica), Andreas Andreou (Cyprus University of Technology), Gilberto
Martinez (Municipality of Quart de Poblet) and Evridiki Chrysostomou (Municipality
of Limassol).
References
1. cf. Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe, http://jpi-urbaneurope.eu /about/what/
2. cf. SUSREG - Stimulating Sustainable Regional Development by means of a Structured
Process Approach, https://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/projects/en/projects/susreg
3. cf. CONURBANT - An inclusive peer-to-peer approach to involve EU CONURBations
and wide urban , https://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/projects/en/projects/conurbant
4. cf. FIESTA - Family Intelligent Energy Saving Targeted Action,
https://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/projects/en/projects/fiesta
5. cf. AXELOS Limited, https://www.prince2.com/uk
6. cf. Scrum.org, https://www.scrum.org/Resources/What-is-Scrum