12 Steps to Building a Smart, People-Centred Community

Building an iconic smart city goes further than a technologically advanced infrastructure; it's about creating a harmonious space where multicultural residents, businesses, and visitors can thrive. A successful smart community is a key pillar of a smart city and centres on the people who live, work, and play there. This blog walks through 12 essential steps to creating a people-first smart city, focusing on engagement, experience, and well-being.

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What Is a Smart Community?

A smart community is more than linking residents, businesses, and visitors with smart technology. Each plays a key role in shaping the culture, economy, and vibrancy of a city. A smart community is underpinned by collaboration, connection, and collective growth, driven by shared goals and a strong sense of belonging.

1. People-First, Not Buildings-First

The foundation of any smart city strategy should be a people-first approach. This means putting the needs and well-being of your community at the core of planning and development. A people-first culture helps boost:

• Engagement with city facilities and services
• Adoption of new technologies
• Inclusion of diverse groups
• Health and well-being of residents
• Return on investment for the city

This approach leads to better community satisfaction, more meaningful connections, and overall city prosperity.

2. Early Focus on Customer Experience

Don’t wait for the city to fill with residents to hire a Head of Customer Experience or Community. From the outset, consider architects, construction workers, project managers and partner businesses part of your early community. A community platform isn’t just a technical solution or IT function; it's an evolving, dynamic ecosystem. Bringing in someone who understands the psychological needs of a community early on is key to developing a natural flow of communication and collaboration.

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3. Set Policies AND MEASURABLE GOALS FOR YOUR COMMUNITY SERVICES

Defining your policies early allows you to set actionable and measurable goals. Your app may focus on key areas like city services, transportation links, education and job opportunities and should also address safety, data privacy, accessibility, and inclusivity.

A well-rounded plan should incorporate all aspects of life that contribute to community happiness and smart city success so take things a step further and add policies and measures for active lifestyle, footfall at cultural events and retail areas, loyalty scheme engagement, citizen retention and attributable revenue.

4. Integrate Staff and Systems

For your community platform to succeed, it should not operate in a silo. Integrating customer experience across construction, IT, marketing, project management, and finance ensures that the digital experience aligns with real-world interactions. A centralised digital hub can enhance the customer experience, helping users easily navigate city services and cultural engagement.

5. Prioritise Community Well-Being

The well-being of a smart community includes social, educational, economic, environmental, cultural, and political conditions. To foster a vibrant community, it's crucial to understand your residents’ needs, motivations, and what makes them feel invested in the city. Happy citizens often become community ambassadors, driving the city’s culture, goals, and overall success. Consider frameworks like the REALM Hierarchy of Community Needs to ensure your city meets the diverse needs of its community.

6. Give the Community a Voice

When people feel heard, they become more invested in their community. Create channels for community members to share their opinions and actively contribute to city planning and experiences. Incorporate their feedback into real-world decisions and show them how their input has shaped services. This builds trust and a deeper commitment to the city.

7. Connect People through Interest-Based Groups

Create groups that align with your city’s goals and bring your diverse multicultural community together around similar interests — foodies, gaming, sustainability or active lifestyle groups. These groups can offer advice, facilitate social connections, encourage people to contribute user-generated content and engage physically in the city. Through these interactions, people begin to build lasting ties with the community, contributing to the city’s success.

8. Empower and Engage the Community

A sense of ownership can dramatically increase engagement. Empower residents, businesses and visitors to take an active role in city life, whether through contributing or taking on leadership roles in groups. Engagement, in turn, enhances satisfaction, builds loyalty and boosts adoption and retention in the physical and digital services you offer.

9. Market and Promote Your Platform

For your community platform to thrive, people need to know it exists. Incentivise local businesses to promote your app and website through advertising, interesting content, offers, and campaigns. The more awareness and promotion, the more your community will grow in both users and interaction.

10. Leverage Creativity and Gamification

Gamification is a powerful tool to increase engagement, adoption and retention. Competitions and leaderboards make engaging with city experiences and services fun. Studies show gamification can boost engagement by 48% and retention by 47%, highlighting its potential to create long-term commitment and excitement around city initiatives.

11. Reward and Recognise Engagement

Recognising and rewarding people with points, badges or social status plays a crucial role in boosting morale and loyalty.  While basic services like clean streets and advanced technology are important, they don’t exceed expectations. To truly motivate people, offer perks, public recognition, and unique rewards for contribution to the community and city goals. People who feel valued are more likely to stay engaged with your city.

12. Encourage Contribution and Ambassadorship

People who are actively involved in their communities often become the best advocates for your city. Recognising and celebrating their contributions transforms them into ambassadors who will refer others, advocate for city experiences and initiatives, and help build a positive, vibrant culture. These efforts shape the reputation of the city as an innovative and forward-thinking smart community.

Conclusion

Building a smart city goes beyond technology and infrastructure — it's about connecting people, encouraging engagement, and creating an environment that enhances well-being. By following these 12 steps, you can create a smart city that not only meets the needs of its residents, businesses, and visitors but also builds a culture of innovation, happiness, and long-term success.

This people-centred approach is key to establishing a community that thrives in today's connected world.