Smart city strategy meets spatial planning

In the Smart Cities Smart Regions pilot project, aconium GmbH is working on the intersection of spatial and digital perspectives

As part of the model project “Smart Cities Smart Regions – Municipal Digitization Strategies for Urban Development and Mobility of the Future” of the Bavarian State Ministry of Housing, Building and Transport, cities, municipalities and municipal associations are supported in the development of integrated, digital development concepts (IDEK). The state capital of Munich (LHM) is also one of the twelve selected model municipalities with action area 3 – a district around the Ostbahnhof train station. The project consortium consisting of the partners Buro Happold, Yellow Z and aconium, who have been working together with LHM since spring 2021, was commissioned to develop this IDEK.

The IDEK is intended to provide the city administration with a new, innovative planning tool for Munich’s urban development that combines digital and spatial potential. The aim of the IDEK is to expand the existing action area concept to include a tailored and spatially oriented digitalization concept. The focus is on the effects of digitalization on the neighbourhood, the participatory development of a mission statement and the elaboration of concrete implementation measures, such as the application development of needs-based digital services, offers for digital skills development, improving the availability of digital end devices, strengthening participation and supporting spatial objectives through digital measures.

Making digitalization inclusive

Following a comprehensive analysis of the current situation and strengths and weaknesses, the project has now also completed the development of the mission statement. The findings to date clearly show that shaping the digital transformation in a fair and inclusive way is one of the most important challenges of the coming years. While digitalization offers great opportunities to sustainably improve the quality of life of residents in Action Area 3, it is also associated with risks. Digital processes should therefore be developed as low-threshold and inclusive as possible in order to exploit their potential on a broad scale, enable participation across the board and thus offer tangible added value for residents in the action area.

The model project is accompanied by an extensive participation process. To this end, residents and other stakeholders in the area were already involved in the first phases of the project in the form of a neighborhood survey, a future workshop and a strategy workshop. Two further participation phases are scheduled for this year. In spring 2022, there will be a digital collection of ideas via the IT department’s participation platform unser.muenchen.de and a market of opportunities.

Over the coming months, the project team will be working intensively on the development of specific digital measures based on the needs and challenges of the action area. We will be happy to keep you up to date with further developments on the project website.

For more information about the contact persons at aconium GmbH, please visit our aconium website.