The digitalized city stands for a modern, functioning city. Because digitalized = good. In the August issue of G+L, we discuss why this is complete nonsense – as well as what actually defines a digitalized city in the areas of urban development and planning and what real benefits it can offer.
Cover image: Joshua Coleman via unsplash
Unachievable digital strategy
Germany scores downright disastrously in the latest Digital Government Citizen Survey by the Boston Consulting Group. According to the management consultancy in its final report in mid-July 2023, Germany has fallen further behind the global trend in digital administrative services in the last two years from the citizens’ perspective. The goal of the federal government’s digital strategy is hardly achievable. Only two out of a total of 41 countries are currently less convincing than Germany: Austria and Japan.
Far from the digitalized city of the future
Oh, oh. This digitalization … Everyone is calling for it, hardly anyone checks it out, and instead of being the great hope, for some it is more likely to stir up fear. The fear of what it could change, or simply the fear of not being able to follow it intellectually. Digital building applications, electronic appointment scheduling, daycare finder – Germany’s municipal administrations rarely get much more digital than this. And the error messages are pre-programmed. The BCG result from this year is therefore not at all surprising. If you add private sector offerings such as the Urban Sports Club, Google Maps or dating apps such as Tinder, the picture changes only marginally. Germany is still a long way from the digitalized city of the future. But what does it actually look like? And what does it mean for us in planning? We discuss this in the new issue of G+L.
The path leads abroad
We take an in-depth look at the three cities of Dortmund, Hamburg and Munich and ask selected city experts whether we really need digitalization in our cities – including Helmut Dedy, Managing Director of the Association of German Cities. During the preparation of this issue, we in the editorial team learned a lot, discovered good to very good examples of German digital work, but above all gained one key insight: The path towards digitalized cities leads abroad. This is also confirmed by BCG’s Digital Government Citizen Survey. Germany’s digital capabilities are currently not enough to drive real change. We need help from outside. The good news is that any planning office, municipality or individual can get (or buy) this help. All you have to do is ask and invest time and/or money. “This” digitalization should be worth it.
The August issue “Digitalized city” is available here in the store.
Our July issue was about feminist urban planning. Read more here.