Hello #smartcommunityfriends, I’m back with another bonus episode of the Smart Community podcast that brings together multiple guest answers to the question, ‘Where to next with Smart Cities and Communities?” And this time I’m sharing with you the answers from a range of our guests this year: 

• Jennifer Sanders from Episode 170
• Andrew Funk from Episode 157
• Melissa Dark from Episode 169
• Marco Marechal from Episode 165
• And finally Joy Taylor from Episode 154

The themes that come through in all of the guest answers are around inclusive local communities, community engagement and knowledge sharing in our Smart Communities. Several guests make the point that we need to be having real conversation about what people want and need, and inviting them to be involved in designing the solutions for their local communities. Bringing people along the journey is not easy, and of course this is all easier said than done. It’s easy to say we need better community engagement but to make it happen is another thing. As Marco says, it can’t just be an email survey, we have to go further than that and work harder than that. 

Those of us involved in these types of conversations and in the Smart Community space all the time aren’t always aware how much the general public doesn’t know about these kids of projects going on in their local area. But as we know, it’s about the humans at the centre, not the technology, so if the humans aren’t engaged then can we say the project is a success?

Melissa Dark says, “you’re never going to get the perfect solution that is 100% perfect for every person. But…we need to work out how we’re going to best involve people in the process of creating those [solutions].”

As always, we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it.

Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community 

Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community 

Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube

The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.