About this course: Learn about Smart Cities within the context of management of urban infrastructures. The introduction of Smart urban technologies into legacy infrastructures has resulted in numerous challenges and opportunities for contemporary cities and will continue to do so. This course will help you to understand how to make the best of these smart technologies in your cities’ legacy infrastructures. Over the past few years, advances in the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have significantly challenged the traditionally stable land scape of urban infrastructure service provision. This has resulted in increasing interest from both technology vendors and public authorities in the transition of cities towards so-called “Smart Cities”. Although such “Smart technologies” can provide immense opportunities for citizens and service providers alike, the ICTs often act as disruptive innovators of urban infrastructure service provision. In this MOOC, you will gain a thorough understanding of the challenges and opportunities associated with the Smart urban infrastructures, namely Smart urban transportation and Smart urban energy systems. Over the journey of this 5-week online course you will learn about the most important principles for the management of Smart urban infrastructures as well as the applications of these principles in the transportation and energy sectors. This course does not have any prerequisites. However, to take the most away from of this MOOC, we strongly encourage you to enroll in our other MOOC on the Management of Urban Infrastructures, which has been widely praised by learners. Through this course, you will: - Gain a deep understanding of the nature of disruptive innovations (smart technologies) in urban infrastructure systems; - Learn about state-of-the-art strategies for effectively managing the transition from legacy infrastructures to smart urban systems; - Study the management of the transition phase from legacy infrastructure systems to smart cities by supporting innovations while avoiding early lock-in; and - Understand potential applications of the materials learned in this course within the context of the management of smart urban transportation systems as well as smart urban energy systems.
Who is this class for: The course is designed to cater to both students and professionals interested in the concept of smart cities, and who want to learn how to transform Smart City concepts into practice.
Created by: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Taught by: Matthias Finger, Professor
EPFL, ITPP, MIR, IGLUS Lab
| Level | Beginner |
| Commitment | 5 weeks of study, 2-3 hours per week |
| Language | English, Subtitles: French |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
Introduction to Smart Urban Infrastructures and Smart Cities
‘Smart City’ is a notion that is widely, and sometimes not appropriately, used by urbanists across the globe. This week will help you to get a more clear understanding of this notion by using a rigorous conceptual framework, which is based on the systems theory. In this week, we will explain the concept of Smart Cities by reviewing different conceptual approaches to Smart Cities and discussing the pros and cons of each approach.
8 videos, 6 readings
- Reading: Introduction to the Smart Cities MOOC
- Reading: Write an optional case study and win a prize!
- Reading: Where to get help
- Reading: Course discussions
- Reading: Certificate
- Video: Introduction to the Smart Cities MOOC
- Video: Introduction to week 1
- Video: Conceptualizing cities as complex socio-technical systems
- Video: What is digitalization?
- Video: General Implications of digitalization
- Video: Implications on digitalization on cities
- Video: Perspectives on Smart Cities
- Video: interview with Ms. Irene Compte Libera about Barcelona
- Reading: Reading 1 - Introduction to Smart Urban Infrastructures and Smart Cities
Graded: What did I learn in Block 1?
WEEK 2
Smart Urban Energy Systems
Smart Energy Systems are one of the top priorities on the agenda of local governments, nation states and technology suppliers. In this week, we deep dive into the energy sector to explore some of the most important managerial considerations in the transition phase and operation of Smart Urban Energy Systems.
9 videos, 1 reading
- Video: Introduction to week 2
- Video: Conceptualization of Smart Urban Energy Systems
- Video: Interview with an Utility company (Dr. Corrodi, IWB Basel)
- Video: The infrastructure layer of smart urban energy systems
- Video: Interview with Prof. Mario Paolone
- Video: The services layer of smart urban energy systems
- Video: The data/digital layer of smart urban energy systems
- Video: Managerial and Policy takeaways
- Video: Interview with an Energy company (Dr. Bolke, Schneider Electric)
- Reading: Reading 2 - Smart Urban Energy Systems
Graded: What did I learn in Block 2?
WEEK 3
Smart Urban Transportation Systems
Many Smart Transportation Technologies are already tested on the roads and in cities across the globe. Driverless vehicles as well as car and ride sharing solutions are not anymore futuristic visions for urban transportation systems; but realities that pose significant opportunities and threads for legacy urban transportation systems. In this week, we deep dive into the urban transportation sector and discuss some of the most important managerial considerations to facilitate the transition phase, and operation of Smart Urban Transportation Systems, thanks to availability of data.
7 videos, 1 reading
- Video: Introduction to week 3
- Video: Conceptualization of smart urban transportation systems
- Video: The "improve" pathway
- Video: Interview with a transportation company (Mr Schaefer, Siemens)
- Video: The "shift" pathway
- Video: Interview with a transportation operator (Ms. Leboucher, RATP)
- Video: Conditions for success
- Reading: Reading 3 - Smart Urban Transportation Systems
Graded: What did I learn in Block 3?
WEEK 4
Towards Smart Cities: part 1
The transition of legacy cities to Smart Cities is not a spontaneous process. To get the transition process right, and to the benefit of citizens, cities have to adopt effective management and governance approaches to successfully deal with numerous complexities of this process. This week will help you to understand the most important factors in the transition phase of legacy cities to Smart cities and their managerial implications.
7 videos, 1 reading
- Video: Introdution to week 4
- Video: Transition in Socio-Technical systems
- Video: Interview with an urban service provider company (Dr. Staron, Veolia)
- Video: Data/Digital layer
- Video: Potential of the digital layer
- Video: Interview with Prof. Montero (UNED, Madrid)
- Video: Interview with Prof. Faltings (EPFL)
- Reading: Reading 4 - Towards Smart Cities part I
Graded: What did I learn in Block 4?
WEEK 5
Towards Smart Cities: part 2
Management of Smart Cities calls for different approaches from conventional urban management approaches. In this week, we focus on the role of city government in the network of actors who play an important role in management of Smart Cities.
5 videos, 3 readings
- Video: Challenges on the Services layer
- Video: Interview with a data company (Mr Ender & Mr Schimpel, IBM)
- Video: Challenges on the Infrastructure layer
- Video: Challenges for managers
- Video: Challenges for policy-makers & Conclusion of the MOOC
- Reading: Reading 5 - Towards Smart Cities part II
- Reading: Submit your optional case to win a precious prize!
- Reading: End of the course
Graded: What did I learn in Block 5?
Graded: Final Exam
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Ratings and Reviews
Really interesting to have a good point of view about the smart city concept, its origin and the best approach to deal with this process.
Very enlightening, raises a lot of questions and answer a whole lot of them (and other). Thank you!
Excellent course! Special congratulations to Prof. Mathias Finger.
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Fundamental for those who want to play a role int he future, very exciting and not dogmatic ! Thanks