Roadmaps for Smart Cities and Communities in Norway and the Nordics
How do we create a shared direction and framework for the work of future-proofing cities and communities? Nordic Edge has played an active role in facilitating the development of smart city roadmaps for the City of Stavanger (2016), the National Roadmap (2019) and the Nordic Smart City Roadmap (2021). This has provided cities and businesses with a common understanding of what a smart city entails and which working methods can be applied.
Image: National roadmap for smart and sustainable cities and local communities. Photo: Inger Hanne Vikshåland
City of Stavanger's Smart City Roadmap
The City of Stavanger was the first in Norway to develop its own roadmap for Smartbyen Stavanger. The roadmap was unanimously adopted by Stavanger City Council in 2016. Nordic Edge designed and facilitated the process, which gathered input and perspectives from 250 participants from the public and private sectors, academia and citizens. Throughout the process, we worked to build understanding, ownership and positive change.
The roadmap became a guide for other municipalities, with clear principles of people at the centre, inclusion and value creation — and a shared language between the market and public administration. Nordic Edge played a key role in ensuring that the roadmap was not just a plan for the municipality, but for the entire region across the public sector, private sector and academia.
National roadmap for smart and sustainable cities and local communities
In collaboration with DOGA and the national smart city network, Nordic Edge was a driving force in shaping the national roadmap for smart and sustainable cities and local communities. A total of 150 stakeholders from the public and private sectors and academia came together to develop a shared direction across municipalities and industries for how we will work with smart and sustainable local communities going forward. The roadmap was launched during Arendalsuka in 2019.
The roadmap also marked the starting point for the annual national innovation programme Gnist, for which DOGA and Nordic Edge have been the main architects, and which is built on the principles of the roadmap. The purpose of the programme is to strengthen the work of rural municipalities on smart and sustainable place-based and business development, using new collaboration models, design-driven innovation and citizen involvement as key tools.
Nordic Smart City Roadmap
The Nordic Smart City Roadmap is a framework for smart city work in cities and municipalities both in the Nordic region and internationally. The roadmap is based on the essence of existing smart city models and strategies from all the Nordic countries, and describes how Nordic cities and municipalities can take the lead in collaborative processes and leverage digital technologies, while at the same time protecting and promoting the interests of their citizens.
The Nordic Smart City Roadmap was developed in collaboration with Nordic Innovation and the Nordic Smart City Network, with Nordic Edge as one of the architects behind the roadmap, together with, among others, Demos Helsinki, DOGA, Bloxhub, the Nordic Urban Resilience Institute and the Danish Design Centre. The roadmap serves as a common Nordic reference point and is built on the Nordic values of trust, equality, inclusion and co-creation. The roadmap was launched during Nordic Edge Expo in 2021.
