U.K. takes lead as first country to develop smart cities standards

by Brianna Crandall — April 11, 2014—BSI, the U.K.-based business standards company, recently published new guidance to help support U.K. cities in becoming smarter. In the United Kingdom alone, eight out of ten people now live in cities, and the United Nations predicts cities will grow by 70 percent by 2050, notes BSI. As they become more complex, an intelligent, standardized structure for using and sharing existing data and resources becomes vital, says the company. This is echoed in the findings of the British government’s Information Economy Strategy published in June 2013.

The U.K.’s Department for Business Innovations and Skills (BIS) has worked with BSI to develop and launch an agenda around the smart city standards, in what is an emerging market still in its infancy. The Publicly Available Specifications PAS 180 and PAS 181 are designed to address the standardization gaps in the smart city market by providing a guidance framework and common language.

PAS 180:2014 Smart Cities. Vocabulary was developed to improve communication and understanding of the smart cities field by providing a tool to ensure developers, designers, manufacturers and clients use a common language when talking about smart cities, helping the industry to work more efficiently and effectively. It is the first version of a “smart cities vocabulary,” the beginning of a process to collate the diverse range of terms and expressions used in day-to-day discussions about smart cities. The vocabulary aims to provide an agreed set of working terms to enable practitioners to better share a common understanding.

PAS 181:2014 Smart City Framework. Guide to Establishing Strategies for Smart Cities and Communities was developed to guide decision-makers and assist them to develop, agree and deliver smart city strategies that can transform cities’ ability to meet future challenges and deliver future aspirations.

The framework does not describe a one-size-fits-all model for the future of U.K. cities, note the developers. It focuses on the enabling processes by which innovative use of technology and data, coupled with organizational change, can help deliver the diverse visions for future U.K. cities in more efficient, effective and sustainable ways.