Smart Society
Smart Society is a collective term for the holistic development of technology-based and future-oriented sustainable systems to optimize social coexistence. Neologisms such as Smart City , Smart Shopper , Smart Home , Smart Governance , Smart User Interface , Smart Mobility or Smart Consumerism shape the discourse.
definition
The Austrian writer and journalist Peter Glaser tries to derive a conceptual historical derivation and defines the term "smart" in the sense of an attribute :
“Today, the smart attribute is not only used to indicate the particular modernity of hardware or software. As a special feature, a product also stands for small and handy, smart and efficient. Above all, however, the smart thing (and there is now talk of a whole Internet of Things (IoT)) everything it needs takes from the network by itself. 'Smart today no longer just means technical sophistication', says Andrea Licata, who founded the 'smart green' start-up Talenteco in Berlin, 'it is resource-saving, environmentally friendly and sustainable'. "
The Swiss consulting company AWK Group refers to the dual character of the term as the combination of both technological possibilities and human demands for the willingness to comprehensively meet social challenges:
“An intelligent society is not only based on (digital) technologies. In addition to the necessary financial resources, political will as well as 'silo' -arching thinking and acting are necessary. 'Smart' solutions are only created when the data and processes of the individual silos are linked with the goal of creating added value for society through higher-quality information. "
The sociologist Germano Paini , head of the Institute for Innovation & Competitiveness at the University of Turin, attempts a comprehensive foundation :
“A smart society is able to develop models of government that are based on central relational and common goods and on the participation of citizens in value creation. At the same time, the Smart Society is an intelligent community. It works in exchange, i. H. active relationships that are strengthened through the use of new technologies. And it relies on a dynamic and adaptive, participation-oriented production of common sense, innovative forms of connective empowerment. "
The six dimensions of the smart society
The Smart City Wheel developed by Boyd Cohen in 2012 has established itself in the discourse on the Smart Society . It shows six operational dimensions of the smart city. The sociologist Roberta Iannone condenses the vector grid to capture a smart society on the following six dimensions:
- smart economy
- smart people
- smart governance
- smart mobility
- smart environment
- smart living
Smart economy
"Smart" in the economic context bundles dynamic, that is, competitive, innovative and entrepreneurial activities based on feedback loops into circular systems. A circular economy structured in this way uses the interdependence of endogenous economic factors (needs, benefits and resources) and exogenous economic factors (commercial law system, market complexity, globalization, social cohesion, distribution and redistribution). This trend presents companies with new challenges: Optimizing economic resources, installing new cooperation models and ensuring data flows in terms of availability and security.
Smart people
The new technological possibilities require active users who integrate the constantly renewing digital instruments into their lives. Smart people are citizens who are creative and flexible, but also qualified and open to the various forms of citizen participation and social integration. The political participation of Smart People in the decision process the characteristic element of "smart governance" ( Smart Governance ), in which the participation in the creation of public services to help shape the community together more transparent and democratic.
Smart governance
Smart government or smart governance are concepts that deal with municipal, urban and national administrations in the context of digitization worldwide. Above all, the integration of technological instruments into administrative processes aims to optimize communication and cooperation with institutions, citizens and interest groups. The aim is to ensure greater transparency and increase overall efficiency. At the same time, it is important to reduce costs and conserve resources.
Smart Mobility
In the smart society, smart mobility is one of the most discussed challenges, especially in urban and suburban areas . Smart mobility includes the establishment of an efficient, resource-saving, low-emission, comfortable, safe and cost-effective organization of public and private transport . On the one hand, it is about the optimized use of existing offers. The focus here is on the use of information and communication technologies ( ICT ). On the other hand, smart mobility is also geared towards more efficient use of space, e.g. B. Park + Ride infrastructures and other feeder systems. Other aspects are traffic littering and traffic avoidance. Topics such as sharing mobility, mobility on demand , big data in connection with the use of traffic data and decarbonised mobility dominate the discourse.
Smart Environment
The “intelligent environment” refers to the sustainable management of natural resources and to the maintenance and protection of green spaces in a city, suburban and rural areas. From the perspective of the smart environment, the smart society is a sustainable society because it integrates all of its levels, structures and areas of experience. It comprises networked measures in social , ecological and economic terms. Improving human capital and reducing environmental impacts are prioritized and discussed in the context of their economic benefits.
Smart living
Smart Living focuses on improving the quality of life in individually and collectively used living and working spaces. The focus is on the smart home . It should not only be understood in the context of the digital control of building services. The interplay of the living conditions of climate , environment and mobility are life forms optimized. Smart living regards residents not only as consumers , but also as producers of their consumption and their forms of living together. Smart living is about harnessing the relationship between social structures and settlement areas in which the “ intelligent house ” (smart home) is embedded.
criticism
The strong dispersion of power among the social actors with regard to a technologically networked, but increasingly individualized society is seen as problematic in the concept of the smart society . Many critics lack the political institutionalization of the processes in the social systems that organize themselves through digital technologies .
The concentration of political power in the hands of the economic-financial and technological-communicative organizations, the so-called smart politics , is seen as a central risk factor for democratic development . There are concerns that global corporations and technology providers could become implicit decision-makers. So complained z. B. the sociologist Robert G. Hollands the risk of a "high-tech urban entrepreneurialism".
Other authors warn of the utopia of a smart society as a kind of “fundamental facet of the neoliberal contemporary ideology” and see the social achievements of democratization sliding into private technology corporations that evade state controls . Data and privacy protection, the maintenance of cultural values in an increasingly technologically optimized world and the preservation of democratic structures are among the most discussed topics in the critical examination of smart societies.
Projects
"Society 5.0" of the Japanese government
The Japanese administration has officially set itself the goal of transforming Japanese society into a smart society. The official brochure says: “Our goal is to create a society in which we can solve various social challenges by using the innovations of the fourth industrial revolution (e.g. IoT, big data, artificial intelligence (AI ), Robots and the sharing economy) in all industries and social life. In this way, the society of the future will be one in which new values and services are continuously created that make people's lives more adaptable and sustainable. This is Society 5.0, a super-smart company. "
European Union Horizon 2020
The European Union has launched an 87 billion funded project aimed at helping research and innovation to optimize intergovernmental coexistence on the European continent: The website says: “By linking research and innovation, Horizon 2020 is helping to achieve this by focusing on excellent science, industrial leadership and addressing societal challenges. The aim is to ensure that Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together on innovation. "
World Economic Forum: "The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Society 5.0"
The World Economic Forum has a specific focus on accelerating an ICT-based global economic community. David Aikman , Chief Representative Officer, Greater China at the World Economic Forum, presented the position of the WEF with regard to Society 5.0 at the Davos World Economic Forum 2017. He establishes the following framework conditions:
"Frameworks to manage the Fourth Industrial Revolution's waves of transformation:
- Think Systems, not technologies
- Empowering not determining
- By design, not by default
- Values as a feature, not a bug "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter Glaser: Everything smart? More cheeky than smart, more social than clever, more casual than just intelligent: the term smart is not that easy to grasp. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
- ↑ Peter Geissbühler, André Arrigoni: Smart Society - Curse or Blessing? Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
- ^ Germano Paini: Cosa sono le smart communities? Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
- ↑ Boyd Cohen: Smart City Wheel. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
- ^ Roberta Iannone: Smart Society A Sociological Perspective on Smart Living. Ed .: Roberta Iannone. New York 2019, ISBN 978-0-367-19241-9 .
- ↑ Cristina Bălăceanu, Doina Maria Tilea, Daniela Penu: Perspectives on Eco Economics. Circular Economy and Smart Economy . In: Academic Journal of Economic Studies . tape 3 , no. 4 , 2017, p. 105-109 .
- ↑ Craig Barrett: Smart People, smart ideas and the right environment drive innovation . In: Research Technology Management . tape 53 , no. 1 , 2015, p. 40-43 .
- ↑ Helmut Willke: Smart Governance. Governing the Global Knowledge Society. Frankfurt am Main, New York 2007, ISBN 978-3-593-38253-1 .
- ↑ Heike Proff, Jörg Schönharting, Dieter Schramm, Jürgen Ziegler: Future developments in mobility. Business and technical aspects. Ed .: Heike Proff, Jörg Schönharting, Dieter Schramm, Jürgen Ziegler. Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-8349-7117-3 .
- ^ European Environment Agency: Towards Clean and Smart Mobility: Transportation and Environment in Europe . Ed .: Publications Office of the European Union. Luxembourg 2016.
- ^ Toni Federico: Smart city: innovazione e sostenibilità . In: EAI. Energia, Ambiente e Innovazione . tape 5 , p. 35-40 .
- ↑ Melissa Sessa: Home smart home. A sociology of living in the age of reflective materialism. In: Iannone, Roberta (Ed.): Smart Society. A Sociological Perspective on Smart Living. Abingdon, New York 2019.
- ^ Robert G. Hollands: Will the Real Smart City Please Stand Up? In: City . tape 12 , no. 3 , 2008, p. 303-320 .
- ^ Giuseppe Grossi, Daniela Pianezzi: Smart Cities: Utopia or Neoliberal Ideology? In: Cities . tape 69 , 2017, p. 79-85 .
- ^ Cabinet Office Government of Japan: Society 5.0. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
- ↑ European Commission: Horizon 2020. Accessed November 21, 2019 .
- ^ David Aikman: The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Society 5.0. Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
