Co-creating sustainable Cities

2012-2013 – Co-Creating Sustainable Cities

City officials around the world increasingly recognize the power and potential of opening to the public processes traditionally thought of as the responsibility of city governments. Originally conceived as a business strategy for identifying new forms of customer engagement, city governments now benefit greatly from co-creating — sharing, combining, and maximizing opportunity – at a time when cities are asked to do more with dwindling resources. Open source data, online access, and smart phone applications constitute just a few of the tools now available to government, business, academia, and the public for creating, and co-creating, value and engagement in urban processes and point to a new frontier in participation. Additionally, WCCP partners all express great interest in applying co-creating techniques to increase the sustainability of their cities. Although often thought of in strictly environmental terms, ‘sustainability’ for WCCP’s research incorporates not only such green factors as renewable resources and climate change, but also economic sustainability – ensuring economic growth to meet the needs of current and future generations – and socio-political sustainability, promoting social well-being, equity, diversity, and involvement.