On December 20, the Berlin Senate passed the smart city strategy "Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin", which was developed and put in writing by the Berlin Senate Chancellery and CityLAB Berlin in close cooperation with urban society. After an almost two-year process, the strategy will now enter the implementation phase.  

The Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin (“Digital Together: Berlin”) strategy, adopted on Devember 20, shows the steps Berlin needs to take to become a smart city and at the same time outlines a vision. With one central goal: to shape Berlin’s digital transformation in a way that is sustainable, cooperative, resilient and geared towards the common good. What makes this document so unique is the fact that actors from Berlin’s realms of business, science, civil society, politics and administration were involved in its creation. Over the course of several workshops and various online participation processes that took place between autumn 2020 and late 2022, more than 2,000 Berliners helped draft the strategy, thus ensuring that it represents urban society’s requirements for a smart city.

SHAPING BERLIN’S DIGITAL FUTURE – TOGETHER

At the same time, Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin has created a key basis for the merging of the themes smart City, digital strategy and digitising of the administration, which includes digital citizens’ services. “We are exploring new horizons with this strategy, at the heart of which are the people that make Berlin such a diverse city worth living in,” says Governing Mayor of Berlin Franziska Giffey. “Together, we have developed a vision for the digital city of the future.”

The strategy’s further implementation will be coordinated and monitored by Berlin’s Chief Digital Officer, Dr Ralf Kleindiek, in the course of which he will primarily focus on realising the smart, digital transformation in a manner that is geared towards the common good. “For the digital transformation to succeed, we need cultural change. And that has to start with us and in our administration,” CDO Kleindiek emphasised. The development of a smart vision for Berlin is funded as part of the second round of the Smart Cities Model Projects programme of the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building (BMWSB). In September 2020, the capital was one of now 73 national model projects selected for funding. The title of the Berlin proposal is “Berlin, liveably smart” (“Berlin lebenswert smart”).

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?

The passing of Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin is a milestone in the strategy’s development and implementation. As a platform, it brings relevant actors together, both within administration and without, and provides the right tools to plan implementation processes. In addition, the strategy defines fields of action and contains a compass of values.

By the end of 2026, the approaches developed within the strategy will be tested in concrete measures and projects, starting with five pilot projects implemented in Berlin as examples: Smart Space Hardenbergplatz; Data & Smart City Governance Using the Example of Air Quality Management; Smart Water – Designing Waters and Urban Greenery for the Climate; Citizen Budgeting and Smart Participation; and Kiezbox 2.0 – Data in Everyday Life and Crisis.

Berliners will continue to be involved in the process in a targeted manner via the mein.berlin.de platform (German only), ensuring Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin is developed in a continuous learning process and at the same time helping bring Berlin’s existing goals to life. The Arena of Ideas (German only) plays a central role in this: a digital place where actors in urban society can develop ideas together and network. (vdo)

You will find the recording of the official presentation of the Gemeinsam Digital: Berlin strategy with Chief Digital Officer Dr. Ralf Kleindiek here.