For a few years now, Berlin has been in a transformative process into a Smart City. In this context, many projects are already being developed and implemented. The vision behind this is to shape Berlin into an intelligently networked, post-fossil and resilient city. To be a sustainably liveable and future-proof metropolis. 

This means that Berlin – like many other cities around the world – is facing new challenges that entail considerable changes in the living and working environments of all those involved. A growing city has to deal with the impact of climate change, energy and mobility transformation, more sustainability and efficiency, increasing demands on infrastructures of all kinds as well as demographic and administrative issues. This requires new forms of cooperation and new ways of thinking and acting on the part of everyone involved. Future-proof – in Berlin this means: to achieve a significantly higher, more sustainable quality of life with equal or fewer resources. This can only be attained through the smart and targeted use of innovative information and communication technologies. 

Since 2015 there is the “Smart City Strategie Berlin”: A political-strategic approach to innovation that will ensure the future viability of Berlin with a focus on the common good. The Berlin Smart City strategy identifies various fields of action, within which politics, business and science can advance the Smart City Berlin together with the city’s citizens.

The 6 Fields of Action of Smart City Berlin 2015
 

• Smart Administration and Urban Society: On the way to be a smart City it is essential to establish new administrative structures and participation formats. Accelerated and simple administrative processes, new types of services as well as transparency and citizen-friendliness are the distinguishing features of a modern city. This field of action includes topics such as e-government, participation of the urban society, the citizen telephone 115, the modernisation programme “ServiceStadt Berlin”, open data, social integration art, culture, and others.
   
• Smart Living: Berlin is polycentric with various city districts that are characterised by different building structures, residential locations and residential qualities as well as a diverse public and private infrastructure. The preservation and further development of socially and demographically mixed neighbourhoods are central tasks for the future, to which residents, the housing industry, private service providers, social organisations, associations and neighbourhood initiatives, together with politicians and administrators, contribute significantly. The development of new urban districts in particular offers excellent opportunities to try out innovative concepts for numerous areas of application, such as smart homes, building efficiency and building safety, green spaces and open spaces.

• Smart Economy: Smart innovations emerge particularly at the interfaces of ICT, energy technology, health and transport/mobility. Targeted subsidies policy should therefore bring together sectors and companies that do not usually work together but would benefit from cooperation. This creates a smart link between different domains. This field of action includes topics such as Berlin future locations, electromobility, start-ups, demand for innovations as well as international cooperation and Industry 4.0.
   
• Smart Mobility: Mobility is a prerequisite for social participation. Securing mobility is therefore of particular importance in Berlin. It should be socially just, adapted to ecological and economic conditions, and developed in a future-oriented manner. Relevant topics include “City of short distances”, sharing offers as well as self-determined mobility, holistic transport concepts, electromobility and network integration, traffic control and traffic safety as well as urban logistics.
   
• Smart Infrastructures: Intelligently designed supply infrastructures form Smart City Berlin’s backbone. The city has set itself the goal of becoming CO2-neutral by 2050. This can only be achieved through comprehensive intelligent solutions. The objective is to coordinate urban structures and network infrastructures with a focus on a sustainable and climate-neutral city and to optimise them economically and ecologically. Smart grids in a variety of forms are a core element of future infrastructures that pave the way towards greater sustainability and environmental protection.
   
• Public Safety: Safety is one of the public core tasks that is particularly important to the Berlin Senate, but which it can only implement in close cooperation with the responsible authorities and the population. A special focus here is on security aspects such as data integrity, data authenticity and the availability of data even in times of crisis, because the overall system is subject to greater sensitivity due to growing networking. For Berlin, public safety means both protection against deliberate damage and protection against natural disasters. 

2021/22 Smart City Berlin starts a new phase

Supported by the model project “Berlin lebenswert smart” (Berlin liveable smart), Berlin is developing a new Smart City strategy in a transparent process that is open to all.