lunedì 11 aprile 2011

How to make more of your city

Imagine the 1992 Olympics had never taken place in Barcelona. It would probably be a city very different from the one many of us have been shown around this afternoon. I am not referring to sports venues, metro stations or any other pieces of infra-structure that cities get furnished with when they host of the Olympic Games. What I am talking about is this: Barcelona seized the opportunity to redevelop whole quarters and, indeed, reinvent itself as a modern metropolis. Previously a city that had lived with its back to the very sea that was washing waves around its heels, Barcelona turned the area around its former harbour into a tourist magnet and even got itself a beach. Distinguished visitors that used to come here for the arts and architecture were soon joined by armies of bag packers in their twenties.

I think this is an excellent example to show that a single event can make a huge difference in the long term. A pompous start doesn’t hurt probably. Nor does a vivid vision for the future. What matters most, though, is this: you need to set a trend in the first place and transform it into a self-sustaining development. Barcelona has achieved this brilliantly. It has shown the world how to make more of your city.

Which is one of the reasons why we have chosen this “City of Wonders” to be our destination this year. I hope we can capture some of the playful, enthralling atmosphere and create new ideas that none of us would have come up with on our own. As I have outlined a few days ago, we have huge potentials at hand – in terms of presently underutilized data from social, sensor and smart sources – so let’s see how we can develop them further. Here is the key to shape the progress of many industries over the next decade. So come on now, and join our Welcome Party.

I’ll leave it here for today. Tomorrow, there will be lots of news, and I’ll keep you informed on this blog as well as on the conference website. Oh yes, and here’s one last reminder that there is an RSS feed on this site if you want to make sure that you don’t miss out on anything.

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