The arrival of the recent Covid-19 across the entirety of the planet put public bodies on the front line, testing their capacity to respond to citizens’ legitimate concerns, to provide them with comfort and ensure their safety in the face of the spread of the epidemic. Whatever type of crisis a region needs to respond to, citizens expect that the response will be both smart and resilient. This means that the region should be able to adapt flexibly to events, reduce constraints, and limit adverse effects, thereby returning to normal functionality as soon as possible. In addition, during the current crisis we are facing, citizens, businesses and public bodies have suddenly, and in vast numbers, turned towards the use of digital services. And a smart city, whose public services for the most part are already digitalised and interconnected, will be one step ahead...

A pioneering city in terms of connectivity

Just a year ago, the town of Dijon (Côte d’Or), and it 23 districts, inaugurated the 100% connected platform ‘OnDijon’, which makes it possible to control all of the urban functions of this city with 260,000 residents from one single hub. A pioneer city in terms of being a connected area, it developed the means that would enable it to deploy some 140 kilometres of fibre-optic cable to connect urban equipment, from public lighting and red lights through to the regulation of tram traffic, water network management and citizen safety. An organisation which is today showing its efficiency in a health emergency...

A more efficient centralised management of urban equipment, especially in this time of crisis.

 “The organisation’s various services are used to functioning together as a whole. It’s an advantage in the face of a crisis. Communication is quicker, as are reactions,” explains Christèle Tranchant, director at OnDijon. “Tasks have been adapted quickly to the new requirements, and the tool makes it possible to limit interventions in the field to only the essential ones.”
Indeed, with the many pieces of connected equipment, instructed from afar and in real time, the city of Dijon has been able to rapidly adapt its management of its urban space to the current crisis. So, the ‘smart city’ of Dijon was able to move into a state of ‘health emergency’ in March; manage traffic lights in order to give priority to emergency vehicles, manage electric terminals for access to the city centre, trigger lockdown and ensure telesurveillance on all empty public buildings, avoiding the presence of agents on-site.

Hotline number dedicated to Covid-19 calls open 24/7
 
The city of Dijon was also supported by its Allo Mairie service to accompany its citizens during lockdown. “This solution is fully integrated into OnDijon,” says Philippe Berthaut, CEO of town and city services. We changed it to a 24/7 hotline number so that citizens would be able to ask any questions they needed to relating to the crisis, excluding medical ones.” The telephone support service has thus evolved from an information service on municipal services (swimming pool schedules, etc.) to an information number on local and national decisions. Between the 15th March and the 13th April, almost 4,650 calls were taken (declaration forms, opening times of businesses and schools, fake news, lockdown procedures, etc.). Notably, the organisation has been able to respond to queries about waste management and has encouraged people not to all congregate at the tip when it reopens, in order to avoid bottlenecks and large groups of people.  These calls made it possible for 95 isolated people, previously unknown to the Community Social Support Centre, to come forward.

Director of City Services at Bouygues Energies & Services, Mickael SUCHANEK discusses the benefits of a Smart Region in the context of a crisis.

2 -Facilitating communications to citizens and between key regional players
During a crisis, using the correct information at the right time is essential. Thanks to this communication that was shared between the organisation’s services, using dedicated tools, and also between the public sphere and the citizens, key regional players can deliver, in the same voice and at the same time, unified information for clearer and more structured messages. This way, thanks to tools such as electronic events logs and centralised management of interventions, an event or situation is shared between all key regional players, and the information destined for citizens is relayed by a single call centre with digitalised processes.

Grouping together teams in one place: a risk or an opportunity?

An opportunity! First of all because, as we’ve seen, when everyone is in the same place, dialogue between services is simplified and more fluid. It is also a strength, because the workplace that we’ve created is an agile one, adapted to crisis situations. We talk a lot about Information Systems when we are discussing smart regions, but not enough about the workspaces for the operators of the urban functions.  We have invested in the quality of the workspaces, and this has proved to be a key action in this health crisis. Indeed, the space has been created to manage crises thanks to three key elements:

3- Optimised workspaces which integrate the necessary measures and constraints in the crisis we are facing:
- Capacity to ensure social distancing: the space and workstations may be occupied to 30, 50 or 70% depending on constraints. It is now possible for some services to work on site and some to work via telephone. We are either reducing or building without destructuring!
- A modular design in the shape of cells that can be occupied as required and activated or deactivated depending on health or safety issues. Using barriers is simpler, and everyone’s route through the building is optimised!
- A unique, adapted site, where hygiene and safety conditions are controlled, where teams may converge, instead of being dispersed throughout former unsuitable sites (access, evacuation...), whether in the event of a health crisis, riot, or other.

More sustainable, more human, collaborative and inclusive, a smart city is also a more resilient city. With specific organisational methods (assembly point in a particular area, coordination...), and tools (buildings initially designed as smart, digital tools to manage the city and share information), the smart city is capable of recovering from a crisis more rapidly by mitigating the impacts. However, resident numbers are ever-growing, and it is very possible that new health, economic or social crises will arrive once again on a global scale. To be able to also offer citizens an optimal quality of life thanks to more intelligent, adaptable and efficient cities is a major challenge for the future.