Questions/Answers

The Smart City Platform for Mayor (SCPM) initiative’s objective is to raise people’s confidence in the government by making the mayor, who has the highest decision-making authority over policy implementation in the city, and officials who have authority over establishing and implementing detailed plans, take responsibility and pursue various policies in Seoul. To monitor the implementation of pledges in various sectors that were made for sustainable development of the city, this innovative initiative allows the mayor, heads of autonomous districts, and other important officials to instantly check the progress and data on policy implementations without reports from lower-level officials from platforms consisting of digital touchscreens and a program that visualizes urban and policy indicator data installed in their offices. Through the integration of big data and indicator data on urban management, visualization of data, linking of surveillance cameras in control and situation rooms, linking of public complaint and polling systems, and flexibility in presenting information based on the decision-maker’s working style, the SCPM can be used anytime, anywhere. All data created from administrative tasks are collected in real-time; the state of the city and administrative affairs have been visualized; and the voice and video call function allows for instant communication. Interested citizens participated in the initiative from the planning stage, and all available information were made accessible to the general public, which raised people’s trust and participation in the government.

The SCPM initiative is aligned with the promotion of digital transformation in the public sector. Using various smart city technologies, we achieved specific tasks, such as getting real-time information on urban safety and infrastructure, and used the information intuitively. A large screen, computer, 4K HD cameras, high directivity microphone, screen touch sensors, and motion sensors were installed in the mayor’s office. In addition, optimized interface based on user experience analysis (UI/UX), a search engine with over 200 voice commands, a control function using 17 gestures, and Android tablets were used to create a state-of-the-art work environment.

Information provided via the SCPM is relevant to a variety of SDGs. Real-time urban status category supports “sustainable city and community,” “clean water and sanitation,” “protection of terrestrial ecosystems,” “sustainable production and consumption,” and “response to climate change.” Citizen opinion and urban data utilization category supports “justice, peace, and effective systems.” Administration status category supports “health and well-being,” “quality education,” “gender equality,” “clean energy for all,” “quality jobs and economic growth,” “industries, innovation, and infrastructure,” and “global cooperation.” In an effort to contribute to achieving the SDGs, related information is visualized effectively and intuitively. When a call is received about urban safety, “real-time urban status” shows information about the incident, dispatch time for firefighters, footage from nearby surveillance cameras and real-time information from the police and hospitals. When a civil complaint or policy suggestion is filed, information is instantly provided under “public opinion”; “administration status” shows monthly and annual figures for 62 indicators, including employment rate, women’s employment rate, job creation, mini photovoltaic systems, number of ecomileage members, and supply of public rental housing. International cooperation activities conducted so far are also visualized for ease of access.

With a population of 10 million, world-class e-government systems, and smart city technologies, Seoul has excellent infrastructure for safety, transportation, air pollution, water quality, civil complaints, and education, and annually allocates budgets exceeding KRW 34 trillion to various initiatives. To enable timely progress updates for numerous projects, the SCPM provides information in real time through dashboards in the offices of the mayor and heads of autonomous districts, allowing instant access to the city’s status and policy indicators. After three years of operation, the SMG has been recognized as a smart city control center that responsibly implements policies

One of the shortfalls in regional governance is that it is difficult for decision-makers to monitor the progress of all major projects. Oftentimes, decision-makers receive personal reports that are time-consuming to prepare and present, and rarely deliver accurate information anyways. In terms of shortfalls in public administration and public service, it is difficult for the people to be aware of the policies and their progress. To address these issues, the SMG installed display monitors in the offices of the mayor, heads of autonomous districts, and major government officials through the SCPM initiative and developed a digital dashboard by connecting over 300 administrative systems to visualize data (maps, charts, indices, etc.) and offering accessibility measures (voice commands, touchscreens, and mobile services). With the concepts of enabling “the mayor and other officials to check the city’s status and policy objectives in real time in their offices” and “granting the people access to the same information as the mayor,” the SCPM was able to improve the quality of public administration and public services.

The gender inequality issue is addressed through the “Four-Year Plan for Seoul Administration.” One of the plan’s five visions is “A democratic Seoul where the residents are its owners,” which consists of 29 tasks in six areas. Gender equality, which one of these areas, involves five tasks: strengthening gender mainstreaming in municipal administration, strengthening management of gender-separated statistics, operation of the Seoul #With U Center, fostering of gender-equal social designers, and implementation of gender-equal labor policy. Information and data for the five visions are categorized and provided separately, along with women’s employment rate and committee participation by women, among others.

The target group for this initiative is all residents of Seoul. It greatly enhanced accountability by enabling the mayor, heads of autonomous districts, and other important officials to promptly check and confirm the effectiveness of policy decisions and indicators for policies implemented by the 25 autonomous districts, and also by age groups and gender, as well as urban regeneration projects. In addition, the complex administrative system of the mayor ordering reports on public issues and relevant departments taking over a month to prepare and present such reports was simplified, so that the mayor and other officials can check for any public issues at any time. The system even provides additional information and allows round-the-clock monitoring of sustainable indicators. In addition, for Seoulites interested in the progress of policy implementation, the SCPM provides access to the same intuitive and accessible data as for the mayor. The content of the citizen opinion category, consisting of submitted civil complaints and their status, resident suggestions, and information trends created with big data collected from social media and regular media, helps policymakers hear questions and complaints promptly and devise policies to address them, thereby improving the results of policy implementation.

The SCPM was developed in three phases. Phase 1 began in February 2016 with establishment of an organization and a comprehensive plan to develop the platform and content. Phase 2 began in July 2017, which involved expansion of content and advanced technology. Phase 3 began in September 2018 to enhance system utilization and public disclosure. In 2019, we have been focusing on operating and maintaining the system. Policy implementation can be monitored in various ways, such as through reviews of budget execution, project management methodology, audits, and reviews of operational performance. Policy is evaluated by assessing service usage, number of awards received, and evaluations of foreign and domestic officials visiting Seoul.

Major obstacles included synchronization, decision-making complexity, and limited resources. We faced problems in benchmarking, content prioritization, defining of categories, task analysis for decision-making, data collection/analysis, understanding of the tasks of numerous departments, visualization of over 230 types of data, and finding partner firms. To address these issues, we organized a taskforce of departments overseeing policy planning, data integration, and facilities. Once a comprehensive plan was established and approved by the mayor, the taskforce decided the budget, research, prioritizing of content, and decision-making system and looked for the best way to implement the initiative with domestic and foreign companies.

In the past, when decision-makers wished to review the city and its policies, they had to make onsite visits or link various online systems scattered across departments. These tasks involved many difficulties. To resolve these issues, we created an environment in which the mayor can check every situation in the city in real time, without having to be onsite, and give orders to those in charge. Instead of creating a completely new system, we made use of systems already in operation and focused on the continuous production of information, quality improvement, and real-time streaming of information to the mayor’s office.

From 2016, when the initiative was first planned, to 2017, when it was installed and implemented, we were unable to find similar initiatives that involved the visualization and real-time provision of comprehensive data in the mayor’s office. Rather, advanced countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, and Germany have praised the SCPM for its unique and innovative approach at Spain’s MWC 2019 and the United States’ CES 2019.

The United States (Wired), United Kingdom (The Economist), Russian media from Moscow and Ulyanovsk, Uzbek media from Tashkent, and Korean media (KBS, SBS, EBS, etc.) reported on the SCPM. In addition, the specifics of the initiative have been transferred across the world through the efforts of Seoul’s International Cooperation Bureau and the Smart City Policy Bureau to export initiatives and policies, as well as through over 20 international events and officials from over 300 cities who have visited Seoul. In terms of adaptation of the initiative, Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor adopted the same system (http://eboard.moel.go.kr); the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) also cooperated with Tashkent by dispatching experts to that city for a year in 2017 in accordance with an MOU signed between the two cities; and the SMG is currently working with Buenos Aires, Argentina and Ecuador. In addition, autonomous districts in Seoul, including Songpa-gu, Eunpyeong-gu, Nowon-gu, and Gwangjin-gu are currently adopting the SCPM system, with an additional 10 districts doing so in 2020.

It is currently being transferred and adapted to other contexts.

The SMG’s Big Data Division oversaw data integration and system establishment. Differences between departments and prioritization of content were handled by the Information System Planning Division, while equipment installation was handled by the General Affairs Division. The ultra-high speed communication network was installed by the Information Communication & Security Division, and the results of the public data service project from 2013 were used for data integration. Development of the SCPM began in August 2016 with a budget of KRW500 million for nine months and was expanded in 2017 with an additional KRW500 million and again in 2018 with KRW300 million.

Through legislation of the Act on Promotion of the Provision and Use of Public Data in 2013 and Seoul’s public data policy instituted in 2012, the SMG’s integration and disclosure of administrative data is rapidly gaining traction. Seoul’s mayor actively checks up on real-time city status, resident opinions, and administrative indicators, which results in prompt decision-making, policy monitoring, and policy resource search. The system will be useful for the long term, with the necessary justification secured for maintenance of organization, funding, and project promotion. It is therefore possible to maintain this initiative every year on an appropriate scale.

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The IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards had an open call for smart city initiatives. The SMG selected a total of 14 areas and submitted an introduction and supplementary documents on the SCPM. Once the candidates were selected by the awards committee, they were evaluated via an open poll for a month. The organization that oversaw the evaluation was IDC (International Data Corporation, https://www.idc.com/ap/smartcities/). For the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC), evaluation candidates were selected by the internal committee, which were then evaluated by an external committee of experts and international participants by reviewing the questionnaire and additional information

Evaluation indices for the IDC awards were not disclosed to the public, but assessment of Korean researchers accounted for 50 percent; open poll, 25 percent; and assessment by the world committee, 25 percent. Evaluation indices for the SCEWC awards were: Innovation, Relevance, Impact, Scope of Implementation, Citizen Engagement and Co-creation, Inclusivity, Feasibility, Replicability, Multi-stakeholder Collaboration, and Soundness. ※ submitted the award plaque for the IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards ※ http://www.smartcityexpo.com/en/world-smart-city-awards

After the official evaluation, an increasing number of cities from Korea and abroad have been visiting Seoul to see the SCPM for themselves. Since the announcement in September, over 30 cities and companies visit Seoul every month, and 25 autonomous districts as well as offices, bureaus, and headquarters have requested to use the SCPM for their duties. Moreover, visiting cities and firms have praised the SCPM for improving government transparency and people’s trust in the government through an appropriate use of advanced technologies, great organization of visualized data, polishing of quality data in the organization process, and the disclosure to the general public of information that previously had only been accessible by the mayor.

The SCPM is linked to over 300 systems, and therefore connects the Seoul Metropolitan Government, autonomous districts within Seoul, offices, bureaus, headquarters, and agencies, as well as corporations and government-funded organizations. The SMG is the highest-level institution for the city, while the autonomous districts are basic local governments that handle autonomous affairs as well as affairs delegated by the SMG. There are 25 autonomous districts and 424 administrative neighborhoods. Offices, bureaus, headquarters, and agencies, as well as corporations and government-funded organizations are all sub-organizations that make up the SMG. All of these organizations carry out their delegated duties involving the maintenance and management of urban infrastructure and public administrative services, and also produce and supply the data necessary for visualization through the SCPM.

Continued requests from the mayor during the design of the SCPM enabled the designing and the implementation of the initiative. Data integration, content planning, and system development were carried out by the Smart City Policy Bureau and service providers. Mediation of differences between departments and divisions as well as the prioritization of content application were handled by the Information System Planning Division in the Planning and Administration Office, while the scheduling of equipment installation in the mayor’s office was handled by the General Affairs Division. As for private stakeholders, a group of experts were brought together to review the UI/UX plans and designs, while a group of Seoulites formed a promotional team to discuss the design and method of disclosure for the public information service. In addition, autonomous districts, as well as offices, bureaus, headquarters, and agencies, corporations, and government-funded organizations participated in the discussion on task-related rules and regulations and data structure for connecting all databases. These organizations also continue to contribute to data quality maintenance and implementation of detailed tasks after the connection of all databases.

As a leading smart city, Seoul’s brand power is constantly increasing. However, public administration of the SMG had been mired in past procedures and customs. The mayor identified this problem and expressed a strong desire to improve the system and received support from related divisions and departments, which resulted in the integration of data from outstanding individual systems. Completed with the participation of experts from each technological field, this initiative allowed many people to recognize the SCPM’s role as a symbol of innovative reform of outdated procedures and customs, while the SMG learned to earn the trust of the people and promptly recognize and correct errors. To make use of cutting-edge technology in administrative tasks, fostering experts is a must, along with increasing efficiency and continually improving the program to transfer the initiative across Korea and the world. Plans after 2020 include: visualization of the information for 60 Smart City projects (traffic management, testbeds for autonomous vehicles, IoT data, etc.), installation of the SCMP in the offices of important local government officials, expansion of disclosed information and the video conference call function, and strengthening of cooperation with foreign cities. We will do our best to make this initiative sustainable.