This platform aims to showcase innovative Smart Products and Services in a way that invites you to dream of new possibilities in smart cities.

What is a Smart City?

In our view, Smart Cities offer solutions to improve people’s quality of life. This can be accomplished in several ways, including, but not limited to, information technology support.

smart
solutions

You can see how an area hypothetical city would change if various smart solutions were to become a reality there.

Products and services are characterized along 5 societal goals: Happiness, Safety, Innovation, Profitability, and Circularity. These are also the central topics of the URBAN MENUS process, a web-based 3D tool and training program for participatory and impact-oriented development of urban visions.

Some products may be more specialized than others that cover several of the 5 themes equally at once. Depending on your project, you can find the right smart solution for your needs.

Happiness is closely related to wellbeing in everyday life or in a specific place. It is characterized by access to nature, social interaction and opportunities for leisure activities, education, and work.

Safety or the sense of security in one place depends on how well-lit it is, how easily one can orient oneself, and how varied is the range of activities in which one can engage.

Profitability considers the costs over the entire life cycle, including the construction, the use, and the disposal, the local and global impact, and the marketability.

Innovation has to do with the novelty, with the discovery and tapping potentials, with the alternative forms of adapting to the future.

Circularity, as an umbrella term, describes the conservation of the planet’s natural resources. It is feasible if there are cycles without irreversible damage.

5

main
themes

how
does it
work?

The smart products and services presented on this platform are selected in a multi-step onboarding process that includes interviews and a self-assessment questionnaire covering the 5 main themes listed above. This onboarding process is the basis for the information presented on this platform.

On the home page, you can see smart products and services covering the different themes in an area of a city.

For each solution, it is shown which of these themes is relevant on a societal level according to our analysis. Some products are more specialized, while others have a broader scope. The results are based on the self-assessment questionnaire developed by URBAN MENUS and filled in by the products or services themselves.

Each smart solution contains an explanation of how it may contribute to the 5 themes, based on the information provided during the onboarding process as well as on the research conducted by the URBAN MENUS team.