No smart city without smart government

When it took office in 2014, the Brussels government set itself the goal of getting the Brussels-Capital Region into the top five on the list of smart cities by the end of this legislature. “We’re about half-way through and progress is lamentable,” reveals Johan Van den Driessche, party leader in the Brussels Regional Parliament. “The lack of budget and decisiveness by this Brussels government, not to mention the existence of the 19 baronies, ensures that nothing concerning that goal is accomplished.”

The most concrete news that can be established from the authorised Secretary of State, Bianca Debaets (CD&V), on the development of Brussels as a smart city is that there will be a congress and a summit on this subject and that a coordinator has been appointed. “There is nothing wrong per se with yet another congress or summit,” says Johan Van den Driessche, “but it is increasingly looking like occupational therapy and it must be hiding a lack of decisiveness.”

Insufficient budget

Compare the policy of Brussels with that of Antwerp, that has just been launched as Flanders’ testing ground for the development of smart cities. Antwerp is investing eight million euros a year in a City of Things project, in which all sorts of ‘dumb’ objects are being connected thanks to the installation of sensors. This means that Antwerp is investing as much in one single project as the entire budget for the Brussels region as a whole. “This region can only dream of developing such a project,” says Johan Van den Driessche. “In Brussels the option being chosen is to tax the future, as shown by the tax on transmission masts and pylons. The web app FixMyStreet, which among other things allows residents to report illegal waste dumping, still hasn’t got anywhere after a whole year in the works. And regarding the development of a regional platform for camera surveillance, today only three of the six police zones are taking part. The result in 2019 can therefore be predicted: a box full of nothing.”