sustainable infrastructure. This switch will also require better hand, the placing of limits on urban densification to allow green collection, use, and analysis of big data, an area that raises a islands to flourish inside urban areas. couple of concerns about ownership of data. In the case of many services that involve different private sector operators and public I- Waste management authorities, the key question is: Who owns the (big) data? When a contract reaches its termination date, who owns the proprietary Around the world, the city is the most inhabited environment; software and the datasets deployed to perform the contract? in 2018, the UN estimated over 55 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. Increasing population levels, booming These questions illustrate the specific role of innovation (not economies, rapid urbanization, and rises in living standards restricted to ICT) and its interaction with strategy within the have greatly accelerated cities’ generation of solid waste.61 city’s ecosystem of actors. Generally, municipal authorities initiate urban transformation if they have developed coherent Municipalities are usually responsible for their cities’ waste urban planning. The competences and expertise involved in management, even if they can outsource the operations most city projects mean that private companies have to be involved in it. They face the challenge of providing an effective involved in the project’s financing, execution, and operation. and efficient system to inhabitants. In many emerging This raises a couple of questions about governance: Who owns countries, they are failing to do so. Cities often face problems what? What is the business model behind the services? What beyond the ability of the municipal authority to tackle waste roles, responsibilities, processes, and protocols are in place to problems, the consequences of pollution, and poor sanitary facilitate collaboration and partnership? conditions linked to these two issues, mainly owing to a lack of organization, constrained financial resources, and the complex, Beyond public-private partnerships, civil society expects multidimensional nature of waste collection systems. to be involved in discussions about designing ecofriendly neighborhoods or cities, building new infrastructure, or In recent years, various studies have determined the factors launching new services. The form of citizen participation that affect waste management systems in cities in industrialized deployed is a key determinant in whether a project earns and developing countries. Most of these studies aim to social acceptance: How is its value shared? Does it enhance determine the stakeholders that have an interest in cities’ the common good? waste management systems, while some examine the factors that influence the relative performance of waste management H- Urban logistics systems.62 Any city’s solid waste management system has to be able to perform three physical activities: collection, recycling, The decline in commuting costs produced by historicaland disposal. Other dimensions of waste management investments in transportation infrastructure has fueled an include governance aspects (that is, inclusiveness and citizen outward expansion of development, and sometimes even urban participation), financial sustainability, and institutions and sprawl (see above). Infrastructure drives the growth of cities by municipal policies (for example, the ownership and legal status providing the essential framework for residential development. of waste management companies and budget priorities).63 When new development takes place, residents demand improvements in infrastructure, which further stimulates In the Executive Summary of this ebook, readers will find an development along the urban fringe. account of the critical framework that we used to collect, organize, and process data from different cities’ policies. Box The accessibility provided by improvements in transportation 1.3 below presents the methodology that we use in this ebook infrastructure and (until recently) relatively inexpensive gas to assess the six cities that we focus on, summarizing the prices allowed developers to utilize cheap land located outside eighteen analytical dimensions that we applied to analyze the cities’ central areas. Part of the coming urban transformation cities’ policies. hinges on the choice between,on one hand,a higher concentration and higher urban density and, on the other (61) UN-Habitat. (2010). Solid waste management in the world’s cities. UN-HABITAT. Guerrero, L.A., Maas, G., & Hogland, W. (2013). Solid waste management challenges for cities in developing countries. Waste management, 33(1), 220-232. (62) Esmaeilian, B., Wang, B., Lewis, K., Duarte, F., Ratti, C., & Behdad, S. (2018). The future of waste management in smart and sustainable cities: A review and concept paper. Waste management, 81, 177-195. (63) Wilson, D.C., Rodic, L., Cowing, M.J., Velis, C.A., Whiteman, A.D., Scheinberg, A. & Oelz, B. (2015). ‘Wasteaware’benchmark indicators for integrated sustainable waste management in cities. Waste Management, 35, 329-342. 48 Quélin and Smadja | HEC PARIS | SMART CITIES | The sustainable program of six leading cities | 2021