Back in 2008, large global companies began competing to invent the “smart city,” harnessing increased connectivity through new personal devices and growing urban populations. They promised to create a better world. Yet their multi-million dollar platforms fell short of creating substantial value for cities across the globe.
The main reason was the misconception that technology alone could make cities more efficient, sustainable, and inclusive. In fact, cities also need innovative urban models that challenge existing processes, ideas, and policies, along with improved civic engagement and collaboration between stakeholders.
Urban Innovation aims at creating synergy between new ideas, technology, and access to data—with the goal of assisting decision-makers and communities to be better prepared to face everchanging urban stresses, while promoting inclusive and sustainable urban growth.
Urban Innovation draws on innovation from within, utilizing community strengths, existing leadership, and brave management.
Urban Innovation means asking the right questions, sharing information between the citizens and the city, and co-creating solutions that work and are acceptable to all—without leaving anyone behind.
In 2019, the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Social Sciences founded the Jerusalem Centre for Urban Innovation (JCUI), which utilizes the Faculty of Social Sciences’ strong academic departments, including urban planning, public policy, sociology, psychology, and economics.
JCUI’s multi-fold academic activity includes a unique international graduate program; academic courses on smart infrastructure and urban innovation; research labs; newly founded urban impact labs in Jerusalem and Sakhnin; and a living lab on the Mount Scopus campus, using the university as a breeding ground for urban technologies and new ideas.
Through all these, the Hebrew University is playing a major role forging a better urban future for Israel, the region, and the world.