Ciudad Creativa Digital (Guadalajara - Mexico)
The city of Guadalajara, the capital city of the State of Jalisco, is home to approximately 40% of the information and communication technologies (ICT) industry of Mexico, as a result of pioneering and long term industrial, scientific and technological policies that began in the 1970s. Currently, Guadalajara is one of the most important ICT hubs in Latin America, hosting international and national companies in the following subsectors: semiconductors, embedded systems, software development, systems integration, business process outsourcing, multimedia (2D and 3D), visual special effects, videogames, testing, emulation, and simulation, with more than 90,000 employees. Another strength is related with its large and strong network of colleges and universities. Guadalajara has been appointed as Creative City in the category of Media Arts, by UNESCO, and Jalisco is Capital of Innovation in Latin America. Guadalajara is strategically very well located, only a couple of hours away from the United States and with access to both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It has been used as a gateway to South America, which has allowed Guadalajara to develop further in the areas of information technology and creativity.
The Ciudad Creativa Digital (CCD) project aims to create an environment capable of generating knowledge, enhancing quality of life, and fostering talent and innovative ideas through the intensive use of new technologies, in the city of Guadalajara. The project harnesses the local context and characteristics of Guadalajara to fuel strategic endeavours and develop its economy in a sustainable way. The Master Plan of the project was designed by MIT and Carlo Ratti.
Launched in 2012, CCD has three main guiding principles: one is to reunite and boost the creative industry, another one is related to the urban part of the project that aims to create a smart city, and the last one is the social factor.
Having defined the goals of CCD and its guiding principles, some Strategic Principles were also established in the Master Plan:
- Genus Loci: Build on the unique qualities of downtown Guadalajara;
- Human Scale: Create a high quality of urban life with 3d mixed use space;
- Connected City: Integrate the site with the city, physically and socially;
- Innovation Ecology: Reconceive Parque Morelos as a 21st century place of creative work and culture;
- Digital Infrastructure: Design urban systems that respond to the needs of the city in real time;
- Creative Cluster: Attract (the right) mix of enterprises, institutes and people;
- Sense of Experience: Live, Eat, Breath and Think Knowledge;
- Model Future: Establish the vision for a truly sustainable, transformative project.
These strategic principles originated 11 catalyst projects (Data Centre, Morelos Park, Alameda Walkway – Baeza Alzaga Street, Multilevel Pedestrian Connector, Ingenium Campus, Infobox, Mexican Museum of Media and Marketing – M4 or Centre for Digital Arts, First Creative Complex, Rehabilitation of existing spaces, Bock Eleven, and The Innovation Centre for the Acceleration of Economic Development – CIADE) in 4 areas, and six strategic axes (Components, Transport, Infrastructure, Sustainability, Smart City, and Urban Design) with projects that are currently being carried out.
The renovation of the infrastructures of the city is one of the priorities, as Guadalajara has damaged pipes, no waste management, and other problems related to basic services that need to be solved. To leverage on the fact that these issues have to be addressed, some smart functions will simultaneously be integrated in the city's infrastructures. For example, panic buttons in strategic places. Another important issue is digitalisation, with the aim of providing platforms to facilitate services for the citizens. One of them is the Mapa Guadalajara, an e-government initiative that contemplates several digital services, parking initiatives, and so on. The citizens can participate through petitions that go straight to the responsible department of the city, which makes the process easier and more transparent, and at the same time it enables a real follow-up.
Sources:
http://ccdguadalajara.com/en_US/
http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=38688452
Interview with Elsa Díaz Castro, Urban Manager Director of Ciudad Creativa Digital Guadalajara, at the Smart City Expo World Congress Barcelona 2017.
Improved e-Governance and citizen services;
Improved solid waste management;
Improved Bio-Waste management;
Improved Water management;
Improved Energy management;
Improved Urban Lighting;
Improved Intelligent Transport Systems;
Improved Education and Training;
Improved supports for business.
Description of the specific objectives (Goals of Guadalajara Ciudad Creativa Digital as defined in the Master Plan):
1 - Future proof the project;
2 - Improve social and physical connectivity;
3 - Develop creative appeal;
4 - Engage citizens of Guadalajara;
5 - Create a global hub for world-class media production;
6 - Make Guadalajara a global design destination;
7 - Enhance the sustainability agenda;
8 - Bring high value jobs to Guadalajara;
9 - Develop and leverage digital assets of value to all of Mexico;
10 - Brand the place as a model for social sustainability.
Mexican Federal Government (definition of the strategy and funding); Ayuntamiento de Guadalajara (management); Jalisco – Gobierno del Estado (management); Camara de Comercio Guadalajara; MIT and Carlo Ratti, Fundación Metrópoli, Arup, Mobility in Chain, and Accenture (Master Plan design and development).
- Set up a governance model that combines the vision, needs and resources from the federal, state and municipal government, private sector, academia and civil society;
- Establish a distributed execution mechanism, where different institutions may implement different projects in a coordinated fashion;
- Define the role of the private sector in the development: where, when, and how;
- Align all components of this complex project;
- Achieve technical cooperation, efficient management, and proper coordination;
- Make the citizens aware of the potential of new technologies, how they could improve their lives and the benefits resulting from their application;
- Avoid the politicization of the project;
- Conserve and enhance the building heritage of the city.
Master Plan Ciudad Creativa Digital; Internet of Things; Data Centre; Information and Communication Technologies; Telecom network.
The projects of the strategic axes that are currently being worked on:
- Components: an adaptability project to rescue open and closed spaces in downtown Guadalajara to create a new sensory experience with the proper selection of housing, productive, commercial, entertainment, and educational areas.
- Transport: light rail, BRT, public transportation route re-engineering, network of park-and-ride car parks, are a fundamental part of CCD’s mobility strategy, along with public bikes, shared taxi services in the downtown area, and an agile airport transfer.
- Infrastructure: a data centre will be installed to channel the information produced by the use of space, natural resources, and telecommunications. The city will have rainwater and wastewater harvesting and treatment systems, renewable energies, recycling, and waste management plans.
- Sustainability: CCD complex will be put through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, which sets actions to reduce Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and urban heat islands, run an efficient water and energy management, increase thermal mass, improve waste collection, and use low polluting materials.
- Smart City: CCD will have sensors to measure and control the status of the green spaces, street lights, security and water supply, among other services. There will be a series of interactive kiosks with relevant and updated information for users and free Wi-Fi access.
- Urban Design: CCD’s buildings (with Morelos Park as the fundamental piece) will be an example of rescue and rehabilitation of patrimonial estate, integration with new infrastructure and close relationship with multiple story courtyards.
Expected benefits from the projects in progress:
- Economic growth and productivity in the country as a whole, beyond its local positive effects on the economy of the State of Jalisco and the City of Guadalajara, in the sense of creating a long-term sustainable engine of growth for the economy;
- A governance model and execution mechanism for the development of the project;
- A strategy for private sector involvement in the development of the project;
- Greater urban mobility and accessibility;
- City parks as a sustainable and green space for the community, that is both innovative and enjoyable;
- A city that attracts and preserves the right environment for companies, institutions, and creative people (constituting a cluster of creative enterprises);
- A high quality urban model of living that seamlessly integrates adequate zoning for mixed uses such as living, digital audio-visual production, commerce, and entertainment;
- 30,000 jobs to be generated in 10 years;
- Regenerated historic city centre;
- A model for sustainable urban growth;
- Renovated underlying infrastructures;
- Better services;
- New economic opportunities.