Practical Handbooks : The secrets behind the cover

In 2017, the Smart City Institute published its very first Practical Guide. Since then, several volumes have been added to what we now call our Practical Guides collection. Each book focuses on a specific theme, from Citizen Participation to Monitoring and Evaluation, but always within the framework of the sustainable and intelligent transition dynamics of our territories.

Audrey Lebas researcher at the Smart City Institute is the author of the last three books:

• Tomorrow's mobility what are the challenges for our territories ? (2020)
• Monitoring and evaluation management tools for our territories in transition (2021)
• Public-private collaborations and partnerships levers of transition for our territories ? (2022)

Each  handbook deals with a specific subject. How is the topic identified? What is the need for this 6th volume?

Generally speaking, we try to bring up the needs of the field thanks to the observation of trends (via research, events, social networks, etc.) and the exchanges with the walloon Smart City ecosystem. 

As far as the last handbook is concerned, it was felt - through the means I have just mentioned - that the territories had difficulties in knowing what role private sector could play in their sustainable and intelligent transition approach apart from being simple service/solution providers. Moreover public organizations and private players do not necessarily have the same codes (operating modes, temporalities, etc.) but they also do not always have a good knowledge/understanding of each other's processes and operations.

Nevertheless, this handbook - even if it will be useful to private organizations - intends more to give keys to the public sector in order to identify ways for working with the private sector and not the other way around.

So this Guide aims only at the public sector ?

No, not only. Through each of our handbooks we address organizations in the broadest sense and more particularly the territories. In this particular case I would even say that we address even more specifically the territories that have fewer resources (human and financial). However all stakeholders - whether from the public or private sector - will be able to find food for thought and information that will be useful in the development of a Smart City dynamics.

I would like to make it clear that the idea is not to provide a "turnkey" solution for setting up a collaboration or a public-private partnership, but rather to present and explain the types of relationship that can exist between both sectors when talking about Smart City projects.

Once the topic of the Practical Guide is defined can you tell us what are the key steps in writing it?

First of all, I mainly nourish myself with content on the subject in order to discover the theme through all the sources at my disposal. In particular I will look at existing scientific literature, reports from public or private organizations that I can find or other relevant articles. I will also talk with stakeholders about the subject notably during conferences or through video-conferences.

Once I am well acquainted with the topic and the related issues, I develop a first structure that will be tested and validated by my colleagues.

When I feel that the structure is clear and complete enough, I do further research to start writing a first version. Then a process of proofreading and corrections begins as I generally produce four versions that are proofread by the team and other stakeholders in order to arrive at the final version that is formatted and published. Once I start writing I know that it is a continuous process and that the content will be enriched as exchanges take place, particularly for good practices. 

Are experts consulted to develop the content of the Practical Handbooks? If so, was this also the case this year?  

Yes. Every year the Practical Handbook is read by our contacts at the Digital Agency (AdN) and within the SPW. They send us their feedback if they have any.

In addition to these reviews, we try - when relevant - to call in experts from our ecosystem. For instance, some of them have written a chapter or a section of a chapter like Jacques Teller, Professor of Urban Planning at the University of Liege, and FuturoCité who respectively contributed to the fourth and third volumes.

In this new handbook, we have been able to count on several proofreadings by Matthieu Lambert who is a Legal Expert at the Public procurements department of the UVCW, but also by Raphael Schneider, Legal Advisor at the Financial information department (CIF-Walcom) of the Walloon Region.

Given the substantial work involved in writing such a book one can imagine that the challenges encountered are numerous. Which ones did you face this year ?

This year I faced two major challenges. The most significant one was that this Practical Handbook involves more legal aspects than the previous ones. I had to find the right balance between being too general - and therefore risking giving incomplete or incorrect information - and not going into too much legal nuance.

The second is the difficulty of finding sources that apply to the Walloon reality. Indeed, the terms, the constituent elements and the legislative contexts relating to collaborations and particularly to public-private partnerships depend on the country and the continent in which one is located. It is therefore difficult to use content as is from sources and research carried out by and for foreign organizations.

Before concluding this interview could you tell us what you, as a researcher, got out of producing this 6th Guide?

I have learned a lot from writing this Practical Handbook. However, I think it is important to say that although public-private partnerships (PPPs) represent great opportunities for territories they are complex processes. Moreover PPPs are not suitable for all types of projects.

Nonetheless, given the tight budgetary context of some (small) territories, it may be appropriate to think about further developing this type of collaboration and partnership in the future in order to progress in their Smart City process.

How will this handbook help readers to better understand this complex subject?  

In this handbook, I really tried to demystify these concepts which are rightly perceived as rather complex. Different models of collaboration and PPPs are explained so that the ins and outs are clearly understood.

In addition, it proposes numerous good practices observed abroad that can be adapted to the Walloon background despite the different contexts from one country to another. I remind you that the idea was to propose food for thought and not "turnkey" models.

Discover the Practical Handbook #6

With the support of Wallonia for the Smart Region program (Digital Wallonia strategy)