SMURBS  successfully organized the 1st Stakeholder workshop on User Needs,  held in Hamburg Germany,  27-28 March 2018.

Twenty five stakeholders from ten European cities, with affiliations ranging from public administration to the academia, gathered in Hamburg, on late March 2018 for a two-day workshop on user needs, towards the strategic planning of the design, implementation and delivery of the portfolio of Smart Urban Solutions of SMURBS, in the months ahead and up till the end of the project.

Smartphones and laptops were switched off, as the workshop focused heavily on the face-to-face interaction between the stakeholders and adopted the method of “World Café” table discussions per SMURBS theme, and of a plenary “fishbowl” discussion, where all participants had the opportunity to stir and enrich the conversation.

A keynote talk given by Prof. Dr. Matthias Augustin (University Medical Center Hamburg‐Eppendorf) in the subject of “Urban health from a medical perspective: Data – Needs – Gaps” delivered a critical overview of a generalized concept of Urban Health and provided a common ground for the distinct -per theme- discussions.

The workshop’s outcome will critically complement the other user-needs gathering activities of SMURBS (online survey, interviews). Some results were expected, and some were enlightening. Overall, the hierarchy of the needs that took place, and the local dependence of some, surfaced through the discussions, will surely help SMURBS to create more efficient and targeted solutions. Last but not least, this workshop provided a first-class opportunity for engagement of public authorities and partners alike, for a very down-to-earth implementation of solutions for the rest of the project’s life.

You may find the presentations here.