Different forms of implementation and measurement
The target area or systems chosen for development will determine the appropriate timeframe, approach and implementation methods. The design phase can be separate, and the implementation phase can include a competition or several competitions. The planning and implementation phases can also be combined, with a separate work stage for market mapping or options/constraints/objectives at the beginning of the process.
A separate company can be set up to develop a smart and sustainable urban area, or a multi-stakeholder alliance with the necessary contracts can be established / defined for a call for tenders. The area can also be developed through a traditional process, with a focus on joint master planning and the establishment of common binding objectives and indicators. In this case, you should coordinate project-specific implementation and engage participants in the objectives through commitments or agreements. Affiliate companies can also be established for joint solutions in the region. In addition to a wider area project, co-creation can include a part of the area, such as a street or a disused building or temporary use plot. In these cases, the implementation methods are naturally lighter.
The sustainability objective achieved must be verifiable through measurements during the construction and completion stages and over the lifecycle of the area or system.
If a system such as mobility services is being developed, assess, among other factors, the space required and possible need to modify existing plans in the co-creation process.
If an energy system is to be developed, a key element is the formation of a regional energy community, where energy producers and consumers are involved in planning the optimisation of the regional energy system and implementing the necessary investments and measures. Again, the conditions for energy solutions will be explored and any need for changes to existing plans will be assessed, as early as possible.

Alliance for delivering a sustainable and smart urban area
Applying the alliance’s working methods
It is not always possible or necessary to choose an alliance for implementing a sustainable and smart urban area or its systems. Organisation and role models, co-creative working methods and motivation means developed in alliances can also be borrowed and applied to the work.
Benefits of an alliance in creating a sustainable and smart city
The benefits of an alliance relate most to cooperation quality. For the alliance model, define objectives and an incentive system that gives the client, designers and builders a common interest in producing a high-quality result and staying within budget and on schedule. The development phase is important for the alliance project, as it determines what the project will cost, the timeframe for its implementation and the included incentive scheme. At the same time, you can define how sustainability or smart solutions are integrated into the project.
The organisation of the city must serve the alliance
The city’s organisational structure and commitment are key factors in the alliance succeeding. The alliance requires more commitment and involvement from the city staff than the traditional approach to regional development. The city needs additional resources to ensure that other tasks are equally taken care of and that the alliance receives adequate employee resources on the city’s part. The success of a demanding alliance project is ensured, for example, with the city’s organisational model, allowing open communication between officials and elected representatives and fast decisions so that the alliance can proceed in its work.
The alliance facilitates new solutions and innovations better than the traditional model
An alliance is not always the best implementation model, nor is it necessarily cheaper than the traditional approach in terms of overall costs. The model is heavy and requires a thorough development phase to work. Thus, cost savings must be found in the implementation phase, so that the costs do not rise above those of the traditional model. For the city, the key objective is to ensure that the budgeted resource is used wisely, which means that the best implementation model for each situation must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The alliance model works best if there is a desire to innovate and possibilities for improvement, and decisions are not yet locked in. For example, when seeking a smart city, it is important that individual buildings can also be part of a regional smart grid, so that regional smart infrastructure and smart building systems can communicate with and benefit from each other. This requires collaboration, and co-creation not only offers new solutions but also significant cost savings.
Sustainability guidance for the alliance
When seeking sustainability transformation, it is not enough to have a sustainability expert on the alliance’s planning team, instead it is important that each expert understands what sustainability means in their sector. People are usually confident in their own expertise and know how to do things. This is no longer the case in sustainability transformations. To get a consortium of alliance actors to co-create more sustainable solutions, build an open and trusting atmosphere, in which participants are willing to receive new information and discuss it together. Sustainability-related co-creation requires a willingness to question what is known and to find new ways of doing things.
When working in an alliance, the goal must be clear, as projects can involve hundreds of engineers, experts and planners. It should also be noted that the concept of sustainability in a project should be clearly defined when the objectives are set. You would need to translate sustainability into concrete measures and to monitor their implementation. Thus, setting indicators and facilitating measurement is key.
For example, in the Helsinki Kalasatama to Pasila tram alliance project, sustainability objectives have been implemented through measures such as clearly defined values, an introduction process and evaluation tools. In addition to this, internal incentive schemes and innovation bonuses are an essential part of the alliance. Based on the experiences at project level, it is important in the current state to raise the level of knowledge and understanding of all stakeholders in order to promote sustainability, for example on how to reduce emissions and the benefits of ecosystem services.
Participating companies’ views on the alliance
The implementation partner and companies providing the necessary solutions need to derive business benefits in order to be interested in contributing their expertise and time to co-creation and planning.
When traditional regional development projects start, it is usually not possible to call for tenders to involve contractors in the development work. In these situations, the alliance is a possible model for co-creation. At its heart, however, is a commercial model on which it is based. During the contracting phase, you need to define what the operators will receive in return for their participation: for example, they would be responsible for building infrastructure or public buildings in the area.
Innovative solutions, for both smart and sustainable cities, can be identified through innovation competitions, for example. Again, an essential viewpoint is how the solution provider benefits from contributing to the joint planning. Some form of sub-alliance is also possible. When implementing innovative solutions, it is important that the licensing authority is involved from the early stages. Construction is full of different processes that should be integrated into the overall process. Consider the acceptability and cost-saving potential of new solutions during early development stages.