The Hague Celebrates Five Years of Smart City Achievements
The Hague, Thursday, 9 January 2025.
The Hague showcases its successful smart city initiatives, including real-time crowd management and automated ship registration, while learning from discontinued projects.
Innovative Infrastructure and Real-Time Monitoring
The Hague’s Scheveningen Living Lab has demonstrated significant achievements through its extensive fiber optic network, connecting various street facilities including lampposts, kiosks, and charging stations [1]. A standout success has been the Crowd Safety Manager (CSM), which provides real-time 3D mapping of crowd movements by integrating data from traffic, parking, public transportation, and anonymized visitor information [1]. This system proved particularly valuable during major events like the Invictus Games, enabling proactive crowd management through strategic deployment of traffic controllers and parking guidance [1].
Maritime Safety and Technological Integration
In the maritime sector, The Hague has implemented an innovative automated ship registration system in Scheveningen harbor [1]. This technology effectively monitors vessel movements while maintaining privacy standards, significantly enhancing port safety [1]. The success of these initiatives has positioned The Hague as a leading example in smart city development, with the municipality recently publishing a comprehensive white paper detailing their experiences and insights [1].
Learning from Challenges
The city’s approach to smart technology implementation has been marked by pragmatic evaluation and willingness to adapt. Not all initiatives proved successful - a pilot project for riot recognition was discontinued due to technical limitations, while a smart camera system for detecting nitrous oxide use was retired when the social issue it addressed naturally subsided [1]. These experiences have helped shape The Hague’s evidence-based approach to smart city development [1].
Future Sustainability Focus
Looking ahead, The Hague continues to emphasize sustainability in its smart city initiatives. The recent transformation of the Fruitweg city office into the municipality’s first energy-neutral building on December 6, 2024, demonstrates this commitment [7]. The city is actively working on integrating these technological advances with environmental goals, setting new benchmarks for urban innovation [7].