This is the opening keynote presentation by Dr Calzada in Bilbao in the Nordic Basque Forum that took place on 19th October 2017. He has presented a framework to link Basque Country and Nordic countries and regions' projects and initiatives from the smart city, city-region and social innovation perspective.

1. Basque & Nordic
Smart City-Regional Connections
From the Social Innovation
Dr Igor Calzada, MBA, FeRSA
Lecturer & Research Fellow, Future of Cities & Urban Transformations, University of Oxford
Lecturer, Institute for Future Cities, University of Strathclyde
Associate Fellow, Brussels Centre for Urban Studies, Vrije Universiteit
@icalzada
www.igorcalzada.com
igor.calzada@compas.ox.ac.uk
#NordicBasque
Bilbao, 2017ko Urriaren 19a

2. Góðan daginn God morgen Hyvää huomenta God morgon God morgen

3. By @translokal
Brussels
BasqueCountry
Iceland Oresund Helsinki Stavanger
IS NO DK SE FI

4. map by @icalzada

5. map by @icalzada

6. map by @icalzada
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7. map by @icalzada
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8. By @icalzada
To unplug the smart city approach?

9. By @bilbaometropoli
By @CitiesOxford
By @ifuturecities By @bristolisopen
//Bilbao//
CORPORATE
-in-transition
//Barcelona//
ANTI-
CORPORATE
-uncertain
By @SmartCityExpo
//Bristol//
OPEN
INNOVATION
-alternative
//Glasgow//
URBAN
GOVERNANCE
-transformative

12. map by @icalzada
BASQUE CITY-REGION
1. Three divided administra6ve en66es that cross of two NaYon-States.
2. The Spanish side, what we can call Basque Autonomy, is industrialized
and enjoys a high level of self-governance in maDers as important as
health, educaYon, security, housing, employment and taxaYon.
3. However, aDempts to reinforce the opera6onal level of the cross-
border coopera6on among the three administraYve enYYes have been
very weak.
4. 3.1M inhabitants in a diverse territorial configura6on: the northern
part, in France, is mainly based on farming and tourism while the
southern part, consisYng of two administraYve enYYes in Spain, are
two manufacturing-driven regions.

13. Map by @icalzada

14. Map by @icalzada

15. Map by @icalzada

16. map by @icalzada
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17. map by @icalzada
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18. map by @icalzada
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19. photo by @icalzada

20. photo by @icalzada

21. photo by @icalzada

22. photo by @icalzada

23. #COMPLEX
#DIVERSITY Photos by @icalzada & @flickr

24. PhD map by @icalzada

25. map by @icalzada
Postdoctoral Fellowships: Ikerbasque & RSA

26. http://www.cityregions.org ®

27. ‘Benchmarking Future City-Regions beyond NaYon-States’ (2012-2017)
www.cityregions.org
This research project suggests that both poliYcal and economic factors determine city-regional strategies.
However, the eight-cases are split into two groups; whereas poliYcal factors determine a na.onalis.c
strategy in the cases of the Basque Country, Iceland, Scotland and Catalonia, economic factors merely
explain the economically driven non-na.onalisYc strategies of the cases of Portland, Dublin, Liverpool/
Manchester and Oresund.

28. 3563 views
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29. hDps://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/forget-the-naYon-state-ciYes-will-transform-the-way-we-conduct-foreign-affairs

31. 2025
Source: @UN

32. 2012-2015:
Future of Ci6es Programme
www.futureofciYes.ox.ac.uk

33. 19/10/17WP 9: Oxford Page 33
Aim
How can we prompt
methodological advancements
that promote
fruitful learning
in and among cities?

34. 19/10/17WP 9: Oxford Page 34
Applied Research
1) City-To-City Learning
2) Comparing/Benchmarking Smart Cities

35. 2016 <
Urban Transformations ESRC
Portfolio
www.urbantransformations.ox.ac.uk

36. What does Urban TransformaYons seek to achieve?
• The Urban TransformaYons programme aims to address
• a wide range of stakeholders with a professional, public or poliYcal
interest in ciYes,
• including members of the general public
• wishing to learn more about current academic debates
• on urban development worldwide:
• UK
• EU (2016-2017 AcYvity Programme)
• InternaYonal (Global South – BRICS) #Habitat3
2016 <
Urban Transformations ESRC

37. NORDICS?

45. map by @icalzada

46. BASQUE & ORESUND CONNECTION

47. map by @icalzada
Two Cross Border City-Regions beyond Two Na6on-States in the EU

48. Map by @icalzada

49. hDp://bit.ly/2xOUgCY
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50. 50

52. www.basquecity.org hDp://www.igorcalzada.com/social-innovaYon-
methodological-workshop-basque-oresund-
connecYon-8th-may-2013-2-6pm-santelmomuseum-
donosYa-st-sebasYan
hDp://www.basquecity.org
hDp://www.euskalhiria.org
Photos by @icalzada
Fieldwork Research
2010-2013
hDp://www.igorcalzada.com/basque-oresund-connecYon-fork-august-2013

53. map by @icalzada
Map by @icalzada
ORESUND CITIES-region
1. Malmö & Copenhagen strong collaboraYon
2. 1 of Europe’s today most aDracYve and dynamic regions
3. 3.8M inhabitants: 2.6M in Zealand (DK) & 1.2M in Skane (SE)
4. Malmö 3rd most innovaYve city in the world based on number of patents filed &
the 3rd most populated city in Sweden.
5. 2000: Oresund Bridge.
6. Could we say that due to the construc6on of the Oresund Bridge, a City-Regional
promo6on emerged?
7. “The Oresund City-Region is regarded as simple, imagined as similar to an organic
process and possible to fulfil through an almost causal formula: “BeAer
infrastructure, communicaBons and transportaBon that turns into higher mobility
and interacBon. This is how the regional integraBon is happening” (Richard Ek,
2003)

54. 54

55. #PRAGMATIC
#SIMPLICITY Photo by @oresundstag

56. Map by @icalzada

60. PROJECTS

63. photo by @icalzada

64. photo by @icalzada

65. photo by @icalzada
Rigid & bureaucra6c norma6ve system finding
difficulYes in acYvaYng the civil society:
It requires a transiYon
in its Social Innova6on Policies
from Triple to Penta Helix angle.

66. photo by @icalzada
“I am a prime example of the
difficulty of integra.on:
I have social security numbers
in two NaBon-States,
there are opaque pension
condiBons
and there are lots of
hindrances when,
for example, I need a new
car.”
(Informant# Malmö 8/2/13)

67. 67
2.- DEFINITIONS: ORESUND

68. photo by @icalzada
Does Oresund CR exist?
“Well, so far it was such a
FANTASTIC social construc.on…
but now…it’s stopped”
(Informant# CPH 16/8/13)

69. BASQUE & ICELANDIC CONNECTION

70. Two Iden6ty-driven City-Regions fuelled by Democra6c Regenera6on in Europe

71. hDp://bit.ly/2yxnaXd
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73. ① Iceland was the first country to be hit by the 2008 financial crisis with dramaYc
democraYc consequences. If there has been some democra6c social innova6on or
regenera6on in Iceland aber the crisis, what relaYonship does it have with ethics?
What is its moral core?
② Because they share some features concerning their compara6ve small size and
iden6ty (unique local language and culture dealing with bigger players in a global
arena), we wonder whether some of the transforma6ons (innova6ons?) emerged
in Iceland during the Kreppa years (2008-2013) could be applicable to the crisis in
the Basque Country in the new post-violence scenario (ETA’s ceasefire from 2011
on). And what about micro social innovaYve cases (cooperaYvism, plurilingualism,
…)?
③ Different as they are, both situa6ons involve hopes of regenera6on of the
democra6c system, and both raise quesYons such as: What has been really
happening in Iceland?

81. #Crash

82. #Pots&PansRevoluYon

86. “No se pueden transformar las cosas solo desde fuera. Hacen
falta acYvistas normales en centros de poder”
Icelandic MP. BirgiDa Jonsdo}r.

87. #Hack
"La culpa del 'crash' ha sido la conjunción de los
vejestorios de la banca y los niñatos de 20 y 30”
El Pais, 6/10/2011

94. FIVE CURRENT
SMART CITY PROJECTS

95. Smart Cities?

96. 2,466 views
5th Most Read ArYcle
Calzada, I. & Cobo, C. (2015), Unplugging: DeconstrucYng the Smart City,
Journal of Urban Technology 22(1): 23-43. DOI:
10.1080/10630732.2014.971535.

97. UNPLUGGING 2 noYons
① Being digitally connected/plugged in is no
guarantee of being smart (Evans 2002: 34)
② Technology is never neutral, and it has the
potenYal and capacity to be used socially and
poliYcally for quite different purpose (Williams
1983: 128)

98. Satyam, A. & Calzada, I.
(2017),
The Smart City
TransformaBons. The
RevoluBon of the 21st
Century.
Bloomsbury Academic
and Professional
Publishing: New Delhi,
New York, London and
Sydney.

100. #ReplicateEU

101. H2020-SCC-EU-Lighthouse
REPLICATE
www.replicate-project.eu

102. H2020-SCC-EU-1st Lighthouse
REPLICATE

103. #HerriSmarYk

105. #SmartRuralCommuniYes

107. #ZumaiaLab

109. #UnpluggingData
#ExperimenYngULL
#ScalingMigraYon

110. FINAL REMARK:
FUTURE
#NORDICBASQUE
COLLABORATIONS?

111. Dr Igor Calzada, MBA, FeRSA
Urban Transforma6ons ESRC & Future of Ci6es
University of Oxford
@icalzada
www.igorcalzada.com
igor.calzada@compas.ox.ac.uk
Skype: icalzada
Eskerrik asko
Takk
Gracias
Thanks for your ahen6on

112. References
Calzada, I. (2015),
Benchmarking Cross-Border City-Regions: Basque and Øresund ComparaBve Territorial
ConnecBon. Regions, no 297, 2015 Issue 1. pp. 4-8. DOI: 10.1080/13673882.2015.11431633.
Calzada, I. & Casado, A. & (2015), Demos-Ethos: A
Framework to Study the Icelandic and Basque Cases through CriYcal Social InnovaYon and
Applied Ethics.
InnovaBon: The European Journal of Social Science Research 28(4): 425-442. DOI:
10.1080/13511610.2015.1089472.
Calzada, I. (2015), Benchmarking Future City-Regions beyond NaBon-States,
RSRS Regional Studies Regional Science, 2:1, 350-361,
DOI: 10.1080/21681376.2015.1046908.