Stephen Hilton

Stephen has worked on Smart Cities since the term was coined. Stephen is Founder and Director of City Global Futures Ltd, a leading consultancy that brings together people, organisations and ideas to create Smart and Sustainable Futures for all.

Stephen was formerly Director of the Futures Department at Bristol City Council but has acted as a Strategic Advisor to Mayors, Leaders and Chief Executives in Bristol, Bath, the West of England and inter/nationally. Stephen is a Fellow of the University of Bristol Digital Futures Institute, focussing on ‘socio-tech’. He is a Trustee both of Design West (formerly Bristol Architecture Centre) and the Bristol Sight Loss Council, harnessing his professional expertise of Placemaking alongside his lived experience of severe visual impairment, to help Bristol become more accessible to all.

Stephen’s work:

The Digital histories of cities like Bristol shape the development of the place as much as global technology milestones. The “Rebooting the Digital City” study gathers-up Bristol Breadcrumbs, stories of significant, large and small building blocks, which have formed the Digital City beneath our feet. Where will the Bristol Breadcrumb trail lead next? The pandemic has created an opportunity to shift Digital Placemaking towards “the Edge” powering-up local Digital networks and communities. The study presents ideas under three headings, Edge Computing, Communities with an Edge and Keeping it Edgy. It explores the pros and cons of “re-localising the Internet” and what might happen if we were to say “Hey Bristol” or “Hey Filwood” instead of always calling on Siri or Alexa. The aim is to sketch a possible future direction for Bristol as a Digital City but also to highlight ways in which other cities and places might build their own Digital Placemaking stories.

You can read the full report here.

www.City Global Futures.co.uk