Dear Residents of Istanbul,

Ever since we declared “a new beginning for Istanbul,” we have made it our utmost priority to develop new tools to make people’s lives in this city easier. On our path towards this goal, we have always paid close attention to the necessities of the information age.

And today, we present to you Istanbul’s very own and local Smart City Strategic Plan.

The core of this plan consists of strategies created to aid our city’s digital transformation and the initiatives born of such strategies. We mainly aim to make innovation a part of every Istanbul resident’s life by developing a participatory model, and to gain societal benefits by using big data.

This road map that you are holding in your hands is the first Smart City Strategic Plan for local governments that has been created with 2030 goals in mind and containing both actions and projects. The Strategic Plan has been created using the most up-to-date research in its field and in accordance with the Türkiye National Smart Cities Strategy and Action Plan.

I give my thanks to all of my colleagues who have worked tirelessly on creating the Istanbul Smart City Strategic Plan and everyone who is a member of the smart city ecosystem. I deeply hope that our plan, for the first time articulating our “digital inclusion” goals, is beneficial for our city.

Sincerely,