Green Digital Charter
FollowA ‘smart city’ is a place where digital technologies translate into better public services for citizens, better use of resources and less impact on the environment. With this vision in mind, the EU has been investing in ICT research and innovation (in particular through its Horizon 2020 funding programme) and developing policies as well as partnerships, such as the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC), to speed the deployment of innovative solutions.
Sixteen cross-domain projects are presented in our 2016 collection of case studies. Three of these have been shortlisted by our jury of experts, and one will win the 2016 GDC Award ‘Creation of European added-value’on 25 January.
The three shortlisted projects in this second category are:
- Bristol’s REPLICATE pilot
- Lisbon’s BESOS (Building Energy Decision Support Systems for Smart Cities) project
- Zagreb’s Energy Week
Bristol’s REPLICATE project engages citizens in achieving sustainable goals
In 2015, Bristol was the first UK city to receive the European Green Capital Award in recognition of its impressive investment plans for transports and energy, in particular renewables, by 2020.
Bristol is one of three
lead cities (’lighthouses’) of REPLICATE (REnaissance of PLaces with Innovative Citizenship And Technology), an EU research and development project aiming to deploy integrated energy, mobility, and ICT solutions in city districts. Bristol has chosen the Ashely, Easton and Lawrence Hill neighbourhood partnership area as its target district.
Bristol’s approach focuses on citizens and addresses a broad range of socio-economic and environmental challenges faced by the city. First, its core innovation is the development of an energy demand management system that can holistically monitor and control energy use in 150 connected homes.
The city is developing a number of other projects and measures that would help increase energy efficiency, promote sustainable mobility, and encourage citizens to change their behaviour.
More information at http://replicate-project.eu/bristol/
Contact person: Luke Loveridge, programme manager: luke.loveridge[at]bristol.gov.uk
Lisbon’s BESOS project fosters public-private energy efficiency cooperation
Lisbon, capital of Portugal and one of the oldest cities in the world, is very active in European cooperation initiatives and smart city projects. A ‘lighthouse’ member of the Sharing Cities project, Lisbon’s smart city strategy has proved that bringing stakeholders together can provide considerable support for efforts to ensure the sustainability and replicability of solutions developed in pilot projects.
Between October 2013 and September 2016, the BESOS (Build Energy Decision Support Systems for Smart Cities) project developed an advanced, integrated energy management system.The project targeted two main groups of stakeholders: infrastructure owners (e.g. municipalities) and operators. This public-private partnership developed a trustworthy open platform, through which partners can share data and services among themselves, as well as with third-party applications.
These valuable data flows enable the design and development of higher-level applications capable of processing data in real timeand feeding analysed data analysis to the city’s energy services.
Lisbon and Barcelona have already tested the BESOS approach.
More information at http://besos-project.eu/
Contact person: Francisco Gonçalves, project coordinator, franciscogoncalves[a]lisboaenova.org
Zagreb Energy Week: “Development we don’t want to stop but pollution we can”
Over the past seven years, Zagreb Energy Week has become of the city’s flagship events. Held in the month of May under the slogan ‘Development we don’t want to stop but pollution we can’, the organisers call for joint actions that contribute to the implementation of sustainable urban development projects and the preservation of natural resources for future generations.
Financed by the city budget, Zagreb Energy Week is jam-packed with conferences, expert meetings, open-door days, seminars, classes, and workshops dedicated to energy and the environment. These activities allow for rich dialogue and interaction among the experts, and raise citizens’ concern about the environment.
Contact persons: Vlatka Samarinec and Maja Sunjic, expert advisors: vlatka.samarinec[at]zagreb.hr and maja.sunjic[at]zagreb.hr
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