Connected Urban Development

This fifth snapshot on the Partnership for Urban Innovation: Global Conference themes is on Sustainable Cities: Challenges and Solutions.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) reduction and sustainability strategies energy generation and distribution, transport, water management, infrastructure, green buildings and urban planning, all converge in cities where the bulk of the world’s citizens reside. Thus “sustainable cities” has become a topic of immense worldwide interest.

The need to make cities and communities sustainable has been championed by government and non-governmental organisations and by the companies developing the technology solutions. A complex mix of “players” has emerged, all wanting to participate and to push their particular vision for sustainability.

This has resulted in an eco-system of swirling, connected and disconnected stakeholders, all with different aims and goals, and yet united in a common vision: to achieve “sustainability” in the development and operation of cities.
For all the hype, a gap remains between adoption of the plethora of innovative and truly sustainable technologies that are readily available, and the solutions which are implemented. The danger in not closing this gap is significant. In spite of all the interest on the supply side, the demand for these technologies and services may not grow fast enough for companies continue to invest in solutions, and GHG emissions may not be reduced quickly enough.

So what is stopping the adoption and implementation of these technologies? Some of these technologies are new: We are witnessing the “wow” factor of technology in action such as concentrated solar thermal arrays blazing in the sun which make for attractive videos and still images for TV, magazines and sustainability publications. But some of the technologies exist. However, their adoption may not be straightforward, but will require combining technologies, new ways through advanced networking and communications.

The challenge is that sustainability or climate change are not solely technology challenges, rather this is a deployment challenge. Informational, market, institutional, policy and organisational barriers remain. Market development will require removing these barriers and obstacles to make sure the existing technologies and solutions are capable of full deployment in a widespread manner worldwide.

In this break out session, with a lively ensemble of practitioners, who are actively involved in the business side of sustainability, we will identify the barriers and engage participants in a stimulating discussion within the following framework:

1. What technology is available now - First we set the scene briefly to display the vast array of sustainable solutions available from an ICT technology perspective
2. Who are the players – Secondly, we will examine who are the players and the stakeholders in the eco-system of the development and operation of cities and what are their roles and aims
3. What are the barriers – Thirdly, we will examine the barriers to adoption of the various sustainable technologies that can be applied, by way of case study examinations and where a barrier to adoption was overcome by innovative, and ultimately, practicable and financeable strategies and solutions
4. Where are the examples of barriers being overcome?

The outcome of the session will be to engage in a robust debate on these issues and to raise awareness of an area of the sustainability debate which is often neglected, pointing to examples where barriers have been overcome, as a basis for developing strategies for market transformation.

Please join us on the conference page of the website for updates to the discussions and content for this and all of the other conference breakout sessions, following the conference.

This snapshot on the Partnership for Urban Innovation: Global Conference themes is on Urban Design and Networked Development.
The way people live, work, learn, and play in 21st-century cities is changing. As a result, city designs and developments are becoming increasingly characterized by a people-centric approach toward a networked-built environment differentiated by interaction, collaboration, responsiveness, on-demand uses, and ubiquitous availability of digital technology.
This session will engage participants in a discussion on how people-driven, technologically enhanced city design and development can transform urban life, the experience of “place,” and real estate demand. The session will explore perspectives on citizen experience, new trends in urban design and the impacts on traditional real estate uses, and public-private partnerships and other new operating models.

Panelists will explore:

• How has the citizen experience of the city been enhanced?
• What are trends in new city design to create connection, collaboration and convenience? How is the resulting real estate impacted as cities transition to multipurpose, space on demand programmable entities?
• How are these new cities disrupting traditional real estate uses of space?
• What is the impact on the real estate business models and what are the resulting value propositions?

Please join us on the conference page of the website for updates to the discussions and content, following the conference.

Advancing the Connected Urban Development program’s progress in Connected and Sustainable Living through buildings and energy efficiency applications, the city of Madrid, in partnership with Cisco and technology partner Telvent, has announced the launch of the UrbanEnergy Management pilot project in the city.

Promoted by the Municipal Company for Housing and Lands of Madrid; Cisco, and technology partner Telvent, has deployed network infrastructure, connectivity and control systems in a pilot, apartment building in the city: Calle de Las Margaritas, 52. The development is intended as temporary housing on a rental basis to young people in Madrid.

The “Energy Efficiency Manager” installed in homes, can, at any time and in real time, manage energy consumption, controlling emissions of carbon dioxide and make decisions about the way in which residents make use of energy both at the individual apartment level and throughout the building. In the future this is intended to extend across the urban community.

The solution, which allows consumer to set limits and comparisons of consumer weekly, monthly or yearly, provides to citizens and municipal managers, daily tips to improve efficiency and be more environmentally responsible.

Further details can be found on the projects section of the CUD website, where a fact sheet and presentation sets out further details of the pilot solution and roadmap.

A number of the technology pilots, which the seven Connected Urban Development cities have been developing, will be presented at the third Connected Urban Development global conference on May 21-22, 2009.

The conference, in Seoul, South Korea will see the launch to the citizens of the city, of the Personal Travel Assistant (PTA) application. ‘Seoul PTA’ is a web-based service providing the following facilities; Personal Travel Planner, Carbon Calculator, Real-Time Router, Transportation Information Service.

Initially, Seoul PTA will serve the Jung-gu and Jongno-gu districts of Seoul; citywide coverage will roll out later in the year.

In addition, the Urban EcoMap application, previewed on EarthDay will be launched to the citizens of San Francisco. During the two days of the conference, further connected and sustainable mobility and smart work solutions will be discussed with delegates, such as the Smart Transportation Pricing pilot in the city of Seoul, the development of Amsterdam PTA, and the scaling of the Smart Work Center concept globally.

Great progress has been made in these programs and in the areas of Energy and Buildings. Providing informed, and control enabled applications to the home, buildings, and integrated into the energy grid provides great opportunities for connect and sustainable living for citizens and businesses in cities.

The city of Madrid will present the latest progress in the implementation of the ‘Urban Energy Management’ pilot for homes, and residential communities.

In the city of Lisbon, the ‘Smart UrbanEnergy for Schools’ pilot provides an innovative perspective on Energy management in municipally owned buildings, with two way integration with the energy grid. This pilot also has an educational aspect for students to learn about sustainable living, enabled by technology.

With the PTA application, the Urban EcoMap, and the energy applications, the CUD community is progressing towards an integrated urban services platform for connected and sustainable cities. These pilots, and many other projects and perspectives from other leading global cities, expert urban planners, business, and academic thought leaders will be presented and debated at the conference.

A commentary of the proceedings and highlights will follow during and after the event here on this blog.

Shane Mitchell

Researchers from MIT have just published their latest contribution to the Connected Urban Development program. Professor William Mitchell and Dr. Federico Casalegno have worked with the CUD partners over the last year in developing a vision for the future of connected sustainable cities.

This book describes how daily life in the connected sustainable cities we can expect to evolve over the next decade, through scenarios of moving around the city, work, home and recreation to enable citizens to make informed personal decisions.

These scenarios are accompanied by brief sketches of the existing and emerging technologies, products, and systems that will support new, intelligently sustainable urban living patterns. In addition, there are short discussions of some of the theoretical, policy, and design issues that these scenarios raise.

Connected Sustainable Cities is a starting point for the investigations and debates that will be necessary as citizens, technologists, designers, policy experts, and political and business leaders begin to shape the connected sustainable cities that we urgently need to create in the near future.

You can download the book from this website.

Shane Mitchell

Latest developments from MIT’s ‘Solar Revolution Project‘ represent a significant technology leap, which will enable the Connected Home of the future.

As part of Connected Urban Development’s vision for Connected and Sustainable Buildings, the intelligent use of energy, micro generation and the integrated application of utilities and communications, is central to delivering this aim. This solar power storage, and generation advancement as a sustainable energy solution, represents a tangible example of how citizens can make positive contributions in their own lives to the challenges of climate change.

Our work with MIT as part of the CUD program is setting the vision across the most impacting ways that citizens, companies and city authorities can enable a connected and sustainable urban infrastructure. The forthcoming conference, co-hosted with the City of Amsterdam in September will showcase the latest progress that the CUD partner cities, Cisco and MIT are providing to bring leading research led technology solutions towards an achievable target of Connected and Sustainable Cities on a global basis.

Shane Mitchell

We’re meeting in one of San Francisco’s greenest buildings, the new Govt Services Administration Federal Government building.

Quite a controversial design, but a fascinating building.  Built from recycled concrete and steel, no air conditioning (all done through clever use of windows and through-drafts).  Here’s a link to more information via Arup, who built the building - http://www.arup.com/americas/project.cfm?pageid=1618

Couple of other big messages so far - shifting sustainability outcomes is fuelled by the fundamental change from the traditional role of cities, which allow people to move to information; now we can take information to people.  And success is going to be a combination of policy leadership, market-driven innovation and individual empowerment.  And all driven by new ways to access ideas, information and knowledge. 

Martin Stewart-Weeks

(This blog post first appeared on TheConnectedRepublic.org on 20th February 2008)