Connected Urban Development

In partnership with Metropolis, the global cities association, Cisco and the Connected Urban Development partnership have developed a publication, Cities in Action for Climate Change, that sets out the extent of actions which cities take towards applying innovative applications of technology to enable sustainable cities.

This publication by the Metropolis International Institute and Cisco, provides an overview of what some of the most insightful cities have been doing over the last few years to address climate change with concrete solutions. These span Metropolis member cities, those in the Connected Urban Development program, and other proactive and innovative cities across the world.

With an introduction by Metropolis and Cisco, the publication is intended as a repository of publically available information on sustainability programs by cities across the world. Cities in Action for Climate Change is intended to serve as insight and inspiration into the wide ranging and innovative approaches being taken by cities off various sizes, geographies, and cultures to respond to their local sustainability imperatives, and to highlight the global leadership being taken by cities to respond to global climate change challenges.

This publication complements the forward looking survey of global cities, Urban Innovation for Sustainability, also published at this time.

Both publications can be accessed on the Connected Urban Development and Metropolis websites.

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.

Cisco and the city of Amsterdam today announced the rollout of Urban EcoMap, an Internet-based tool that enables cities around the world to provide smarter climate change information for their citizens. A city can use Urban EcoMap to create awareness among its residents of the impact of carbon emissions on their urban environment. It provides information on carbon emissions from transportation, energy and waste among neighborhoods, organized by district, and delivers tips on ways to reduce a resident’s carbon footprint.

• The application is an extension of the Urban EcoMap launched in May 2009 in the city of San Francisco. The Amsterdam version of the Urban EcoMap will be progressively expanded over the next six months with real-time information that is linked to data from other agencies.

• Urban EcoMap provides information on carbon emissions from transportation, energy and waste among neighborhoods, organized by district. As part of the Cisco® Connected Urban Development (CUD) program, the Urban EcoMap pilot is a cooperative initiative between the city of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Innovation Motor (AIM) and Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG), the company’s strategic global consulting arm.
• The application now enables comparisons between the two cities of Amsterdam and San Francisco, on an aggregated residential per capita CO2 basis, and proportionally by the categories of Transportation, Energy and Waste.

Join us in the drive towards reducing our individual CO2 emissions to 2 tonnes by 2050, across the world.

This is the next step in the development of the application. Let us know your thoughts and ideas on how the application can develop and continue to innovate and scale globally.