The latter already has 12 cities signed up and is well on the way to incorporating three times more. It is designed to enable interested cities to identify the most efficient solutions, partnerships, results and experiences for achieving nearly zero energy districts unlocked by CITyFiED.
As part of this set up, a Board of Representatives has been put together so that all members, whatever their category – citizens, policy makers, technology developers, from the various cities and associate cities – can have their say and benefit from the replication potential of the project. To this effect, the 2nd periodic meeting that convened in Soma, Turkey, at the end of March, welcomed the 10 City Cluster cities along with representatives of the Community of Interest, thus marking the first time all the project partners and associated cities have come together. The watchword in CITyFiED being replication, the meeting in Soma led the Board of Representatives through a workshop on replication potential and covered the project’s methodology. This included a briefing on how the City Cluster will virtually test the model based on the demonstration sites.
With the City Cluster and now the Community of Interest, as well as the core project partners, we already have the makings of a credible, high-impact group able to listen and to be listened to that will allow maximize the replication potential of CITyFiED results.
Over the coming weeks and months, emphasis will be on capitalising on the all important face-to-face links made at the Soma meeting and on making sure the community has all latest tools to ensure the project’s targets are met in terms of smart solutions and replicability.
Ali Vasallo Belver
CITyFiED coordinator