With the Covenant of Mayors now celebrating over 6,000 signatories, the interest and determination to pursue a smarter more energy efficient agenda for our regions and cities is a tangible reality. EnergyCities, Climate Alliance, ICLEI and others piloting a dynamic set of urban leaders with a “can do” mentality and desire for responsibility in the major energy transition that is under way. With a new European Commission keen to support them, European Sustainable Energy Week just passed and COP21 just months away, there is a new pace being set.
CITyFiED might just be in the right place at the right time to help provide solutions and drive results for those that want them. The experiences of the three demonstration sites are growing quickly as you will see in this edition – as the Swedish Deputy Prime Minister can attest during a recent visit in Lund. The City Cluster is also now about to make some serious strides forward with the work to build a virtual model for building technology and renovation at specific sites across Europe due to begin shortly.
The projects privileged partners and collaborators in making a truly replicable and systemic strategy are the Community of Interest (COI). From Aberdeen to Zabrze, the COI is growing quickly with cities and municipalities hungry for tried and tested solutions to their pressing concerns. Each of them already have much to already share of course, so be sure to read their profile pages on the website and in the more detailed CITy Smart Space reserved just for project members or the CITy Voices series of interviews.
In one such interview for this edition, Brussels Deputy Mayor, Mohamed Ouriaghli speaks about a range of issues before eloquently stating that his most ambitious target is “To become a smart city that involves our citizens…because it would be a failure to build a plan that doesn't reflect what its inhabitants want and who they are”. In this he reflects a critical need for citizen engagement and clear communication in all our endeavors. This is certainly something COI member Agueda in Portugal have understood, and we encourage you to discover their ‘Information for Citizen’ tool in these pages.
Last, but not least, during EUSEW some significant “Open House” events are being held to engage with residents, citizens, local communities, public authorities and other stakeholders about key milestones of the project to come and the intended final benefits. Keep an eye on the project website or join the newly created ‘members only’ LinkedIn group for some in-depth reports on this.
Markus Paulsson
City of Lund and Coordinator of CITyFiED demo sites