Across the globe, urban areas are expanding rapidly – by 2035, the world will house nearly 50 megacities with a population of more than 10 million inhabitants. While only two of these – Paris and London – are in Europe, many of the continent’s urban zones are growing. As they do, so too do concerns for quality of life and the environment.
With the goal of addressing some of the biggest quality-of-life issues in urban areas, including air pollution, transport congestion and noise pollution, an EU-funded project is working on bringing smart solutions to cities, while involving urban residents closely in the decision-making process.
‘By reducing energy consumption, increasing the production of local renewable energies and developing data-based solutions, we hope to contribute to better cities,’ says Etienne Vignali, project manager at Lyon-Confluence and SMARTER TOGETHER project coordinator.
Building user-centric solutions
The project will implement its innovative smart concepts in ‘lighthouse’ cities – Munich, Lyon and Vienna – with Venice, Sofia and Santiago de Compostela set to recreate some of the ideas. Meanwhile, Kiev in Ukraine and Yokohama in Japan will increase the outreach of the project and bring perspectives from Eastern Europe and Asia.
Project members are working on five main areas: getting people involved, renewable energy in urban zones, cutting the amount of energy used in buildings, electric mobility and urban data platforms.
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