Taking Smart Sustainable Cities from the Lab to the Real World

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Catherine Ouvrard

Communication manager

1612 Last modified by the author on 27/06/2016 - 10:12
Taking Smart Sustainable Cities from the Lab to the Real World

We need our future cities to be smart and sustainable, and action needs to be taken now. This was the view expressed by many participants at Climate-KIC and NTNU’s recent ‘Smart Sustainable Cities’ workshop in Trondheim. 

The theme for the day was Campuses as Living Labs for Smart Sustainable Cities, and speakers ranged from city officials and campus development planners, to startups and major industrial actors. 

Taking that action, however, requires going beyond “business as usual”. There was wide agreement that we need to get out of today’s knowledge silos, where we attempt to achieve sustainability mostly in labs and closed, controlled environments. Borders need to be crossed, more stakeholders need to be involved, and there needs to be clear communication about the potential value to all parties involved. In order to achieve that, the significant gap that exists today between principle and practice – between “the lab” and the real world – needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

The Potential of Campuses as Living Labs

Climate-KIC’s co-host and partner NTNU is currently undergoing a large-scale relocation of campus, representing a huge potential for the implementation of smart city elements. This was expertly presented and explained by Fredrik Shetelig and Annemie Wyckmans from the Faculty of Architecture and Fine Arts, both on the Tuesday site visit and during the workshop on Wednesday. Beyond being a living lab, however, the vision for the new NTNU campus is as an integrated part of Trondheim City, where everything is within walking distance.

Trondheim’s Deputy Mayor Hilde Opoku elaborated on the city’s historical position as a frontrunner in technology, innovation and sustainable policies. Multiple examples of successful ongoing and finished projects elsewhere were also presented. TU Delft’s example of vast and poorly managed campus facilities as a huge potential for improvement was something many could identify with in their local context. A promising concept of sustainable façade leasing was also presented as a business model tweak that allows for the commercialisation of sustainable solutions.

Sustainable Solutions Can Bring Benefits to All

Chalmers University in Gothenburg has faced challenges of their own related to a doubling of employees. Radical sustainable policies for city planning denied a growth in traffic, but holistic, co-developed strategies ensured a plan that brought benefits to all stakeholders, while fulfilling the environmental criteria. Aalto University shares many challenges similar to NTNU’s, and they are currently using them to obtain deeper integration with the city. The aim is for Aalto to become energy self-sufficient by 2030, with the help of geothermal heating, amongst other measures.

The heating and cooling of buildings was clearly an important issue brought out during the workshop, and as Hans-Joachim Motzfeldt from Rockwool pointed out, buildings consume 40% of the energy produced, and two thirds of that goes towards building climate control. This issue is directly addressed by Climate-KIC supported startup Naked Energy, which combines solar and thermal technology to obtain a higher energy yield for a lower cost, leaving a smaller footprint. NTNU presented their own solution to the indoor climate challenge, consisting of a smart thermal grid that has cut energy consumption by 53% in seven years.

Team Up, Share Knowledge and Commercialise for Maximum Scaling Potential

The panel debate rounding off the workshop underlined the importance of taking the smart sustainable city concept out of the lab and into the real world. It also provided actionable points for how to successfully achieve this. First of all, a holistic approach with involvement from and trust between all affected stakeholders is required. Clearly communicating the value of changes is crucial in securing support. One needs to be able to visualise what it is like to live in a smart city. Knowledge needs to be sourced from and shared across disciplines and industries. Lastly, there are lessons to be learned from innovation in the private sector where failure is increasingly acknowledged as an important step on the way to success. This frame of mind, combined with an eye to the commercial potential may just be what is needed for our cities to become smart and sustainable on a large scale.  

See a compilation of Tweets, images and quotes from the workshop below!

The post Taking Smart Sustainable Cities from the Lab to the Real World appeared first on Climate-KIC.

 

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