The aim of this project is to offer a methodology providing a framework for simulating scenarios, as well as a set of indicators and tools for evaluating and analysing the sustainable performance of players involved in the logistics and transport of fresh products in order to estimate the sustainability of new urban food delivery systems, particularly to meet a growing demand for ecoresponsible products and services.
The Smart Cities Information System (SCIS) is a knowledge platform to exchange data, experience and know-how and to collaborate on the creation of smart cities, providing a high quality of life for its citizens in a clean, energy efficient and climate friendly urban environment. SCIS brings together project developers, cities, research institutions, industry, experts and citizens from across Europe. SCIS focuses on people and their stories – bringing to life best practices and lessons learned from smart projects.
The Urban Data School is an initiative to bring data literacy education to primary and secondary schools. The Urban data school worked with schools in Milton Keynes to enable pupils to critically analyse complex Smart City data sets, and to use data literacy skills to investigate critical urban issues. Data literacy – the ability to use data as part of complex reasoning and to accurately critique and interpret data to ask and answer meaningful questions – is an important civic skill that forms the foundation of an innovative knowledge economy.
CAPE, Community Action Platform for Energy project will develop an interactive website designed to assess energy use for individuals and communities in Milton Keynes. It will provide data and therefore information for its users. The website will be made available free of charge to residents, community groups, landlords and local businesses. It will give them a ready-to-use tool to jump-start and scale-up energy projects, and to access opportunities for rapidly growing market for energy efficiency and renewable energy systems.
The MK Data Hub is award winning technical, data infrastructure of the MK:Smart project, supporting the collection, integration and use of large amounts of data from many diverse resources relevant to city systems. The datasets include local and national open data, data streams from both key infrastructure networks (energy, transport, water) and other relevant sensor networks (e.g. weather and pollution data), data crowdsourced from social media and mobile applications, etc.
PLANHEAT will develop and validate an integrated and easy-to-use tool to support local authorities in selecting, simulating and comparing alternative low carbon and economically sustainable scenarios for heating and cooling. It will be validated in the three PLANHEAT cities.
The STORM project – Developing an innovative District Heating & Cooling (DHC) network controller to increase the use of waste heat and renewable energy sources and boost energy efficiency at district level. The project tackles energy efficiency at district level by developing an innovative district heating & cooling (DHC) network controller. The project partners have developed a controller based on self-learning algorithms, which is currently experimented in the two STORM demo sites.
The Bee Path was opened in 2015 by the city of Ljubljana (SI), a municipality aware of the importance of pollinators for the sustainability of cities. The path is designed in such a way that visitors can comprehend the importance of bees for our survival and our food safety, discover the necessity of honey in our daily diet, but also find out more about the city's beekeeping culture. Various stakeholders are involved in the initiative: educational, cultural and health institutions, businesses, NGOs, and of course, beekeepers.
The idea of the food boxes is not the idea of the association, it has been present in the country for years, but they would have liked to make this initiative available to local people as well. The boxes are 65x59x39 cm cabinets made of plastic with reinforced metal. The cabinet is made of waterproof and UV-protected material. Each box belongs to a volunteer team. The team visits the box several times a day in hot weather or at least once a day, checking the food in it. Volunteers also clean the boxes daily.
The overarching theme of this good practice is strategic management in the context of long-term decline and stagnation. After local industries closed, the population of Altena (DE) shrank by 43% between 1975 and 2014. Facing diminishing resources and increasingly complex problems, Altena shifted its strategic objectives to focus on controlling decline rather than growth. The municipality adjusted its priorities, working more closely with citizens.