Public Management Project – December 2013

Smart Cities Comparison among EU models

Smart city is a program set by European Union. In this work we focus on

cities of Berlin and Rzeszow in order to make comparison with the

program set by Region of Sardinia.

Alessandro Sitzia

Andrea Padricelli

Aneta Mazurkienicz

Antonio Marco Camboni

Gianfranco Puggioni

Marcus Teege

Mirko Podda

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Summary

1. Introduction...................................................................................................................... 2

2. Theory framework.......................................................................................................... 2

3. European Union and Smart Cities............................................................................ 4

4. The Covenant of Mayors............................................................................................. 6

5. Smart cities in Europe................................................................................................... 8

5.1. Berlin, Germany.................................................................................................. 8

5.2. Rzeszow, Poland.............................................................................................. 10

5.3. Smart cities in Sardinia, Italy....................................................................... 11

6. Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 13

7. Bibliography................................................................................................................... 14

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1. Introduction

The general objective of the work is to make comparisons among cities in different countries.

Our research is focused on giving a general overview of smart cities situated in Germany,

Poland and Sardinia.

Starting from two European programs named: “The Smart Cities and Communities EIP” and

“Covenant of Majors”, we show how these cities have used these ones in order to be “Smart”.

In particular we consider the cities of Berlin, Rzeszow and Cagliari, which is the most involved

in the “Sardinian Regional smart city program”.

2. Theory framework A city can be defined as ‘smart’ when investments in human & social capital, traditional and

modern communication infrastructures influence sustainable economic development and a

high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory action

and engagement. A Smart City is a city well performing considering 6 characteristics, built on

the ‘smart’ combination of activities of self-decisive, independent and aware citizens.

A smart city is a city that presents some of these characteristics:

Performs well in activities like economy, governance, mobility, environment and

living. It’s possible because of the collaboration with smart and independent citizens;

Measure and monitors critical infrastructures like roads, subways and airports in

order to optimize its resources and plan its activities;

Connection of physical infrastructure, information and technology infrastructure,

social infrastructure, and the business infrastructure to increase the level of intelligence of

the city; More efficient, sustainable, equitable and livable;

Combination of ICT and Web 2.0 technology with processes, in order to speed up

bureaucracy and dematerialize that;

Identification of new solutions in manage the complexity of the city in order to

improve sustainability and livability;

Interconnection of infrastructure components and services using smart computing

technologies.

It is possible to define a set of parameters that a city has to follow in order to be considered

smart:

(1) management and organization,

(2) technology,

(3) governance,

(4) policy,

(5) people and communities,

(6) the economy,

(7) built infrastructure,

(8) the natural environment.

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Management and organization: these factors are very important to success in major

challenges inside the city and among cities. Smart cities programs differ from general

government programs in some characteristics, but there is much in common because most

initiative in smart cities are driven by governments.

Technology: in order to manage infrastructures the smart city needs smart computing system.

It refers to a new generation of integrated hardware and software. This system should provide

people more realistic information to make better decisions. ICTs are the tool of a smart city

and the integration of these tools can change the urban landscape and offer much more

opportunities.

Governance: Smart cities projects involve a lot of stakeholders. Better governance is needed to

manage this project and satisfy different needs. The governance is a system of laws that define

government activities in order to achieve goals and objectives. ICT should be used to increase

stakeholder relations and support leadership, alliances and works under different jurisdictions.

Smart governance is the most important element of smart cities initiatives, characterized by

citizens’ participation and private/public partnerships. Smart governance depends on the

implementation of a smart governance infrastructure that should be accountable, responsive

and transparent.

Policy context: this context represents political elements as city council, city government, and

external pressures like policy agendas. The policy context is able to create conditions enabling

urban development. Managers have to take into account laws and regulations when set up

strategies.

People and communities: smart cities have an impact on the quality of life of citizens.

Economy: cities with high level of economic competitiveness must have some characteristics of

smart cities. A competitive city presents these characteristics: smart economy, smart people,

smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment, and smart living.

Built infrastructure: ICT infrastructures include wireless infrastructure, service-oriented

information systems. In smart cities initiative we could denote some barriers for the ICT

implementation. We refer to e-government technological barriers that figure out some

challenges in IT infrastructure, Security and privacy and Operational costs.

Natural environment: the core element of a smart city is to use technology to increase

sustainability and manage natural resources in a better way. The main factors that have an

effect on sustainability and livability of a city are: waterways, sewers, and green spaces.

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3. European Union and Smart Cities “The Smart Cities and Communities EIP” (SCC) is a partnership which includes the areas of energy,

transport and information and communication with the objective to improve services in cities

where energy production, mobility and transport and ICTs are connected, reducing at the same

time energy consumption, greenhouse gas and polluting emissions.

The EU wants to develop a new model of city, investing for sustainable and territorial

development. Cities should take into account all aspects of the sustainability, the environment,

the development of infrastructure, the co-participation of citizens, in order to be more

competitive and more livable. This would involve ambitious and pioneer measures in buildings,

energy networks and transport. This Initiative will support cities and regions in taking ambitious

and pioneering measures to progress by 2020 towards a 40% reduction of greenhouse gas

emissions through sustainable use and production of energy. Now we briefly analyze all of these

aspects.

Buildings: after 2015 new private buildings must be made with net zero energy requirements or

net zero carbon emission, while for all new buildings of the local public authorities it can be

anticipated.In the building renovations it’s necessary to reduce the energy consumption levels,

with for example innovative insulation material.

Energy networks: here we have to consider two aspects: heating and cooling; electricity. For the

first one it’s better to invest ininnovative and cost effective biomass, solar thermal and geothermal

applications. For the second one they have to focus on Smart appliances (ICT, domestic

appliances), lighting (in particular solid state lighting for street and indoor), equipment (e.g. motor

systems, water systems).

Transport: these systems have significant impacts on the environment, accounting for between

20% and 25% of world energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. Road transport is also a

major contributor to local air pollution and smog. A sustainable mobility should consider:

advanced smart public transport, intelligent traffic management and congestion avoidance,

demand management, information and communication, freight distribution, walking and cycling.

European lighthouse projects span both the three aspects considered before. They should make

strong partnerships with local leaders and municipal authorities to promote to citizens the

adoption of these models and to reduce gas emissions and energy consumption and more in

general to improve the urban environment. EU Cohesion Policy can provide support for research

and innovation in these areas.

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The commission motivates cities to share their experiences and best practices at global level, in

particular with countries (or cities) which are more sustainable for obtaining suggestions and

inspiration for their development. Cities are also stimulated to promote their successes, because

Commissioners for Energy, Transport and Digital Agenda organize, from 2014, a biennial prize.

According to the research conducted by the Vienna University of Technology with the Delft

University of Technology and the University of Ljubljana, the top 5 smart cities in Europe are:

Luxembourg (LU), Aarhus (DK), Turku (FI), Aalborg (DK), Odense (DK).

Four to five of these cities are located in Northern Europe, where people are very sensitive to the

environment and base their competitive advantage in these fields.

European initiatives on Smart Cities – Indicative Roadmap (source: EU website)

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4. The Covenant of Mayors

The Covenant of Mayors is the mainstream European movement involving local and regional

authorities, voluntarily committing to increasing Energy efficiency of renewable energy sources on

their territories. By their commitment, Covenant signatories aim to meet and exceed the European

Union 20% CO2 reduction objective by 2020.

In 2008 the European Commission launched the Covenant of Mayors to endorse and support the

efforts deployed by local authorities in the implementation of sustainable energy policies. Indeed,

local governments play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of climate change, all the more so

when considering that 80% of energy consumption and CO2 emissions is associated with urban

activity.

For its unique characteristics, being the only movement of its kind mobilizing local and regional

actors around the fulfillment of EU objectives, the Covenant of Mayors has been portrayed by

European institutions as an exceptional model of multi-level governance.

In order to translate their political commitment into concrete measures and projects,

Covenant signatories notably undertake to prepare a Baseline Emission Inventory and submit,

within the year following their signature, a Sustainable Energy Action Plan outlining the key

actions they plan to undertake.

Beyond energy savings, the results of signatories’ actions are manifold: creation of skilled and

stable jobs, not subject to delocalization; healthier environment and quality of life; enhanced

economic competitiveness and greater energy independence. These actions serve as examples for

others to follow, notably through referring to the “Benchmarks of Excellence”, a database of best

practices submitted by Covenant signatories.

Covenant Indicators

Covenant indicators are periodically compiled based on the data provided by signatories in their

Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) templates. These indicators aim at providing an overview

of the signatory municipalities’ situation in terms of energy consumption, associated CO2

emissions and 2020 targets.

The sample used for producing these indicators includes 1,287 SEAPs that have been accepted by

the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission before the 11th of June 2013. The

sample covers 50.9 million inhabitants, which represents 44% of the population covered by all the

submitted SEAPs.

Due to the flexibility of approaches adopted by signatories the indicators presented hereafter only

provide an approximate figure. Note that the comparison of Covenant indicators with similar

national or EU-level indicators is expected to reveal some differences. This disparity can be

explained by the sectors addressed within the Covenant of Mayors initiative, in which the main

focus areas are municipal buildings, equipment/facilities, tertiary buildings, equipment/facilities,

residential buildings and transport, whereas industry is optional.

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CO2 emissions per capita

Covenant Signatories release on average seven tonnes of CO2 equivalent per capita per year. Over

90% of the signatories have adopted IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) emission

factors for fuel combustion. Signatories that have adopted a life cycle assessment approach report

a greater level of emissions (12 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per capita), since it includes not only

emissions due to fuel combustion but also emissions of the entire energy supply chain.

Breakdown of CO2 emissions by sector

The buildings sector is responsible for more than half of the overall CO2 emissions, followed by

transport. Although industry is an optional sector within the Covenant of Mayors initiative, it still

has a considerable representation in terms of overall CO2 emissions.

Final energy consumption per capita

On average, final energy consumption per capita in signatory municipalities is 25 MWh/capita. This

refers to the amount of energy consumed by person per year.

Final energy consumption in buildings represents more than half of the energy consumed in

signatory municipalities. In particular, the residential sector is responsible for one third of the

overall consumption, followed by transport with 31%.

CO2 emissions reduction target by 2020

Signatories commit to reducing their emissions on average by 29% by 2020, thus voluntarily

exceeding the EU 20% CO2 emissions reduction target. Their commitment of reducing 113 Mt of

CO2 equivalent represents 10% of the EU-27 CO2 emissions reduction target by 2020 (1,117 Mt CO2

to be reduced).

Breakdown of expected CO2 emissions reduction by field of action in 2020

Over 40% of the CO2 emissions reduction target by 2020 is expected to result from actions

addressing mainly the buildings sector, 20% from the transport sector and 13% from local energy

production.

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5. Smart Cities in Europe

5.1 Berlin, Germany

With being one of the global players in Europe and the capital of Germany, Berlin acts as a pioneer

for German smart cities. By analyzing the structure of the Smart City Berlin, it becomes obvious,

that the project Smart City is just beginning and lots of projects have been planned but not yet

realized. Furthermore, to understand the topic of Smart Cities, different aspects have to be

considered.

Focused on the case of Berlin, the topic has to be divided into different fields of application. The

main part is the field of development and research, which is way more important compared to the

already existing part, the usage of smart technologies or other kind of smart supporters.

Research:

In addition to the regularities of the European Union, it’s occurring obligatory standards and the

nation-wide plans of the German government, the municipality of Berlin set up a wide range of

different research and supporting programs for the development of a Smart City.

Two of the most interesting research programs in the municipality of Berlin are the work of the

“Fraunhofer Institute”, which belongs to the “Fraunhofer Society”, a German research

organization working in many areas of sciences and the “Urban Laboratory”, which was

established at the Technical University of Berlin with the focus of research and scientific

monitoring of Smart Cities as a main topic.

The “Fraunhofer Institute” works mainly on four topics in connection with Smart Cities. The fields

of communication, energy, mobility and security are considered to be the dramatic problems of

the future. The work of the organization is financed by the public sector (50%) but also depends of

obtaining commissions for economical, industrial or political sector.

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The transport system of Berlin is (like in many other urban metropolis) a current problem. Even

though public transport is existing, there's too much traffic in the streets. Therefore scientists

work on an intelligent traffic-system which helps to avoid certain crowded areas by sending GPS-

signals to the cars. Due to the European Union-conditions for reducing gas emissions, Berlin also is

implementing “smart elements” in new buildings. But not only buildings, also public areas and its

elements, such as street lighting play an important role. The produced light waves should be

transformed to be able to transport data with the aim of creating a public Wi-Fi-network spread

over the entire city.

The “Urban Laboratory” of the Technical University of Berlin has been created in order to offer a

simulation platform for several pilot projects and their consequences and benefits for the city. At

the moment, a energy-monitoring system for single street-districts is tested with the goal of

reducing energy consumption up to 20%. Furthermore, the “Urban Laboratory” is highly

connected with representatives of economy and politics in Berlin. The strategy is to involve

stakeholders from local authorities, companies and industry partners for building a planning

committee for future projects.

Current use of smart technologies:

The approaches of smart thinking can already been experienced today. Berlin is known as a city of

“sharing”, many companies offer different kind of rentable transportation. The “drop-and-go”

system makes it possible to rent a car or bike for the way to work and dropping it at any place in

the city. Another offered service by the public sector is the „shared-garden“, a huge garden in the

centre of the city accessible for everyone. Due to the lack of space and the shrinking green areas,

those places can be a valuable oasis in the city.

A last problem that has already been worked on is the public safety in the city. The existing

monitory system reduced crime rates in certain areas but also receives bad reviews in order to

implement a police state. The digitalization of the berlin also has its downside that has to be dealt

with in the future.

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5.2 Rzeszow, Poland

The idea of a “smart city” in Poland is quite new, not a well-known or a common thing, but more

and more cities are trying to be smart. For now they are focusing mostly on rationalizing energetic

economy. The best example for that is Polish Network Energy Cities (PNEC), which is a network

that concentrates tens of polish cities that are trying to implement at least some part of a ‘smart

city’ concept.

PNEC projects concerns on a matters such as: energetic management, use of renewable energy,

building sewage system infrastructure etc. According to the website smart-cities.eu there are five

cities in Poland that we can call ‘intelligent’ – Bydgoszcz, Białystok, Szczecin, Rzeszów and Kielce.

Those cities are actually very similar in most matters that makes them smart–level of

cosmopolitanism, creativity, innovative and safe transport system, pollution and environmental

protection. The smartest city in Poland is Rzeszów, a city almost 1 thousand years old, placed on a

southern-east of Poland, the capital of Podkarpackie region and winner of the “Best managed

polish city in 2012”.

Rzeszów has about 200 thousands inhabitants, 6 Higher Schools, well developed air, informatics

and pharmaceutical industry and also people with great skills in leveraging funds from European

Union (about 260 projects co-financed with EU Funds). As we know – smart cities are trying to

organize Intelligent Transport System (ITS) to achieve informatically operated well-balanced

traffic, which in consequence will lower the expenses for transport infrastructure, improve the air

condition and general city impression. The thing that places Rzeszów higher than other cities is the

implementation of “Rzeszowski Transport Program” – a program that is a kind of introduction for

the real ITS and cost over 100million euros from which more than 800 thousands were European

Union Funds.

Rzeszowski Transport Program includes – zone traffic management system, public transport

management system, passengers information system (e-info) and electronic ticket system (e-

ticket). However Rzeszów is the 1st city in the polish ranking – it’s still far away from the top in

general classification (48 place). Growth of high technologies makes cities more and more

computerized but when it comes to Poland the technological delay is one of the biggest problems

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that holds down exploitation of resources In cities. Informatics services, use of innovative IT

solutions in public administration or creating conditions for IT society development are still very

important and not so well-managed matters. Therefore, one of the challenges for Poland in the

next few years will be implementation of IT solutions.

5.3 Smart Cities in Sardinia, Italy

In Sardinia there is a project “Smart city – Comuni di classe A” that we can find inside the project

called “ Sardegna CO2.0” supported by the Region of Sardinia.

The aim of this project is to reduce gradually the emission of CO2 trough coordinated and

integrated actions.

This program offers support in favour of municipalities that implement specific protocols for the

reduction of emission and sustainable development.

To facilitate the concession of financial resources the Region established a found called “JESSICA”.

Thanks to “JESSICA” the Region will provide money to the municipalities to:

Promote the sustainable use of renewable energy

Implement intervention for urban regeneration and energy efficiency

Support local government and regional bodies to planning operations that

guarantee economic, social and environmental effects that are self-sustainable from a

financial perspective

This project is also supported by the European Union, inside the initiative called “Covenants of

major”.

With this project all the municipalities aim to reduce the 20% of CO2 emission within 2020.

To obtain this result the local government should prepare this document:

Baseline emission inventory

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Sustainable Energy Action Plan development with stakeholders and citizens (SEAP)

A report every two year about the carrying out of the SEAP

The SAEP is actually the guideline document that helps municipalities in the achievement of the

final result of reduction of emission.

The actions of the SAEP can involved not only the Public sector, but also the private. The principal

actions should concern the facilities and the public sector, but also concern the local energy and

heating / cooling production.

This project involved 63 Sardinian municipalities :

Arborea, Marrubiu, Palmas Arborea, San Nicolò d'Arcidano, Santa Giusta, Terralba, Uras,

Sant'Anna Arresi, Perdaxius, Masainas, Piscinas, San Giovanni Suergiu, Santadi, Tratalias,

Villaperuccio, Fluminimaggiore, Buggerru, Borutta, Ozieri, Erula, Tula, Borore, Birori, Bolotana,

Bortigali, Macomer, Noragugume, Silanus, Sindia, Florinas, Arzana, Elini, Dolianova, Barrali, Donori,

Serdiana, Soleminis, Seulo, Baradili, Sadali, Escolca, Assolo, Barumini, Villagrande Strisaili, Selegas,

Belvì, Oniferi, Ghilarza, Abbasanta, Aidomaggiore, Busachi, Fordongianus, Zerfaliu, Norbello,

Nughedu Santa Vittoria, Ollastra, Paulilatino, Samugheo, Siamaggiore, Soddi, Solarussa, Tadasuni

In this project we can find a lot of opportunities also for the enterprises:

Actively participate with ideas and project to the drafting of the SAEP

Apply for realization of the actions

Get a view of future planning based on SMEs , Environment, Renewable energy and

energy saving.

For the Capital city of Sardinia, Cagliari, there is also a big project called “Cagliari 2020”. The aim of

this project is to transform Cagliari in a “Smart City”. This means in particular to solve the

problems about mobility and to research innovative solutions for decrease the environmental

impact.

Cagliari is a perfect case study, thanks to his innovative traffic information infrastructure. The first

revolution will be to connect all bus stop with an operation centre 24/h per day, to get

information in real time, about frequency and timing of the buses. This will be possible with

geolocation of buses, with a gps device, that communicate its position to the operation centre.

This will aloud to have all information about the traffic and the possibility to organize the traffic

light in order to delete all advances and delays.

The final objective will be to have information in real time about traffic and extraordinary events

(strikes and incidents) and provide solution in real time. Other info collected will be about parking

and on demand shuttle.

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Another interesting aspect is the acquisition of data on the impact energy and the environment

that has the traffic on the city. The buses are exploited as probes with sensors that record the

emission of pollutants ether. The device will be planted on the vehicle, to collect data and

transmit it to the operation centre. From the acquired picture of the air quality it will possible to

find out how much energy is consumed to cover a certain distance, and how the mobility system

impacts on population from the point of view of health.

6. Conclusions As we said before, the aim was to compare how cities in Europe follow the guidelines suggested by

the European Union. The Europe is investing for sustainable and territorial development in order

to set up a new model of city.

Berlin, that is the capital and one of the most important cities in Europe, has not realized the

program yet. But many programs have started and one of the most interesting is The “Fraunhofer

Institute” that works mainly on four topics in connection with Smart Cities. The fields of

communication, energy, mobility and security are considered to be the dramatic problems of the

future. Most important aspect is to reduce CO2 emissions.

Also in the city of Rzeszow, Poland the program is not started yet. It involves a network that

concentrates tens of polish cities that are trying to implement at least some part of a ‘smart city’

concept. The aim of this project is to reduce gradually the emission of CO2 trough coordinated and

integrated actions. This program concerns support in favour of municipalities that implement

specific protocols for the reduction of emission and sustainable development.

Cagliari is adopting new policies for developing its infrastructures, in order to be a Smart City. With

“Cagliari 2020” they are trying to find a solution in mobility and innovation research, for the

reduction of the environmental impact. At the moment we saw a lot of revolutions in transports,

mobility, and greenhouse, but it’s not enough.

It’s interesting to notice that Sardinia is going to follow the Smart City program from a regional

point of view, and it’s quite simple to spot why. It is quite similar to Poland, where some cities are

going to set up a network in order to reach the Energy’s objective.

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7. Bibliography H. Abut, editor. Vector Quantization. IEEE Press, 1990

Understanding Smart Cities: An Integrative Framework - 2012 45th Hawaii International

Conference on System Sciences

European Commission papers:

SETIS, European Initiative on Smart Cities. (www.setis.ec.europa.eu)

ENERGY, Smart Cities and communities – European Innovation Partnership. 2012 Brussels

Communication from the commission

Other sources:

Smart cities w Polsce / Inteligetne miasta (www.inteligentnemiasta.pl – www.rzeszow.pl)

TU Berlin Urban Lab (www.smartcity.tu-berlin.de)

FOKUS-Fraunhofer-Institut für Offene Kommunikationssysteme (www.fokus.fraunhofer.de) Bundesregierung (www.bundesregierung.de)