Whether the goal is to increase recycling or to reduce littering, authorities will never achieve truly clean cities without a fundamental shift in public mindsets and behaviours, according to waste management experts gathered at the CleanEnviro Summit in Singapore. They highlight three ways in which cities can increase public participation in waste management. Financial incentives …
Heavy traffic, long commutes, and environmental concerns – especially air pollution – are giving US city dwellers good reasons to consider alternative modes of transportation. In this article, we look at the forces that are reshaping urban mobility, and we consider how these forces are playing out in different types of cities. We conclude with a …
The objective of the RegioStars Awards is to identify good practices in regional development and to highlight original and innovative projects which could be attractive and inspiring to other regions. It includes the following five categories: Smart Growth, Sustainable Growth, Inclusive Growth, CityStar, and Effective Management. The EU Cohesion Policy Funds support this yearly …
Would you leave your car in the garage and commute to work on your bicycle? The people in-charge of the Radschnellweg project in Germany, a 62-miles long bicycle highway in the Ruhr area, think that we should and that most of us will. Spatial planner Martin Tönnes took the opportunity to cycle from Essen to Dortmund. “There …
Why it’s better to build smart cities from scratch rather than build on the existing infrastructure? How safe is the technology of SMART cities? What problems can occur in SMART cities? Increasingly, questions of data security will rise as will social, citizen-centric solutions to urban problems Smart cities operate at their best when a people-centric …
As part of its Smart Nation program launched in 2014, Singapore will deploy the most ambitious data collecting effort on daily living. In a sweeping effort that will touch the lives of all residents of Singapore, in ways yet undetermined, the government will deploy a next level data collecting initiative. Singapore is already known for …
In an effort to capitalize on current urban transportation trends and mobile technology, Helsinki takes on the challenge of eliminating the need for private car ownership by 2025. Here’s how they plan to do it. The main idea is to combine public and private transport providers in such a way that ensures maximum flexibility and …
In an interview for CXO Talk, Johnathan Reichental, chief information officer for the city of Palo Alto in the heart of Silicon Valley, talked about smart cities and data, government and open government and other topics related to innovation. Reichental’s has had a career in the private sector for more than 20 years. He has been …
Mobile participation is about citizen’s participation in different aspects of urban governance using mobile technology, smartphones or tablets. Citizens can participate in decision making using mobile apps that they can download and install on their phones or tablets. This represents a real innovation in electronic participation. The main idea of citizens’ participation is that every decision matters …
The Pact of Amsterdam is to play a central role in the new EU Urban Agenda by increasing the policy focus on European cities. Cities would play a larger role in European Union policy making under a newly adopted framework dubbed the “Pact of Amsterdam.” According to the EUROCITIES network of municipal leaders, the accord …