The Metropolitan Solutions 2016 Conference took place in Berlin (Germany) from 31 May – 2 June 2016, gathering political leaders, municipal decision-makers and experts in sustainable urban development from across the globe.
Organised by smarticipate partner ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, the conference looked at the latest in smart-city thinking with a particular emphasis on sustainable urban development. Delegates from more than 400 cities attended the event.
The session ‘Smart Liveable Cities’ focused on citizen-centred approaches to make cities smarter, exploring the trade-offs between data collection and data security, systems integration and resilience, automation, and conscious citizen participation.
As part of this session, Dr Joachim Rix, coordinator of the smarticipate consortium, gave a presentation about the smarticipate approach, outlining the concept and detailing the benefits to governments and citizens. The focus of the project, Dr. Rix explained, is to develop an IT platform that will use open data to allow citizens to get involved in urban development issues.
Through the application, users will be able to communicate their ideas as regards urban development projects and will be able to recommend alternative approaches in city planning. This may include the future use of abandoned buildings or open areas, the location of infrastructure such as kindergartens, or areas in which trees should be planted. Examples from Hamburg (Germany), a city partner in the project, were presented.
To view the smarticipate presentation given at Metroplitan Solutions, click here.