14 Dec 2020 — During the first meeting the scope of the working group was presented and participants expressed their preferences on the topics to be discussed in the next sessions.
The working group on Smart Heritage Cities, set up by POCITYF and EURADA, kicked-off at the end of November 2020. The aim of the discussion group is to share knowledge on the topics of smart cities and communities in cultural heritage areas. Participants of the first meeting include city representatives and experts from Italy, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Turkey, Malta, Romania, Lebanon, Austria and France.
During the meeting Martijn de Vries and João Formiga, the site managers of POCITYF’s two lighthouse cities Évora (PT) and Alkmaar (NL), gave insights on how they are addressing problems of their historical cities through the combination of breakthrough solutions such as the Positive Energy Blocks (PEBs), e-mobility and innovative ICT technologies while respecting the urban cultural heritage.
In the second part of the event participants had a fruitful discussion from which emerged that:
- Most of the participants are already implementing (42%) or will soon start implementing (35%) smart city solutions related to energy, in particular on renewable energy sources.
- The biggest constraint faced when implementing such smart city solutions is “funding and business models” (86%), followed by “legislation and policies” (57%), and “lack of confidence or reluctance shown by citizens – lack of clarity around benefits” (48%)
- These constraints have been overcome in particular by a close dialogue with public authorities, technological providers and regulators. Some of the attendees also point out that it can be useful to participate in the EUCF project.
For the first year (2021), the working group will meet virtually 4 times and will design 4 newsletters.
For the next Working Group’s meeting, participants would like to focus on funding, smart city governance, and the sharing of best practices:
- Possibility to focus on upcoming programmes for the period 2021-2027 related to the topic or other sources of financing.
- Possibility to present the Urban funding toolkit.
The next meeting will take place in January/February.
If you want to join the working group and take part in the discussions you can register here.
