The Current
The project has entered its final year! With only 12 months to go, the focus is now on consolidating project results and lessons learned, and then packaging these outcomes for dissemination, replication & scaling. With nearly 80 deliverables and numerous tangible results, we are well on the way to achieving our KPIs and are looking forward to what these next months bring.
ISSUE 04
November 2022
+CityxChange continues to demonstrate, replicate, and upscale.
Consortium meeting in Písek
From November 10-11 we held a consortium meeting in Písek, Czechia to plan for the final year of the project. It was a great opportunity to finally meet and catch up in person! We were able to discuss joint challenges and achievements, as well as future steps for the project. A huge thank you to our wonderful hosts in Písek for sharing their beautiful city with us. Feeling refreshed and looking forward to a fruitful year! Stay tuned for a more detailed news post to come.
PROJECT UPDATES
Trondheim completes D5.11 on dPEB Demonstration
Huge news out of Trondheim! D5.11 is pivotal to the +CxC project, describing in detail the planning for, setting up, and deployment of two positive energy blocks (dPEBs) in the European Lighthouse City of Trondheim: Brattøra and Sluppen. The report also provides a set of guidelines for establishing dPEBs and important learning points and experiences from the deployment of the LHC Trondheim dPEBs. For the full report, pay a visit to our knowledge base:
Publication of Operational Definition for Positive Energy Districts
Dirk Ahlers and Annemie Wyckmans of +CxC recently published a paper with Han Vandevyvere, titled The Sense and Non-Sense of PEDs—Feeding Back Practical Experiences of Positive Energy District Demonstrators into the European PED Framework Definition Development Process. The article contributes an operational definition of PEDs and discusses the practicalities of PED implementation. It further identifies 4 subtypes that respond to varying constraints regarding the energy balance of the PED and identifies 3 boundary conditions under which the definition can hold. Check it out!
+CityxChange Participated in Sustainable Places 2022 in Nice together with other SCC1 projects
On September 8th, Helena Fitzgerald and Dirk Ahlers of +CityxChange presented at Sustainable Places 2022, taking part in a workshop with other Positive Energy District projects to explore the impact of citizen participation on energy systems. The +CxC presentation focused on the CommunityxChange toolkit for stakeholder engagement and introduced the concept of Innovation Playgrounds.
+CITYXCHANGE BY THE NUMBERS
79
28
3
Public Deliverables
Research Outcomes
Interactive Dashboards
NEWS FROM OUR LIGHTHOUSE AND FOLLOWER CITIES
Limerick – Positive Energy Symposium: Integrating the New European Bauhaus into Ireland’s Climate Transition
Trondheim – New energy market is now being tested
Limerick City and County Council together with the University of Limerick and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government held a learning exchange symposium in Limerick’s Citizen Innovation Lab on the 13th of October. The Citizen Innovation Lab, established through +CityxChange, embodies the New European Bauhaus (NEB) values of sustainability, beauty and inclusion. As the national contact point for the New European Bauhaus policy initiative, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage supported this symposium to amplify the Citizen Innovation Lab approach.
The kick-off for testing a separate flexibility market for electricity took place at Brattøra, a neighborhood in Trondheim, on July 4th, 2022. For the first time, building owners are able to share electricity between their own buildings and trade electricity with neighboring businesses. This is a huge step forward in electricity trading, and power sales between neighboring buildings will help us utilize locally available power.
Smolyan – Policy Support Facility work meeting
Sestao – Successful matchmaking through the Smart Cities Marketplace
In the first week of November, Smolyan welcomed Horizon Policy Support Facility experts to provide advice on best practices, as well as independent high-level expertise and guidance in support of the city’s efforts to implement climate change adaptation measures. During the three days, Prof. Lucia Illieva and Eng. Zuzana Hudekova discussed with municipal experts about possible climate adaptation and resilience measures for the city and the region, plans for sustainable urban environment and mobility, and the prospects of local generation of energy using surface water drainage.
We are very excited to announce that the city of Sestao has signed a contract with the European Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF), officially joining the EEEF´s Technical Assistance (TA) program. The contact between the two was a result of the Smart Cities Marketplace Matchmaking activities.
Pisek – Invitation to the Smart Písek
Písek is working to engage with and familiarize citizens with the concept of +CityxChange, successfully hosting stands at city festivals. This not only increases citizen engagement with the project, but also is an opportunity to raise awareness of concepts (e.g. SDGs), tools (e.g. Nextbike app and Muj Písek app), and events (e.g. Climathons).
KEY RESULTS AND OUTCOMES IN THE SPOTLIGHT
D4.7: Limerick 2050 Vision, Integrated Action Plan and Digital Guide
D4.8: Limerick Citizen Observatory
D5.7: +Trondheim 2050 Bold City Vision and Guidelines (Vision for Sustainable Urban Transition)
WORKSHOP SESSIONS & PAST EVENTS
WPC58 ISOCARP Congress
+CxC presented at the 58th ISOCARP WORLD PLANNING CONGRESS about Pathways from PEDs to Climate Neutral Cities and Systemic City Transformation through PEDs, together with fellow SCC1 project, Atelier. It was a great opportunity to share what we do with an audience of urban planners!
LHC Trondheim presents at Digital Davos
The LHC Trondheim +CxC team attended Digital Davos in Switzerland on the 22nd of September! We presented on three main topics: 1) why we’ve had the successes that we’ve had, 2) how we systematically approach mobility, and 3) how we work with energy and mobility. Data is at the forefront of how we share what we do, allowing us to communicate our successes through the numbers.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Smart City Expo World Congress 15 -17/11/2022
As part of the European Smart Cities and Communities (ESCC), +CxC is joining the Smart City Expo in Barcelona! The ESCC program includes cross-cutting topics related to climate neutrality, digital solutions, citizen engagement, and smart city finance. In addition to a constant presence at the ESCC booth, find us in the following sessions:
1. Trondheim will participate in a booth session titled, “What’s in it for cities” about how to support collaboration, innovation, financing, and knowledge dissemination in project cities.
Tuesday 15th [10:00 – 11:30]
2. +CxC will collaborate in the booth session titled, “Governance & digitalization. Digitalization at local level – How to get all cities and communities involved, making use of past and present projects?”
Wednesday 16th [10:00 – 10:30]
3. Annemie Wyckmans will speak at a booth session on “Local collaborative governance”, about new ways of stakeholder engagement.
Wednesday 16th [15:00 – 16:30]
4. Dirk Ahlers will speak at the Central Agora in a session titled, “How do we reach climate neutrality in cities by 2030?” This session explores the European pathways from positive energy districts to climate neutrality.
Thursday 17th [09:15 – 10:00]
FOLLOW US & STAY UPDATED!
Coordination team
Annemie Wyckmans – Project coordinator
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
annemie.wyckmans@ntnu.no
Dirk Ahlers – Project manager
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
dirk.ahlers@ntnu.no
Lighthouse City representatives:
Rosie Webb – Lighthouse City Coordinator, Limerick City and County Council
Urban and Village Renewal, Senior Architect,
rosie.webb@limerick.ie
Silja Rønningsen – Lighthouse City Coordinator,
Trondheim Kommune
silja.ronningsen@trondheim.kommune.no
