Tag: Community Groups

Summer School organised by NTNU in cooperation with ESITC Caen School of Civil Engineering

Posted on August 1, 2023 by - DBEP Learning and Education Portfolio

This event took place over 5 days in Trondheim in September 2019. Its objective was to investigate community-based facilities management (CbFM) within the City of Trondheim and develop a vision for future CbFM. . +CityxChange was presented to the students before they went into the field.

The participants were 30 Bachelor and Master students from various European universities: Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Hochschule Albstadt-Sigmaringen, University of Applied Sciences Münster, Breda University of Applied Sciences, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Hogeschool Inholland Diemen, Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Nova University, HAN University of Applied Sciences. 

Several areas in Trondheim were involved: the Sluppen area, the Brattøra area (both industrial urban regeneration areas), Karolinerveien neighbourhood (residential complex – “borettslage”/housing cooperative) and NTNU-IBM, Høgskoleringen 7 A (university premises).

The students visited the allocated case study area over a period of 5 days and conducted observations, surveys and interviews with facility managers, residents and other users in the Sluppen and Brattøra (+CxC sites) and Karolinerveien districts of Trondheim. User requirements were collected and analysed. Each group visualized the liveability of the neighbourhoods and investigated how Facilities Management could offer added value, from an outsider perspective on the case areas.

City Energy Game

Posted on August 1, 2023 by - DBEP Learning and Education Portfolio

This event, organised by the University of Limerick and Limerick City and County Council as part of the first City Engage Week took place with two groups of participants, on two consecutive days at Fab Lab Limerick in September 2019. The “City Energy” boardgame is about collective decision-making in the city and the roles that citizens play. It uses techniques of gamification and tests scenarios of placemaking and behavioural change for residents that share a city block. Players adapt to scenarios during the game according to personas that they choose, (Owner, Occupier, Business-Owner or Curious Citizen). Researchers from the University of Limerick, and students from the School of Architecture at UL (SAUL) developed this game, and ran events for +CityxChange in Limerick, Ireland in Sept. 2019. The purpose of the event was to introduce concepts of shared ownership in the context of the Limerick City Georgian Neighbourhood / Demonstration Area. The event involved building owners and residents in the Limerick City Demonstration area. Through the board game, the organisers  tested various scenarios of urban placemaking and planning and introduced participants to potential  behavioural changes. The participants had the opportunity to inhabit the roles of other user groups addressed in the project. The event brought together people potentially interested in taking part in the Energy Champions programme or the Open Innovation Calls. The event familiarised the participants with the goals of +CityxChange, and served for promoting the use of the Citizens’ Observatory. Trained facilitators were needed during the event to keep track of scores and explain rules. One of the conclusions was that the roles of players could be diversified and the scoring system simplified for future similar events.

Positive Cities and Distribution Grids (PCDG)

Posted on August 31, 2021 by - DBEP Learning and Education Portfolio

The deployment of distributed energy generation technologies, especially solar photovoltaic energy production, has turned regular consumers into active contributors to the local supply of electricity. This development, along with the digitalisation of power distribution grids (smart grids) are setting the scene for a new paradigm: peer-to-peer electricity trading and the emergence of local flexibility markets. Microgrids, small communities or individual buildings can become net positive producers. This has led to the creation of multiple mathematical models and simulation environments to represent the interactions of positive buildings and distribution grids. In this regard, the Positive Cities and Distribution Grids (PCDG) model provides a user-friendly window to analyse the end-user benefits on engaging in peer-to-peer trade, the role of battery storage, allowing to showcase and quantify P2P trade benefits among buildings, and to analyse the overall benefit for the community. NTNU has developed an app that allows the user to analyse one’s district energy trade, as well as investigate the economic benefits of investing in renewable power generation for their own home. To use the app, the users will need some data about the district they live in, specifically the energy demand of each building over a particular time period and the energy price over the respective period. Additionally, the user can specify if any buildings have solar panels or wind turbines installed, as well as the amount of power generated over the particular period. Batteries may also be included in the configuration. The app was launched in November 2020.

Renewable Energy Scavenger Hunt

Posted on August 31, 2021 by - DBEP Learning and Education Portfolio

The Renewable Energy Scavenger Hunt was an event that was organised by Trondheim Kommune in Trondheim with a local secondary school to engage students with the themes of sustainability and energy. Seven stations that students would visit during the activity were set up. Activities at the stations included talks by guest speakers about micro grids, real-world demonstrations of renewable energy generation, ideation sessions, and various workshops on related themes. The event took place at the Sluppen City Lab, where there are plenty of examples of renewable energy generation, sharing, and smart mobility solutions for students to see and learn from. The event took place face-to-face on 28 September 2020 and involved approximatively 200 participants over 4h.

+Energy Day

Posted on August 31, 2021 by - DBEP Learning and Education Portfolio

+Energy day was an open air event organised by Võru municipality in the town centre on 22 August 2020. The event revolved around three main themes: what is energy?; how is energy produced and how to save energy. The event included several tents, where the public was able to listen to talks, watch and participate in science and technology demonstrations on energy production and saving, get engaged in pop-up energy playgrounds for families, and participate in public consultations. The event brought together four different project: “+Energy week”, “SaveSmart”, “BioAware” and “CityxChange”, building on the synergies among these. The event lasted for 4 hours and there were about 200 participants.

The Limerick We Want to Live In

Posted on August 31, 2021 by - DBEP Learning and Education Portfolio

The online event, organised by the University of Limerick, took place online in September 2020 as part of the CityEngage week and was designed to have two parts. The first part included a series of invited short talks given by representatives of the +CityxChange project (from LCCC and UL) and local communities representatives. The talks were recorded and shared on social media(via Twitter) one week before the event, to create a common ground for the discussion in the second part: a synchronous online meeting following the Open Space model. The participants proposed a number of topics for the discussion, such as: Renewable energy sources and the Georgian Limerick – How can mobility become “smart”?; Protecting habitats while introducing renewables- a better city for all beings, not only people; Planning a sustainable smart city – How can the city planning process become more participative?

Next, online rooms on each topic were opened and the participants were able to join different rooms, based on their interest in the particular topics. After 30 min, the participants returned to the main room and shared a summary of what was discussed with all the 22 participants.

Citizen Energy Monitoring Lab

Posted on August 31, 2021 by - DBEP Learning and Education Portfolio

Our Spanish partner Colaborativa organised an online workshop during the September 2020 CityEngage Week in Limerick for those interested to learn how to make and use open hardware home energy monitoring devices. The workshop focused on preparing the participants to start measuring energy usage in their own homes, sharing data within their community and experimenting with these devices. The event was also aimed at bringing together members of the public with an interest in potential shared uses of the data generated. The event brought together 25 participants.