Climate-KIC, launched in 2010, is one of the six original Knowledge and Innovation Communities set up by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The EIT is an EU body whose mission is to create sustainable growth. Climate-KIC supports this mission by addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation. So, its mission is to deliver innovative solutions to climate change via a dynamic alliance of European partners drawn from academia, industry and the public sector. In Climate-KIC, the activities are driven by four main themes in different scales. According to the scale of the project and the required support from Climate-KIC, the projects are categorized in three different types in which the “Flagship Project” has the highest importance in terms of scale and scope. (http://www.climate-kic.org/about/)
“Smart Sustainable District (SSD)” is a Climate-KIC flagship project, started in 2014, in the theme “Urban Transitions” that aims at collaborating with the most ambitious district level developments in the cities and regions represented in the Climate-KIC. It will demonstrate how new thinking, coupled with effective tools, technologies and policies, can lead to ‘factor 4 improvements’ in city district performance across a range of sustainability measures. ‘Factor 4 improvement’ is a concept of sustainable management with the goal of having twice the environmental impact for half the cost (von Weizsäcker et al. 1998).
The SSD structure consists of seven work packages covering all its activities, one of which concerns data and digitization. The other work packages focus on other aspects such as building physical elements, modelling tools, socio-technical aspects, integration of solutions and process and project management. In this project, about 16 European partners from different organizations including industries, academia, and research institutes are involved in diverse branches of expertise and different activities.
SSD is currently focusing on different parts of Europe to bring in more districts with different structures. At the moment, the involved districts in the project are from Rotterdam (Stadshaven Harbour), Utrecht (The new centre), London (Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park) Paris (Les Docks de Saint Ouen), Berlin (Moabit West), Gothenburg (Johanneberg), Malmö (Southeast), Helsinki (Kalasatama) and Copenhagen (Energy block).
The activities in these districts are divided into two types called ‘deep dive’ and ‘non-deep dive’ activities. This categorization is based on the level of involvement and investment of Climate-KIC in these different districts. The so-called deep dive districts (DDDs) are those under the main focus. From the above-mentioned districts, Utrecht CS area, London QEOP, Berlin Moabit West and Paris Les Docks de Saint Ouen have been chosen as DDDs. For the non-DDDs, the process is defined on a general level, enriched by the outcome and experiences gained from DDDs activities that are shared with other districts. Of course, this has been designed in such a way that all districts benefit.
In general, districts undertake a multi-stage process (Climate-KIC SSD 2016):
- Priorities, strategies and opportunities must first be determined.
- Then tangible ‘factor four’ outcomes from cross-sector synergy are identified, either through demonstrating unconsidered benefits, or through bringing in new data and modelling scenarios.
- SSD makes the business case for sustainability, achieving environmental, social and economic outcomes.
- The last phase of the process concerns managing, evaluating and refining the proposition. This is done by sharing best practice, integrating and layering project data, understanding interactions, and by applying new techniques.
To have more information on this project, please visit the official page "http://www.climate-kic.org/programmes/smart-sustainable-districts/".