Smart urban solutions for transition and developing countries
Resource provided by Saya Askarova
30 June 2016 – Almaty, Kazakhstan – A new resource has been added to the PM World Library related to major urban development projects and programmes. The new resource is titled “United Smart Cities: Smart urban solutions for transition and developing countries”.
The actual high level of urbanization is presenting a serious challenge for the sustainable development of our cities. Urban areas are responsible for considerable world’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas net emissions. Urbanization leads to the continuing expansion of urban areas and urban sprawl, reducing the land available for other uses. This urbanization is often uncontrolled, creating and expanding informal settlements, whose residents may lack security of tenure and social and physical infrastructure. Furthermore, cities, the way they are planned, are not prepared for the ongoing demographic changes, such as the rapid ageing of the population in Western Europe. Globally a large share of the population does not have access to affordable housing.
For small and medium-sized cities, which have limited access to financial resources, it is much more difficult to promote smart city solutions. Countries with economies in transition where access to financial resources for investment into innovative technologies is limited are not part of those initiatives. At the same time, those countries would benefit the most from the application of the smart cities approaches; they can “leapfrog” in the quality and diversity of services they provide to their inhabitants.
The new resource is a report on a research project included in the 2014/15 programme for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The strategic goal of the project was to promote sustainable urban development, especially in countries with transition economies and developing countries through analysis of practices and policies, pilot activities, exchange of experiences and best practices, networking and capacity building. The project was to help scale up the European experiences of smart cities to countries outside of the EU.
To access this new resource, go to https://pmworldlibrary.net/major-projects-programmes/, click on “Urban Development / Redevelopment – Mega-Cities – Smart Cities”, and scroll down to find this resource. Must be logged in professional member to access.
