Towards a Smart Cities Index: The Case of Portugal

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1 Towards a Smart Cities Index: The Case of Portugal INTELI Inteligência em Inovação, Centro de Inovação, Portugal 1. Smart City: An Integrated Concept There is not a universal concept of smart city shared among academics and policy-makers. However, concrete smart city projects are being implemented around the world, both initiatives related to building cities from scratch in Asia and Middle East and smart urban regeneration projects in Europe and North America. Masdar (United Arab Emirates), Songdon (South Korea), Amsterdam Smart City (The Netherlands) and Smart Santander (Spain) are recognised examples. According to Hollands (2008), these initiatives are characterised by four main trends: utilisation of networked infrastructures and ICT; emphasis on business-led urban development; focus on hightech and creative industries; and concern with environmental sustainability. Due to the danger of technological determinism and urban gentrification, the author proposes a progressive concept of smart city that must seriously start with people and the human capital side of the question, rather than blindly believing that IT itself automatically transform and improve cities. In the same vein, Caraglin et al (2009) advocate that we believe a city to be smart when investments in human and social capital, and transport and ICT communications infrastructure fuel sustainable economic growth and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory governance. In this sense, a smart city can be considered an innovative, sustainable and inclusive city, where a balance of power between the use of IT by business, government, communities and ordinary people prevails (Hollands, 2008). This is a new paradigm on how to build cities, which requires new strategies, technologies, models and urban processes in order to meet the current challenges related to quality of life, environment protection and resource efficiency, equality and social inclusion. 2. Smart Cities Index: The Methodology Based on this integrated concept of a smart city, a specific methodology has been developed by INTELI Intelligence in Innovation Centre in order to produce a Smart Cities Index. To strategically position cities in terms of urban intelligence is the main objective of this work that intends to create a database of municipal information and knowledge to support the decision-making process of public authorities and economic and social actors. The methodology is composed of 5 dimensions of analysis - innovation, sustainability, social inclusion, governance and connectivity, 21 sub-dimensions and a set of 80 indicators. Governance: Integrates urban policies, as well as the cooperation between political, economic and social actors, highlighting the issue of public participation. The efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of public services provision are also key factors in the urban intelligence analysis. Innovation: Embraces the competitiveness of cities in terms of wealth creation and employment generation. It focuses not only on intensive sectors in R&D and technology, but also on the contribution of the creative, green and social economy for the economic development of urban 1

2 spaces. Sustainability: Includes the efficient use of resources, environmental protection, as well as the equilibrium of ecosystems. Water and waste management, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy, sustainable construction, mobility, greenhouse gases emissions and biodiversity are some of the key factors in the study. Picture 1 - Smart Cities Index: Dimensions of Analysis GOVERNANCE PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PUBLIC SERVICES TRANSPARENCY URBAN POLICIES INNOVATION COMPETITIVENESS R&D AND TECHNOLOGY GREEN ECONOMY CREATIVE ECONOMY SOCIAL ECONOMY SUSTAINABILITY ENERGY WATER AND WASTE BUILDINGS MOBILITY AIR QUALITY AND EMISSIONS BIODIVERSITY INCLUSION SOCIAL COHESION CULTURAL DIVERSITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIAL INNOVATION DIGITAL INCLUSION CONNECTIVITY NETWORKS ICT Inclusion: Integrates not only social cohesion, but also cultural diversity, innovation and social entrepreneurship and digital inclusion in terms of health, safety, education, culture and tourism. The use of digital technologies at the service of social integration of disadvantaged groups of the population is also an important area of the analysis. Connectivity: Covers the involvement of cities in national and international territorial networks as well as the level of integration of functions and urban infrastructures. The use of information and communication technologies and digital networks is considered a critical success factor. In order to quantify and qualify the indicators, the collection of information was done through direct observation, official statistics, questionnaires and interviews with the municipalities. To avoid distortions resulting from different units of measurement and scales, the indicators were normalised. The composite indicator smart cities index, is the simple average of the 5 dimensions scores. 3. RENER Living Lab Network of Smart Cities The methodology was applied to a sample of 20 Portuguese municipalities, including mainly small and medium-sized cities dispersed through the territory. These cities are members of the RENER Living Lab Portuguese Smart Cities Network 1 which is a space for development, testing and experimentation of intelligent urban solutions in the real world context, under the concepts of open innovation and co-creation with the involvement of end users. It is also a space for sharing best practices and innovative experiences capable of replication, as well as for the incubation of local solutions with potential for internationalisation. 1 RENER is composed of 25 cities. 20 cities participated in this study: Lisboa, Cascais, Loures, Almada, Setúbal, Beja, Évora, Guimarães, Bragança, Viana do Castelo, Aveiro, Viseu, Faro, Vila Nova de Gaia, Santarém, Torres Vedras, Portalegre, Sintra, Coimbra, Leiria. 2

3 Managed by INTELI, RENER is a member of the European Network of Living Labs. RENER was created under the Portuguese Electric Mobility Programme, as a pilot network for the introduction of the electric vehicle in the country. Several charging points and other related technologies were tested in these urban spaces by large international manufacturers such as Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Peugeot. National technological solutions are now being exported to the USA, Asia and several European countries in the foreseen amount of 70 million euros till It is also expected the creation of new businesses linked to electric mobility in the amount of 65 million euros till In fact, besides the positive impact on environment, public services provision and quality of life, smart cities contribute also to the promotion of innovation, wealth growth and job creation. According to ABI Research (2011), the market for technologies that feed into and support smart city programmes and projects will grow on a global basis from $8 billion in 2010 to exceed $39 billion in 2016, accounting for $116 billion in cumulative spending during that period. Recently the RENER living lab has extended its intervention to other solutions for urban sustainability in the areas of energy, sustainable buildings, governance, and social innovation, operating as a Smart Cities Network in Portugal. 4. Global Results: Measuring Urban Intelligence Lisbon, Almada, Cascais, Aveiro and Vila Nova de Gaia are cities that excelled in various dimensions of the Smart Cities Index, in this preliminary application to 20 cities of the RENER Living Lab. Besides the capital of the country, these are mainly cities located in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Oporto or cities with a strong presence of the university. Picture 3 - Smart Cities Index: Integrated Results Picture 2 Cities in the RENER Living Lab Viana do Castelo Braga Guimarães Porto Vila Nova de Gaia Aveiro Coimbra Leiria Santarém Torres Vedras Loures Sintra Cascais Lisboa Almada Setúbal Faro Portalegre Évora Beja Bragança Vila Real Viseu Guarda Castelo Branco

4 The correlation between the scoring of RENER cities in the smart cities ranking and wealth (measured by the PPP Purchasing Power Parity per capita) is stronger than its correlation with the number of inhabitants. Picture 4 Population vs. Smart Cities Ranking Population vs. Smart Cities Ranking Picture 5 PPP per Purchasing capita Power vs. Parity Smart (PPP) Cities Ranking per capita vs. Smart Cities Ranking 1 9,00 9, , , ,00 6, ,00 6, ,00 5,00 4, , ,00 3, ,00 1, ,00 1, Population Smart Cities Ranking PPP per capita Smart Cities Ranking However, we can observe differences in the position of cities according to the different dimensions. Lisbon surpasses the other RENER cities in the areas of governance, inclusion and innovation, but not in the dimensions of sustainability and connectivity. Vila Nova de Gaia and Almada are the best performing cities on sustainability. These urban areas have been investing in the improvement of air quality, water and waste management systems, energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable mobility. Examples of successful local projects are related to remote monitoring of energy consumption in buildings, electric bicycles, sustainable neighbourhoods, and urban gardens. Furthermore, Leiria and Setúbal are positioned in the top of the ranking in terms of connectivity, which reveals their integration in territorial networks and the use of networked infrastructures and technologies, such as virtual tourism tools. In what concerns smaller cities, we can identify a homogeneous behaviour in the domains of sustainability, social inclusion and governance, domains where municipalities have been investing during the last years. Solutions in the areas of air quality and water and waste management are strongly supported, while energy and mobility are at present less expressive. However, projects in the areas of energy efficiency in buildings, sustainable mobility (electric and soft modes), and renewable energy production are increasingly emerging at a local level. Social inclusion initiatives are mainly centred on traditional measures linked to social cohesion, and social innovation projects (such as social entrepreneurship and digital inclusion) are less represented. In an embryonic basis, some municipalities are investing in the efficiency of public services provision and internal reorganisation, trying to use the potential of ICT and social networks. Huge differences among cities are mainly visible in the area of innovation, which reveals the diverse level of investment of the municipalities in infrastructures and programmes for the attraction of companies and talent. A bet in entrepreneurship with the aim of creating local employment could be a good strategy in an age of austerity, namely in the areas of green economy, creativity and social innovation. It is worth noting that it was also possible to identify good practices in the cities positioned in the bottom of the rankings. Thus, there is a strong potential for urban cooperation and for the replication of innovative solutions among cities. 4

5 4. Specific Results: Sustainability Almada, Vila Nova de Gaia, Cascais, Lisboa e Loures are the front runners in the area of sustainability, which comprises the following sub-dimensions: energy, mobility, buildings, air quality, water and waste management, and biodiversity. Picture 6 Sustainability Index In this dimension, cities present a specific behaviour, and the correlation between the scoring in the sustainability ranking and urban population and wealth is not so expressive. Picture 7 Population vs. Sustainability Ranking Population vs. Sustainability Ranking 1 Picture 8 PPP per Purchasing capita Power vs. Sustainability Parity (PPP) Ranking 250 per capita vs. Sustainability Ranking 1 9,00 9, , , ,00 6, ,00 6, ,00 5,00 4, , ,00 3, ,00 1, ,00 1, Population Sustainability Ranking PPP per capita Sustainability Ranking Mobility Lisbon, Almada, Beja, Loures and Évora are the top performers in terms of mobility, due to their specific actions in electric and soft mobility with the aim of reducing GHG emissions and improving the citizens quality of life. 75% of the analysed municipalities have defined a plan for sustainable mobility, and all of them have formalised electric mobility plans within the National Electric Mobility Programme. This initiative was launched by the Portuguese Government in 2010 with the aim of promoting the introduction of the electric vehicle in the country. The MOBI.E system is an intelligent solution that integrates all charging systems for electro mobility in a universal and open-access platform that empowers the user and induces innovation. Portuguese cities are being used as a full-scale laboratory to test and experiment new 5

6 technological and business solutions. 1,113 charging points are installed in the RENER municipalities (plus 8 quick charging points), which are managed in real time by the Mobility Intelligent Centre (MIC). Picture 9 Electric vehicles charging sockets Annual consumption (2012) (Source: MIC) 16 1, , ,80 0,70 0,60 8 0,50 6 0, ,30 0,20 0,10 Almada Aveiro Beja Bragança Cascais Coimbra Evóra Faro Guimarães Leiria Lisboa Loures Portalegre Santarém Setúbal Sintra Torres Vedras Viana do Castelo Vila Nova de Gaia Viseu Annual consumption of electric charging sockets (kwh) Nº of electric vehicles charging sockets per 1,000 Inhab. Despite the financial and economic crisis and the reduced vehicles sales compared to initial forecasts, local authorities are integrating efficient vehicles in their fleets functioning as leading examples: 25% of the RENER municipalities have electric vehicles and 70% have hybrid vehicles in their fleets. It is worth of notice the case of Lisbon that has 54 electric vehicles and 39 hybrid vehicles in the municipal fleet. The city was also one of the world pioneers in the provision of electric taxis through an experimental project, launched in 2012 in cooperation between the municipality and a local taxis operator. 45% of the analysed municipalities have bike-sharing points, but car-sharing services are only available in Lisbon (Mob car-sharing, run by Carris). Cascais is the only RENER city with electric bicycles, but other municipalities demonstrated the intention to introduce them in their bikesharing services. Car-sharing operators are also planning to introduce electric vehicles in their fleets, which is a good mechanism to promote the use of these low carbon cars. It is also an opportunity to urban entrepreneurship, as some start-ups are developing specific solutions to answer the needs of this emerging market. Mobi.ag, for example, is a start-up installed in the Start-up Lisboa incubator, which is developing a technological platform to manage all car-sharing services independently of the operator. Several good practices in the area of soft mobility were identified, especially in the city of Almada, with a planned cycle lane of 332 km and interesting awareness activities target to the entire community. The municipality was recognised as a case study within the European Mobility Week Intelligent mobility systems are being experimented in some RENER cities, such as real time transport information systems, and intelligent parking solutions. For example, Sintra and Coimbra are testing a parking payment system through smartphones. Lisbon is the only city that operates a Low Emission Zone scheme which restricts entry to certain urban areas to the most polluting cars. 6

7 Energy Loures, Vila Nova de Gaia, Almada, Évora and Cascais present the best performance in the energy sub-dimension. 75% of the municipalities have subscribed the Covenant of Mayors, but only 45% have already delivered their Sustainable Energy Action Plans. Only 15% of these plans were approved by the European Commission. The average target for CO 2 emissions reduction till 2020 is 20-21%, being Loures the most ambitious city with a target of 36%. In 2008 per capita CO 2 emissions (tons/km 2 inhabitant) reached the maximum in Setúbal (15.29) and the minimum in Almada (0.03), while per capita energy consumption (tep) ranged between 2.90 (Aveiro) and 0.65 (Sintra). Picture 10 Energy consumption vs. CO 2 emissions per capita (Source: APA, DGEG) 2 18,00 16,00 14,00 12,00 1 8,00 6,00 4,00 2,00 Energy consumption per capita (tep) CO2 emissions per capita (tons) In the analysed municipalities, the energy produced by renewable sources in 2010 was KWh (DGEG), corresponding to wind (85.72%), mini-hydro (11.37%) and solar PV (2.91%). Loures (50.77% of the total energy produced by renewables), Viana do Castelo (23%) and Torres Vedras (8.36%) were the top performers. It is worth of notice that, according to Eurostat, the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption was 24.9% in Portugal (2011), compared to the average of 13% of the EU. For the municipalities which have developed CO 2 inventories, the energy consumption is generally higher in the transports sector (around 50% of the total energy consumption), followed by the residential and services sectors. Public lighting is also a major energy consumer and represents a huge burden for the municipal budgets. To reduce the energy consumption related to public lighting, some municipalities are replacing traditional lamps by more efficient lamps and LED, and are introducing intelligent lighting systems. In the analysed sample, 15% of the municipalities have street lighting systems with dimmable equipment. There is no record of the use of public lighting remote management systems in the RENER cities. Évora was the first urban area in Portugal to hook up to the intelligent energy grid, through the Inovcity project. Promoted by EDP Distribuição with support from national partners in industry, 7

8 technology and research, the initiative aims to provide the electricity grid with information and devices to automate grid management, improve service quality, reduce operating costs, promote energy efficiency, and increase the penetration of renewable energies. 31,000 energy boxes are installed in local households. By promoting energy efficiency, micro generation and electrical mobility, intelligent grids constitute a fundamental pillar for sustainable development. The project was awarded with several prizes, such as the Utility of the Year Award 2012 within the European Smart Metering Awards of the Smart Metering UK & Europe Summit Conference. The same kind of project is also being replicated in one Brazilian city Aparecida under the coordination of EDP Brasil. Buildings Vila Nova de Gaia, Lisbon, Almada, Cascais and Guimarães are the leaders in the buildings subdimension, due to the conjugation of several good practices in the area of sustainable construction. 50% of the analysed municipalities have defined and formalized strategies for sustainable construction. Concerning energy performance certification, Lisboa, Sintra and Vila Nova de Gaia are the RENER cities with a higher number of certificates emitted in 2012, being the percentage of A+ and A bands in the total certificates higher in Aveiro and Bragança. Moreover, 30% of the RENER cities provide incentives to sustainable construction, for example through municipal tax rebate for new buildings of class A and A+. For example, Vila Nova de Gaia launched in 2010 a local policy with specific incentives to sustainable rehabilitation and the use of renewable energy sources in buildings, comprising a reduction of municipal taxes for buildings certified by BREEAM, LEED, LiderA, etc. Picture 11 Energy Performance Certificates per bands 2012 (Source: ADENE) Other Certificates B- Certificates B Certificates A Certificates A+ Awareness activities towards sustainable construction are also being launched by some municipalities. Cascais created a 70 m 2 eco-building with a low ecological footprint, for educational purposes. A Green Hotspot Eco-Tourism Information Centre and several exhibitions 8

9 linked to sustainable construction are available in this site. A Sustainable Community Centre is open to the public in Aveiro, integrating an environmental education centre. Municipal buildings certified by systems of sustainable construction (LiderA) were only identified in 2 municipalities (Santarém and Torres Vedras). Moreover, only 4 RENER cities have municipal buildings certified by the environmental management system ISO (Cascais, Sintra, Vila Nova de Gaia and Viana do Castelo). 55% of the RENER cities have energy management systems in municipal buildings, and only 30% have energy monitoring equipment. Cascais launched in 2007 a pioneer system of energy remote monitoring in municipal buildings, with good results in terms of energy savings and CO 2 emissions reduction. The integration of PV solar systems and solar thermal collectors in municipal buildings is a reality in RENER municipalities, especially in schools, swimming pools, libraries and sports complexes. Lisboa and Almada are the cities with higher numbers of these systems. One interesting good practice is the Lisbon Solar Potential Map that was developed within the POLIS project - Identification and mobilization of solar potentials via local strategies, supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme of the EC. It quantifies the urban solar potential of the city covering all buildings, identifies the preferable areas to invest in solar technologies and represents an efficient awareness tool, both for local authorities, investors, companies, and citizens. 5. Conclusions and Future Research Smart city programmes and projects are emerging in several parts of the world as a new urban paradigm, and as a response to the problems actually facing urban areas such as environmental degradation, climate change, and social exclusion. In order to define smart strategies and action plans and to support the decision-making process, local authorities need specific information and knowledge. With this objective a Smart Cities Index was developed by INTELI, comprising 5 dimensions of analysis: governance, innovation, sustainability, inclusion, and connectivity. The methodology was applied to 20 of the 25 cities of the RENER Living Lab. Lisbon, Almada, Cascais, Aveiro and Vila Nova de Gaia are the top performers in terms of urban intelligence. Besides the capital of the country, these are mainly cities located in the metropolitan areas, and university cities. The correlation between the scoring of RENER cities in the smart cities ranking and wealth (measured by the PPP Purchasing Power Parity per capita) is stronger than its correlation with the number of inhabitants. However, we can observe differences in the position of cities according to the different dimensions. Lisbon surpasses the other RENER cities in the areas of governance, inclusion and innovation, but not in the dimensions of sustainability and connectivity. Moreover, it was possible to identify good practices in the cities positioned in the bottom of the rankings, demonstrating a strong potential for urban cooperation and for the replication of innovative solutions among cities. Almada, Vila Nova de Gaia, Cascais, Lisboa and Loures are the front runners in the area of 9

10 sustainability. These cities are implementing several positive actions in the domains of energy efficiency, use of renewable energy, sustainable construction and soft mobility. One of the best practices is the electric mobility programme. Several charging points are installed in RENER cities, and the Mobility Intelligence Centre is managing real-time information about users, availability status, consumptions, CO 2 avoided, etc. It is an interoperable system, where the customers use a card to access to charging stations independently of the operator. Future research will be centred on the improvement of the Smart Cities Index, through a continuous and permanent work of deepening and updating. Moreover, besides expanding the target group of pilot cities to 100, internationalisation of the methodology is another major objective. This will be made possible by customising the methodology to other contexts, namely Mozambique and Brazil. INTELI is also promoting the creation of a smart cities cluster in Portugal, integrating RENER cities, companies, associations, universities, R&D centres, entrepreneurs, and the users, with a view to enhance the development of integrated and innovative solutions, products and services crossing mobility, energy and ICT. References ABI Research (2011), Smart Cities: Municipal Networking, Communications, Traffic/ Transportation, and Energy, ABI Research. Caragliu, A.; Del Bo, C. & Nijkamp, P. (2009), Smart cities in Europe. Series Research, Memoranda INTELI (2012), Índice de Cidades Inteligentes Portugal, INTELI. Hollands, R. G. (2008), Will the Real Smart City Please Stand up? City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 12-3, p