Building green and climate neutral city hubs across European cities

Description

This innovation partnership aims to develop and experiment new and innovative climate services in 8 EU cities: Athens (EL), Cascais (PT), Differdange (LU), Grenoble (FR), Ioannina (EL), Maribor (SI), Sofia (BG) and Torino (IT). The urban challenges to be tackled and their environments were presented publicly in July 2023 during 8 preliminary market consultations, the proceedings of which can be consulted at the following web address: https://climaborough.eu/public-procurement/open-calls/. The deployment of solutions in each city environment constitutes a separate lot of this tender. The socio-technical solutions envisaged should assist citizens and/or urban policy makers in taking climate friendly decisions and actions supported by specific data and information on the carbon footprint of the human activities. At the end of the procurement procedure, there will be two awarded solutions per city. Lot 1: Athens Athens aims at reducing the level of stationary energy consumption in public buildings and to this purpose is in the process of creating the first energy community dealing with the specificities of localism and engaging all types of citizens in the neighbourhood. In this context, the goal is to engage the communities surrounding one or more schools resting under the administration of the City Hall for the testing of the proposed solutions. The identification of the schools will be done by a City’s decision, based on received suggestions from the tenderers. DAEM, the IT Company of the City of Athens, supporting the development of IT solutions and services for the city and its citizens, and a partner of the CLIMABOROUGH project consortium, will cooperate with ANCI Toscana and the successful tenderers for a timely and effective delivery of the proposed solutions. Solutions envisaged: socio-technical systems based on smart combinations of software and hardware (such as IoT sensors) that enable the collection, monitoring and management of energy consumption data in public buildings and can be easily operated by both domain experts and non-experts. As regards the estimated value of the contract in point II.1.5), this constitutes the sum of the maximum amount allocated to each of the 8 lots in point II.2.6). However, in case one or more lots are not awarded or only partially so, the contracting authority reserves the right of awarding more than 2 applicants to one or more other lots, following the order of their positioning in the ranking. Lot 2: Cascais (PT) EMAC - Cascais Ambiente is the municipal company for environmental management on behalf of the Municipality of Cascais. Cascais Ambiente already operates a smart solution focused on automated monitoring of municipal waste management. To promote carbon neutrality and reach European recycling targets, Cascais Ambiente must now improve the recycling rate of households, since household waste is often contaminated by textile waste. We aim to increase the waste streams for recycling purposes including biowaste, textile and others with a reuse potential. This proves particularly useful to door-to-door collection services, ensuring that collected waste is properly channeled. Solutions envisaged: socio-technical systems based on smart combinations of software (such as apps) and hardware (such as IoT sensors) that promote sustainable consumption and help improve waste differentiation in households, thus increasing the quality of the waste collected from them and the performance of selective waste collection processes. As regards the estimated value of the contract in point II.1.5), this constitutes the sum of the maximum amount allocated to each of the 8 lots in point II.2.6). However, in case one or more lots are not awarded or only partially so, the contracting authority reserves the right of awarding more than 2 applicants to one or more other lots, following the order of their positioning in the ranking. Lot 3: Differdange (LU) Differdange has set the goal of producing locally and sustainably 100% of its global need in electricity by 2030 with the support of its population. Data and IT platforms are essential to translate the relevance of this long term goal to the general public and in order for the Municipality to better understand the potential of renewable energy in the city and its carbon accounting profile. In fact, IT platforms can enable better data visualisation, comparison of future scenarios and screening of the city’s existing infrastructure (e.g. available rooftop surface) that could support the development of investment options in renewable energy for the citizens. Solutions envisaged: socio-technical systems based on IT platforms that allow the city administration to better engage with available data on energy in order to increase its leverage and credibility when promoting renewable energy production options to both citizens and industry. Data visualisation solutions that streamline ongoing developments and allow future simulations to be envisaged. In addition, the solutions should take into account the diverse and multilingual character of the population (118 nationalities) and the peculiarities of the industrial sector operating in the area. As regards the estimated value of the contract in point II.1.5), this constitutes the sum of the maximum amount allocated to each of the 8 lots in point II.2.6). However, in case one or more lots are not awarded or only partially so, the contracting authority reserves the right of awarding more than 2 applicants to one or more other lots, following the order of their positioning in the ranking. Lot 4: Grenoble (FR) Grenoble-Alpes Métropole (GAM) is composed of 49 municipalities and 450.000 inhabitants. GAM is carrying out an ambitious development project called GRANDALPE 25 with the cities of Grenoble, Echirolles and Eybens. This project concerns an area with 30.000 inhabitants and 40.000 jobs and aims to make this district an active living space, an innovative economic hub, and a leader in new mobility models. GRANDALPE 25 is also intended to be a demonstrator of ecological transition and will mobilise all available assets to build a future city that is no longer using fossil fuels. Solutions envisaged: within this meta-project, GAM would like to examine socio-technical systems enabling to model the impact of a construction project on Urban Heat Islands (UHI), Daytime Thermal Comfort (DTC) and CO2 capture data through fertilisation and vegetation. The ultimate goal is to raise the awareness of citizens on the current environmental situation, guide the urban planners acting within public authorities in taking decisions concerning new building, greening or redevelopment projects, and support the private sector in their current and future initiatives. As regards the estimated value of the contract in point II.1.5), this constitutes the sum of the maximum amount allocated to each of the 8 lots in point II.2.6). However, in case one or more lots are not awarded or only partially so, the contracting authority reserves the right of awarding more than 2 applicants to one or more other lots, following the order of their positioning in the ranking. Lot 5: Ioannina (EL) Ioannina is the capital and the largest city of Epirus, a north-western region of Greece. Ioannina has a small, inhabited island within its area, which includes the so-called lake Pamvotida where there are regular transportation services, using small boats, between the island and the city, and an important presence of tourists also for short periods of time. The Municipality aims to make this lake as green as possible, in collaboration with the island’s local community, as well as other stakeholders with activities in the lakeside area, improving the behavior of various target groups (tourists, residents, businesses, etc.). As there is no data to monitor the impact of urban wastewater on the lake's water quality and ecosystem, the gap to fill in is to collect this data and develop some kind of monitoring tool to assess the current situation and visualise why and how urban wastewater pollution is turning the lake into a greenhouse gas production plant. Solutions envisaged: socio-technical systems based on smart combinations of software and hardware (such as IoT sensors) that enable data collection, environmental impact monitoring, and facilitate behavioural change aimed at the use by tourists, residents or other stakeholders. Gathered data should be made available to the Municipality for decision-making on the protection of the lake's ecosystem and how to reduce the carbon footprint of the City. As regards the estimated value of the contract in point II.1.5), this constitutes the sum of the maximum amount allocated to each of the 8 lots in point II.2.6). However, in case one or more lots are not awarded or only partially so, the contracting authority reserves the right of awarding more than 2 applicants to one or more other lots, following the order of their positioning in the ranking. Lot 6: Maribor (SI) Maribor is the 2nd largest city in Slovenia, and is home to the 2nd largest University in the country. To better address environmental issues, Maribor has partnered with neighbouring municipalities to form the Joint Environmental Protection Service (SSVO). In 2018, a new Automated Sorting Plant for municipal solid waste was built by a waste utility company owned by the city, with the capacity of sorting 52,000 tons of waste per year. As a complement to the investments in sorting capacity and in response to regulatory requirements regarding the maximum proportion of inadequate waste fraction in collected waste, an alternative approach is envisaged, which should lead to an increase in separately collected waste fractions. However, the lack of public engagement and discipline in the separation process at the source also plays an important role in the high amount of inadequately sorted waste. Solutions envisaged: socio-technical systems based on smart combinations of software and hardware (such as IoT sensors and ML/AI services) that collect relevant data from the waste collection process and use it to improve citizen engagement in waste selection and differentiation at source. The general public can be empowered by sharing and visualising process data and information, by facilitating proper communication, awareness raising and education and thus reducing mixed waste production and improving waste sorting and recycling rates. As regards the estimated value of the contract in point II.1.5), this constitutes the sum of the maximum amount allocated to each of the 8 lots in point II.2.6). However, in case one or more lots are not awarded or only partially so, the contracting authority reserves the right of awarding more than 2 applicants to one or more other lots, following the order of their positioning in the ranking. Lot 7: Sofia (BG) Sofia is the capital city of Bulgaria with 1,3 million inhabitants. Among the main environmental problems that it faces, there are the high levels of harmful emissions and noise pollution, particularly in the city centre. One of the reasons for this problem is car traffic, namely the large number of old cars, including a large number of diesel cars. Tackling parking problems in the city centre may have a positive impact on car traffic. Currently there are two controlled paid parking zones in the city centre, with approximately 33 000 on-street parking places (June 2023). The occupancy rate in some of the subzones in the city centre (“Blue” zone) exceeds 95%, and in some streets is 100%. The high occupancy rates in short-term paid parking zones generate a “parasite” search traffic for available parking spots, which contributes to traffic congestion. Reducing occupancy rates in paid parking zones has been identified as a way to improve air quality and reduce the levels of CO2 emissions in the city centre. Solutions envisaged: socio-technical systems based on smart combinations of software and hardware (such as IoT sensors, VCR, GPS and AI plate recognition systems) that collect relevant data from a certain area of the city centre’s blue zone, define the volume of car traffic searching for available parking spots and provide information regarding the parking occupancy rates. Such information can and should be provided to the City Hall, as well as to the car drivers, by means of suitable mobile apps. As regards the estimated value of the contract in point II.1.5), this constitutes the sum of the maximum amount allocated to each of the 8 lots in point II.2.6). However, in case one or more lots are not awarded or only partially so, the contracting authority reserves the right of awarding more than 2 applicants to one or more other lots, following the order of their positioning in the ranking. Lot 8: Turin (IT) Waste management is a key domain for the City Hall to work on, together with Amiat/Iren, the waste management company of Turin. According to recent evidence, there are bottlenecks in both the quantity and quality of WEEE and textiles correctly sorted. As a consequence, the percentage of such items to be recycled, or reused before turning into waste, is still low. The City also wishes to limit as much WEEE and textiles in generic waste as possible. The above situation can be tackled, and partly overcome, by improving: a) reuse at source, i.e. promoting the collection of electric/electronic equipment and/or textiles before they reach the end of their life cycle. This would help reduce the amount of overall waste produced in the city and thus prevent GHG emission; b) the effectiveness of waste selection processes, i.e. increasing the quantity of WEEE and textile waste that is correctly sorted out before being disposed of; c) a better management of the recyclable waste that is nonetheless produced, i.e. creating new or valorising existing circularity opportunities in the city. Solutions envisaged: socio-technical systems that allow the City administration to better engage with both citizens and industry in one or more of the three improvement areas outlined above, triggering collaborative and innovative approaches. The City welcomes proposals that deal with WEEE and textile waste either jointly or separately, and with one of the two types of waste as a minimum. It also considers acceptable a proposal that includes only one, or two, of the above improvement areas as a target. As regards the estimated value of the contract in point II.1.5), this constitutes the sum of the maximum amount allocated to each of the 8 lots in point II.2.6). However, in case one or more lots are not awarded or only partially so, the contracting authority reserves the right of awarding more than 2 applicants to one or more other lots, following the order of their positioning in the ranking.