Smart cities: Wallonia joins the urban movement

Today, 54 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and more than 80 percent of global GDP is generated in cities. Cities are responsible for more than 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and with this number set to increase rapidly in the next few decades, it’s obvious our cities have to become smarter.

To cope with fast urbanisation, we have to create a safe, resilient and sustainable framework for our cities. We’re talking not just about energy saving, but about a global, more intelligent approach towards a better, greener organisation of our housing, mobility, health, public safety, digital communication and waste and water management, among other areas.

New technologies are crucial, but they have to be facilitated by effective policy co-ordination and the right investment choices. “The biggest challenge of smart city development is to get all the stakeholders, representatives of city authorities and private businesses around one table,” says Ingrid Reynaert, business group leader of smart cities at Agoria, the technology industry federation. Defending the interests of the local technology industry, she is an advocate of ‘smart city cells’.

“Internationally, we are running four to five years behind,” she admits. “We’re not keeping pace with European cities such as Helsinki, Barcelona, Hamburg… but there’s a break in the trend.” Since Agoria started to rank the smartest Belgian cities, taking into account criteria that facilitate a more sustainable city, she has witnessed more openness.

“At first, authorities didn’t know about the smart city concept,” she says. “Walloon cities ranked poorly in our lists. But instead of angry phone calls from administrations and city councils, people called us to ask what they could do about it. Realising something had to change, they put smart city development on the agenda of the city councils.” As a result, Wallonia’s cities are now adopting initiatives, encouraged by the European Feder 2014-2020 development programme, which focuses not only on the creation of jobs and the increase of GDP per capita, but also on revitalising urban centres and supporting investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency, consequently reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Charleroi

In Charleroi, Feder funding will revamp the upper town. Charleroi District Creatif pools 16 projects that tackle the northwest quadrant of the city centre: the Palais des Expos, Palais des Beaux- Arts and other landmark buildings will undergo major renovations; a new conference centre at the current bus station will be conceived as a low-energy house; streets will be reconfigured and a lighting plan will be introduced. Mayor Paul Magnette called energy efficiency a leitmotiv in all the proposed projects.

Namur

The city of Namur lies in 7th position in a Belgian ranking of smart cities and is 1st concerning its initiatives. It has launched Namur Innovative City Lab. Supported by BEP, the province’s economic development agency, it combines several projects. They include Trakk, a creative hub revitalising the local economy via a multidisciplinary centre dedicated to creativity and innovation. It comprises a fab lab, creative lab and incubator offices for companies. The space is aimed at entrepreneurs, students, individual citizens, artists and local authorities. Trakk runs a programme of activities including workshops and fairs to encourage cross-fertilisation and co-creation among disciplines. Thanks to Feder, the hub will soon have its own building. “Success needs creativity, even more so the public sector,” says Maxime Prévot, the mayor of Namur and vice-president and minister of the Walloon government.

Among other projects in the Walloon capital, Espace Confluence is creating a public open space and digital port at the confluence of the Meuse and Sambre rivers. A cycle and footbridge will connect the banks of the Meuse, also linking the Walloon government and parliament. Within the Feder framework, a project aims to install smart technology: bus shelters, information panels, interactive apps, waste management and other urban services, such as smart lighting and touchscreen planners.

Tournai

Tournai has created SmarTournai in association with the Eurometropolitan e-Campus and research centre Multitel. This task force will also facilitate the development of intelligent city innovations. “At the moment we’re in a pilot project on smart mobility,” says François Narbonneau, smart city group leader at Multitel. “We are analysing urban traffic – watching who’s blocking who in the city – and parking occupancy. The most original thing we’re doing is working with existing video-surveillance systems, which are now focused mainly on security. But we believe CCTV infrastructure can give us other meaningful information about mobility and traffic, while it can also monitor parking availability and count people.”

By using complex video analytics, it’s possible to estimate the number of available and occupied parking places, as well as detecting people, while car tracking can lead to the development of intelligent mobility apps. Multitel has already implemented a cost-effective parking occupancy monitoring system, while its pedestrian occupancy maps and road usage statistics can help understand people’s behaviour in the city.

Mons

The city of Mons held the prestigious title European Capital of Culture in 2015 under the slogan “Where technology meets culture”. Its mayor, Elio Di Rupo, says, “For a number of years, the city of Mons has realised that the future of urban centres will involve rationalisation and more intelligent management, as well as a smarter transport system, economy and management of the environment. With its digital cities programme backed by the region, the city is propelled directly into the era of smart cities by equipping itself with the tools – notably its IT infrastructure – capable of developing future smart city projects.

“The second half of 2015 as well as 2016 will see the launch of diverse projects and initiatives. A research group, already active in the city, is laying down the strategy for the coming years. This group will be active in the next months, as well as other actors, private and public, including companies and the university, and of course the setting up of public meetings with local citizens, who are and must remain at the centre of these considerations.”

Liège

 “While the city of Mons decided, at least for 2015, to invest in its function as European Capital of Culture, other major Walloon cities are starting to move,” Reynaert points out. “And Liège is a real trailblazer. Four years ago, they were nowhere, but now, the team of mayor Willy Demeyer is doing a great job investing in sustainable infrastructure and pedestrian zones.” Since the beginning of the year, intelligent city innovations have been encouraged by the Smart City Institute (SCI). This new academic body, which aims to encourage the development of scientific research, education and entrepreneurship in smart cities, is led by Professor Nathalie Crutzen from the management school of the University of Liege (HEC-ULg). “In 2010 we created a chair on sustainable strategy,” she explains. “But very soon we noticed that it was more urgent, for our private partner Accenture and for our students, to work at the level of a territory.”

Trying to develop a sustainable strategy for Liège, they started working with the city authorities. Finally, in January 2015 the SCI was founded with two more private partners, Belfius bank and telecoms operator Proximus. Crutzen explains: “We wanted to shift the focus of the smart city concept from urbanism and engineering skills to our own expertise, such as strategy, finance and business modelling.”

Two studies will be published in autumn. For one, the SCI researched how both city authorities and private enterprises see their role in the development of smart cities. “We examined, for instance, whether Liège is ready to work with private partners to transform itself into a smart city, and what the advantages and challenges of such a transformation are.”

The main working point seems to be a more streamlined collaboration between private enterprises, city authorities and citizens. “Politics can still be at the centre of reflection, but a joint effort is needed,” says Crutzen. “We suggest making use of an ‘integrator’ to connect the different parties. Creating a positive dynamic and a global vision, that everyone around the table benefits from, is fundamental.” A ULg doctor’s degree is investigating how to articulate the differences between stakeholders in a smart city initiative. Who carries the project? Who initiates? Who’s responsible?

In Liège, they really want to make progress, Crutzen believes. “But of course, we always have to keep in mind that the rhythm in private companies such as Belfius or Accenture is different to that in a university or a city.” More than just a study bureau, the SCI is also an incubator for projects initiated by ULg students, granting them mentors and offices. Until now, their City VentureLab has selected four projects. “LetsGO City is an interactive digital city guide available as an app for iOS and Android,” says Crutzen. “Nextride and Parklife are apps where users can consult timetables for public transport and to find a parking spot.” But the most challenging project is SharinGo, which is trying to sell the idea of electric car-sharing to citizens and businesses who are used to driving their own or company cars. The project was developed by Anaïs Ehlen while studying under Crutzen, and two other young graduates.

“Last year during a seminar, we introduced the project to the city council and the reactions were very positive,” she recalls. “The concept already exists in Brussels, but in Liège we still need to convince the public that our service can really solve future mobility issues, such as air and noise pollution, city congestion and parking shortages.”

With 235,000 cars entering the city daily, resulting in a big traffic jam, the city decided it was time for action. Liège will develop a tramway by 2018 and hopes to become Belgium’s capital of electric cars in 2020. “Defining the smart city of the future is a joint project,” Demeyer said at the opening of the SCI. “Public authorities and universities, as well as citizens and businesses, all have one part of the answer, whether it’s technological or social. But we have one common goal: to improve quality of life.” SharinGo contributes to the city’s green mobility aspirations. There’s not only the short-term advantage of decreasing traffic jams: in the long term, costs for healthcare and road maintenance will go down. Every shared car, the initiators say, replaces 15 other cars. The words of a former General Motors chief who’s now lecturing at the University of Michigan may seem exaggerated, but they do show what smart city development means: “If the internet and sharing culture continues to grow, we can reduce the production of cars in the world by eighty percent.”

AWEX

To introduce managers from the public and private sector to the impact of smart city solutions, the Wallonia Export-Investment Agency (AWEX) and Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI) organised an exploratory mission to France. “Based on data we received from our trade commissioners and their ranking among intelligent cities, notably in France, we selected four,” explains Violaine Barthélemy, who specialises in the French market at AWEX. “These cities, Strasbourg, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Bordeaux and Nantes, have launched important projects, whether it be in eco-districts, smart energy networks, transport and mobility, environment, digital initiatives or open data.”

Two double city trips were organised – one to Strasbourg and Issyles-Moulineaux in October, another to Bordeaux and Nantes in November – and were open to private enterprises, business poles, clusters and federations, she explains. Market research institutes and universities will also join, as will delegates from Charleroi, Liège, Mons, Namur and Tournai. The presence of Jean-Claude Marcourt, vice-president and minister of economy, SME, foreign trade and new technologies of the Walloon government, emphasises the growing importance policymakers are attaching to smart city solutions

“It’s important to bring them all together,” Reynaert says. “But it’s crucial to act together, because making a city smarter is teamwork. It’s not about having the upper hand, or keeping control. Successful foreign cities already have smart city cells. Here, deputies and administrations are still focusing too much on their own competencies. If we can change that, we can drastically increase the smartness of all our cities.”

This article was first published in the Wab magazine, autumn 2015