Re-imagining Cities

The New Cities Foundation is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to making cities across the world more inclusive, dynamic and creative. Created in 2010, it seeks to incubate, promote and scale urban innovations through collaborative partnerships between government, business, academia and civil society. Schneider Electric is a Corporate Member of the New Cities Foundation.

The Foundation’s flagship event is the New Cities Summit which in past years has been held in Paris, France (2012) and São Paolo, Brazil (2013). New Cities Summit 2014 was held last month, attracting over 800 participants from 51 countries to Dallas, Texas, USA. This year, the Summit's theme was Re-imagining Cities: Transforming the 21st Century Metropolis, and nearly 100 speakers took part (event press release).

An event E-book (pdf, 7.5 MB) provides summaries of all sessions as well as links to related videos on the New Cities Foundation YouTube page, including these:

• Highlights (4:18)
• Keynote - Future Trends in the Century of Cities (13:44) - by Parag Khanna, Managing Partner Hybrid Reality
• Panel - Beyond the Smart City: Towards a New Paradigm (1:02:19) - panelists include Laurent Vernerey, Executive Vice-President, North America Operations at Schneider Electric

U.S. Cities Beta-test Smart Cities Council Readiness Guide

Earlier this month, the Smart Cities Council announced that leaders from a number of cities across the U.S. are evaluating a beta version of the Council’s Readiness Guide. The Readiness Guide is a how-to manual for building tomorrow’s cities today by enabling cities to self-assess their readiness to innovate. Mayors and their smart city teams from Hartford, Dallas, Baltimore, Orlando, and Green Bay have been evaluating the Guide’s usefulness to determine the next steps toward transformation. The Readiness Guide, created by the Smart Cities Council Advisory Board and Partners, offers a unique holistic view of a city’s future – including the built environment, energy, transportation, communications, water, health and human services, and public safety.

The Smart Cities Council will continue to work with city leaders across the U.S. to gain feedback, followed by Europe, Asia and Latin America. The Readiness Guide will be officially launched next month to cities worldwide at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

For more information, read the complete news release on www.smartcitiescouncil.com. Invensys is an Associate Partner of the Smart Cities Council.

Invensys Helps Dusseldorf Waterworks in Germany Reduce Costs, Optimize Control and Improve Reporting

Stadtwerke Dusseldorf, the public works department of the city of Dusseldorf, ensures that more than 600,000 people have ready access to water that is safe to drink. The department’s system carries about 55 million cubic meters of fresh water to households and businesses through a pipe system that extends more than 1,700 kilometers. Their water comes from the Rhine River via three plants throughout the region. In the 1990s, the beginning stage of automation was introduced when PLCs were installed in the three plants. However, these systems were not synchronized or coordinated, and no centralized data collection or archive was in place.

The department upgraded and now the three waterworks and the new control systems are interconnected, operating separately and redundantly. Each station runs Wonderware® InTouch® HMI (human machine interface) software in a multi-monitor setup to visually display the operations. With this HMI, engineers view real-time conditions with straightforward graphics, alarms and trending information. Another feature of the HMI is its extensive library of standardized and customizable templates and objects. This enabled Stadtwerke Dusseldorf to keep most of the implementation in house and easily make changes and updates, saving time and operating costs.

A separate server runs the Wonderware Historian database and collects process data. Conversion of the data to Microsoft® Excel® is handled on a workstation loaded with Wonderware Historian Client software. Now operators have the reports they need for hourly and daily evaluation of production data, including water quantities, electrical power and water quality. And reports on cost allocation are quickly generated and sent to city management. Plus they’re documenting their adherence to water rules and regulations, especially those pertaining to drinking water compliance.

"Now we are able to create all required reports analyses and documentation ourselves. We are no longer dependent on outside companies to provide us with that information."
– Matthias Rammler, Electrotechnical and System Support, City of Dusseldorf Public Works

Stadtwerke Dusseldorf has now fully automated their operations, reduced operating costs and enhanced safety. Plant availability is up and maintenance is improved. The system is simple to administer and reporting is flexible, so the right data is readily available for better analysis and decision making. And, since the system is built on an open platform known for flexibility and scalability, the city can look forward to meeting the needs of its customers into the future.

For more information, read the complete success story here and/or access any of our Wonderware Water & Wastewater Industry success stories.

Europe's Covenant of Mayors - Increasing Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Use

The Covenant of Mayors (CoM – www.covenantofmayors.eu) is the mainstream European movement involving local and regional authorities voluntarily committing to increasing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy sources in their territories. By their commitment, Covenant signatories aim to meet and exceed the European Union’s (EU’s) 20% CO₂ reduction objective by 2020. They prepare a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI) and submit, within the year following their signature, a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) outlining the key actions they plan to undertake.

Signatory cities vary in size from small villages to large metropolitan areas like London and Paris. Over 3,000 SEAPs have been submitted to the European Commission, and that number is expected to increase as some 5,000 local authorities have now joined the Covenant of Mayors, representing over 170 million people or roughly one-third of the EU population (Covenant in Figures).

In a press release last month, the CoM referenced a recent study by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission noting CoM signatory cities release approximately eight tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per capita. However, through the implementation of their SEAPs, cities commit to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by about 28% by 2020, thus voluntary exceeding the EU’s 20% reduction objective. On average, 44% of the overall CO₂ reduction is expected to result from actions addressing the buildings sector (retrofitting of building stock, energy audits, etc.), 20% from the transport sector (introduction of cleaner vehicles, congestion charges, etc.) and 16%  from local energy production actions (production of biogas or solar energy, for instance).

Invensys Participates in CityNext

Company engages with government, businesses and citizens to shape next-gen cities

AUGUST 15, 2013 / HOUSTON, TEXAS – Invensys, a focused supplier of state-of-the-art industrial software, systems and control equipment to the world’s major industries, is working with Microsoft on CityNext, an initiative designed to help governments, businesses and citizens reimagine what is next for their cities.

According to the United Nations, for the first time in history, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and nearly 70 percent of people will live in cities by 2050. This ongoing migration creates unprecedented opportunities, but also intensifies problems such as aging infrastructure, hazards to public health and safety, pollution, crime and traffic. Through the CityNext initiative, Microsoft and Invensys will help leaders do “new with less.” By combining the power of technology with innovative ideas, CityNext will connect governments, businesses and citizens with city services that increase efficiencies, reduce costs, foster a more sustainable environment and cultivate communities where people thrive. 

Invensys, through its Wonderware^® software product line and partner solutions, provides unique, modern industrial software solutions, systems and control equipment that help improve critical infrastructure operations, including for cities of all sizes. These solutions help cities provide essential, life-sustaining services like clean drinking water, sanitary wastewater treatment, reliable electricity, safe transportation and other services. Wonderware software solutions help clients utilize critical data to make better, faster decisions and improve efficiency. Operational information of practically any kind can be securely viewed in real time from anywhere at any time, from a single, integrated and open Wonderware software platform. 

“Our participation in Microsoft CityNext demonstrates our commitment to helping cities be smarter, more sustainable and more innovative now and to modernize for the future,” said Rob McGreevy, vice president of platforms and applications for Invensys. “Microsoft’s latest technologies will provide us with greater opportunities to help our municipal customers transform and modernize their city operations using familiar, secure Wonderware technology and devices. Through this program, cities will be able to engage their citizens and businesses using mobile applications and big data analytics, helping to accelerate innovation and opportunities through community development and workforce enablement programs.”  

"We’re thrilled to partner with Invensys on CityNext. Microsoft prioritizes putting people and partners first in our initiatives and CityNext is no different,” said Laura Ipsen, corporate vice president Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector. “Even though cities are feeling the strain from economic challenges, we believe a new era of innovation will create opportunities for people to utilize technology to accomplish what they never thought possible. We’re inspired by our diverse partner ecosystem and know that working together we can help cities realize their full potential.”

Related Links:

  Invensys News Release
  Microsoft CityNext News Release

  CityNext Website

  CityNext Video

100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge Announced by The Rockefeller Foundation

On May 14th, The Rockefeller Foundation announced a $100 million commitment to build urban resilience in cities around the world. The Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge will select one hundred cities and, through technical support and resources for developing and implementing plans for urban resilience, help them leverage billions of additional dollars in infrastructure financing.

City of Bremen, Germany, Cuts Energy Consumption and Consolidates Building Management

When the City of Bremen needed to modernize the heating systems in several of its buildings, it analyzed the project and realized an opportunity. Besides improving energy efficiency, there was the potential to implement a new building management system (BMS) that would bring greater control and provide far-reaching positive effects across the city’s extensive portfolio of properties – more than 1,200 municipal facilities covering over 1.8 million square meters (nearly 20 million square feet) of floor space. At the time, six control stations across the city were running a variety of proprietary building control systems, making reporting and sharing of information in a consistent format a challenge, and adding new buildings complicated and costly.

U.S. Infrastructure Financing for Cities Task Force Launched

On April 17, the United States Conference of Mayors and the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) announced the launch of the Infrastructure Financing for Cities Task Force (IFC Task Force) that will address critical issues facing American cities. Thus far, 17 mayors with a combined constituency of more than 17 million people have joined the IFC Task Force. Collaborating with CGI – which brings together leaders from business, government, labor, and civil society to address the world's most pressing challenges – the mayors will explore solutions to current obstacles to public infrastructure investment, look at existing models of leveraging private capital to finance projects such as road and water system improvements, and deliberate innovative investment models such as the creation of an urban infrastructure bank.

Managing Infrastructure Through One Platform ... Enabling the Cities of the Future

Touch magazine is a Microsoft industry publication covering public sector activity within the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region. It offers insight into advances being made by Microsoft and its partner ecosystem. The Spring 2013 issue's article "Urban Innovation" by Karen McCandless takes a look at the technology and innovation driving the development of cities of the future.

 

World Urbanization Animation Using UN Data for 1960, 1980, 2011 and 2025

Click on the image for a clear, full-size animation. This was prepared using static UN Urbanization data for 1960, 1980, 2011 and 2025.

 

The increasing % of urban population is shown by increasingly dark country colors. Growth in the number and size of large cities is represented with dots: 

• Small Yellow = 1-5 Million
• Medium Orange = 5-10 Million
• Large Red = Over 10 Million