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Smart Policies For Cities
Smart Policies For Cities
Henk Wolfert
DCMR Environmental Protection Agency, Parallelweg 1, 3112 NA Schiedam, the Netherlands
e-mail: henk.wolfert@dcmr.nl
Transportation noise is capturing European cities already for decades and it could be expected
that the noise burden will increase coming years. Currently more than 20% of the population in urban areas are exposed to 55 dB LDEN and higher and even 30% is exposed to noise levels above 50
dB LNIGHT. In the last decades the volume of vehicles has grown and also the mileage driven
grew. Due to the economic downturn these developments have shown a temporary lapse however, it
can be expected that when economy is back to the old level, the development of the last decades
will continue. Although local and regional governments are obliged to draft action plans as meant in
the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC the magnitude of exposed people has hardly decreased in urban areas. It could be assumed that this is due to numerous reasons. An important reason is that the action plans, sent in by the competent bodies, are rather poor meaning that these action plans hardly comprise concrete measures. Also the lack of political attention should be seen as
an important reason. Another reason to be mentioned here are the limitations met when trying to
solve the noise problems in urban areas. Traditional technical noise measures are not sufficient so
other measures should be employed by the local government. The measures to be employed should
be holistic. The smart cities approach could offer a window of opportunity.
1. Introduction
Transportation noise is always around us. When living in a city, an urban area or even walking in
a natural area, noise from cars, trucks or trains or airplanes can be noticed. In Western Europe just a
few places can be found where transportation noise is not observed. Noise in cities is dominated by
transportation noise, the largest contributor is road traffic noise. Due to the fact that car-ownership
is still growing and car-use as well, it is expected that the detrimental effects of it will increase as
well, meaning more annoyed people, more sleep disturbance and other irreversible effects. A bucket
of measures is already available. Best practices are disseminated all over Europe and the world.
Most civil servants, working in cities and dealing with noise know where to find them or where they
should knock on the door to disclose this bucket. However, 12 years of European polices and legislation (END2022/49/EC) did not result in less exposure until now and it seems that the attention for
noise and its effects is declining. Especially noise abatement in cities is a serious challenge. Most of
the exposed people live in cities and it is not easy to reduce the noise unless all cars are banned.
Assuming that officers and politicians are eager to reduce the noise. They are often confronted with
other problems and challenges, budgetary limitations, other priorities and the limitations that occur
when solving noise problems. In cities it is not always easy to reduce the noise by means of technical measures. When applicable it has a limited or temporary effect (e.g. quiet road surfaces). RecICSV22, Florence (Italy) 12-16 July 2015
All elements should be smart meaning having a digital and interactive component with the environment which can be the physical environment or the community. The principle is efficacy supported by ICT features, sensors, apps, et cetera. Supplying and offering services, products and so on
when needed in time and place. The market penetration of cell phones, tablets and phablets with all
their possibilities means that people are always connected. Also cars and infrastructure are currently
applied with these features. ITS, Intelligent Traffic Systems, is already installed in buses and trucks
and it will be a little step to integrated them in passenger cars. ITS devices are also installed offroad. Big data is collected, also by the governments. Nowadays even houses and building do have
digital devices with remote control (home automation). This opens the door to new possibilities.
Smart cities are offering online services to citizens, visitors, institutes, companies, haulers and others. The ultimate smart city has embedded digital technology in all domains. In a smart city government, knowledge institutes, companies and cities (quadruple helix) collaborate to achieve a better, more efficient functioning of the city and their tasks, services, et cetera. A more comprehensive
overview of the smart cities approach is given in [1,2,3].
ICSV22, Florence, Italy, 12-16 July 2015
3. Outstanding examples
A very ambitious smart city, a new city, was built by Siemens in Abu Dahbi, Masdar City. This
new built city has employed a low carbon philosophy and is planned and built as a sustainable city
using solar energy by means of a solar energy plant, photo-voltaic panels, re-using waste water for
sprinkling the plants and trees. Recycling as much as possible the waste and transportation of goods
and passengers is one by means of sustainable transport like trains, buses and even automated vehicles also called people movers. See figure 2. The streets are situated in a way that they shadow as
much as possible and catching the breezes in order to limit air conditioning use. The houses and
building are densely populated. Work is not at a large distance. Appliances are high-efficient like
low shower flows. More info can be found in [5,6,7]
Also the city of Songdo (South-Korea) is seen as a very ambitious smart city. Most of the major
buildings in the Central Business District are built according to the so called LEED [4] requirements and taken into account the framework act for low carbon green growth. The city has an automated waste collection system and a science village which is an innovative cluster. More information can be found in [8,9]
Other existing cities that have adopted the smart cities philosophy are Amsterdam, Melbourne,
Barcelona, New York, Singapore and a lot of other cities too. However they are just at the beginning and have developed only a part of their cities as a smart city or have started pilots.
6. Smart policies
One of the elements of the smart cities philosophy already mentioned is smart governance. This
is the future of governance meaning a kind of governance that makes the development of smart cities possible and does not behave as an obstacle. Society undergoes huge transitions towards a more
digital supported society confronted with all kind of developments in numerous domains. It is almost similar to the chip industry which has proven that Moores law is still true. In order to manage
these fast successive developments as society, citizens and government, it is needed to have answers
in time. The domain that are changing fast is not only the ICT domain but also the financial, the
economic domains. Even the social domain is changing very fast in modern society. Regarding policies and regulations it is needed to create free zones for innovative and creative industries that can
practice their experiments without to be hindered by local regulations. Legislation and policies
should also be based on a shared policy which implies involvement of citizens, companies and other
stakeholders. The policies to be developed should stimulate, culminate and support in public and
social services based on digital technology. Policies should be more transparent and include better
communication features and based on a long term strategy without freezing new developments. Infrastructure, physically and digital are enablers and boosting all desired and planned activities It is
mainly based on the e-governance principle.
When it comes to the major contributor of noise and environmental polluter in the urban environment, road transport, then the policy should be aimed to sustainable and efficient transportation.
Mobility does not only mean car-mobility. Other modes of transport such as walking and biking
should be promoted by the policies to be developed by developing a good infrastructure and by reeducating citizens. Especially bridging short distances, walking and biking is not only more sustainable but also better for health. Combination of the soft modes with public transport should be
sought by showing citizens and visitors the direction to their destinies. This can be done by digital
services (city-app) or (digital-) signs. Mass transit by subways, fast trains, trams and buses should
be comfortable, reliable and frequent. Their providers should offer digital information at stops and
facilities e-billboards with news and other information. Electric, hybrid and hydrogen cars should
have priority above fossil fuelled cars and have dedicated facilities like free parking places, free
access to some streets or squares or free use of charging poles. These financial assets should be
made possible by the local policies. Regarding city logistics, this can be organised in a better way
ICSV22, Florence, Italy, 12-16 July 2015
REFERENCES
1 Caragliu, A; Del Bo, C. & Nijkamp, P (2009). "Smart cities in Europe". Serie Research
Memoranda 0048 (VU University Amsterdam, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Econometrics).
2 Giffinger, Rudolf; Christian Fertner; Hans Kramar; Robert Kalasek; Nataa PichlerMilanovic; Evert Meijers (2007). "Smart cities Ranking of European medium-sized cities". Smart Cities. Vienna: Centre of Regional Science.
3 Draft Concept Note on Smart City Scheme". Government of India - Ministry of Urban
Development.
4 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, http://www.usgbc.org/certification
5 http://www.masdar.ae/
6 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masdar_City
7 Todd Antony (2013); Masdar: the shifting goalposts of Abu Dhabi's ambitious eco-city,
Technology.
8 Kwong Hyung LEE (2011);Building a new smart city in Asia,
9 www.songdo.com
10 Geoff West (2011); New York Times; Why cities keep on growing, corporations always
die, and life gets faster.