Smart Cities and Sustainable Development

In view of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2014, Masdar has asked bloggers to write about their vision of smart cities and sustainable development. Other contributions can be found on the Masdar Engage page. If you like my words, you will be able to support my application on the website.

“How can cities contribute to the advancement of sustainable development and address issues including water, energy and waste?”

I grew up, studied and worked in big cities from the Western world, where accessing clean water and energy is taken for granted. Mobility and education have never been a problem, and in most cases I only need to walk 5 minutes around my block to reach the first doctor or pharmacy, should I get scared of a little season cold. From birth I have been given chances that actually belong to a few only: education, health, water, energy, employment, transportation.

But I’ve travelled, I learned, I looked around and I listened. I have contemplated these chances and wondered how to use them for the greater good, and change the “I am lucky” into “WE are happy”. I have committed my studies and work into raising awareness, building knowledge, creating technical communications, and doing my best to share what I did not have to earn.

I am not going to preach about climate change here, as the facts are here; but with a majority of the world population living in cities, I believe that redefining the concept of urban development has become a must. 

There is no unique scheme to implement, no “best solution” to apply. Key words to express the goal are numerous: sustainable cities – smart cities – green cities. These concepts express the need to approach urban planning in a systemic way, in which everyone works hand-in-hand to create a new governance approach. Bring around the same table designers, politicians, architects, citizens, representatives of the industry, NGOs, Academia…and let them build our green future together.

Now, beyond terminology, there should be action, intelligent action, to implement change that matters, while respecting cultures, ethnicities and traditional urban structures. This is only possible if one engages in a continuous dialogue and learning process.

Technological connectivity (“e-services” included) and mobility for example are key factors that will only be effective if energy security can be guaranteed at all time. Access to basic social services and education will support community building, only if these communities have the regulatory and financial framework to allow equal access to these services to both girls and boys, women and men, poor and rich. Waste management can become “smart” not only if you help people apply the “R’s” (Reduce, Recycle, Re-use, Rethink, Repair…) but also and mainly if the infrastructure and facilities support waste collection, sorting and transformation. Connecting the environmental, social and economic “bubbles” of sustainability while keeping Brundtland’s definition in mind is a hard work which demands the attention and cooperation from everyone.

Cities connect people, institutions and minds. Of course we can all disagree, but we need to learn from each other and we need to act now. Cities concentrate knowledge and power, and can direct the relationship between urban and rural, reciprocal link that remains vital to guarantee safety and food security. Cities are the witnesses of our history, the carrier of our identities. They are the base to build from, and the obvious future we will experience. They are in a way the best “playground” to innovate, create, react.