About
For the first time in human history, the majority of people live in urban areas. Cities consume 75 percent of the world's energy and are responsible for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
Cisco envisions a future where the intelligent use of networking architectures can transform society not only by boosting productivity and spurring economic growth, but also by supporting environmental sustainability and enhancing the quality of life in urban environments.
Connected Urban Development
Traditional approaches to reducing carbon emissions have been to use less energy, use other forms of energy, and capture and store carbon. CUD takes a different approach by changing how cities deliver services to residents, how residents work, how traffic flow is managed, how public transportation operates, and how real estate resources are utilized and managed.
Connected Urban Development (CUD) is a partnership with leading cities to help urban areas reduce their carbon emissions while enhancing the quality of urban life. Urban areas are responsible for a significant portion of CO2 emissions, with transport-related activities accounting for the lion's share, followed by industrial and residential emissions.
Technology advances have made it possible for complex systems to be managed - and self-managed - in radically different ways. High connectivity - with the advance of broadband, wireless, and increasingly smart urban infrastructures - is positioned to be the key to cutting carbon. Hence, CUD emphasizes lowering carbon emissions through high connectivity and collaboration.
Background:
Connected Urban Development was born from Cisco's commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative to participate in helping reduce carbon emissions. Launched at the end of 2006, CUD consists in building partnerships with global cities to focus on the application of information communication technology to promote innovative practices for reducing carbon emissions while fostering economic growth.
Cisco's commitment to CUD is initially planned to span a period of five years. Initially, CUD engaged in a partnership with San Francisco, Seoul and Amsterdam. Starting in February of 2008, this partnership has been expanded to include Madrid, Hamburg, Birmingham and Lisbon.
The solutions currently in progress target the following areas:
- Increasing efficiency of traffic flow
- Increasing efficiency, service offerings and manageability of public transportation
- Creating sustainable real estate models which incorporate energy efficiency and new work environment models (remote worker, collaboration, shared space)
- Establishing new distributed delivery models for city services to its residents
- Enabling new resident services to self-manage carbon footprint
Overview:
The CUD blueprint is anchored on a broadband infrastructure which enables new solutions for Work, Mobility, Energy and Buildings.
CUD, while not being the only initiative focused on urban development or on climate change challenges for cities, has established a fairly unique and innovative approach to its criteria for priorities, engagement and success.
All solutions/ engagements which are part of the CUD portfolio must be:
- ICT-based
- Replicable
- Able to deliver tangible and operational projects
- Able to deliver measurable results
Four Principles of Connected Urban Development
CUD is based on four principles:
- ICT directly contributes both to energy usage and CO2 reduction. Industry efforts aimed at developing energy-efficient technology solutions can contribute to a sensible reduction of the environmental footprint in cities. But collaboration between government and industry, along with development of effective policy, are essential to a successful greening of ICT.
- Deploying broadband-based applications and services improves energy efficiencies. These can be clustered in four major areas: Connected and Sustainable Built Environment, Connected and Sustainable Mobility, Connected and Sustainable Work, and Connected and Sustainable Energy.
- Urban pervasive broadband infrastructure and continuous development of application and services clusters can enable radically innovative practices in the areas of urban form and planning, energy policy, new working practices, and new lifestyles. ICT pervasiveness and the emergence of Web 2.0 are having dramatic implications on the socioeconomic tissue of a city, as well as on its energy-efficiency policy.
- ICT and broadband connectivity have become enablers of combined, citywide urban policy, and of previously disconnected operational programs. Integration of data and processes across siloed government initiatives is becoming a reality. Mobility, Built Environment, and Energy-related efficiency initiatives can now be successfully combined into integrated urban development programs.
Cisco relies on its networking expertise to provide a viable and sustainable solution for helping cities reduce carbon emissions. CUD draws on expertise from the Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG)-Cisco's global strategic consulting arm-and researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The program demonstrates how to reduce carbon emissions by introducing fundamental improvements in the efficiency of urban infrastructure through ICT. The CUD approach is different because it changes the way cities work and how they utilize resources.
The scope of the program will transcend the environmental dimension, delivering innovative, sustainable models for urban planning and economic development.
Cisco's Corporate Development organization is investing US$15 million in the program over the next five years, including people, research, and equipment. Initially, Cisco IBSG will manage the project and support each city's strategic planning process by creating or acquiring research and providing analysis.
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Interesting Facts
Cities cover less than one percent of the earth's surface, yet 50 percent of the world's population lives in Cities. This is estimated to increase to 60 percent by 2030.
Cities consume 75 percent of the world's energy and are responsible for 80 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to 2004 statistics, the London Congestion Charge Program has reduced daily traffic into the city by 50,000 cars and resulted in an annual savings of approximately USD$350M due to reduced congestion.
Seoul is responsible for about 22.4 million tons of CO2 emissions per year (5 percent of South Korea emissions)
Seoul has committed to a CO2 reductions goal of 20 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2010, and 25 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020.
Amsterdam, San Francisco, and Cisco have worked together in the past on a similar initiative. In 2005, Cisco organized a trip to San Francisco for 50 Amsterdam city stakeholders to stimulate collaboration in digital media and broadband initiatives.