Towns and Cities, the buildings that they consist of, the infrastructure and services that support them, will all play an important role in tackling climate change. Yesterday the Climate Summit for Mayors started (http://www.climatesummitformayors.dk/). From a distance, compared to what we seem to be witnessing in the Bella Center in Copenhagen this seems an oasis of collaboration and sharing. Cities around the world compete with one another, and climate change and the low carbon economy will add another dimension to that competition, but it is encouraging to see this collaboration and similar such as the C40 Climate Leadership Group. There are some really interesting things happening in Cities such as Amsterdam in the Netherlands (http://www.vancis.nl/en/news/klimaattafelovereenkomst).
On the one hand one is left with a sense that tangible action will come mostly from cities, but they are almost all struggling for funding right now, more so than usual. So the focus, more so than usual, is on cost cutting. Unless ICT can demonstrate the cost saving potential, as well as its transformational potential, its application in “smart” cities to reduce GHG emissions and improve environmental performance, may be slow, and certainly too slow to help reach some of the GHG reduction targets set by some of these cities.
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