The work we have done in GrowSmarter will have a lasting impact on the City of Cologne, but hopefully also far beyond our city limits. The three ‘action areas’ all hold different promises and possibilities for our – and other smart cities – future work.

Low Energy Districts

The replication potential for refurbishment is high all over Europe, especially as public housing owners have the capacity to quickly cover a very large number of dwellings with a single action. There is also the possibility to have lower investment costs by contracting large projects based on our experience in GrowSmarter where we refurbished no less than 687 dwellings.

The City of Cologne is now looking actively into finding other quarters or neighbourhoods where similar measures could be implemented as the next pilots, both in areas with single-family owners and not. We are also developing new guidelines for sustainable city planning to include climate protection measures at an early stage, such as energy and mobility concepts, as part of the early planning procedure for new buildings and areas.

Mobility

The development of mobility stations and the introduction of E-bike sharing and E-car-sharing as well as shared parking in GrowSmarter currently serves as a role model for the entire City of Cologne in order to improve traffic flows. The public transportation company KVB will purchase more bicycles in Cologne as a result of the successful implementation and will gradually expand the operating area to all of Cologne.

Expansion of charging infrastructure is a priority in Cologne, as in most European cities. The City has developed a comprehensive master plan for future mobility stations including e-vehicles with the plan to implement it as funding arises. Currently, the question of who will be running the mobility stations is being discussed within the various branches of public services.

Integrated infrastructure

The third action area of GrowSmarter was integrated infrastructure – looking into the possibilities of using data to better reach our ambitions of fighting climate change and make our cities more sustainable. In Cologne, the topic of a big open data platform has received much attention on a city-wide scale and is in the process of city-wide negotiations regarding the use and implementation of a big data platform with the entire municipality.

These discussions are based on the work we have done to successfully implement big data platforms in GrowSmarter.

City-to-city engagement to share our Smart solutions

The city limits of Leverkusen borders the project area in Mülheim. In Leverkusen, the company Bayer is the largest employer after Ford. Therefore, the commuter flows between Cologne and Leverkusen are an issue to be solved for the city administration of Leverkusen. The City of Leverkusen has been working on mobility concepts for five years and wanted to look at the GrowSmarter solutions in the Stegerwaldsiedlung. Representatives from Leverkusen’s city administration from the areas of urban planning, climate protection and traffic joined us on September 30, 2019 to learn more about our mobility solutions. The solution of a mobility station is currently not available in Leverkusen, but the representatives consider the concept to be transferable. The idea to make the common multi-ticket available for different means of transportation, as done in Cologne, will be tried in any case. Since Leverkusen still has a large buildable area near the city boundary, there are good reasons to begin cooperation with Cologne. The intensive talks will continue on a bilateral level.

GrowSmarter presented itself at InterGeo Stuttgart

The InterGeo Conference and Trade Fair is the largest SmartCity fair in Germany and had 22,000 visitors stop by in September 2019. The Cologne leader on mobility, Carsten Rickers, presented our mobility-solutions in a 2.5-hour session and discussed mobility concepts with representatives from other cities. At another session we shared our evaluation results and our outlook on how the smart city models we have used can be transferred to other cities to further the rollout of smart cities.

The city of Cologne was not alone in presenting our results at this forum and we were joined by successful start-up companies with different smart city solutions. We used our engagement at the conference to discuss how the cooperation between city, business and science can become even more successful in the future. This resulted in important inputs and possible new partnerships between Cologne and industrial partners in future projects.

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Local celebration of GrowSmarter

Shortly before the end of the GrowSmarter project, it was important for the representatives of the City of Cologne and the industry partners to invite the residents of the Mülheim project area to a final event on November 7. Without the active participation of local residents, the implementation of the GrowSmarter measures would not have been possible. In particular, the tenants of the Stegerwaldsiedlung had to endure during the energy efficient refurbishment of their apartments; issues such as noise, elimination of parking lots, outsourcing of furniture in containers have been dealt with by the residents and the project partners wanted to thank them with this event.

We invited all the tenants and the District Mayor of Mülheim gave an outlook on what further developments are expected for the district of Mülheim and how the residents will benefit from it. Dr. Barbara Möhlendick, my colleague as GrowSmarter’s site manager in Cologne, briefly summed up the results of the project, emphasizing that residents can be proud of their neighbourhood being a role model for the rest of Europe.

We also had the opportunity to present  GrowSmarter at the local housing conference 'Wachstum-Wandel-Wohnen'. The conference was held with multiple internal and external stakeholders on December 7 in Cologne. GrowSmarter was presented in the session on 'Preserving good things and daring new things'. Those kinds of events are a good chance to reach the existing building sector which is becoming more and more important and interesting to all stakeholders.

Cologne at the final conference of the EU-project GrowSmarter in Stockholm

When we set out three years ago, together with Barcelona and Stockholm, to prepare our city to join the fight against climate change, the aim was to develop measures contributing to save energy, reduce CO2 emissions and improve the quality of life for citizens throughout Europe.

So being at the final conference of GrowSmarter was a great experience for Cologne. In the presence of the Mayor of Stockholm Anna King Jerlmyr, the Commissioner of the 2030 Agenda 2030 at the City of Barcelona Miquel Rodriguez and the Vice-Mayor from Cologne Dr. Heinen, the success of the project was clearly presented.

City officials agree that the project is a major milestone in sustainable urban development and will therefore be a model for other cities in Europe. This already applies to the five Follower Cities (Cork, Graz, Suceava, Valetta and Porto).

The results are so convincing that the project has won numerous awards and prizes, such as in Cologne the special award of the BMWi on intelligent regions in Germany of the initiative "Intelligent networking", the award as NRW climate protection neighborhood, the award of the VKU of the innovative software Siedlungsmanagement management of RheinEnergie.

In Cologne, here in the Mülheim project area and the Stegerwaldsiedlung, the ambitious targets for CO2 savings and for the reduction of primary energy have been achieved. The deployment of mobility stations in the project area with connection to public transport, Car-Sharing, Bike-Sharing, online parking reservation and public charging stations has proven itself as an alternative to private cars and will now be rolled out on city-wide-scale in Cologne within the framework of the Green City Master Plan.

The surrounding cities and communities are also working within the larger network to support and implement mobility stations.

The Stegerwaldsiedlung is the largest self-contained neighbourhood area selected for a project such as GrowSmarter. The savings of CO2 by up to 72 percent and the primary energy between 77 and 83 percent and the savings of about 60 percent in the area of mobility stations could only be achieved through the overall concept of the measures.

Responsible for our effort in Cologne was a consortium consisting of the Deutsche Wohnungsgesellschaft (e.g. energy-efficient insulation and lighting, as well as windows with triple glazing), RheinEnergie AG (control of energy consumption using the software "Siedlungsmanagement", equipment with photovoltaic systems, air heat pumps, battery storage), the KVB (BikeSharing, Multiticket), Cambio CarSharing, Ampido (Online Parking Space Reservation), AGT (Real-Time Smart Plug Measurement Data Consumption and Use Analysis) and ui!] (Urban Open Data Platform, Smart City Cockpit and GreenAir Room Climate Control) and the City of Cologne (overall project management and coordination of the individual work-packages in Cologne as well as the coordination work on the topic of integrated infrastructures on international scale).

Delegations from more than 28 countries have already experienced the measures for themselves, so the Stegerwald neighbourhood can rightly be described as a model for European cities.

Now, based on the success of the GrowSmarter project, the City of Cologne can continue the development of the sustainable SmartCity Cologne with the participating companies.

The solutions developed in GrowSmarter have made Barcelona smarter and more sustainable, and they have the potential to do the same for Europe. Here in Barcelona, the GrowSmarter team is sure of this and have spent the final months of the project sharing that knowledge with the world. Our solutions on Low Energy Districts, Integrated Infrastructures and Sustainable Urban Mobility are fully implemented and validated, so we were able to bring the solutions and the lessons learnt to a number of high level events.

Most recently (on December 12, 2019), we arranged a session at COP25 in Madrid showcasing how urban innovation can play a role in fighting climate change and fulfil the 2030 Agenda. At the session, Barcelona’s Commissioner for the 2030 Agenda, Miquel Rodriguez Planas, participated together with GrowSmarter’s project manager Lisa Enarsson (Stockholm) and Miguel Á. García from the European project Remourban. It was led by our partners from Anteverti led by Ana Alcantud.

They discussed the importance of building partnerships between different stakeholders when taking large scale action like what we have done in GrowSmarter. And they agreed that large scale action must be taken to fight climate change!

After the session on how innovative urban technologies can fight climate change, a group of political representatives took the stage to confirm their commitment to sustainable urban development. The Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Ms. Laia Bonet, was joined by Mr. Oscar Puente Santiago, Mayor of the City of Valladolid, Ms. Ana Oregi, Deputy Major of City of Vitoria-Gasteiz and Mr. Mohammed Boudra, President of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), all agreed that urban areas are important centres of action in the fight against climate change. 

This kind of high level commitment is a great promise to the future of smart city solutions, and the solutions we have implemented in Barcelona. Measures such as our distribution of freight in the inner city using e-cargobikes (reducing Co2 emissions related to freight delivery by 96%) and our work with local renewable energy generation, are ready to be upscaled and replicated throughout Europe.

Focusing on Low Energy Districts in Barcelona

An important part of the work we have done in Barcelona has been centred on the creation and evaluation of Low Energy Districts. Our partners, led by Naturgy and Catalonia’s Institute for Energy Research (IREC), have worked hard to complete energy efficient refurbishments of old cultural heritage buildings, public housing, private housing and in in different types of privately owned recreational buildings.

On November 18th, the day before the Smart City Expo World Congress started, we therefore invited participants to a day presenting all the work we have to implement energy efficient refurbishments in GrowSmarter. We presented the main conclusions of GrowSmarter’s work with Energy refurbishment and had a chance to showcase the large solar pagoda currently supplying almost 5 percent of the energy consumption at the 20-storey building skyscraper Mare Nostrum Tower.

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The day after, during the Smart City Expo World Congress, we momentarily stepped away from the congress at Fira Barcelona to show more smart solutions to interested congress-goers. We had an opportunity to see our e-charging infrastructure – set up by our partner Endesa – and the Smart Towers deployed by Cellnex which turn normal street lights into small urban telecom sites helping to connect the City of Barcelona.

To learn more about all the solutions, we have implemented in Barcelona, I encourage you to look through the GrowSmarter publications, where you will find factsheets, final reports on each action area, a report on introducing smart city solutions to the market and a thorough technical validation of all our work. If you represent a city hoping to implement a smart city strategy you can also benefit from reading our guide to replication.

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We have less than two months left of the GrowSmarter project and it is time to look ahead. When we started the project, Stockholm was already growing fast and needed smart solutions for the growth to be sustainable. This growth has only accelerated and 140 000 new apartments and 280 000 new inhabitants are expected by 2030. Combined with the goal of becoming fossil-fuel free in 2040 Stockholm faces some challenges, but are there answers to find in the GrowSmarter project?

Actually, there are. Quite many indeed.

Better use of urban space

One of the first issues of growth is the use of land and city space. We need to use urban space very wisely. Let’s start with waste. What space is necessary for different waste handling methods. The numbers below are from a Swedish study where a waste collection system sorting into three fractions for 1700 households was evaluated:

Then we have Envac’s smart waste handling system in Valla Torg. It is collecting 4 fractions, but all in one and the same inlet depositing into one terminal (container). So we collect four fractions and use one third of the space of the conventional AWCS evaluated above. This means that we use less than 0,06 square meters of land per household which would “only” total 8 000 square meters for all new inhabitants expected in Stockholm. Stockholmshem, the housing company, is currently building 160 new apartments near Envac’s smart waste system, and they only need to install the inlets as the terminal can easily handle the waste from these new households.

The same principle applies to the green parking index. The electrical car and cargo bike pool can provide mobility services to inhabitants using only a fraction of the space needed by private cars. Already deployed in Valla Torg, these mobility solutions are also available for the 160 new households thus minimising the need for parking space in the new buildings. This saved parking space alone can pay the additional costs of these mobility services. These are two great examples of smart sustainable solutions which also helps a growing city using its valuable space wisely.

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Re-using and storing power

We also need to heat up these 140 000 new apartments. In Stockholm, most buildings are connected to the district heating system. Stockholm Exergi has proved in GrowSmarter that waste heat from data centers or supermarkets can heat up buildings. In 2018 these and other waste heat sources heated up 31 000 apartments. The ongoing installations alone can heat up an additional 27 000 apartments in Stockholm. That means almost 60 000 apartments are heated up with heat that used to go to waste. With the expansion of data centers in Sweden it is not a far-fetched idea that all the 140 000 apartments could be heated with waste heat from data centers. There are data center providers which build their data centers under ground, thus not taking valuable space above ground, but still providing waste heat to the district heating system.

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Stockholm still needs to reduce the need for heat in buildings. Skanska showed together with Stockholmshem and L&T that it is possible to reduce the energy need in existing buildings up to 75%. On a larger scale, Stockholmshem found, it is economically feasible to reduce energy use in existing buildings with the solutions installed in Valla Torg by 50%. Combining waste heat recovery with energy efficient refurbishment is one approach that could help Stockholm phase out the last coal and oil used in district heating well before 2030.

Stockholm, as many other cities, is facing an increased electrification. More data is processed, or should I say more and more videos are uploaded, shared and streamed, which demands more data centers. Data centers already consume as much electricity as the UK and this is rapidly increasing. In addition we have the electrification of vehicles and the use of heat pumps also demand electricity. We need to consider that Sweden is phasing out nuclear power, which means that we will be more dependent on renewable energy sources. As the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow all the time, we need electricity storages more in the future than now. L&T has combined photovoltaics, smart electricity management and battery storage in commercial, residential and office buildings in GrowSmarter. Even if battery storage currently is not economically feasible it will be increasingly so in the future. Battery storage can be used in two ways. In summer you store the overproduction of solar electricity there and in winter you cut electricity effect peaks with the storage. The latter is already done now, but will be even more important in the future. The results from the private condominium Årstakrönet where L&T has managed these solutions is very promising as the amount of electricity from the grid could be reduced with more than 30% with these and electricity saving measures. Peak loads have also been shaved and the three phases are no longer running a risk of being overloaded for instance when electrical vehicles are charged.

Streetlights are also abundant in Stockholm with more than 150 000 of them all running on electrictiy. The smart street lights installed show that electricity can be reduced between 20-45% compared to traditional LED-lights. The Traffic Department of Stockholm is now working to find the best solution and open platform to upscale the solutions and are testing this in Stockholm.Lastly the increased population will mean more people and more goods on the streets of Stockholm. As we do not have the space or possibility to build new streets and roads, we need to use the existing infrastructure in a much more efficient way.

Smarter solutions for a connected city

The construction logistics center implemented by Carrier is one such solution. When the construction material needed the day after is transported to the construction site the evening before, we can move these transports from times with a lot of traffic to times with less traffic. The waste can also be collected at the site with the returning transport in the evening. The overall traffic to the construction site will also decrease with the construction logistics center and these transports can be made with vehicles using biofuels as was done by Carrier. Considering that 140 000 apartments need to be built, the amount of construction material traffic will be high the next ten years and it will be important to implement this type of solution widely in the city. Interestingly, studies show that of the heavy transports in a city almost 30% are waste transports. The Envac waste solution mentioned above not only needs less space, but also reduced waste transports in the area with 90%.

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Sensor technology, connectivity, big data combined with artificial intelligence are means by which the city better can manage traffic flows in a city. In the Slakthus-area, the city together with IBM can show traffic flows of vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists in real time. We can predict congestion, we can understand how weather or different type of events correlate with people and traffic flows in the streets. We can use this information to guide people to transport themselves to and from the area in a sustainable, yet faster, way. As the Slakthus-area will be a large construction site the coming 10 years this information is essential to understand how construction transports, goods transports, event visitor traffic and other traffic can be managed in the often narrow streets. The new subway station will for instance guide a very large flow of people into Rökerigatan, which will be a main commercial street in the area. This street will not have separate pavements or bike lanes, so all modes of traffic needs to share the same street. By predictive flow analysis, especially regarding events, it is possible to manage goods transports and deliveries, so that they do not collide with people going to events.

If this sounds at all interesting I do welcome you to follow our final conference on December 3rd, where all these solutions will be showed as part of the study visit programme. If you have not signed up for the event, you can stay updated by following GrowSmarter on Twitter.

smarter.eu/uploads/pics/Polaroid_Stockholm2_01.jpg" /> Mika Hakosalo

Site Manager, Stockholm

For the previous blog post, click here

In the past five years, the GrowSmarter partners in Cologne have achieved great results in the three different areas of the project: Low Energy Districts, Integrated Infrastructures and Sustainable Urban Mobility. Now we are working hard to ensure upscaling becomes possible in Cologne and that other cities can benefit from our efforts and replicate the smart city solutions we have implemented.

To this effect, we organized several study visits and numerous events to regularly educate groups of visitors from universities and cities from within Germany, Europe and abroad. The partners of GrowSmarter got a first taste of that work, when they visited Cologne for our General Assembly over the summer.

Action Area 1: Low Energy Districts

During the General Assembly we took our partners on a tour to experience our work in Low Energy Districts for themselves. The scene was the GrowSmarter project area Mülheim (Stegerwaldsiedlung), where we have implemented a large-scale energy efficient refurbishment of 16 building blocks to lower their CO2 emissions and upgrade them for our citizens to live in. Noticeable results from this work done by our partners include an average CO2 reduction of 72% in the Stegerwaldsiedlung neighborhood.

Our partner, the German utility RheinEnergie, also installed photovoltaic cells on top of buildings in the neighbourhood, and is exploiting that energy to make the Stegerwaldsiedlung more self-sufficient. In order to achieve this, they implemented the so-called Siedlungsmanagement software which makes it possible to plan energy use in a much more efficient manner through the entire neighbourhood.

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Action Area 2: Integrated infrastructures

Under the theme Integrated Infrastructures, we have focused on two different, albeit connected, approaches. On the ground in Cologne, on the so-called “Klimastraße”, which is part of the initiative ‘SmartCity Cologne’ where RheinEnergie tests innovative technologies, the company integrated three electric charging points electric vehicles in lampposts on the street. These three charging points have a yearly loading volume of 14.000 kWh and in one year of implementation they reduced the CO2 emmissions by ten tonnes compared to if the same transportation had been done in regular cars.

The second approach is related to Big Data and the work done by [ui!] - the urban institute with its open urban big data platform called ‘Urban Pulse’. The platform is able to store and process urban data in real-time in order integrate a wide range of different data and services used by Cologne (and other cities when the solution is replicated!). Data can be shared from different departments of a city administration as well as from different utilities or third parties with relevant data. The data platform gives a fast and easy overview of the current situation of the city. Different focal areas such as the environment or traffic can be considered. Three factsheets explaining the different use-cases of the Urban Pulse were recently made and you can find them online at the GrowSmarter website:

• Cross-City implemenation
• Traffic
• Environmental monitoring

Action Area 3: Sustainable Urban Mobility

Finally, we showed our partners visiting from the rest of the GrowSmarter cities some of the implementations we have done to improve Urban mobility in Cologne as part of the project. A centrepiece of this work is the Mobility Stations. A mobility station offers multiple transport alternatives at one location. The mobility stations can vary in both size and type of location, and ten different stations were implemented in or near the neighbourhood of Mülheim. Some offer e-bike and e-car sharing, while others may offer public transportation in connection to parking and the availability of e-bikes.

In total, together with our partners, RheinEnergie, Cambio Cologne, KVB and Ampido, we have deployed 54 different e-vehicles in Cologne (cars and bikes) in the different mobility stations. As mentioned in earlier blogs, the process for signing up for an e-bike is simple. The costumer can sign up for free by using the homepage www.kvb-rad.de, by using the KVB or nextbike App or register on the phone by using the nextbike costumer hotline.

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Our partners from KVB and cambio have described their work with the Mobility Station in an independent blog Segment:

Mobility station, e-bikes and the new design guide - by the industrial partners KVB and cambio

Within the project of GrowSmarter, in particular for the mobility stations, all technical requirements e.g. the certifications of safety and quality of the products, have been completed. For the commission of the e-bikes a test called "Inbetriebnahmeprüfung" by the the German Technical Inspection Association was necessary. The KVB is the first company, who realized this test of an e-bike station in Germany.

Since the 8th of Februar all e-bikes are in use. Because of the many unauthorized returns of the e-bikes outside the mobililty stations, the KVB had to develop a new design for the e-bikes to ensure the customers understand the difference between an e-bike and a conventional bike. These difference refer to the pricing system and the regulations of returning and renting the e-bikes.

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The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg developed a new design guide for the signature of mobility stations in Nord Rhine-Westfalia. Together with the city council of Cologne and cambio carsharing a new concept for the pedestrian signs between the light rail- and bus stations and the mobility stations had to be installed.

Furthermore there has been an enourmous sharing and discussion of information and experience especially for the members of WP4 during the general assemblies in Barcelona and Porto. In addition to the GA´s there has been a webinar concerning urban mobility which was presented by Tanya Bullmann (cambio CarSharing) and Thomas Bischof (KVB). There have also been many interviews regarding the GrowSmarter project and the development of smart mobility. These requests from students and universities have been answered from nearly all team members of WP 4.

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In order to increase the use of the offered electric car-sharing, cambio started so called „E-Infoveranstaltungen“. These are best described as a meet & greet between cambio staff and customers or car-sharing interested people directly at the mobility stations during weekends. Every weekend, cambio met customers at a different station in order to explain the usage of the electric vehicles and lower the threshold for use. The meetings turned out to be very successful and each was visited by at least 15 up to 50 people. Customers were asking cambio staff questions and exchanged experiences. In the weeks after each current meeting we could see an increased use of e-vehicles at the mobility stations.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/Polaroid_Julia_Egenolf_Small.jpg" />Julia Egenolf

Site Manager, Cologne

For the previous blog post, click here

Our smart district is producing a lot of information. Our “SmartHome GrowSmarter” research study for example will look at the feedback that the volunteer tenants will give from the use of Smart systems in their energetically renovated houses. Open Urban Platforms such as the one developed in GrowSmarter, including our Urban cockpit, is becoming a reference for smart cities. 

Action Area 2 - Low Energy Districts: SmartHome Systems in the Stegerwaldsiedlung

RheinEnergie found a manufacturer (homee) who is going to equip the Smart Home system with an interface that enables AGT to collect and measure the required data. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of Smart Home systems on users' quality of life and potential energy savings.

Every tenant who lives in one of the 16 energetically renovated houses can apply to participate in the “SmartHome GrowSmarter” research study. RheinEnergie offers to install up to 50 free systems. Participants will receive a SmartHome system worth approx. 1.000€ (including installation) which they can keep after the end of the study.participants must agree to share their experiences in surveys which will be sent out at least quarterly.  The data will be evaluated anonymously and confidentially by the technical university of Cologne (TH Köln).

With the SmartHome system provided, tenants have an open system that can combine different radio protocols and components from many different manufacturers to set up individual SmartHome systems. The research study decided to use the radio protocol Z-Wave. The tenants received the homee base cube, the Z-Wave radio cube and various matching components, such as the smart heating thermostat, window and door sensors and smart plugs to measure the electricity consumption. The base cube collects information, processes it and stores it locally. It acts as the central control over the smart components. A Wi-Fi connection allows the control of the connected devices via smartphone or PC. To connect more sensors or actors you can add more cubes to the brain cube which support other Smart Home radio protocols like Z-Wave, Zigbee or EnOcean.

The Smart Home system allows a comfortable control of lights, heating, etc. via Smartphone from any room. You can, for example, check that all windows are closed while being away from home.

At both informational events on March 24th 2018 and on May 17th 2018, the project partners RheinEnergie (with the TH Köln) and AGT had a display wall to explain the system and the extra components to the tenants and show them its advantages.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_10/Cologne/Group_Picture_1_Home_management_system.png" height="300px" />Photo: The home base cube (white) and the Z-Wave radio protocol cube (purple) and demonstration wall

Action Area 3 - Integrated Infrastructure: Open urban Platforms as key component for integrated SmartCity infrastructures

The European Innovation Partnership for Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC) exists since 2013 and now has more than 5,000 affiliates in over 31 countries. The EIP-SCC discusses central questions of the Smart Spatial Development. A central finding of the Cluster “Integrated Infrastructures & Processes”[1] is the need for open urban platforms prerequisite for the rapid implementation of intelligent solutions in the cities that can be used by the various actors in a city. The first step in this direction has been made by the Urban Platforms initiative, which comprises three areas: the demand side, which is mainly represented by cities, the supplier side, and the standardization.

With a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) smartcities.eu/search?keywords=Towards+Open+Urban+Platforms+for+Smart+Cities+and+Communities&op=Search&form_build_id=form-dkGfZmSe05Z3AkPTSL0NcETMiWhb4l5L_iZaCeBRKNg&form_id=smart_cities_search_block_form">“Towards Open Urban Platforms for Smart Cities and Communities”, the initiative aims to provide broad support from the industry for the implementation of open solutions. Currently, 44 companies from the industry have signed the memorandum. On the demand side, a declaration of intent has been signed by the 24 cities and two city networks, which will help to develop the core requirements for open, urban platforms.

[ui!]UrbanPulse is one of the first urban platforms that has been aligned to the reference architecture of the MoU and thus the open urban data platform of Cologne according to GrowSmarter's “Integrated Infrastructure” measure “8.1 Big consolidated open data platform” conforms to the reference architecture.

DIN SPEC Open Urban Platform (OUP) The German standards organization DIN has picked up the activities of the Action Cluster Integrated Infrastructure and Processes on the MoU and developed an “Open Urban Platform” with a regional consortium consisting of members from cities, operators, vendors, and academia the DIN SPEC 91357[1]. The reference architecture of the MoU has served as a sound base as depicted in the figure below. Both core partners of WP3 in Cologne, the City of Cologne and [ui!], were members of the DIN SPEC team and provided strategic guidance. As consortium leader, [ui!] orchestrated input also from other members working in SCC01 projects such as Triangulum, Smarter Together and mySMARTLife.  

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_10/Cologne/Cologne_3_MoU_Reference_Graphic.jpg" />MoU Reference graphic

Urban COCKPIT The GrowSmarter Cologne Urban COCKPIT is a solution developed on top of the open urban platform and is based on the [ui!] COCKPIT. It is designed to support analytics of real time data. By integrating, processing and visualizing data, a proof of concept can be done proving that the data is really available and in good quality. This is an important step for using and offering the data for value added services.

The WebAPP has been developed for GrowSmarter to provide insight in the different measures implemented in Cologne. It gives decision makers an easily understandable overview of the current and historical state of the pilot implementation. This includes traffic and parking loads, parking situations, energy consumption and production and mobility stations. All data is provided by the infrastructures and does not include personal data. It will be used to understand which data is available, at which quality in a human understandable way. It serves therefore also as a communication tool with other departments within the City administration as well as with external parties.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_10/Cologne/Urban_cockpit_view_1_and_2.png" height="300px" />

Urban cockpit main view and map view

The indicator on the left side of the Urban COCKPIT main page is pulsing and gives information of the current “pulse” of the city. In case of large traffic loads, much pollution, bad parking situations, high amount of non-regenerative energy consumption, etc. the pulse is very high which indicates the city suffers from “stress”. On the right side, different tiles or certain Smart City indicators are arranged. The timeline on the bottom of the cockpit can be used to see historical states of the city.

Federation of Open Urban PlatformsWithin the DIN SPEC 91357 and in alignment to the MoU, the federation of open urban platforms has been addressed. A federation allows different urban data platforms to exchange data in a transparent way thus that smart services in any given city can benefit from data sources even outside of the city as well as deploying smart services into other cities.

The below figure provides a schematic view of such a federation depicted from the DIN SPEC 91357.

User scenario

Let’s assume, a start-up from Cologne would like to develop a mobile application that enables the multi-modal routing and integrated usage of public transport, electric mobility and different energy infrastructure elements (e.g. charging stations) across Germany. Therefore, the start-up obtains relevant data regarding the current city from the related Open Urban Platform via an Open Data Portal (e.g. https://offenedaten-koeln.de/). To extend their service to other cities in Germany the start-up uses the GovData.De portal and its data-catalog to lookup for Open Urban Platforms of other cities providing equivalent datasets and services required by their mobile application. The available information from the Open Data Portals and their corresponding Open Urban Platforms of Hamburg and Cologne has been harvested by integrating their data catalogs. This way the mobile application can transparently provide services both in Cologne and Hamburg, instead of having two APPs, e.g. one for each city. Given a user opens the mobile application in Cologne to plan a journey to Hamburg. The mobile application should provide the most convenient combination of transportation means concerning the traffic situation and public transport options and availability of charging stations.”

Our vision is therefore to connect the urban platforms within GrowSmarter across the three GrowSmarter lighthouse cities Stockholm, Cologne and Barcelona and if applicable between lighthouse cities and follower cities. This way, we allow for more smart services to be developed and thus creating an even larger ecosystem adhering to our ambitious goal of prosperity and growth.

In 2014, when we selected the smart solutions and the partners that would implement these in Stockholm, we wanted to show how a city can tackle the sustainability challenges of rapid urban growth. Now that these solutions are in place we want to evaluate the results to show that we can achieve the goals initially defined and do so in an economically sound way. When we look at the first set of evaluation data collected we can see at the same time promising results, no results at all and negative results. In many cases we simply do not have enough data to give an accurate answer. Also the systems have in many cases not been fully optimised and/or is running on partial capacity, so it is too early to define if they are working well.

Action area 1: Low-Energy Districts - What is happening in Valla Torg, Årsta and the Slakthus area buildings and what results do we have?

In Valla Torg the refurbishment of the two first multi-storey buildings (7G and 6) and the low-storey building 8 are finalised and the tenants have moved in. The evaluation of energy use has started, but the first set of evaluation data is not complete, so it is too early to tell how well the energy efficiency measures have worked. Refurbishment of the other buildings are still in progress and will be finalised between September 2018 and January 2019.

In the private condominia Brf Årstakrönet the evaluation is on its second year. The use of electricity, water and energy used for heating is evaluated. Each energy source is followed on a monthly basis and compared to the baseline.  Also the amount of solar energy produced by PV cells are measured.

Compared to 2015, the first full operational year of savings was around -10%, for district heating -30% for electricity (not including electricity used in apartments) and -4% for water.

In Slakthusarea the refurbishment of building 8 is finalised. The evaluation of energy use has started, but as the building and energy measures were so recently done there is no data yet available telling how well the energy efficiency measures have worked. The substitute buildings Kylhuset in Slakthusareaare also finalised for building related energy efficiency measures. The waste heat recovery will be installed in summer 2018 as well as the PVs combined with battery storage.

Action area 2: Integrated Infrastructures

Installing smart LED-lighting

The smart LED-street lights (solution 5) have now been in operation for 1,5 years and the system has worked well. There are three sub measures implemented and evaluated and the results for the first year of evaluation is presented below. It is important to understand that the baseline is LED-street lights. So the energy saving of replacing a metal halogen street 50 W with LED light of 30W is not included. This saving is about 30%.

• The first sub measure is “Sensor controlled LED lighting for pedestrian and bicycle paths” to enable the lights to provide base lighting to satisfy the feeling of safety at all times and increase the level of lighting when someone approaches. The first 12 months of evaluation indicate an energy saving of 45,9% a year. The original target of 40-50% savings was thus reached.
• The second sub measure is “Self-controlled LED street lighting with pre-set lighting schemes”. The first 12 months of evaluation indicate an energy saving of 14,4% a year. The original target of 20% savings was not reached in this first year.
• The third sub measure is “Remote controlled LED street lighting which can be controlled from a distance”. The first 12 months of evaluation indicate an energy saving of 19,3% a year. The original target of 30-50% savings was not reached in this first year.

The next step will be to define how cost effective these sub measures have been.

A Smart Connected City

The aim of the measure 5.2 is to implement in the city environment, if possible on existing infrastructure, sensors for data collection, analysis, visualization and via an IOT platform also test the possibilities to use sensor data for direct communication to citizens as well as using flow data to pre-program and steer city infrastructure such as street lights.

Two types of sensors have been implemented in the Slakthusarea. The first type is 10 sensors for measuring vehicle traffic on a real-time base and the second type are wifi-based sensors to measure pedestrian and bicyclist traffic. The data from the sensors are analysed and visualised in the IOT platform provided by IBM. Below are some examples of visualised data analytics.

IBM, who is responsible for the open consolidated big data platform (solution 8), will build up a multiuseable data platform where real-time data can be analysed, but also were the data can be turned into practical usecases reducing transport emissions and increasing the quality of life for citizens. The development work is done in an agile process were users from different city organisations work together with IBMs development team. Currently the development team is working on developing a mobile application to help event visitors in the Slakthusarea to navigate in the area is a best possible way. In autumn the development team will start working with how the flow data collected could be used to steer street lights in the area.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_10/Stockholm/1_IBM_Iot_Platform.png" />CO2 emission (g/km) from passing vehicles (left) and amount of pedestrians in the area during an event (right)

Smart waste handling

The waste handling system provided by Envac has been running since the summer 2017. This solution (Measure 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3) demonstrates a smart waste solution for residential areas using differently coloured bags for different sorts of waste, transporting the bags long distance underground and sorting them automatically in a treatment plant. There are yet only two inlets in operation in the installation due to the general time plan of the refurbishment of the Valla torg site. When the AWCS is in full operation there will be 13 inlets, thus increasing the amount of waste significantly, in turn making the evaluation more relevant. The organic fraction can be used for biogas production, which in turn can be used in vehicles. So it is very promising that this fraction per quantity is the largest. 

Action area 3: Sustainable Urban Mobility

Building logistics centre and delivery boxes

The Building logistics centre (solution 2) implemented by Carrier, will start handling more materials for the last buildings to be refurbished in Valla Torg. Unfortunately the evaluation data is not yet available, so it is not possible to define how well the solution is working.

The implementation of delivery boxes (solution 9) by Carrier is done. The delivery boxes are actually a delivery room, which later on can be used for other purposes. The delivery room can be easily used for any type of deliveries, small and big. The deliveries are transported by bike to the room. When the package has arrived the tenant will get a message and with an app, open the door and then go and collect it.  The tenant can also put returning packages in a special shelf. As the system has been in use for a short time, only a tenfold of packages were delivered. The camera surveilled room together with identification of users and specified door codes guarantee that a package is not accessed by other users by mistake.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_10/Stockholm/2_Carrier_logistics_center.png" />From package delivery by bike to pick up from Tenant using the app

Smart Traffic Management

Insero has together with NOAE (Network of Automotive Excellence) implemented an information system for drivers (solution 10). Effects on travel time and the drivers’ experiences has not yet been evaluated.

KTH has developed a smart phone application to follow up changes in travel behaviour. In the same application, information about renewable fuels in Stockholm will be shown. The application is launched, but no evaluation data is available.  

Alternative fuel driven vehicles

As part of the GrowSmarter project, Fortum will install up to 10 charging stations and one fast charger (solution 11). The fast charger is installed in Årsta. The normal chargers are also installed in Valla Torg.

The first four refuelling stations for renewable fuels are up and running. The filling station in Årsta is expected to be built in 2018. Data from the first refuelling station shows some drastic results. The station was launched in 2016 as a renewable station and drivers did not think they could also get traditional diesel there. When they did understand this, the diesel sales increased. It is important to remember that only 10% of all trucks in Sweden are defined as green vehicles, so in that perspective 18% sales of biogas is a good result.

Stockholmshem launched its electrical carpool (solution 12) for tenants and habitants in February 2018. In February and March there were 14 tenants who have enrolled themselves to the carpool. The cars are frequently used especially during weekends.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_10/Stockholm/3_Electric_carpool_solution.png" />

Communication and marketing

An event for tenants in Valla Torg was organised 18th of April 2018. In the events Stockholm Site partners showed smart solutions for the tenants and they could also test solutions like the cargo bike. The event was successful and received positive feedback from tenants.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_10/Stockholm/4_Valla_Torg_event_1.png" />

All photos from the tenant event was taken by Bengt Alm.

In Slakthusarea an inauguration was held 15th of May introducing the smart solutions implemented in the area. Some 100 persons from different organisations attended the event. It was a wonderful weather and the visitors had a possibility to both listen to presentations as well as see the solutions in practice in a study visit.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_10/Stockholm/5_Slakthusarea_event.png" />

All photos from the Slakthusarea event was taken by Sven Lindwall.

With this I want to wish you a very nice summer.

smarter.eu/uploads/pics/Polaroid_Stockholm2_01.jpg" /> Mika Hakosalo

Site Manager, Stockholm

For the previous blog post, click here

With construction nearly completed in Stegerwaldsiedlung, we held an informational event with tenants in the newly renovated buildings and area. We've also been actively participating in a number of international events, sharing the experiences of the GrowSmarter project in Cologne with interested parties from all around Europe and the world.

GrowSmarter dissemination

Informational event for the Stegerwaldsiedlung tenants

As the construction work in the project site area Stegerwaldsiedlung is almost complete, the project management and partners believed that it was time to hold an informational event for the neighbourhood tenants to inform about the process and foster acceptance. As the tenants stayed in their apartments during construction time, burdens such as long road closures, lack of parking spaces, construction noise, etc. had to be endured.

The City of Cologne together with the project partners invited the Stegerwaldsiedlung tenants to an informational event on November 7th, 2017. The invitations were distributed to all households in the project area and were available in all social insti-tutions.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image1.jpg">Poster announcing event

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image2.jpeg">Informational event for the tenants. Photo: Uta Konopka

The aim of the informational event was to inform the tenants about the measures and the current state of the implementation, and to report on the perspectives that arise for the entire district of Mülheim. The event was supported by an external moderator and facilitated by the Community Reporter group (a group was founded to teach professional video shooting and then accompany projects they choose in Co-logne). More than 100 tenants attended the event.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image3.jpeg">Informational event for the tenants. Photo: Uta Konopka

The project management welcomed the attendees, explained the project goals, pre-sented the status of the implementation and pointed out the perspective until the end of the project and beyond. Most importantly, the team explained the benefits of the project for the tenants. Two City of Cologne employees (City Strategic Planning and Urban Development) reported on how the district of Mülheim will develop in the areas of local supply, mobility and construction. The tenants were invited to ask questions and express their wishes. Many questions asked were related to the status of the construction site, new heating system, the parking situation and how high future rents will be.

As a result of this meeting, the City together with the partners will send a letter summarising the event’s results. DEWOG already sent a detailed letter explaining the new heating system and the energy cost saving potential. At the end of the event, the tenants had the opportunity to get to know each other personally. The Community Reporters produced a video showing the event and subsequent interviews with some of the participants. You can view the video here (in German):

The next tenant informational event is planned for May 2018.

Study visit at the World Climate Conference COP 23

The World Climate Change Conference took place in Bonn from November 6 to 17. For more information please visit the official website.

COP23 provided an extensive framework program surrounding the main programme for the conference participants. The aim of this programme was to show the participants as many projects as possible in the field of local climate protection activities. Within this context, the GrowSmarter project partners offered a study visit to the Stegerwaldsiedlung. The The study visit, which took place on 13 November, was announced in a press release as well as in the COP23 event programme, which all attendees received.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image4.jpg">Informational event for the tenants. Photo> Uta Konopka

The GrowSmarter team conducted the study visit at the Stegerwaldsiedlung in both German and English. 26 people participated in the study visit. The project management team explained the overarching GrowSmarter goals and the efforts in all three lighthouse cities. The local work-package leaders presented Cologne’s measures in energy, mobility and integrated infrastructure. During the neighbourhood tour, the participants were able to see the implementation of the measures first hand.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image5.jpeg">Study visit COP 23. Photo: Uta Konopka

The solutions related to energy retrofitting, energy management with the control of neighbourhood management and the mobility stations were of particular interest. Many questions came up, including which measures were particularly effective, the prospects for transferring the measures to other cities and how residents are in-volved. Participants were keen to continue the dialogue and to be kept informed about the project.

GrowSmarter at THERMOS conference in Brussels

This event took place at the Permanent Representation of Romania in Brussels on January 25th, 2018. It addressed the question of making integrated heating and cooling systems part of the backbone of Smart Cities and Communities, including concepts on local, open and affordable energy transition by providing state-of-the-art planning tools, solutions and insights.

Cologne was invited to speak on a panel, providing the city’s perspective on thermal optimisation and refurbishment in the framework of CELSIUS and GrowSmarter.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image6.jpeg">THERMOS conference. Photo: Julia Egenolf

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image7.jpeg">THERMOS conference. Photo: ICLEI

GrowSmarter at the SmartCity Replication Workshop in Brussels

The SCC replication workshop titled ”Learning from the successful” took place in Brussels on January 26th, 2018 and focused on the question of how Lighthouse city Smart Solutions can be replicated in Follower Cities. How can stumbling blocks be overcome in order to achieve replication possibilities of Horizon 2020 projects and their solutions for Follower Cities? Three workshops, each held twice, were divided into 4-5 roundtables for the topics of energy, integrated infrastructure and mobility. The event saw more than 100 participants in the moderated workshops. Cologne moderated the mobility roundtable, and car-sharer provider Cambio gave information on setting up mobility stations, as has been done in Cologne. Cologne’s energy provider, RheinEnergie, participated in the roundtable on virtual power plants/energy management systems, including storage. Each roundtable discussion was facilitated by a moderator who introduced presenters from industrial and city partners. The sessions started with a presentation touching on the planning, implementation, technical evaluation, business model and the replication possibilities of specific solutions. The participants then had 40 minutes to discuss barriers and possibilities to replicate.

At the end of the workshops, the moderators summarised the key success factors and how to overcome the main obstacles.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image8.jpeg">SCC replication workshop. Photo: Julia Egenolf

Action Area 1: Low-Energy Districts

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

The first construction phase has been completed and the evaluation began in January 2018, as planned. The remaining construction phases are scheduled to be completed by March 2018, after which their evaluation phase will also begin.

Both RheinEnergie AG and AGT international will send informational letters to all Stegerwaldsiedlung tenants until March and inform them about the possibility to have the Smart Home system installed for free. This will be done in up to 50 homes. If there are more interested tenants than expected, RheinEnergie will have to assign them by lot.

RheinEnergie AG was able to find a manufacturer who was prepared to equip its smart home system with an interface that enables AGT to collect and measure the required data (WP3). The system will be presented and demonstrated to the tenants in a workshop, where they can learn how to operate it in person and understand the advantages of the system. We intend to cover the first experiences with the system our the next blog update.

Action area 2: Integrated Infrastructures

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

RheinEnergie was able to install three electric charging stations on existing street lighting poles. An existing WiFi grid connection hotspot is already in place at these locations.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image9.jpeg">Photo: RheinEnergie AG

The community driven project ”OpenAir Cologne” has made progress; in the past months, the website has been editorially revised and the project was presented at several different events.

OpenAir Cologne is a joint project of the Oklab Cologne, the City of Cologne, the TH (University of applied Sciences), the University of Cologne and the For-schungszentrum Jülich (research center). The project focuses on generating data, especially measurements of fine particulate matter, through environmental sensors. This project is the outcome of an idea from citizens, supported by science based institutions and initiated by the City of Cologne.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image10.png">Data fine dust collected from environmental sensors. Photo: City of Cologne

The overall idea came about via “Citizen Science”, in which citizens and their ideas and perspectives are actively involved in governmental tasks. The objective is to connect citizens with their local public administration and to accelerate cooperation between the government and the inhabitants in the areas of Open Data, participation and citizen information. The greater purpose in this context is to enable an actual collaboration between citizens and the government.

The project is being implemented by collecting sensor data from volunteers and processing them for the community as Open Data, as well as to open them for discussion and to review their informational value. The goal is that the sensors will allow coverage of a large area in order to generate as much reliable information as possible. To support the project, the city offers different types of workshops, from soldering to understanding weather forecasts.

Given the current situation, OpenAir Cologne was able to set up 50 environmental sensors in the urban area of Cologne. Most importantly, it was possible to raise awareness and interest for the environment and to disseminate environmental topics amongst the public.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image11.png">Model OpenAir Node Sensor Copyright City of Cologne

Action area 3: Sustainable Urban Mobility

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

All ten planned mobility stations are now in place, in various sizes and with various combinations of partners. Three mobility stations will be equipped with e-bikes this month and next. Photos of the individual stations can also be found in our previous blog post.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image12.jpg"> Overview of Mobility Stations and partners involved

After overcoming some legal stumbling blocks for ampido locations in public spaces, the team has now been able to integrate this partner with the inclusion of some spe-cial clauses in the law. Ampido is equipping the Mobility Stations with parking spac-es that can be booked in advance. This system has so far only worked on private land and is now possible on public lands for the duration of the project or until city ordinances change. Ampido is represented at the Mobility Stations found in the map above. Some of the stations have already been shown in previous blogs. These photos show only ampido’s spaces, as they are the most recent additions.

Wiener Platz, right in the center of Mülheim at the “Stadthalle”, 5 parking spaces:

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image13.png">Jan-Wellem-Str, Copyright Ampido

Bergischer Ring, directly opposite the district town hall Mülheim, 2 parking spaces:

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image14.png">Bergischer Ring, Copyright Ampido

Bahnhof Mülheim, Montanusstrasse, close to the Mülheim train station, 2 parking spaces:

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image15.png">Montanusstrasse, Copyright Ampido

Mobilitystation Stegerwald neighborhood, 2 parking spaces:

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image16.png">Stegerwald neighborhood, Copyright Ampido

The mobility card: “MultiTicket”

The mobility partners in the project are convinced that better utilisation of Mobility Stations depends on their attractiveness. cambio CarSharing and KVB have there-fore developed a combined mobility card: the “MultiTicket”. With the MultiTicket all means of transport (bus, tram, car- and bike-sharing) can be used. It is a further de-velopment of the existing "JobTicket", a monthly ticket paid for by companies for their employees. All JobTicket users are now able to register with cambio in order to use their car-sharing cars. The cars themselves can be opened with the MultiTicket - no further card is needed. In addition to public transport, all MultiTicket users get a dis-count of 10% for car-sharing.

The MultiTicket, which became available in October 2017, offers virtual consolidation by bringing the various modes of transport to one place, which the Mobility Sta-tion does physically.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image17.jpg">Multiticket

The introduction of the MultiTicket has not yet been promoted with a major press and advertising campaign. Still, the offer was very well received - almost 500 people have registered already, almost one third of the overall new cambio customers since October 2017. The use of the new Mobility Stations in the Mülheim project area has also increased. In the near future, further advertisement of the MultiTicket is planned in order to gain more customers and to make the Mobility Stations even more successful.

An example of the cambio CarSharing flyer advertisement can be seen below:

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image18.jpg">Advertising flyer page 1

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Cologne/image19.jpg">Advertising flyer page 2

Solution 1: Efficient and smart climate shell refurbishment

Solution 3: Smart energy-saving tenants

Solution 4: Smart local electricity management

Solution 11: Alternative fuel-driven vehicles

Solution 12: Smart mobility solutions

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/e-update/Barb.png" style="padding-right: 10px; float: left;"> Barbara Moehlendick

Site Manager, Cologne

For the previous blog post, click here

Csíkszentmihályi, who defined the state of flow, has said, "If challenges are too low, one gets back to flow by increasing them. If challenges are too great, one can return to the flow state by learning new skills.". Even if it is often referred to a personal state of mind, it could also be put in the context of the smart solutions implemented as a joint effort in Stockholm. Most of the solutions in Stockholm are implemented the first time in a larger scope, with high goals and a very tough schedule, but they are also very tightly linked to each other. Now that the implementation phase for most parts is over or in a repetitive phase it becomes evident how challenging the project actually has been and how it has required developing new skills. Now we are stepping out of this state of flow and starting sharing our experiences. And I think we have a very interesting story to tell.

Action area 1: Low-Energy Districts

What is happening in Valla Torg, Årsta and the Slakthus area buildings?

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

In Valla Torg the refurbishment of the two first multi-storey buildings (7G and 6) are finalised and the tenants have moved in. The evaluation of energy use has started and will continue until the end of the project to secure a 2-year evaluation time.

The second half of the low-storey building 8 is finalised and tenants have moved in.

In the private condominia Brf Årstakrönet the evaluation is on its second year indicating clear energy savings.

In Slakthusarea the refurbishment of building 8 is finalised. The new tenant, nightclub Slaktkyrkan, is open and have a full schedule of live shows planned for this spring. The pictures below show some of the energy efficiency measures implemented.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Stockholm/image1.png">New interior window with u-value 0,6, the external window is original

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Stockholm/image2.png">The building with integrated solar panels on the southern side (upper right) of the external glass roof, all lights are LED-lights

The substitute building Kylhuset in Slakthusarea is also finalised for building related energy efficiency measures. The waste heat recovery will be installed in summer 2018.

Action area 2: Integrated Infrastructures

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

Installing smart LED-lighting

The smart LED-street lights (solution 5) have now been in operation for 1,5 years and the system has worked well. The results have been so promising that now the City of Stockholm will scale up this solution on a district level.

A Smart Connected City

In Stockholm the smart connected city will use the extensive fibre network provided and administered by Stokab, a company owned by Stockholm City Council (more information) Several Internet of Things applications and solutions can be developed thanks to the fibre network.

The implementation of sensors in the Slakthusarea is soon finalised. Most of the sensors for vehicle traffic flow measurements are now installed and most of the wifi-based sensors are going to be installed within the next two weeks.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Stockholm/image3.png">Vehicle sensor installed measuring in- and outcoming traffic in Slakthusarea

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Stockholm/image4.png">Sign informing pedestrians and bicyclists of traffic flow measurements

IBM, who is responsible for the open consolidated big data platform (solution 8), will build up a multiuseable data platform where real-time data can be analysed, but also were the data can be turned into practical usecases reducing transport emissions and increasing the quality of life for citizens. The development work will be done in an agile process were users from different city organisations work together with IBM:s development team.

Waste Heat recovery

Fortum’s open district heating (solution 6) system has been operating during the heating season and has given better results than expected. The heat recovery can thus heat up more than the earlier calculated 700 apartments.

Smart waste handling

The waste handling system provided by Envac has been running since summer. The system has worked well with the bags provided for this purpose, but in some cases the tenants have used other plastic bags which has unfortunately broken. In the picture below you can see how the waste fractions look like inside the container before the delivery to the end sorting facility.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Stockholm/image5.jpeg">Mixed different coloured bags inside the container

Action area 3: Sustainable Urban Mobility

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

Building logistics centre and delivery boxes

The Building logistics centre (solution 2) implemented by Carrier, will start handling more materials for the last buildings to be refurbished in Valla Torg. Carrier has together with Skanska agreed which material streams can be best handled by the logistics centre, and these materials will be handled by the centre during 2018.

The implementation of delivery boxes (solution 9) by Carrier is done. The delivery boxes are actually a delivery room, which later on can be used for other purposes. In the room for instance tools could be safely kept and booked by tenants.

Smart Traffic Management

Insero has together with NOAE (Network of Automotive Excellence) implemented an information system for drivers (solution 10). Effects on travel time and the drivers’ experiences will be evaluated.

KTH has developed a smart phone application (solution 10) to follow up changes in travel behaviour. In the same application, information about renewable fuels in Stockholm will be shown. The application is launched.

Alternative fuel driven vehicles

As part of the GrowSmarter project, Fortum will install up to 10 charging stations and one fast charger (solution 11). The fast charger is installed in Årsta. The normal chargers are also installed in Valla Torg.

The first four refuelling stations (solution 11) for renewable fuels are up and running. The filling station in Årsta is expected to be built in 2018.

Stockholmshem launched yesterday its electrical carpool (solution 12) for tenants and habitants.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Stockholm/image6.png">The Valla Torg Electrical Car Pool

Communication and marketing

In Stockholm Emma Borggren-Franck has taken the responsibility of the demonstration of smart solutions. Several study visits have been organised and still more are planned for this year. There has also been a great interest for presentations of the smart solutions implemented in Stockholm. A few weeks ago we presented our experiences in Brussels and last week I was in Wien and Bratislava presenting results and experiences. In spring there are two events planned. One will be focused on the smart solutions in Slakthusarea and the second one on smart solutions for tenants in Valla Torg.

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_9/Stockholm/image7.png">Presenting GrowSmarter in Bratislava, Slovakia

Solution 1: Efficient and smart climate shell refurbishment

Solution 2: Smart building logistics

Solution 5: Smart street lighting

Solution 6: Waste heat recovery

Solution 9: Sustainable delivery

Solution 10: Smart traffic management

Solution 11: Alternative fuel-driven vehicles

Solution 12: Smart mobility solutions

smarter.eu/uploads/pics/Polaroid_Stockholm2_01.jpg style="padding-right: 10px; float: left;"> Mika Hakosalo

Site Manager, Stockholm

For the previous blog post, click here

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_8/Barcelona/image1.png">
Mesh of Barcelona, obtained from LIDAR data, topography and cadastre data

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_8/Barcelona/image2.png">
Results for wind field (speed and direction) obtained from CFD simulation

smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_8/Barcelona/image3.png">
Web-based graphical user interface for visualisation of air quality results

• Wind field (speed and direction),
• Air quality (NO2 and O3),
• Flow of vehicles (vehicles per minute).


Each monitoring node will be composed of an Arduino node, which have been developed as part of the Horizon 2020 CAPTOR project, and integrating several sensors on a single device. This control hardware node is in charge of monitoring, management and post-processing of raw data coming from the following integrated sensors:


• a Davis anemometer for wind direction and velocity
• several (up to 3) NO2 MOX sensors
• several (up to 3) O3 MOX sensors
• vehicle sensor to detect flow of vehicles


The environmental Arduino nodes will be deployed in the 22@ district and are self-contained packs that are designed to be installed on public street lights and poles at a minimum height of 5 meters to avoid vandalism. All the devices in this pack are designed to be long-lasting and highly durable to reduce maintenance. This installation pack is composed of the components shown in below:


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Components of the Arduino pack


The collected data will be sent to the GrowSmarter platform through the GrowSmarter API. The data will be used by the air quality monitoring software (nowcasting) developed by BSC-CNS that can predict wind fields in the streets with a resolution of 10 metres and 1 hour, and gas concentration with resolution of 10 metres and 1 hour. These resolution values are beyond the state of the art in air quality modelling for nowcasting.

Moreover, the sensing data information and the sensor-derived nowcasting maps will be offered as Open Data to third parties through the GrowSmarter platform so that consumers of these environmental data can use this information to provide environmental monitoring services.

Benefits for GrowSmarter
This use case is a clear example of synergies gained from integrating infrastructures of GrowSmarter: The Smart Towers will provide support for the monitoring nodes and provide communication infrastructure, while the GrowSmarter platform will provide the required data storage for the collected data. The air monitoring software is an example of a service developed on top of the GrowSmarter platform that will provide monitoring services. Moreover, this use case is an example of collaboration among different entities and projects beyond the GrowSmarter project.

Action area 3: Sustainable Urban Mobility
To see all the measures to be implemented, click here.

First results on the microdistribution of freight in Barcelona
In January 2017 the microdistribution platform became operational. The service is offered by the company Vanapedal. The municipality of Barcelona has leased a public space to the company, which is obliged to be neutral in the market and work with any logistics operator willing to use the service.

The main objectives of the measure are to:


• Introduce a more efficient and effective freight transport system in the city centre,
• Analyse the administrative management of a public concession,
  Analyse the business model of the service,
• Analyse the reduction in CO2 and vehicle kilometres due to shift from conventional vehicles to electric bikes, and
• Test a new sensor system to measure pollutants and other environmental parameters using the bicycles of the service.


The Last Mile Operator Vanapedal offers different services, the most relevant of which is the distribution of parcels and packages from other carriers to their final destination. Carriers bring these items to the microplatform which is conveniently located close to the city centre. These are then transferred to electric bicycles and tricycles. The last mile is then performed by drivers from Vanapedal following their established routes. Parking and access regulation do not apply to bicycles, so no delivery time window restrictions affect the distribution.

The service has been running since January 2017 from the Estació de França location with success, although the market is difficult to reach since there are also competitors and some logistics companies have begun operating their own last mile deliveries using sustainable modes of transport.


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Location of the microplatform at Estació de França


Currently, up to 9 bicycles are being used in daily operation. The company gathers all business information of their operations including the daily number of deliveries and pick-ups, the number of kilometres covered and the time needed to cover all routes. This information is being collected monthly and the first results of the analysis of this information have been made. During the first three months of operations, 23,000 journeys have been performed and an increase in the daily number has been noted.


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Average daily number of journeys


In February, the average distance covered was of 65.5km/day, while in March this figure increased to 160km/day due to the introduction of three more tricycles.


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Km performed by all bikes daily between January and March 2017


Also, the effectiveness of the deliveries is being monitored. So far, the average percentage of successful deliveries has been 92.73%. This value has increased over time, but it is seen as very good compared to conventional carriers.


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Evolution of the daily effectiveness of deliveries


The next step is to continue analysing the data obtained from the operator of the microplatform and compare it with the data obtained from the sensors that have been installed in three bicycles that offer further information such as the routes followed or the concentration of contaminants.

The last step of the process will determine how much traffic and CO2 this measure has reduced. This will help to encourage other cities to implement similar last mile services.



Discussed in this blog Solution 8: Big data management Solution 9: Sustainable delivery


smarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/Polaroid_Barcelona.jpeg" style="padding-right: 10px; float: left;"> Gonzalo Cabeza
Site Manager, Barcelona

For the previous blog post, click here

The personnel from Skanska and Stockholmshem have been working hard to finalise the buildings so that the tenants can start moving back as planned in September. In the last weeks, construction workers have been working nights and weekends to accomplish this. Now the first tenants have moved in and can start using all the smart solutions we have implemented. As soon as the heating season starts (we all wish the first snow would just come!) we can start getting some indications on how energy efficient the buildings are.

Action area 1: Low-Energy Districts

What is happening in Valla Torg, Årsta and the Slakthus area buildings?

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

The smart solutions for low energy districts will be rolled out in the building zones in Valla Torg, Årsta and the Slakthus areas (see map here). For an overview of the measures being implemented, click here.

In Valla Torg the refurbishment of the first multi-storey building (7G) is on the finish line. There is still some minor painting work to be done in apartments, but all energy efficiency solutions are implemented. Here are some photos of the building:

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New insulated façadesmarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_8/Stockholm/new-subcentre.jpg" />
New subcentre

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Accumulator tanks, where the recovered heat from heat pumps are storedsmarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_8/Stockholm/waste-water-heat-exchanger.jpg" />
The waste water heat exchanger

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Photovoltaics on the roof

In this building the tenants have the possibility to use the Active House application from Fortum to control the temperature and lighting in the apartment.

The other two buildings under construction are also well on their way. The first half of the low-storey building 8 is finalised and in September tenants moved in. The other half will be finalised later this autumn.

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Eastern half of building 8

The second multi-storey building 6 is going to be finalised by the end of this year.

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Building 6

In the private condominiums Brf Årstakrönet, Veolia (who just changed their name to L&T) have installed all solutions for optimising the energy use in the building. These are listed below (with pictures):

1. Adaptive control system

2. Temperature control in each apartment

3. Measurement implemented for:

a) Hot water circulation losses

b) District heat energy

c) Electricity

d) Cold Water

4. Thermographic control

5. Smart control of ventilation in garage:

a) PPM

b) Temperature, humidity

6. Electrical hub installed

7. Electrical battery storage installed

8. PV Cells and control system installed

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Action area 2: Integrated Infrastructures

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

Installing smart LED-lighting

The smart LED-street lights (solution 5) have now been in operation for a year.

A Smart Connected City

In Stockholm the smart connected city will use the extensive fibre network provided and administered by Stokab, a company owned by Stockholm City Council (more information). Several Internet of Things applications and solutions can be built on top of the fibre network.

The implementation of sensors in the Slakthusarea has started. IBM, who is responsible for the open consolidated big data platform (solution 8), will analyse data to show how people move around in the Slakthusarea. This starts as soon as the sensors can provide data in October. The project team, platform for data management, analysis tools and methodology are all in place.

Waste heat recovery

Fortum’s open district heating (solution 6) system is now installed in the datacentre. The heat recover can heat up approximately 700 apartments.

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Installations in the datacentre

Smart waste handling

The waste handling system provided by Envac was completed by the end of June. The pipelines, inlets and terminal of the smart waste handling system (solution 7) are in place. The terminal and inlets are now being installed.

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Terminalsmarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_8/Stockholm/pipes-transporting-waste.jpg" />
Pipe transporting waste

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Container for wastesmarter.eu/fileadmin/editor-upload/Blogs/_8/Stockholm/inlets.jpg" />
Inlets where tenants put their waste

Action area 3: Sustainable Urban Mobility

To see all the measures to be implemented, click here

Building logistics centre and delivery boxes

The Building logistics centre (solution 2), implemented by Carrier, will start handling more materials in autumn. Carrier has together with Skanska agreed which material streams can be best handled by the logistics centre, and these materials will be handled by the centre when the next phase of the refurbishment begins later in the autumn.

The implementation of delivery boxes (solution 9) by Carrier is being done alongside refurbishments of buildings in Valla Torg. When the tenants move back into their apartments starting in September, they can order packages and other deliveries straight to their homes instead of retrieving them from the nearest service point. The delivery from the service point to the building is carried out with cargo bikes.

Smart Traffic Management

KTH has developed a smart phone application (solution 10) to follow up changes in travel behaviour in a way that is more effective and has a greater response rate than traditional travel surveys. This will improve travel demand management measures. In the same application, information about renewable fuels in Stockholm will be shown. This information includes updated information on where each alternative fuel can be tanked, together with the most recent prices. The application will be launched when tenants have moved back later this autumn.

Alternative fuel driven vehicles

As part of the GrowSmarter project, Fortum will install up to 10 charging stations and one fast charger (solution 11). The fast charger is installed in Årsta. The normal chargers are also installed in Valla Torg.

The first three refuelling station (solution 11) for renewable fuels are up and running. The filling station in Årsta is expected to be built in the beginning of 2018.

Communication and marketing

In Stockholm several study visits have been arranged and there is high interest in the GrowSmarter solutions. As more and more smart solutions are implemented, the study visits will become more frequent. In October 2017 there will be an event demonstrating the smart solutions in Valla Torg. Here the focus is on city representatives. In November/December 2017 a similar event will be arranged in Slakthusarea. In spring 2018 an event is planned for tenants in Valla Torg.

A video has been produced showcasing the smart solutions implemented in Stockholm. The video can be seen here.

Solution 2: Smart building logistics

Solution 5: Smart street lighting

Solution 6: Waste heat recovery

Solution 7: Smart waste collection

Solution 8: Big data management

Solution 9: Sustainable delivery

Solution 10: Smart traffic management

Solution 11: Alternative fuel-driven vehicles

smarter.eu/uploads/pics/Polaroid_Stockholm2_01.jpg" /> Mika Hakosalo

Site Manager, Stockholm

For the previous blog post, click here