About Smart CityZens
The Smart CityZens project consists of creating and implementing an international Swiss-Russian intensive programme dedicated to the subject of Smart Cities & energy. Carried out in the two countries, the project is run by a consortium of higher education institutes, cities and companies. For Switzerland, these include Haute école de gestion Arc // HES-SO, Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, the City of Neuchâtel, the canton of Basel-City, Swiss Federal Railways SBB, and for Russia, Samara State University of Economics, Omsk State University and the City of Samara.
Aimed at business and engineering degree students from the partner institutes, the programme develops students’ intercultural and interdisciplinary skills, and involves them in a hands-on project, from ideation through to scenarization. In terms of pedagogy, the programme uses a variety of methods integrating the traditional and the digital. It answers the need of business and society for graduates with 21st century knowledge and skills.
This project is financially supported by Movetia. Movetia promotes exchange, mobility and cooperation within the fields of education, training and youth work – in Switzerland, Europe and worldwide. www.movetia.ch
What are Smart Cities?
The term “Smart City” is often used to describe a digitalized urban area. Drawing data from the use of the Internet of things (IoT), Smart cities focus on maximizing the efficiency of public services such as energy consumption, public transportation, traffic control, public buildings, and so on.
With society getter more complex by the day, humanity witnessing a continuous advancement of technologies and climate change leaving us with numerous environmental challenges, the topic of Smart Cities is more fashionable than ever.
How will this project relate to Swiss and Russian urbanism?
This project will be part of local and regional initiatives from the partner cities aiming to tailor energy use for maximum efficiency, while providing smart solutions to the citizens. In Basel, the Wolf Areal will be transformed into one of the most advanced smart areas of Switzerland. In Neuchâtel and Samara, initiatives are underway to draft city-wide energy plans and to optimize urban transportation with the help of digital technologies.
Four questions regarding the topic at hand
In order to answer the challenges inherent to such a project, the participating students will focus on four challenges.
- Decentralized energy systems: decentralization, proposed models
- Consumer-centric networks: key players, shared economy
- Energy providers: new business models, supplementary services
- Mobility: energy-efficient transport, public transportation, traffic management and safety