Summary
One of the two Strategic Aims of Digital Glasgow is for Glasgow to be “one of the most pioneering and innovative smart cities in the world”. The Smart City Innovation folio incorporates new technologies into city design to push toward that aim.
Making A Difference
Glasgow is committed to a meeting a net-zero emissions target by 2030 and is already ranked 4th in the world in the GDS-Index. For updates on the progress of the RUGGEDISED project specifically you can visit the website, or Glasgow blog. As a facet of the Digital Glasgow Strategy, Smart City progress updates are included in its annual reports.
Last year, Digital Glasgow published their two-year review spanning between 2018-20, detailing the priorities that were set and the impact COVID-19 had on their completion. Smart City Innovation was a priority set in last year’s report for 2021 and aimed to create a shared vision of smart city adoption in Glasgow. Working alongside Sustainable Glasgow, Glasgow City Council and many others, the working group has since adopted a “whole system approach” and has begun developing processes that will share and promote Glasgow’s ambition, achievements, capabilities and knowledge on becoming a ‘Smart City’ as well beginning to develop a pipeline of innovation challenges.
As well as the broader city-wide engagement on smart cities through the Smart City Innovation Working Group, Glasgow City Council has continued to invest in Smart City infrastructure, in part through Glasgow’s City Deal, and ERDF funding via the Scottish Cities Alliance’s Scotland’s Smart Cities programme. Glasgow aims to be a leading city for renewable technology and is using its historic strengths in engineering and education, to deliver a low carbon economy that will not only deliver a greener environment but will deliver a better life for all our people.
The RUGGEDISED Project, a smart city project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, will focus on the development of a Smart Street within Glasgow’s City Centre. The street is located along a section of George Street and Duke Street, in an area of mixed residential, academic, community, retail, and industrial buildings. It will seek to address the challenges Glasgow faces from ageing infrastructure, fuel poverty and air pollution by integrating planned regeneration and development with smart city capabilities. The Smart Street will include: district heating, an innovative roof mounted solar PV canopy, ducted wind turbines, energy arbitrage, power storage, EV charging, and smart grid controls. A 2019 implementation report on the RUGGEDISED project can be accessed here.
With Glasgow’s goals of becoming a Smart City, and the implementation of new infrastructure to support this, areas such as Health and Social-Care will also see technological advancement and aid in the city’s transformation. Projects such as RUGGEDISED and the Smart City Innovation working group are ensuring that Glasgow will continue on its journey, focused on the future, growing from its past, and delivering a greener and smarter city for all citizens.
Smart City Innovation is a component of the Digital Glasgow Strategy. For a broader view of the strategy as a whole, how implementation adapted to COVID-19, and links to the two published annual progress reports, visit the Digital Glasgow Overview page.
