The 2020-2022 edition of the Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) was designed to support 136 European cities in their transition to sustainable, inclusive, green and digital economies. As part of this initiative, cities were assisted in formulating sets of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor the entire lifecycle of local initiatives and to measure their immediate outputs and long-term impact. Monitoring is a key aspect when pursuing ambitious transformations, such as the implementation of initiatives that support the green and digital Twin Transition that was at the heart of the ICC. The Twin transition of cities report shows how many ICC cities have achieved this ambition and employed a monitoring framework to assess and evaluate the impact of their progress, confirming the success of the ICC.
Methodology
To facilitate the implementation of this transition, the first ICC edition has emphasised four measurable concepts: the local catalyst, activities, achievements, and city performance. By first determining, the local context (local catalyst), the city can then mobilise resources to implement its strategy (activities) and achieve observable results (achievements). The city can afterwards measure its final performance (city performance).
Depending on its specific needs and the availability of data, each ICC city has designed and selected the targeted KPIs best suited to achieving pre-identified objectives.
The monitoring exercise in ICC highlighted the struggle of cities to develop KPIs at the local level and the lack of resources to get inspiration from. The rationale for this report is to fill this gap and to provide concrete resources to cities through best practices and case studies, including illustrative monitoring frameworks that work in practice in peer cities. This report can then be used by cities to develop their own Key Performance Indicators and monitor effectively their progress.
Examples from cities
Three exemplary cases show how European cities can address their local monitoring needs in a proactive and innovative way with effective results. Their monitoring approaches can be replicated in other cities with likely efficiency gains.
Aiming to use 50% less raw materials by 2030 and to be fully circular by 2050, Amsterdam (The Netherlands) monitors the adoption of circular economy activities across multiple aspects and reports regularly on progress. By using actionable KPIs, such as the environmental cost indicator or commodity flows, on which the city has the power to influence, the Dutch city is one step closer to achieving its climate ambitions.
A consortium of four Belgian cities (Mechelen, Leuven, Antwerp, Roeselare) has implemented the Data-driven shopping area project to support the local economy in response to recent crises in the retail sector. By joining forces, these cities have better access to finance and human resources, enabling them to increase their transparency, cost effectiveness and potential impacts.
The city of Porto (Portugal) has set up a Free-Wifi network based on routers installed on street furniture and on the 7,564 kilometres of fibre optic network to meet environmental and societal challenges. By using digital infrastructure as an enabler for social, green and economic goals, Porto shows how cities can use large volumes of data and transform them into KPIs to inform cities and help them get closer to their specific strategies.
Success stories
The report also highlights success stories measured by KPIs:
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Through the ICC period, Sofia (Bulgaria) developed Sofia Chooses GREEN, a contest where citizens vote for sustainable project proposals. Not only 38 sustainable proposals were put forward by citizens, but those proposals reached around 10% of the population.
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With the ICC, Pescara (Italy) chose to work on the sustainable mobility. The use percentage of the different mobility change over the 2-year period, but the main indicator for the city is shifting from 0 to 500,000 shared e-scooters trips per year.
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In Timișoara (Romania), mobility is also an important topic. With ICC, the city developed a mobility platform with real time data availability. The objective of this platform is to increase the modal share of public transport. After 2 years, 50% of the population is using the platform.
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Guimarães (Portugal) is dedicated to using technology as enabler for the green transition. Over the course of the ICC, the city installed smart electricity meters on 13 additional public buildings, for a total of 20 public buildings with such installation. These installations allowed the city to divide its energy consumption by 2 and thus reduce its greenhouse gas emissions of 870,000 tonnes.
Find the full report and more examples of ICC success stories here: Twin transition of cities - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu)