Field study and international meeting in northern Europe
November 25 and 26, ten members of the Cluster, active in the working groups will reach out to networks and initiatives in Copenhagen,
Malmö and Stockholm for further research related to Ecocentres 2.0 .
They will meet with European experts in sustainable development and ICT applied to cities.
In late November 2009 a small delegation of the Cluster visited Sweden to get closer to European networks that focus on sustainable development in the territories, in order to work together and share our best practices. The main objective of this study trip was to visit exemplary sustainable neighbourhoods and understand its operation.
The Cluster has met the Baltic 21 network, following the proposal made by Ronan Uhel, from the European Environment Agency, at the workshops of Bordeaux, 8 and 9 July. This meeting will lead to a joint network with the Union of the Baltic Cities, and reconciliation with Franco-Swedish designers and experts in sustainable lifestyles and ecological architecture. We have strengthened our relations with Eurocities attending the annual conference, held this year in Stockholm, where we had a rich conversation with Dave Carter from the Manchester Digital Development Agency.
The visit of the main sustainable neighbourhoods, in Malmö and Stockholm has been a learning formalized for all cluster members. The environmental performance are clearly present, the neighbourhoods look very liveable, and we saw that an Ecocentre 2.0 would integrate perfectly and complement the steps implemented to spur more responsible behaviours, and provide sustainable and innovative services. They are in fact fully residential neighbourhoods where transportation, even if less polluting (bikes, public transportation, etc.), are as numerous as elsewhere: residents are working outside, and employees do not live there in general.
The Cluster meets Baltic 21
" The Cluster Green & Connected Cities sounds very promising [...] and I'm looking forward to trying to find ways of how we can cooperate in the future"
Meeting with Dave Carter, MDDA (Manchester Digital Developmenet Agency)
"For us a Cluster like this is a great opportunity to network our experience and then to exchange some ideas that lead to good practice in the individual cities"
Hammarby Sjöstad, a sustainable neighborhood in Stockholm
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