MIPIM to ask how smart are smart cities?

MIPIM will showcase a large range of smart cities incorporating new innovative, often sustainable solutions that foster a better quality of life for city inhabitants, beyond the smart building.
Organised by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Reed Exhibitions, MIPIM (the world’s property market) will be held in Cannes from 14 to 17 March, 2017.
Be it smart mobility through reducing “search traffic” for parking spaces to apps that bring citizens in direct discussion with local authorities on urban planning, MIPIM will showcase cities that are pioneering their way down the smart city trail.
Scandinavia
It is no surprise that the property industry and urban administrators tends to look north in their search for exemplary sustainable strategies in real estate. When it comes to life in the city, Scandinavian Capitals have embraced the slogan “if you want your city to run, first you have to walk”. They have started to walk down the road to a carfree city. What have they done so far? What are the strategies to enter the carfree city? All will be revealed in a conference session entitled: “Towards Carfree Cities ” (Wednesday March 15). Confirmed speakers include Hanna E. Marcussen, Vice Mayor for Urban Development, Oslo; Morten Kabell, Mayor of Technical and Environmental Affairs of Copenhagen; Roger Mogert, Vice Mayor for Urban Development and Culture, Stockholm.
In the field of sustainable investment, it is only possible to make investment decisions based on cash-flow when the costs and savings of energy efficient solutions are clearly known. A case study entitled: “How to Optimize Energy Efficiency Investments Easily? ”, will show how sophisticated modelling and simulation tools will enable cost savings even when developing technically challenging, nearly zero energy buildings with limited resources. Presenting the case study will be Petteri Laaksomo and Petteri Lautso from Ruukki Construction Oy (Finland).
The Netherlands
Dutch startup ParkBee is a “must meet” at MIPIM 2017 for those interested in innovative sustainable solutions for down-town traffic. ParkBee is an app which makes private parking accessible to the public, thus offering affordable and easy parking at ‘A’ locations to the public, and at the same time generating extra income for garage owners. This sustainable solution reduces “search traffic” and optimises the use of real estate, avoiding unnecessary construction. ParkBee is one of the finalists of the MIPIM Startup Competition.
UK
In 2015 Manchester’s CityVerve Project won £10m in government funding to develop better services using Internet of Things (IoT) technology. Two years on at MIPIM, Chris Oglesby, CEO of Bruntwood and Nick Chrissos, Head of Innovation Technology UK and Ireland, Cisco will be discussing Smart Cities and IoT in Manchester in their Thursday session – ‘Connecting Manchester, smart cities, smart people’ to take stock of how things are advancing on the project.
France
Many interesting projects both private and public are currently emerging in France that treat the subject of smart cities in its most progressive form. Private startup Fluicity is an app that acts as a citizen network. The aim of the app is to put citizens in contact with their local councils, in order to re-engage citizens in their local policies and to ‘co-build’ the city with their elected officials.
From the public sector, Métropole du Grand Paris recently launched an ambitious project with a call for entries which resulted in a selection of 61 different sites to invent the metropolis of tomorrow. This initiative is aimed at all players wishing to develop exceptional projects: architects, urban planners, developers, investors, startups and even associations or citizens’ communities. Professionals have the freedom to associate themselves in groups in order to surprise the committee with disruptive ideas on mixed-use buildings, architecture and town planning. Their creativity will be able to rely on citizen participation and their proposals can also treat the subjects of mobility, logistics or even digital functions, as well as cultural and sporting offers. The selected project finalists will be announced on March 1st just ahead of MIPIM and some of the finalists projects will be on show at the Métropole du Grand Paris stand.
Germany
German startup NavVis will be exhibiting at MIPIM for the first time (within the MIPIM Innovation Forum) with a never before seen indoor mapping device that enables companies and local councils to digitize the interiors of existing buildings in record time. A robotic trolley can move throughout the floor of a building and scan the entire space. By digitizing buildings and therefore entire towns, this technology will enable local authorities to plan for renovation and in the case of town development, can also take construction site management to the next level.
Luxembourg and Spain
How do smart cities develop into inclusive, sustainable and cohesive environments? How can a country address the challenges of the new industrial revolution? Étienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy of Luxembourg and a member of the Catalonian government will share the MIPIM stage to discuss major decisions to be made for future generations in a session entitled: “What are the New Urban Planning Models?” (15 March 2017).