Towards achieving more sustainable cities with Eurocities

Improving the quality of life through the use of digital technologies. This is the objective of the Green Digital Charter, an initiative set by Eurocities to make cities smarter by increasing –and improving- the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The initiative has already been signed by 50 cities from 21 countries, ultimately representing more than 26 million citizens.

By signing the initiative, these cities are committing to work with each other to use ICT for the benefit of citizens and to enable the green ICT sector; to deploy five large-scale ICT projects in the next 5 years; and to reduce the carbon footprint of municipal ICT equipment by 30% within a decade.

In order to discuss concrete solutions to support this technological transformation, local politicians and experts from all across Europe met in Rennes, France, for the Eurocities Knowledge Society Forum on transitioning cities. Vision Communication was at the event to support the initiative, oversee the communications campaign and produce compelling content, interviewing key people involved such as the Secretary General of Eurocities, Anna Lisa Boni, or the Vice-Mayor of Eindhoven, Mary-Ann Schreurs.

But, how can we overcome such a global challenge by working at the local level? Rabnawaz Akbar, Councillor at Manchester City, assures that even if “some of the challenges are pretty big, for example climate change, solutions can be localized”. For instance, by improving the use of ICT on local public transportation we are contributing to fight climate change.

The Green Digital Charter is an innovative, ambitious initiative. Anna Lisa Boni, Secretary General at Eurocities, describes the campaign as “our most important project, because it has helped develop the concept of smart cities”. And she adds, “It is the first attempt to use ICT to make our cities more sustainable and to have a better quality of life”.

To learn more about the initiative and about the event and listen to the major experts on the topic, see our campaign.

Contact us at info@vision-communication.org

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