Sweden’s district heating, a heating system based on reusing resources
Author | Lucía Burbano Sweden has an ambitious plan to totally decarbonize its heating and hot water system by 2030. It is achieving this thanks to district heating, which recycles water, the energy generated by data centers and non-recyclable waste to heat the entire country. What is district heating? District heating uses residual heat from […]
How and why are some cities challenging ghost kitchens
Author | Lucía Burbano They arrived in cities during the COVID-19 pandemic and it seems like they are here to stay. The closure of restaurants saw an increase in food delivery services and this food went on to be prepared in ghost kitchens. However, some cities are now starting to legislate a sector which, to […]
Circle House: Denmark’s first circular social housing project
Author | Lucía Burbano When completed, Circle House will represent a before and after in sustainable architecture. The project comprises 60 social housing units built in Aarhus, Denmark, based on the principles of a circular economy. This means, among others, it can be disassembled and its elements can be recycled without losing their integrity. Circle […]
What has to happen for 5G to be deployed in smart cities
Author | M. Martínez Euklidiadas The fifth generation of telecommunication systems was going to drastically change cities. Thanks to 5G we were going to see smart energy networks and more responsible distribution, remote medicine with remote monitoring, immersive media, smart transportation systems, or improved manufacturing processes. What has happened with 5G? Has it broken its […]
Europe is advancing towards its common digital identity project: What is it and how will it change relations between citizens and governments?
Author | M. Martínez Euklidiadas The European digital identity technology aims to create digital wallets with which citizens can link their respective national digital identities, their different licenses, bank accounts, academic diplomas or others. Among other possibilities, they will enable unequivocal identification or digital form, although existing European pilot projects go one step further: they […]
After the rise comes resistance: these cities are standing up to electric scooters
Author | Lucía Burbano Micromobility is characterized by great instability marked by the financing of companies and certain plans that do not always take into account regulatory setbacks. Madrid, for example, is just one of the cities that has implemented measures in recent months to restrict the use of e-scooters, the sudden emergence of which […]
New York is looking to the skies with its urban air taxi service
Author | Jaime Ramos City skies are heading towards a turning point. As if it were a sci-fi movie, numerous cities and companies are designing an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) model with flying taxis to revolutionize the mobility sector. Among these is New York. What is urban air mobility and how does it differ from […]
How big data is transforming public healthcare decision-making
Author | M. Martínez Euklidiadas Processes and services based on vast volumes of data, known as big data, are transforming the world of medicine and public health with its enormous potential to improve the prevention of diseases and illnesses, enhancing diagnostic accuracy and identifying risk factors or personalized treatment planning. In an urban context big […]
Achieving the Triple S: smartness, safety and security. Utopia or reality?
Author | This is a guest post written by Valentina Taddeo, Marketing & Communication Leader of Paradox Engineering SA – MinebeaMitsumi Group Cities around the world are increasingly turning to digital innovation to enhance their residents’ lives, increase the variety and quality of services’, face climate change connected risks and manage business’ expectations of opportunities […]
What is preventing the deployment of autonomous vehicles?
Author | Lucía Burbano The first autonomous vehicle, manufactured by Mercedes-Benz and funded by the European Commission’s Eureka Project, traveled between Munich and Copenhagen at 90 km/h in 1995. Nearly 30 years later, we are still not seeing self-driving cars on our roads. The challenges are numerous and varied. Let’s look at some of them. […]