Coordinator(s):

Prof Dr Miimu Airaksinen, VTT, Finland

Objectives and Scopes:

Cities cover about 3% of the land on Earth, yet they produce about 72% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. On top of that, cities are growing fast, already now globally 55 per cent of the world’s population is living in urban areas.

Cities have also crucial role in decarbonisation our society. Cities play important role in creating strategies for energy, transport, buildings and even industry and agriculture coexist and intersect. As the density of use and infrastructure is higher in cities, there is also a higher potential for cross-sectoral integration and for complex infrastructures like smart grids or smart mobility services. In addition, cities have access to more capital and know-how and can create the economies of scale necessary for the piloting and scaling up of new ideas and concepts.

Innovation in the form of smart city solutions can deliver technologies, products and services that meet the dual challenge of reducing climate change impact and delivering more efficient services and better living quality. The rapid development of IT, AI and other new technologies for local small scale energy production, new transport solutions and new construction technologies as well as other services are key enablers for cities becoming more resource efficient and at the same time being better able to meet the users’ needs. The built environment requires a reshaping to make better use of technology opportunities.

Against this background the Task Group objectives are:

to develop the CIB community’s vision and to define perspectives for the future of cities under the impacts of the expected development of the new technologies as related to the urban services and opportunities for better urban living and working, and building upon this vision
to create a common understanding of good existing or promising future solutions in different global city and community environments.

Current Work Programme:

Components of the Task Group’s Work Programme for the period 2020 – 2023 are:

  • Annual International Conference and Meetings
  • Working Commission Webinars (2 per annum) with open invitations to CIB members

Planned Output:

Working Commission sessions at the CIB World Building Congress.

Joint (with other WGs and TGs) International Conference Proceedings.

Special Issues in CIB Encouraged Journals jointly with other WGs and TGs.

Internal Structure:

The Task Group was established in December 2013 and had an initial mandate until the middle of 2015 that has been extended until the middle of 2019, and after that three more years.

External Relations:

The Task group aims to establish a relationship with:

European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities

Membership:

Task Group Members are to be Individual Members of CIB or appointed representatives of CIB Organizational Members

Status:

The Task Group was established in December 2013 and had an initial mandate until the middle of 2015 that has been extended until the middle of 2019