Viable Cities has had its first general meeting on April 16. During the meeting, the board that has so far served as an interim board for Viable Cities was elected and Chairman Allan Larsson was given continued confidence until the next annual general meeting. After the AGM, a workshop was held with a strategic discussion for the upcoming call, which will focus on demonstration projects.
- "We have made a very good start in the program," said Allan Larsson, Chairman of the Board. "In connection with a visit to the European Commission a few weeks ago, we received confirmation that our focus is exactly right.
The afternoon workshop began with inspiration from demonstration projects from Stockholm, Umeå, Gothenburg and Malmö, all members of Viable Cities. The first three cities are the Swedish participants among the 28 European cities involved in five-year lighthouse projects under the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme(Smart Cities and Community Lighthouse projects).
Lisa Enarsson, from the City of Stockholm, presented the GrowSmarter project where Stockholm, together with Cologne and Barcelona, will demonstrate twelve different solutions in the areas of energy-efficient neighborhoods, integrated infrastructure and sustainable mobility starting in 2015.
Carina Aschan from Umeå municipality, presented the Ruggedised project, which started in 2016, where Umeå together with Rotterdam, Glasgow, Parma, Brno and Gdansk are demonstrating 32 solutions in smart energy and mobility.
Eva Pavic from Johanneberg Science Park (also a member of Viable Cities) presented the newest project among the three lighthouse projects: IRIS. This project demonstrates urban development solutions with a focus on energy, mobility and digitalization in Gothenburg, Nice and Utrecht.
Finally, Jonas Kamleh, Head of Climate and Energy at the City of Malmö, spoke about the work to make Malmö the most climate-smart city in Sweden. The City of Malmö's own organization will be climate neutral by 2020 and by 2030 the city will be supplied with 100 percent renewable energy. In this work, renewal work in the Sege Park district is an important arena for demonstration.
During the workshop, the participants worked in small groups to explore the need for demonstration in cities and the solutions that need to be demonstrated. The work was based on concrete urban areas. The participants also had the opportunity to provide other types of input to the program management's continued work on the call for demonstration projects that will take shape before the summer.
During the day we had graphic recorder Karin Grönberg on site. During the afternoon she created a visual overview of the presentations and workshops. See video and pictures below of the visual overview that Karin created.
Program Manager Olga Kordas was pleased with Viable Cities' first member meeting and the discussion on the upcoming call for proposals focusing on demonstration.
- Our first General Assembly today has demonstrated the strong commitment of our partners. The program is now underway in earnest. It's great fun!
