- Belfast City Council applied to become one of 100 cities in the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities program, which helps cities become more resilient to physical, social, and economic challenges.
- Belfast identified coastal flooding, infrastructure failure, and cyber attacks as potential shocks and overreliance on one industry, lack of social cohesion, aging infrastructure, and deprivation/inequality as stresses.
- Belfast was selected as one of four cities invited to Washington D.C. in June 2016 for the final announcement and will receive funding for a Chief Resilience Officer and resilience strategy and plan. This will provide access to expertise from other resilient cities.
3. Belfast Journey so far...
• Post conflict society, peace
process embedded.
• Transformative change in
local government
administration .
• Strong emphasis on growing
private sector.
• Belfast is now attractive for
smart companies, creative
digital, fin tech , smart health
devices, cyber security
,application software
development.
4. New City Leadership
Comunity planning
Spatial Plans
Regeneration,
parking, economic
development.
Smart City Framework
underpins this .
Collaboration
Promote innovation
Belfast City Council
Promoting a Smart City
6. Belfast City – Energy challenges
• 95% dependent on
imported fossil fuels
• End of the pipe for oil and
gas supplies.
• 50 % Belfast homes oil
dependent for space
heating.
• 40% homes in Fuel poverty
• £1 billion on
importing energy
7. Sustainable Energy challenge
• Ind. electricity cost approx
10% higher.
• Solutions , smart metering ,
large scale renewable energy
,energy storage.
• Waste – opportunity for
renewable energy generation
through anaerobic digestion.
• This energy challenge formed
basis of 1ST Innovate UK
Demonstrator and 2nd IOT Bid
industrial metering
8. INNOVATE UK - Future City
Demonstrator- £50K
• Low Carbon Communities
• Repurposing old infrastructure
e.g. Hydro dams, waste heat
from landfill site.
• Smart Technology
• Smart Data Cube
• Local Food project
• All projects subsequently
went to next stage funding .
• Kernel of what has evolved as
our Smart City Work and the
basis our Rockefeller bid.
9.
10.
11. Transport Infrastructure
• TOM TOM - Most congested
city in the UK. Commuter
traffic and road freight
• Highest carbon footprint
from transport across the
UK.
• Planned investment in rapid
transit and transport hub.
• City wide cycle schemes
with record breaking . 250
000 journeys 7000 users
• Electric vehicle
infrastructure
12. Electric Vehicle infrastructure
Best in EU in terms of
proximity.
Rapid and fast chargers.
Battery storage
All components made or
assembled within a
100 mile radius. Local jobs
Digital overlay , C02 monitoring.
Parking apps.
Belfast City Council
Promoting a Smart City
17. What is Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities
challenge ?
• Offices in London , New York . In
2013 the RF foundation was 100
years old.
• As a centennial challenge, over 3
years RF developed a programme
of work to with 100 resilient
cities globally.
• Over 1000 cities had applied 70
cities had been chosen
• Last cohort of 30 cities
• Could Belfast be successful ?
19. Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities
• Helping cities around the world become more
resilient to the physical, social, and economic
challenges that are a growing part of the 21st
century.
• 100 Resilient Cities defines resilience as the
capacity of individuals, communities, institutions,
businesses, and systems within a city to survive,
adapt, and grow, no matter what kinds of chronic
stresses and acute shocks they experience
• Looking for key features in a city.
21. Recent Catalyst for change
Transformation in public
sector
• Local authorities from 26 to
11 .
• New local responsibilities
for spatial planning and
regeneration.
• Community planning - a
new city vision for 15 years
‘Belfast Agenda’
• Responsibilities for
economic development
22. A history of building partnerships
• BCC has over 100
partnership developed
• Belfast Strategic
Partnership
• Community Safety
partnership
• Emergency planning
partnership
• Future Cities Catapult
• Belfast Healthy Cities
23. Ability to work with a wide range of
stakeholders
• Government
Departments , DAERA,
DFI, DFE, DE, DF,DFC, .
• Community planning 15
statutory partners
• Belfast Strategic
partnership
• Skills and employment
forum, tourism forum
• Internationally, Boston
• Nashville and Shenyang
China.
24. Rockefeller Application
• Research - what were
the characteristics of the
winning cities
• 3 UK cities already ,
Bristol , Glasgow and
London.
• Meeting these cities at
INNOVATE UK events
• Impressed by how they
were also gaining
reputation for innovation
and smart.
25. Application process
• SHOCKS
One off large incident
causing disruption e.g.
• Earthquake
• Coastal flooding
• Infrastructure failure
• Cyber attack
• STRESSES
Weaken the fabric of a city
on a daily or cyclical
basis e.g.
• High unemployment
• Weak transport system
• Water shortage
• Fuel poverty
EMPASIS ON POOREST AND MOST VUNERABLE IN SOCIETY
27. Shocks
• Asked to identify these
from a given list.
• Coastal Flooding
• Riot /civil unrest
• Infrastructure failure
• Cyber –attack
28. Stresses
• Over reliance on one
industry
• Lack of social
cohesion
• Ageing infrastructure
• Deprivation
inequality
29. Process
• Submitted application November 2015
• RF Foundation New York office attended
the Paris COP 21 talks – invitation to met
• Facilitated meeting for NI Environment
Minister at Climate change talks COP 21
• Further high level endorsement
• April RF Interviewed CX and DCX in Belfast
• Belfast one of four cities invited to
Washington in JUNE 2015 for the FINAL
announcement
30. What NEXT ?
• Funding for CRO , Chief
Resilience Officer.
• Funding for the development of
a Belfast City Resilience Strategy
and plan to deliver that strategy
• Access to network of 100 other
cities , sharing experience and
network
• Access to strategy partners and
platform partners
• Tools and techniques as we go
forward
31. Rockefeller
• Global competition brings
Belfast into sharp focus
• Rockefeller carries
significant weight.
• Springboard new ideas ,
new approaches
• Tapping into
international expertise
• Co investment , where we
couldn’t previously .
32. There are more grounds
for optimism here than in
most other capital cities
in the world today. Make
sure you don’t forget that.
Set yourself some stretch
goals that really extend
expectations about what
you can achieve so that
everyone reaches for those
goals together.”
Declan Kelly
Former US Economic Envoy
Notes de l'éditeur
Good afternoon and Thank you very much for the invitation to come along today and share with you some of the Belfast story about our Smart City and how we are hoping to get there. We are very much at the start of a journey which is a steep learning curve for many of us in the Smart City team , to what is a rapidly changing market which has the potential to disrupt business as usual and bring considerable dividends.
BELFAST is a rapidly changing city ,the peace process has brought big dividends witnessed by large scale investment of over £100mn in last 2 decades , with new industries and businesses emerging.
We also witnessed a transformative change in governance. Until 2014 we had 26 local authorities and 12 government departments , today we have 11 local authorities with enhanced powers . The dominance of the public sector meant that 60% of jobs were either directly or indirectly dependant on the public sector. As we go forward it is imperative that we grow a strong private sector and we must look to innovation and innovative smart businesses to secure that inward investment.
The transfer of powers referenced previously include those associated with community planning, spatial planning city regeneration, parking and economic development . We are committed to ensuring a smart city framework underpins and guides are approach . We need to have the best data to make evidenced based decisions and the best technology connected to make the services more efficient . But in many respects we have a blank canvas in Belfast and therefore are ripe for new ideas and hungry for inward investment.
Some of the key challenges we face include, energy security, sustainable transport, waste management, ageing infrastructure and marginalised neighbourhoods.
Welcome the exisitence of the competition which could help solve some of these issues .
Water ageing infrastrcuture .
Why is the fuel poverty situation so bad ?
Energy security is a major issue, NI as region is 95% dependant on imported fossil fuels for primary energy demand. On the periphery of the UK and EU we are at the end of the pipe for oil and gas supplies. Historically NI higher consumer bills and industrial energy costs are approximately 10% higher than the rest of the UK and ROI , major disadvantage for any energy intensive industry- we have seen Bombardier interest in now generating their own electricity through gasification .
One of our concepts from the IOT bid was the roll out of energy metering technology across the whole of the public sector in the city.
Belfast Health Trust had invested in this technology and realised £1million in savings within one year of the installation .
The software purchased by BHT can be rolled out to be used by the whole public sector, through a radio controlled metering system.
The cost and carbon savings could be considerable, we are actively looking for partners to work with us on this project.
Of course we want to ultimately encourage more people to use public transport, cleaner vehicles or to cycle.
One of the areas where we have made advances is in the installation of electric vehicle infrastructure.
NI now has one of the best EV charging infrastructures in Europe, everyone is within 10 miles of a public EV charging point making reducing range anxiety ( the fear of running out of battery charge ) significantly and an ideal testing platform for battery technology.
Interestingly many of the components of the charge points from the circuit boards to casing are made locallly , creating jobs and generating wealth in NI of highly exportable technology.
Transport is a key challenge both from a congestion and air quality perspective
Belfast was named by TOM TOM as one of the most congested UK cities. Congestion costs money in terms of lost business and lost appointments and associated poor air quality. Just last week an accident on the M2 Motorway in rush hour, outside Belfast caused a snarl up which took two hours to clear, this happens occasionally and seems to be an intractable problem.
Belfast has the highest carbon dioxide footprint of the top 20 UK cities, one of the main contributing factors are transport emissions, which contribute around 30% of total co2 emissions. primarily from commuters, only 50% of households have a car in Belfast.
This is a big challenge, however new technology like connected vehicles can help to solve the congestion problem . In research at Trinity College Dublin Future Cities centre showed that if even 20% of these cars are connected through smart devices, who can communicate with each other , congestion can be cleared rapidly . This technology could be invaluable in Belfast.
Waste management is one of the biggest challenges for Belfast City Council.
Target 50% recycling by 2020 , at present 43%, but constantly changing environment.
Behaviour change is a real challenge and getting people to put the right material in the right recycling bin although it sounds simple it is the biggest challenge.
How can we enable this to happen , what tech equipment can radically induce behaviour change ?
Can we work upstream with producers to ensure the packaging is minimised at source ?
Picture - Could we design and manufacture water soluble circuit boards. Imagine the amount of those in the current work stream.
Waste management collection at BCC has been made more efficient by the use of GPS TRACKING and Route optimisation , but we know we could do more if had had clever bins which could talk to the Council.
The recent waste programme hosted by Hugh Feranly Whittingstall highlighted the huge waste challenge that exists with everything from disposable plastic cups to unnecessary packaging used by internet delivery companies.
Recent success of the plastic bag tax in England in changing behaviours was insprational.
Most recently we have released over 30 acres of land earmarked for a clean tech hub in the city.
It is part of a larger 300 acre site which was a former landfill site . Located with excellent links to the airports and major roads to the port.
At this site we generate our own renewable electricity from methane and have received an income of £4million to date.
We are marketing this site for all types of green technology , wind , wave and tidal power , anaerobic digestion, solar farms, water purification, ,green transportation, electric motors green chemistry , IT etc.
This is the first of its type in NI .
Some of the key challenges we face include, energy security, sustainable transport, waste management, ageing infrastructure and marginalised neighbourhoods.
How RESILENT are
100RC supports the adoption and incorporation of a view of resilience that includes not just the shocks—earthquakes, fires, floods, etc.—but also the stresses that weaken the fabric of a city on a day to day or cyclical basis.
Examples of these stresses include high unemployment; an overtaxed or inefficient public transportation system; endemic violence; or chronic food and water shortages. By addressing both the shocks and the stresses, a city becomes more able to respond to adverse events, and is overall better able to deliver basic functions in both good times and bad, to all populations.
New CX in Belfast
First ever female CX
Innovative approach
Enthusiasm and foresight – had developed a Smart City TEAM
We know statistically that the city is likely to suffer a serious flood in the foreseeable future due to coastal flooding , serious issue given the infrastructure that is adjacent to our coast line in Belfast , road network, rail, airports, hospitals all within one mile radius of the coast. We had witnessed some serious flooding issues , this picture of the Westlink, new road opened , built to the highest engineering standards. Main arterial route through the City , main route to the port , distrupted for several days , most likely cost millions to the economy.
Cyber attack is also a shock but it is also a strength , NI gaining an increasing reputation for cyber seccurity.
CSIT one of our cyber security recently won the Queens Anniversary Award for innovation
Already referred to the emphasis on the over reliance on the public sector , we must grow the private sector.
We are aware that we have over 100 peace walls still in exisitence and a divided society , duplication of services costing , millions