Enabling towns and cities to become more productive, smart and connected is a key goal of EU Cohesion Policy and a cornerstone of the New Leipzig Charter on sustainable urban development.
Productive, smart and connected cities demonstrate economic growth and competitiveness, integrating digital innovation into their infrastructure, services, and governance. They develop the local economy in ways that improve people’s lives, support urban resilience and promote social and environmental sustainability.
Resources for supporting productive, smart and connected cities are provided under eight sub-headings below.
Digitalisation is a major transformative, cross-sectoral trend affecting all dimensions of sustainable urban development (New Leipzig Charter). For cities, this involves integrating digital technologies and processes to enhance operations and services, aligned with public needs.
Cities are harnessing the power of data and digital technology transformation to become more adaptive, responsive, and sustainable in addressing urban challenges. Solutions include smart city initiatives, digital economies, and innovative digital platforms and applications.
Resources cover how cities can adopt advanced digital solutions – such as digital artificial intelligence, data protection management, and GDPR compliance – in ways that optimise urban management, promote efficiency, and improve quality of life for all. Emphasizing data security and data privacy, cities can ensure that digital communications and data digital processing are aligned with EU GDPR regulations. This approach helps prevent data leakage and data loss, ensuring robust data privacy and security measures are in place.
Promoting environmentally responsible and socially inclusive local production is crucial for sustainable urban development. Supporting small businesses, including artisanal craft companies, fosters economic activity and job creation, enhancing resilience against global supply chain disruptions.
Consumption of locally sourced goods, such as local dairy, farm, and food products, reduces cities’ carbon footprints. This is especially effective when paired with sustainable production methods like waste prevention, re-use, and recycling, further supporting local resources and jobs
Cities are boosting local economic growth and minimizing environmental impacts by fostering green industrialization and creative industries. Cultural entrepreneurship and cultural economics play key roles in cultivating a sustainable, vibrant local economy. Emphasizing the importance of buying local products, including local energy production, supports both the environment and the community.
Prioritizing local production initiatives creates robust, eco-friendly urban economies that thrive on sustainability and social inclusivity.
Improving sustainable urban mobility is good for accessibility, inclusiveness and citizens’ health. As highlighted in the New Leipzig Charter, mobility systems should be efficient, carbon-neutral, safe and multi-modal.
Whether it’s pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, more accessible public transport, bike-sharing programmes or better traffic management, cities can enhance urban cohesion, reduce congestion and lower emissions by facilitating sustainable solutions for the movement of people..
This topic covers active mobility, walkable cities and cycling, as well as strategies for improving public transport. It highlights the value of re-imagining urban mobility to prioritise well-being, create greener urban spaces and improve everyday life in the city.
Taking a sustainable urban development approach to transportation and logistics systems involves delving into the complex networks that facilitate the movement of goods and services within cities and beyond. By integrating various green modes of transportation, cities can reduce emissions and alleviate congestion. Innovative, sustainable transportation, freight transport, and logistics solutions contribute to the circular economy by prioritizing waste reduction and responsible material handling. This includes public transportation, railway transport, container transport, and green logistics.
Portico resources focus on developing sustainable supply chains and logistics that minimize environmental impact through multimodal transport, which encompasses road transport, maritime transport, and sea transport. By optimizing distribution and promoting resource efficiency, these systems support sustainable economic growth. This approach to transport and logistics involves cargo transport, engineering in logistics, logistics and supply chain management, and a comprehensive understanding of the freight transport industry.
Emphasizing the importance of supply chain and sustainability, green supply chain practices, and creating a greener supply chain, logistics and supply chain management contribute to environmental conservation and sustainable development.
Sustainable tourism is inherently complex, involving the interaction of various sustainability dimensions and the intricate tourism ecosystem. According to the UN World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism is “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social, and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities.”
In cities, sustainable tourism is crucial for the socio-cultural and urban economies, balancing economic benefits with minimizing negative impacts on the environment and local communities. Relevant actions include community engagement, cultural heritage preservation, and conservation of natural resources. Promoting responsible tourism and ethical responsibility nurtures a resilient and inclusive tourism industry.
Eco tourism and green tourism practices contribute significantly to sustainability in travel and tourism. Responsible travelling and eco tours are essential components of global sustainable tourism, ensuring that tourism and sustainability go hand in hand. Emphasizing responsible tourism helps cities develop sustainable tourism strategies that support the environment and benefit local communities.
An economic system that aims to minimise waste, promote resource efficiency, and ‘close the loop’ of product lifecycles, is fundamental to the EU Cohesion Policy’s vision of integrated sustainable urban development. Cities play a pivotal role in driving the transition from a linear "take-make-dispose" model to a circular economy, promoting the re-use, recycling, and regeneration of resources. By focusing on waste reduction, container recycling, and strategies to reduce trash, cities can significantly cut down their environmental impact. Initiatives like industrial symbiosis and circular material usage are key components in this shift towards a circular economy and sustainability. Moreover, adopting measures to recycle, reduce food waste, and enhance resource efficiency contributes to going circular and unlocking new economic opportunities in sustainable production and responsible consumption. This topic explores strategies and initiatives for cities to reduce waste and pollution while extending the use of products and materials through waste to recycle, waste and recycle, and garbage reduction efforts.
Support for job creation and entrepreneurship is central to fostering sustainable economic growth and social inclusion, both key aspects of integrated, sustainable urban development. In the context of the EU Cohesion Policy, businesses play a vital role in driving positive social and environmental change. By supporting entrepreneurship and skills development, cities can create a workforce that supports sustainable development goals. Inclusive job creation can reduce poverty, promote diversity, and enhance the overall prosperity and resilience of urban communities.
Furthermore, encouraging leadership and entrepreneurship, especially among female entrepreneurs and young entrepreneurs, is essential. Promoting diversity and inclusion careers, as well as diversity and inclusion jobs, is crucial for a thriving social economy in the EU, and by focusing on social startups and social business, cities can ensure that job creation aligns with sustainability and social equity goals.
This topic explores initiatives that promote social entrepreneurship, social economy, and inclusive job opportunities to drive sustainable urban economic growth. Key actions promoted in Portico resources include supporting micro entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, and social enterprises.
Research and innovation in sustainable urban development involve the systematic exploration, discovery, and implementation of new knowledge, approaches, and solutions that support smarter and more productive cities. Successful research and innovation address real local needs by connecting researchers with businesses and other local stakeholders to conceive, develop, test, and upscale new ideas and successful approaches.
Resources in this section support urban practitioners in addressing key research and innovation challenges, from identifying emerging trends to developing cutting-edge technologies. Topics include social innovation, business incubation, and fostering entrepreneurial solutions to local challenges. Key initiatives involve technology business incubators, engineering innovation centers, and startup accelerators.
This section also highlights the role of startup business incubators and entrepreneur incubators in nurturing innovation. By supporting the crucial role played by IT business incubators and incubator startup companies in the innovation of research and responsible research innovation, cities enhance the creation and the development of sustainable urban environments.
