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Sep. 2021 SMART-ECO CITIES IN THE UK: TRENDS AND CITY PROFILES 2016 Federico Caprotti Robert Cowley Andrew Flynn Simon Joss Li Yu i SMART-ECO CITIES IN THE UK ISBN: 978-0-9955574-0-6 The report should be referenced as follows: Caprotti, F., Cowley, R., Flynn, A., Joss, S., & Yu, L. (2016) Smart-Eco Cities in the UK: Trends and City Profiles 2016. Exeter: University of Exeter (SMART-ECO Project). Joint Copyright © University of Exeter/University of Westminster/King’s College London/Cardiff University, 2016. This publication may be reproduced and disseminated in whole or in part for educational and non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holders, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. No use of this report may be made for resale or any commercial purpose whatsoever without prior written permission from the authors. A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library. Credits Design and layout by Fakhriazam Afsahi. We would like to thank Ian Bailey & Frans Sengers for providing critical comments on earlier drafts. The research undertaken to produce this report was supported by funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through research grant ES/L015978/1. i SMART-ECO CITIES IN THE UK TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION The SMART-ECO Project 1 The UK Smart-Eco Landscape 2 CASE STUDIES Birmingham Federico Caprotti 6 Bristol Federico Caprotti 10 Glasgow Andrew Flynn 20 London Simon Joss 30 Manchester Robert Cowley 39 Milton Keynes Li Yu 48 Newcastle Robert Cowley 57 Nottingham Li Yu 61 Peterborough Federico Caprotti 70 Sheffield Robert Cowley 75 APPENDIX: Method for Selecting UK Case Studies 84 ii SMART-ECO CITIES IN THE UK 1 INTRODUCTION THE SMART-ECO PROJECT his report forms part of a series also both spatially proximate (the surrounding T covering China, France, Germany, and region) and in an international context the Netherlands, and draws on preliminary (through networks of knowledge, findings from a three-year (2015-2018), technology and policy transfer and ESRC-funded research project titled Smart learning)”. The idea of the ‘experiment’ in Eco-cities for a Green economy: A this definition consciously refers to recent Comparative Study of Europe and China. work identifying a tendency for new urban The project is being coordinated by the technologies and ways of working to be University of Exeter, in collaboration with trialled at a limited scale, often through an interdisciplinary team of researchers cross-sectoral partnership approaches, and from King’s College London, the with the aim of learning lessons, where Universities of Westminster, Plymouth and traditionally firmer policy commitments Cardiff (UK); TU Delft and Utrecht might have been expected (see eg: Bulkeley University (the Netherlands); the French & Castán Broto 2013; Karvonen & van Heur Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and 2014; Evans et al. 2016). The concept of the the University of Toulouse (France); ‘niche’ is taken from the expanding field of Freiburg University (Germany); Renmin ‘socio-technical transitions’ scholarship, University of China, and the University of which studies the processes through which Nottingham Ningbo China. As well as innovations come about and are taken up funding from the UK’s ESRC, the research is in society more widely (for an introduction, supported by the national funding agencies see eg: Geels 2002; Kemp et al. 2007). of China, Germany, Netherlands and Each of the national reports in this series France. profiles a series of cities, selected on the The focus of our research is on the basis that they have relatively substantial ‘smart-eco city’. The smart-eco city concept smart-eco ambitions and/or activities captures the recent trend for future- already taking place. This selection was oriented urban development schemes that made following a wider ‘horizon scan’ of display both ‘green’ and ‘smart’ ambitions. smart and eco initiatives taking place in More precisely, the smart-eco city is each country (see this report’s Appendix for defined as “an experimental city which the method adopted in the UK). The functions as a potential niche where both intention is not to promote the profiled environmental and economic reforms can cities as necessarily representing the ‘best be tested and introduced in areas which are practice’ examples in the field, but rather to 1 SMART-ECO CITIES IN THE UK 2 illustrate the variety of ‘actually existing’ FOR MORE INFORMATION smart-eco cities in each country. The ON THE SMART-ECO profiles provide a contextual overview of RESEARCH PROJECT, AND TO each city’s aims, relevant policies, and the DOWNLOAD THE OTHER key actors involved, along with short REPORTS, PLEASE VISIT OUR descriptions of some of the main activities WEBSITE: WWW.SMART- or projects taking place on the ground. ECO-CITIES.ORG THE UK SMART-ECO LANDSCAPE The overall UK landscape is characterised a clear ‘smart-eco’ ambition and/or by rapid change, with older environmental substantial related initiatives taking place commitments (such as low-carbon action (this rises to just under a half if Greater plans) at urban level becoming increasingly Manchester and Greater London are inflected with notions of the ‘smart city’. treated as single urban areas). These 34 Surveying what is ‘smart’ is far from cases do not tell the whole story, however: straightforward, however, since the elsewhere too, plans are at early stages of concept is mobilised differently from city to discussion and development. city. In some cases, it refers narrowly to The national government has served an data-driven governance solutions, or has enabling role in this process. The Future limited reference to a particular sector of Cities Catapult initiative, supported by activity (for example, transport); in others it Innovate UK (the national innovation encompasses a wide range of agency), actively supports a wide range of environmental, social and economic related initiatives in different cities. ambitions, and may include particular Alongside the UK’s entrenched national initiatives which have little to do with the framework of environmental legislation, it potential benefits of adopting digital is significant that the British Standards technologies. Some smart activities are Institute (BSI) has recently published a more clearly led by policy; others take the ‘Smart City Framework’ (see BSI nd), form of pre-existing initiatives which policy- commissioned by the national Department makers have articulated into a smart for Business, Innovation and Skills. At the ‘umbrella’ programme. Nevertheless, same time, smart-eco initiatives operate at based on the definitions used by the key some remove from the policy mainstream. actors themselves, we found that just Rather than constituting traditionally under a third of the UK’s urban areas with ‘planned’ programmes of investment, they populations of over 100,000 currently have are typically driven by ad-hoc partnerships 2 SMART-ECO CITIES IN THE UK 3 involving city councils, universities, private (Catapult Future Cities, nd a). It focuses on sector actors and non-governmental “promoting healthy cities, building organisations, and exemplify the broader resilience in urban infrastructure, and contemporary phenomenon of ‘urban designing strategies to help cities adopt and experimentation’ as a mode of effecting finance smarter technologies” (Catapult urban change, as noted above. Even where Future Cities, nd b). Local digital holistic strategy documents and roadmaps infrastructure improvements have also have been drawn up, many of the practical been supported by national government initiatives envisaged or showcased take the programmes such as the UK Broadband form of pilot schemes, or are focused on Fund. Significant funding for a variety of the small urban districts. Even taken as a whole, projects profiled in this report, additionally, it would be difficult to argue that these has been provided by the European Union. clustered activities already constitute a The spread of the experimental smart convincing transition to a hi-tech green eco-city in the UK does not only, then, economy in any of the cities investigated. reflect a desire on the part of city-level The hope that this peripheral networks of actors to project an experimentation has the potential to entrepreneurial, hi-tech, and low-carbon catalyse wider change is indicated by the image on the world stage.