Challenges and Solution Proposals of 2023

Cēsis: Throughout both the summer and winter seasons, we experience a surge in foot traffic due to tourists and city visitors who come to enjoy our charming old town and its various attractions. This influx of visitors has resulted in an increased volume of waste being deposited into the city’s trash cans, often causing them to overflow and emit unpleasant odors. During the summer months, this situation is exacerbated as birds scavenge for food in the trash, leading to the spread of litter across high-traffic areas, tarnishing the city’s aesthetic appeal. In essence, our primary challenge is to optimize the…

The use of building materials is essential in the circular economy of construction sector. The most valuable use is to use the existing building parts in the same use as before, not as recycled material. Therefore, it is important to figure out the most effective ways of dismantling building parts without breaking them in demolition processes. This will require careful planning and developing new innovations, tools and processes for each material.

So far, Võru has developed a sustainability plan (Bold City vision 2050), which acts as a vision document, describing the aims and goals of the town regarding becoming a sustainable city. As this is a vision document, a more detailed and precise roadmap is needed for Võru to become a Smart City. The roadmap details all the steps in the correct order that is in accordance with the sustainability goals. The roadmap will also provide an estimate of costs and investments needed. The roadmap’s main features should include a detailed step-by step action plan, involving costs and investment needs and…

Rae parish is one of the fastest growing and developing local governments in Estonia. In recent years, the municipality has added about 1000 inhabitants per year. Today, the population is about 23,500. Urban sprawl is taking place, people are moving to the municipalities around the big cities, including Rae municipality. This leads to a continued rise in the birth rate in the municipality. Rapid birth rates and population growth pose ever-new challenges, both in environmental design, energy efficiency, nature conservation, infra, education and reducing the CO2 footprint.

The challenge facing our small historic town lies in its gradual decline and remoteness from larger urban centers. With limited financial and human resources, we are struggling with the preservation of our cultural heritage, infrastructure upkeep, and overall sustainability. Our town’s population is shrinking, and economic opportunities are scarce, making it increasingly difficult to maintain our unique historical identity.

Riga: Riga Municipality maintains a large scale (1:500) topographic information database, which includes information on underground infrastructure, i.e., power grid, sewerage, rainwater drainage system, gas pipelines etc. The data is maintained in vector data formats consisting of 600+ data levels/objects and split in 1000+ and more maps/planchets. To maintain and update data a proprietary software is used. In order to promote data exchange with other potential data users, it is important to ensure data exchange and compatibility with other data systems/ data users and the possibility to add additional data to the municipal database. Existing data structure and software does…

The main challenge is how to estimate the carbon impact of different planning decisions, especially on the local level. Viimsi has started work on its new general plan for the municipality and one of our strategic goals is to take steps towards carbon neutrality. Since land use has a huge impact on carbon emissions, it’s necessary to have the data to accurately assess the carbon footprint of different planning solutions.

So far we have started to equip renovated buildings with solar panels. The problem is that the electricity grid needs to be balanced. Green energy is becoming more and more popular. But these are energy production methods that do not guarantee a steady rate of energy production. Because of this the electrical grid needs to be balanced by the grid operator. There is a way to make money here. Water heaters, solar panels, wind turbines, battery packs, Electric vehicle charging stations and electric vehicles can all play a role in balancing the grid. These are called Afrr, and mfrr reserves,…

Dun Laoghaire: Currently, our city, like many others, lacks a comprehensive and cost-effective system for real-time urban monitoring (air quality, road damage, parking, graffiti, ambrosia, littering, …). This gap hinders our ability to understand and address various urban issues effectively. The absence of a platform that allows easy and flexible installation of new sensors for various research needs further compounds this problem. Therefore, the need of the hour is to develop a solution that not only addresses these issues but also respects the privacy and safety of our citizens.

Coastal cities face significant challenges when it comes to monitoring bathing water quality. One pressing issue is the timeliness of measurements. Currently, there is a considerable delay between taking samples and obtaining results, particularly with microbiological tests, which can take up to a week to provide conclusive data. This delay poses a serious health risk as it leaves people vulnerable to waterborne illnesses during this waiting period.

Drinking water is used too often for everything in Tallinn. The streets are too dusty. In hot summers limitations or warnings about the usage of drinking water. Alternative sources of water could be used for cleaning the streets, watering the greenery, washing vehicles, in industrial use, in construction etc. Tallinn is located next to the sea and it rains quite often.

Neiva: The challenge that Neiva faces relates to optimizing the use of public space and aligning with the trends of 15-minute cities. One of the key issues is the efficient flow of both passengers and cargo within limited urban spaces. Neiva, like many intermediate cities, must address the growing demand for transportation services while dealing with spatial constraints. This challenge is particularly pronounced in high-density commercial areas where road infrastructure may not adequately support the volume of vehicles, leading to congestion, productivity losses, and increased risks of accidents.

Since the urban environment in Riga is very diverse in form, quality, and level of accessibility, understanding how people of different groups of society choose their means of commute and transportation around the city is a complex matter. The key challenge that we distinguish concerns one of the more resilient societal groups – pupils and scholars, who commute to school daily, thus embrace all the factors, characteristics, challenges, and changes in the urban environment, ranging from the quality of walking infrastructure in the central area and the neighborhoods, security during different hours of the day, to the quality and reliability…

Health preserving and enhancing urban and workplace environment. Innovation challenge is focused on leveraging smart city technologies and data-driven solutions to address health-related issues in urban environments and hybrid workplaces. The general concept derives from holistic health model (physical-mental-social wellbeing) and addresses the challenges through environmental, community engagement and new solutions/services dimensions.

Generally, Narva is a city with an unorganized post-Soviet public space of relatively low quality. Thus, a very large part of the city’s projects are related to improving the quality of urban space and thereby improving the living environment. The implementation of such projects is extremely costly, with some amounts reaching to tens of millions of euros. At the same time, before the completion or planning of any project, we cannot be sure or guarantee that the quality of the urban space will really increase significantly. Taking into the consideration the intensity of resource while implementing of such projects, it…

The city of Pula regularly and up-to-date informs its citizens about works on communal infrastructure, unavailability of public services or temporary restrictions through the city’s website and through local newspapers and radio stations. Unfortunately, the majority of citizens do not read the notices and for this reason they are not informed about works and temporary situations on the field, which leads them to encounter problems when organizing travel and the time they need, makes them nervous, creates traffic jams, leaves the impression that the city is being poorly organized in the field of citizen information system which ultimately results in…

In order to move towards circular economy in construction sector, existing buildings should be considered as materials banks instead of CDW. Previous researches in Estonia, Finland and elsewhere in Europes have shown that building parts (e.g. wall panels, ceiling panels, posts, beams etc) once produced for a certain functionality might still have acquired properties and reuse potential as a building parts. As most of the CO2 footprint of buildings comes from the main physical structural and building envelope elements, it would be reasonable to keep using these on their original function as much as possible. Majority of buildings by weight…

We are proposing a fully autonomous, ATV-sized robot equipped with advanced machine vision for the identification and collection of specialized waste containers from suburban homes. This robot will autonomously navigate through neighborhoods, empty residents’ waste bins into its internal container, and move to the next house. By specifically addressing waste collection in suburban areas, where homes are more spread out, the robot optimizes routes and operations to improve efficiency.

The proposed solution is a big data driven full-stack ICT-based system of Internet of Bins – including data hardware for wastebin level sensing and data collecting, back-end, front-end, and an Application Programming Interface (API) connection. The API connection can be transferred to the waste-collecting service companies to optimize their routes and participate in tenders based on actual and retrospective bin fill data.

Our proposal revolves around two key focal points:

The proposal present Digital twins (DT) based demand side recommendation services which aim to improve energy consumption of future smart city with target applications such as urban energy planning, energy efficiency improvement, CO2 emission reduction, Smart charging management. Project aimed to develop an innovative Industry 5.0 Digital twin-powered real-time demand response which eliminates excessive sensor usage while using advanced user interfaces proffers better engagement solution to residents. By using cutting-edge technologies such as Industry 5.0 DT, ecommerce recommendation, conversational chatbot technology and mixed/virtual reality interfaces to monitor and account for carbon foot print and electricity used by every individual asset/device…

Our proposed solution centers around a three phase framework that will be materialized as a software cloud platform. This web-based application will provide workflows to address challenges stated in the problem description around sustainable and community inclusive growth:

The proposed solution is based on several components:

The project proposal addresses the challenges faced by small cities geographically isolated from larger urban centers due to geopolitical, economic, and global changes. To enhance social and economic stability, the proposal emphasizes the importance of strategic decisions in housing, land use, and overall urban development. The approach involves urban modeling, integrating spatial, social, economic, and ecological considerations.

We are proposing an web-based application, which allows (1) to collect existing data from various digital and non-digital sources (eg PDF maps), (2) convert this data into a machine-readable  format, (3) integrate the data into one system (Urban Underground Digital Twins), (4) run data analysis (eg spatial clashes, scenarios, etc.), (5) communicate the data to stakeholders (state and municipal agencies, utility companies, developers, etc.) and end-users (citizens).

Algorithms and combined databases for energy calculations in relation of t/CO2-eq emissions: Large-scale detailed calculations of rooftop PV energy production and carbon impact; Algorithm for assessment of on-site/off-site energy production solutions and carbon impact; Algorithm for assessment of energy network load profiles, energy storage, energy production and carbon impact per site or per area; 3D visualizations of infrastructure, energy systems and carbon impact. How does it solve the city challenge you target? The solution develops standardized algorithms for energy related carbon footprint assessment. The proposed solution is intended to be modular and integrated as part of a solution to a…

Visionary tackles the Energy challenge ‘How to provide green electricity’ by providing an energy storage plus cloud service-based solutions for distribution power grids. It cuts off 5 times capital and operational expenses for low-voltage grids, improves effectiveness of energy distribution and increases effectiveness of the local renewables up to 8 times. Visionary provides small scale energy storage for FTM installation, that shaves peaks, supports local grid during peak load time and collects local renewables. The Visionary Cloud Service provides 62 parameter data from the grid environment right to the utility control center, helps to manage all distributed energy assets on…

In the initial planning phases, it is vital to promptly assess various design alternatives. Parametric modeling plays a crucial role in this context. It involves using computer software to create a flexible digital representation of architectural designs. This method enables a systematic exploration of different design options by adjusting key elements like the layout of urban elements, placement, components, and procedures. Integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into the parametric modeling process helps architects and engineers evaluate the environmental impact of different designs in a more streamlined way. By connecting the parametric model with LCA software or databases, this method automates…

The idea is to build a platform for the Virtual power plants (VPPs) that would be capable of interacting with the electricity market by offering them grid balancing services resulting in earning money for the city. The concept of a virtual power plant will be implemented and all available resources like solar parks, residential PV installations, Electric vehicles (EV), EV chargers, heating systems, and battery banks will be connected to a central data center by an aggregator. The aggregator will then quantify the available flexibility and balancing services and interact with the electricity market to sell these resources for monetary…

The goal of the project is to

Novel mobile smart sensorbox and related application solution(s), installable to municipal transport means (eg buses or and/or garbage collection vehicles) will be developed and piloted. The sensors will collect the following data (not limited to this list):

The integration of advanced technologies into water management and remediation in diverse urban environments like Dublin Bay, Narva, Tallinn, and Kohtla-Järve is set to revolutionize water quality monitoring and management. This comprehensive solution, which includes biotechnology, bacteria identification, IoT, AI, lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems, underwater technology, wireless sensor networks, and advanced software and hardware design, is tailored to meet the unique challenges of these cities, from coastal and riverine ecosystems to industrial impacts.Central to this integrated system is the use of LOC devices, miniaturized laboratories capable of performing a wide range of analytical tasks. These devices, made typically of silicon or…

UrbanSense+ integrates a dynamic and static sensing node network for comprehensive urban monitoring. Our solution addresses challenges in traffic management, environmental quality, and overall city planning. Our solution targets challenges related to damaged or missing traffic signs, graffiti, and road conditions. By integrating dynamic and static sensing node networks, we aim to provide a comprehensive solution that contributes to improved road safety, traffic flow, and overall urban resilience. Additionally, our solution monitors various urban parameters such as parking occupancy, noise levels, and air quality, addressing challenges related to sustainable urban planning and citizen well-being. The flexibility of UrbanSense+ allows it…

The proposed solution looks to obtain data related to hyper-local concentrations of emerging pollutants (Ultra fine Particles and Bioaerosols) in Urban Environments. The work will attach novel low cost miniture condensation particle counters and carmeras to utility vehicles. This will allow for the collection of data as the vechicles move through the city. The condensation particle counters will relay data on ultra fine particles within the environmnet which are currently not monitored within the citys air quality nework. While the cameras will allow for the detection of the urban trees and plants (species, phenological mode and number/area). This classification/detection will…

We propose a novel photonic sensing solution for rapid quantitative analysis of pathogens, such as E. coli bacteria, in bathing water. The proposed system consists of a novel fiber optic sensor probe developed by the team of researchers at TU Dublin, optical interrogation block comprising a broadband optical source (Laser Diode) and Photodiode, and an electronic control and signal processing unit with a user interface.

Healthy environment is essential for all citizens. In our culture, beaches have important roles as places for social gathering, sporting and cultural events etc. In fact, all cities try to establish at least small strips of beaches, even in cases when the water bodies are small and the climate is not optimal.

UrbanSplash is a decision support tool for urban water recreation that provides open data on water quality in a timely manner and forecasting capabilities. UrbanSplash uses sensors and technologies for near-real time detection of E. Coli bacteria, in-situ real-time data from low-cost IoT sensors, readily available meteorological data and geospatial data at catchment scale to provide near-real time data and forecasting. Briefly, UrbanSplash includes a base station & low-cost sensor networks distributed at catchment scale. The base station we propose is a smart floating pontoon or buoy-depending on the city infrastructure and if the application is for beaches in coastal…

Seabots, specializing in marine robotics and data analysis, presents an advanced solution for monitoring water quality in bathing areas using autonomous robots.

The proposed solution is a modern take on the ancient technology of cistern rain water storage and usage. Ancient cities, like Lecce in Puglia, Italy, used to have cisterns below the houses, with the rise of modern plumbing, these have been converted to storage cellers. Introducing local rain water reservoirs to houses would make a second water source available, which can be used to water gardens, wash windows etc. with additional plumbing, this rain water could also be used to flush toilets. An additional benefit would be, that another water source is available in case of fire. Water tanks could…

Our proposal covers the following target groups and areas.

Global cities face challenges around management of traffic and the enormous pressure on public space. With an increase of 36% of logistical vehicles towards 2030 in urban areas it is key that cities start to manage the flow of logistics and space allocation in a digital and dynamic way. This is underlined by the challenges proposed by the cities. Coding the Curbs offers a solution in curbside management. Our innovation makes spaces in cities adaptive by covering it with a digital layer. The result are Smart Zones, bookable and multifunctional spaces that can adapt to changing demands. Think about spaces…

My goal is to improve urban mobility based on the concept of walkability and with the assistance of big data and machine learning to address the challenges. My solution focuses on the first two challenges (road safety and encouraging more walking), while the last two I only propose complementary measures based on the concept of walkability. This is because enhancing road safety and encouraging walking, if successfully addressed, can effectively reduce traffic congestion, and potentially encourage the use of public transport.

Smart Communities, a digital platform, harnesses emerging technologies to promote Active Citzenry and community collaboration. Our cloud-based solution consists of a mobile app and a web-based portal. Our multi-tenant solution creates Virtual Private Communities with access to all our functionlities keeping their data private and maintaing GDPR compliance. Solution highlights include: • Smart Virtual Private Communities: Residents can be verified before accessing community data, • Smart Messaging: Structured communications from the Community Leaders to their members in the form of Noticeboards, Notifications, Surveys and learning video content targeted at specific users or geographic locations from country all the way down…

Wellbeing in the built environment is a paramount aspect for the success of both new developments and planned improvements for existing urban areas. Having a holistic point of view on how people interact and feel in a specific domain is essential for planners to understand the needs of users, and turn bare spaces into enjoyable living and working places, where a sense of belonging and wellbeing is nurtured in an inclusive way.

The proposed solution for the challenge is a well-being profile estimation tool and a service (Well-Being Virtual Reality Service (WB-VR Service)) in virtual and/or hybrid 3D reality. The tool for the physiological and psychological well-being estimation consists of the physiological signal sensors and psychological questionnaires that will be combined and optimized for the virtual reality (perceived by 3D glasses or active-shutter glass projection-based augmented reality) and environment. In addition, the tool will include automated algorithms that can be used for the fast processing and analysis of the data that lowers the costs to the service.