More specifically, the Yokohama Smart City Project is a five-year pilot program with a consortium of seven Japanese companies – Nissan Motor Co., Panasonic Corp., Toshiba Corp., Tokyo Electric Power Co., Tokyo Gas Co., Accenture’s Japan unit and Meidensha Corp.

In 2010, the City of Yokohama formulated the Yokohama Smart City Project (YSCP)to run in three Yokohama city districts and it has since been deployed to the entire city with a project area covering about 435 km2. The project applies smart grids for the energy management of households, buildings and local communities, introduces large scale renewable energy, and promotes next generation transport systems in order to demonstrate new urban management forms. The project’s mission is to establish a social system that can sustainable develop in an already established city.

In order to achieve this, the city introduced a Community Energy Management System (CEMS) to achieve efficient energy management by linking each EMS, such as in homes and buildings, and stationary energy storage. Specific goals include:

• Introduction of EMS for 4,000 homes to achieve 20 percent energy reduction.
• EMS for offices and commercial buildings to control and reduce peak energy consumption by 20 percent.
• EMS for factories.

In addition, the city will provide 2,000 electric vehicles and charging stations for the transport sector. The use of renewable energy sources is also a priority for the city, as is an effort to change the way citizens relate to energy use. Solar power generation in 249 locations, wind power generation in 2 locations, hydropower generation in 3 locations, and biomass power generation in 6 locations will be implemented. In addition, consumers will receive incentives to limit electricity use, thus contributing to the reduction of CO2 at a lower social cost.
Finally, citizen participation is key to the success of YSCP. For example, the Yokohama Eco School project (YES) was developed to increase citizen participation in YSCP and educate citizens about climate change through lectures, events and workshops. In 2012, 418 lectures were held for 35,000 participants and 121 partner organizations. This led to an increased number of Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) installed in homes, as well as PV generation systems and storage batteries. Additionally, 4,000 households participated in the FY2014 demonstration project, showing high level of public spirit and making YSCP one of Japan’s largest energy saving projects to date.

http://www.smartecocity.com/japan/yscp/

http://www.c40.org/profiles/2014-yokohama

To contact in Japanese only : ss-seisaku@city.yokohama.jp

Or in English : callcenter@city.yokohama.jp

Contact : ambasada@plai.ro

This movement is very important because it stands for a direct and efficient response to the effects of gentrification.

Contact : Thomas Martens MSc; Knowledge Valorisation Officer at Utrecht University : t.a.m.martens@uu.nl

An updated version of the participatory budget was implemented in 2016[1]. With the path “From the idea to the city”, launched by the City Council under the proposal of the Deputy Mayor to Participation, Active Citizenship and Open Data. The participatory budget is implemented as a part of the broader development plan for the peripheries, for promotion of policies of accessibility and enhancement of administrative decentralization. The new version of the process was approved after a public consultation process involving the political and technical bodies of the City of Milan and the nine City Districts. The initiative addresses the whole population living in the City of Milan and anyone who has a continuous relationship with the city territory for study, work or residents (the so-called city users), starting from the age of 16 and of any nationality. The process is now composed of four phases: reachout and dissemination, co-working; voting; monitoring of the projects. On the institutional platform www.budgetpartecipativomilano.it), urban inhabitants will be able to monitor the different projects funded and see their state of advancement. The project also provides an “Accessibility bonus”, and a City District bonus. The projects that respect the urban accessibility principles will receive an additional 10%, and the projects that accomplish with the District’s needs will also receive an additional 10%. This new version of the participatory budget[2] was realized in collaboration with the University of Coimbra, The University of Milan and the Opensource company and is run through the experimental digital platform Empatia, designed for supporting participatory and collaborative decision making processes: http://www.progettoempatia.it/.

[1] The institutional platform developed for the project is available at the following address: https://www.bilanciopartecipativomilano.it/.

[2]  City of Milan, Resolution of City Government, Approval of Guidelines for the experimental implementation of Participatory Budget 2017, through a collaboration agreement with the University of Coimbra , University of Milan and the Open Source Society for the use of the Empatia Digital Platform,  N. 983 of June 1, 2017.