THE SMARTEES PROJECT

SMARTEES aims to identify socially innovative policies that foster citizen inclusion and sustainable urban changes. In our first webinar 'Local leadership, or from usual suspects to local heroes - How to work together with your citizens towards a low-carbon society' in November last year, we discussed how local governments can help their citizens to become “local heroes” within a growing local change-maker constellation, with the prime example of the island of Samsø showcasing the potential of grassroots bottom-up initiatives.

The second SMARTEES webinar "Thinking ahead in local policies for successful energy and mobility transitions" built on the previous discussion delving into how to implement social innovation for a successful energy transition in various levels of society. Our experts included Dr. Giuseppe Pellegrini Masini, postdoctoral fellow at Norwegian University of Science and Technology, who provided nine policy recommendations for fostering acceptable and people-centred energy transitions. Terry Albronda, a local government representative of Groningen (Netherlands), shared how citizen involvement in the mobility transition in his city led to fundamental governance changes towards bottom-up (area-oriented) democracy. Dr. Frances Sprei, associate professor at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), provided an overview of holistic approaches to energy transition and provided insights for local policy design. Watch the recording below to learn more!

The objective of this event was to explore key lessons for local governments to support pioneers in their cities, but be the key drivers of ambitious energy and mobility transitions. Based on the thorough research done in the SMARTEES project, we will soon be launching an online tool based on our pioneering case cities and islands. The tool will allow users to choose a scenario that resembles those in their cities and test out different transition models to help develop successful policy and decision-making. The next webinar (date to be announced soon) in the SMARTEES series will delve into the tool.

See all SMARTEES webinars here.