An association of “smart cities” will be formed in Russia by the end of 2012, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported last week, citing Peter Schipper, the Director of the Department of Engineering and Transport Infrastructure of Skolkovo, the state-sponsored innovation hub nearing completion near Moscow.
According to Schipper, the term ‘smart city’ implies a complex approach to construction and maintenance of residential, commercial, and public buildings and facilities. “This is a new and non-traditional approach. While old, traditional cities have been built using a radial pattern, a smart city is built around a transportation system,” he explained.
“This approach implies a well developed transport structure, good access to airports and rail stations. Residents in smart cities are not supposed to use cars with internal combustion engines. A smart city should have a high-tech waste processing complex to reduce processing costs. Water supplies should be cleansed to drinking water standards and utilized for repeated use. Rain water in a smart city can be used for developing a city’s green zone and landscape design,” Mr. Schipper concluded.
According to Schipper, the listed characteristics will be used to select those Russian cities that best correspond to these smart city criteria.
