Welcome to module 2. This week we will keep focusing on the why question. Why would we need smart, sustainable city initiatives? In the first week, we discussed the importance of governance and the need for a consistent regulatory framework in SSC. This week, to answer the why question, we will focus on a critical aspect of Smart Sustainable Cities: Sustainability. A sustainable city not only focuses on the “green” policies to make the city more environmentally friendly but also needs to work on sustainable projects throughout time: the technology implemented must be suitable for long-term use and economically sustainable.

Therefore, we will describe sustainability challenges, presenting several vital concepts and applications of SSC, focused on its sustainable pillar:

2.2 – Smart Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

2.3 – Urban Impacts on the Environment

2.4 – Social Innovation

2.5 – Bioclimathic Architecture

2.6 Study Case: Sustainable Urban Mobility Curitiba

2.7 Economic Sustainability

The learning objectives of this module are:

• Understand how the development of smart, sustainable cities can contribute to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals;
• Recognize the urban environmental impacts and the required needs to implement different aspects of smart, sustainable cities;
• Identify Social Innovation cases and their impact on social inequalities;
• Identify bioclimate strategies and human thermal comfort requirements;
• Analyze a real case where sustainability challenges are included in urban planning.
• Understand economic sustainability principles and the importance of a circular economy.