Smart when the wind is blowing

Last Sunday I decided to throw away my old newspapers. I piled them up since the beginning of January and it was time to do so. Like always, I checked them quickly on interesting articles to use for lectures on university or for a blog post.
Running through the old news, I noticed several articles about smog in Beijing, Brussels and Paris some weeks ago. Since I started as coordinator of TRANSFORM my senses are open for things relating to Smart City issues. The smog of Paris could be one of them.
Hereby my reasoning.
In Paris smog occurred, due to the fact that there was hardly any wind blowing over the city for days. The remedy was to diminish car traffic, by only allowing people to enter the city if they had a certain car plate number. Even numbers one day, uneven numbers the other.
The first remarkable thing is that the smog was as bad as it was in Beijing. While I was convinced that Europe, in the last decades, implemented successful measures to reduce pollution and particles.
The second remarkable thing is that Paris is a Smart City and ranks fifth on ?Co-Exists list of European Smart Cities”. And, as I learned, Smart Cities strive to improve livability by working on diminishing pollution, citizens involvement, reducing particles, reducing CO2 emissions, improve cycling, increasing public transport, being innovative, etc. It seems that Paris looks smarter when there is wind, blowing the pollution away.
The third remarkable thing was that electrical vehicles were allowed to enter the city regardless of their car plate number. WOW! That?s Smart People living in a Smart City!
SMART CITIES IN EUROPE: RANKING

Geef een reactie
Misschien ook interessant