Geneva, Switzerland, 21 and 22 July 2016

Contact: Cristina Bueti

Introduction
“Smart urbanization” is key to building safer, healthier, resilient and sustainable cities of tomorrow. Constructing cities sustainably by utilizing smart growth principles, effective urban planning models, ICTs and low carbon energy systems, can help create more habitable and efficient urban centres. It could also help alleviate pressure on existing natural habitats, resources and biodiversity, thereby reducing the risk of man-made disasters.

In line with this, UNECE and ITU together with other partner organizations, have joined forces and developed a common definition of a smart and sustainable city which reads:

"A smart sustainable city (SSC) is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects".

In response to the sustainable development goal (SDG) 11: “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, ITU and UNECE launched the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative. U4SSC primarily advocates for public policy to encourage the use of ICTs to facilitate and ease the transition to smart sustainable cities worldwide.

ITU and UNECE organized the first Meeting of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative, on 21-22 July 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was held from 1700 hours to 1900 hours on 21 July 2016 and from 0900 hours to 1600 hours on 22 July 2016.

Objectives
The main objectives of the meeting were to:

• approve the terms of reference of the U4SSC working groups;
• formulate proposals for the U4SSC Action Plan;
• collect feedback on the key performance indicators (KPIs) for smart sustainable cities elaborated by ITU and UNECE together with other stakeholders.

Target audience
This meeting brought together leading specialists in the field, from city planners to engineers, designers, policy-makers, government officials, regulators, academia and standards experts.