Page 10 - U4SSC Factsheet, Valencia, Spain, June 2020

could support the adoption of new water conservation technologies and incentivize a reduction in
corporate water footprints.
• All cities should prioritize solid waste recycling in a regulated facility, or solid waste incineration
that leads to energy production, over all other forms of disposal. Increasing recycling rates can
form an important part of the city’s future sustainability strategy. Best practices such as enhancing,
reinforcing public communication and outreach, evaluating contracts, recycling markets and pricing
levels, modifying collection techniques, legislating/funding smart recycling and leveraging lessons
learned regionally can help optimize waste recycling as well as following Recommendation ITU-T
L.1030: ‘E waste management framework for countries’, amongst others.
• All cities should optimize the use of sustainable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal,
hydropower and ocean energy to meet their energy consumption needs and to track their progress by
reporting these KPIs. Best practices in energy management can be encouraged through appropriate
policies, incentives and procedures. Recommendations that guide modernization and optimization
of various public energy use sources can be utilized, including, for example, Recommendation ITU-T
Y.4458 ‘Requirements and functional architecture of a smart street light service’.

• Within the Society and Culture dimension, KPIs are widely reached thanks to a high adult literacy
rate, positive health-related outcomes and a wide range of national government-funded cultural
offerings. Valencia can quantify and report the percentage of students with classroom access to
ICT facilities and track future progress as part of its smart sustainability strategy. The maternal
mortality rate can also be further examined to determine the factors involved and progress tracked
and reported year after year.
• Lastly, the poverty rate can be further examined to gauge which demographics are most affected,
which can help inform mitigation policies.

• Valencia should work closely with other cities on its SSC efforts in order to leverage any best
practices and shared experience with developing and instituting smart and sustainable policies
and initiatives in the region.

• ITU would like to invite cities around the world to implement the U4SSC KPIs for SSC, enabling the
cities to establish clear data collection methodologies, collect data, develop goals and targets.

Why not help improve quality of life for your citizens or evaluate the urban functionality of
your own city by piloting the U4SSC KPIs? Contact us at u4ssc@ itu .int to find out more!

Background: The United 4 Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) Initiative

The United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) is a UN initiative created to foster the standardization,
integration and interoperability of digital technologies within cities to make them smarter and more
sustainable.

4 U4SSC Factsheet | Valencia, Spain | June 2020