Wednesday 8 March 2017

WCCD Global Cities Summit Adopts "The Dubai Declaration 2017"


2017 Dubai Declaration: A Commitment to City Data as the Universal Language

RECOGNIZING that cities across the globe are central to a shared mandate to work towards the sustainable, resilient, smart, inclusive and prosperous cities of the future,
WE THE ASSEMBLED, have gathered in Dubai from March 7th to 9th, 2017, to consider the critical importance of city level data to support this shared mandate. 
WE, THE ASSEMBLED CITIES, THOUGHT LEADERS AND PARTNERS of the World Council on City Data, have gathered in Dubai to take part in the 2017 WCCD Global Cities Summit titled “Data as the Universal Language, under the hosting partnership of the Executive Council of Dubai,
REITERATING our support for city data that is a globally standardized to enable city-to-city solutions to travel globally,
AND IN BUILDING a shared global platform on open and standardized city data that is certified under the WCCD ISO 37120 certification protocol,
ARE UNITED in Dubai through a shared commitment to city data as the universal language driving forward THREE CRITICALLY IMPORTANT AGENDAS FOR 2030:

1.     INCLUSIVE CITIES – where we recognize that cities are central in ensuring equitable access to city services and quality of life for all of its citizens, encouraging the richness of interaction upon which cities depend, and nurturing a culture of acceptance, building a high quality of life for city residents to ensure the sustainable, resilient, smart, inclusive and prosperous cities of the future

2.     SMART NATIONS – where we recognize that it is smart cities that build smart nations and that high calibre city level data is the essential starting point for informed investments in city infrastructure, by national and other senior levels of government, so that cities can continue to be the greatest contributors to a national, smart agenda for economic development underpinned by effective service delivery and quality of life in cities.

3.     A SUSTAINABLE PLANET – where we recognize the central place of cities in achieving sustainable development globally, with respect to the critically important resilience, climate and sustainable development goals established by the United Nations, and we hereby underline the critical significance of city level data to support the advancement of cities towards actionable targets in reaching these global goals.
To achieve these three critically important agendas for 2030 – INCLUSIVE CITIES – SMART NATIONS – A SUSTAINABLE PLANET – we the assembled here in Dubai this March 2017, will continue to work, together and independently, as global ambassadors for the importance of standardized city data to drive progress towards these agendas, and continue to espouse standardized, city data as a catalytic agent for local, national and global change.

***
The Assembled Cities, Thought Leaders and Partners of the World Council on City Data
Dubai, UAE

March 2017

WCCD and Philips Lighting release new publication on assessing the citywide benefits of smart lighting using ISO 37120 certified data



Cities globally are recognizing the value of high-caliber standardized city data to inform infrastructure investment and decision-making. This data-driven approach is particularly important for evaluating new smart infrastructure solutions, which can produce multiple financial, economic, social and environmental benefits.  One key opportunity area for cities is smart and connected public lighting. Of approximately 300 million streetlights across the world, only about 10% are high-efficiency LEDs, and just 2% are connected. Combining high-efficiency lighting with connected system management can deliver energy savings of up to 80%.

To explore this opportunity further, the WCCD and Foundation Partner Philips Lighting have released a new report: The Citywide Benefits of Smart & Connected Public Lighting - Assessed through WCCD ISO 37120 Data.

This report presents the experience of the two WCCD Foundation Cities – Los Angeles & Buenos Aires – that have recently implemented major programs to change street lighting to high-efficiency LEDs as well as adopting the CityTouch smart system to manage their lighting networks. As this report shows, these types of solutions have immediate positive impacts that combine significant energy cost savings, reduced carbon emissions, improved system reliability, and reduced maintenance workload.

Improved lighting can also generate a wider set of benefits at the city level, such as reduced crime rates, improved citizen perceptions of safety, improved traffic safety for all road users, and significant contributions to city attractiveness and economic vitality. Quantifying many of these significant positive impacts from improved lighting at the city level is possible through WCCD ISO 37120 data. ISO 37120 defines a comprehensive set of 100 standardized indicators that enables any city, of any size, to assess their performance and measure progress over time and also draw comparative lessons from other cities.

This report presents a measurement framework that can monitor and evaluate city-level benefits from smart and connected lighting investments, through the unique opportunity afforded by WCCD ISO 37120 certified city data.This data can then play a major role in building the investment case for mobilizing funding and securing citizen support, demonstrating impact and progress over time, and assisting other cities in understanding the benefits of these solutions through data-driven city-to-city learning.