WEBVTT

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In this lesson, it gets more practical
again.

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After we have dealt with basic ideas and
examples of the smart

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city, we now look at how this concept is
currently being implemented in German

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cities.

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The discourse on smart cities in Germany
is still relatively

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new and less mature than that on urban
sustainability.

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Nevertheless, there are now clear
political positions that shape practice

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in the municipalities.

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The focus is on two things, the Smart
City Charter, which

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provides the political framework, and the
Smart Cities model

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projects, in which German cities have
tested new approaches

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in recent years with extensive financial
support.

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Before we go into more detail, a little
question for you: Do you think

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that smart cities are automatically
sustainable

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simply because they use digital
technologies?

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If you ask like that, the answer is of
course no.

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Technology alone is no guarantee of
sustainability.

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Digital solutions can undoubtedly help,
for example, to save

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energy, make mobility more efficient or
simplify administrative processes.

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But they are also resource-intensive
themselves.

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Artificial intelligence in particular
consumes enormous amounts of energy.

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And there is the so-called rebound
effect.

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Efficiency gains can lead to resources
being used even more in the end.

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If traffic lights make traffic flow more
smoothly and reduce traffic

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jams, will more people perhaps feel
encouraged to get into the car because

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it is no longer so annoying and the
sustainability effect fizzles out?

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In this lesson, we will therefore take a
closer look at how German cities deal

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with this area of tension.

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We consider the Smart City Charter as a
political framework and take a look

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at the Smart Cities model projects, in
which municipal authorities in the

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municipalities are currently using
digital technologies in concrete terms.

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This makes it possible to see how smart
cities are thought of and implemented in

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Germany and where the opportunities, but
also the limits, lie.