Criteria for assessing action undertaken by border municipalities towards a “green smart city”

Ewa Łaźniewska,Tomasz Górecki,Izabela Janicka

doi:10.14746/rie.2021.15.13

Abstract

The article presents a proposal for a research tool that might assess the ecological activity of municipalities, with particular emphasis on those that lie on national boundaries. With climate change, it has become necessary to take into account the principles of sustainable growth while maintaining high living standards in the long term. Systematic research on the action undertaken by municipalities in this area is a necessary requirement in the coming years. For this reason, the main directions and areas of research in the process of approaching the concept of a “green smart city” have been outlined. The available literature is limited to research in the field of smart cities and examines solutions for large urban agglomerations. The evaluation criteria of “ecological maturity” proposed in this paper are designed for small border municipalities. One may accept the thesis that due to their specificity, location, natural diversity and the opportunities for cooperation with a foreign partner that they offer, border municipalities can create a model of ecological behaviour in terms of a “green smart city”. This evolution requires support and monitoring for policymakers, and the proposed online research tool may reveal “ecological immaturities”, decisional errors or just plain negligence. One might only hope that, as a result of these indications, the recommendations will prove valuable for all local government units. On the other hand, a number of doubts and dilemmas are raised that researchers are unable to eliminate at this stage.

Highlights

Climate change on Earth means that most cities throughout the world need to adapt in order to protect their residents from its detrimental effects
What is most important thing when devising a cross-border green smart city strategy is environmental knowledge (Mickiewicz, Mickiewicz, 2005), along with training municipal officials who can learn from the business environment and from international contacts on global smart solutions in the field of sustainable development
Further indications for the development of a cross-border green smart city strategy will appear in another empirical publication devoted to the results of a survey conducted in border municipalities on both the Polish and German side

Summary

Introduction

Climate change on Earth means that most cities throughout the world need to adapt in order to protect their residents from its detrimental effects. The study should take into account the efforts of the authorities to constantly improve the qualifications of their officials To summarise, it is worth focusing on the most salient issues that the majority of municipalities will have to deal with as a result of climate change: – Spatial planning that takes into account “ecological corridors” and airways while introducing buffer zones for human activity (Szulczewska, 2004); – Severe and long-lasting rainfall, causing local inundation and flooding; – Drinking water shortage; – Air pollution; – Increase in morbidity and epidemic outbreaks; – Extinction of native fauna and flora; – Growing quantities of municipal waste; – The need to introduce smart second and third generation technological solutions (Tai-hoon, Ramos, Sabah, 2017); – Introducing a grass-roots Internet of Things to monitor noise levels, air pollution, light pollution, etc

The salient features of a border municipality in ecological development

ASSESSMENT III

Research dilemmas while analysing the ecological maturity of municipalities

Findings

Summary