Development of an Evaluation Framework for Smartness and Sustainability in Cities

The transformation of cities into smarter and more sustainable environments is essential towards achieving the objectives of the decarbonization of the economy. In this sense, holistic strategies are required to design and implement urban regeneration strategies. The EU-funded REMOURBAN project has developed an Urban Regeneration Model which provides the mechanisms to implement more efficiently these processes, integrating technologies, business models, management procedures and evaluation mechanisms, where the evaluation is sought as the main supporting mechanism throughout the various phases of the city transformation process. The framework developed considers two levels of evaluation: city level, to assess both sustainability and smartness of the city as a whole from a comprehensive and integrated perspective, and project level, to provide a clear identification of the impact of implementation of technologies and solutions on three key priority areas (sustainable districts and built environment, sustainable urban mobility and integrated infrastructures and processes) aimed at achieving the city high-level goals. This paper introduces the Urban Regeneration Model and describes the evaluation framework and its implementation in the city of Valladolid (Spain).