Health: from trains’ braking energy would satisfy the consumption The City Council aims to have delivered a two-year increase in needs of 360 households and an energy cost of up to one the Viennese population’s healthy life expectancy by 2030. Life hundred thousand euros, as well as delivering a reduction in expectancy has risen rapidly in the city, and a strong priority CO emissions (Urban Mobility Plan Vienna Smart City, 2019).2 for the council is to make sure residents enjoy good health in these additional years of life. Green spaces: The city wants green spaces to continue to occupy over 50 Basic sanitation: percent of the city until at least 2050. The council also aims Vienna’s water and its water treatment system meet the to ensure interconnections among and between parks and highest levels of quality. The city’s efficient water network is neighborhoods in order to facilitate access to and safeguard the result of a hundred years of sustained investment by the green spaces. City of Vienna. It is estimated that the sum of thirty million euros per year is invested in the network (Smart City Wien Opportunities: Framework Strategy 2019–2050, 2019). Vienna is globally known as a hub of a resource-efficient circular economy that is attracting investment and talent. Recycling services: Waste recovery is a part of the transition to a circular economy. Housing and energy: In order to maximize recovery in Vienna, the entire waste By 2050, the city wants 80 percent of buildings’ components management chain for both commercial and household waste to be made from recycled products. The city is aware that has been reengineered. All stages, from garbage production its buildings are a major contributor to CO emissions and2 through to the processing of recyclables for use as secondary represent 71 percent of the total waste produced in Austria raw materials, have a clear customer-oriented focus. (City of Vienna Website, 2020). Tackling these issues is a key priority. By using a renewables-based energy system that About 60 percent of the waste produced annually in Vienna incorporates devices such as heat pumps and vapor-based is subjected to thermal treatment at one of four waste district heating, Vienna’s smart buildings are helping to cut incineration plants, which cogenerate energy for district CO emissions.2 heating or cooling and electricity. Not only is Vienna’s waste management essential to making the Austrian capital a clean Governance: city, but it has also helped to reduce output of CO equivalents2 Since Vienna revised its smart city project in 2014, the city by 550,000 tons annually and consequently reduce pollution has placed a strong emphasis on collaborative methods. For (Smart City Wien Framework Strategy 2019–2050, 2019). example, the Shifts in Citizens’ Participation project has been developed by the city to support Vienna’s urban development Mobility: and its ecosystem of stakeholders, facilitating access to The city has set the target that before 2030 at least 70 percent information and the actors required to create new ideas. of all day-to-day trips in the city will continue to be short distances of under five kilometers, with the majority being Vienna has a top position within the open-government model made by bike or on foot (Smart City Wien Framework Strategy among the European capital cities, with over 350 datasets 2019–2050, 2019). pertaining to the city available (City of Vienna Website, 2020). The city identifies digitalization as a tool for improving A new urban development called Aspern—Vienna’s Urban residents’ quality of life and ensuring that resources are used Lakeside is being created. It should generate twenty thousand responsibly. “Digitalization serves the needs of the people” is jobs (Smart City Wien Framework Strategy 2019–2050, 2019). the City Council’s policy, and therefore residents’ feedback on This new part of the city is coupled with a bundle of innovative local government is essential. mobility measures that contribute to sustainable and smart growth. Data: The City Council wants all processes to be digitalized by 2025. Technological improvements installed in Vienna’s metro now The focus of this digital infrastructure is to supply tools and allow the energy from braking trains to be captured. The support in order to optimize energy and resource savings. testing period for this technology showed that energy captured 195 Quélin and Smadja | HEC PARIS | SMART CITIES | The sustainable program of six leading cities | 2021