B- Collaboration in Europe use of energy sources; • Increasing the use of new and renewable energy sources as Many of the social, economic, and environmental issues well as encouraging energy diversification; that Europe faces have an urban dimension, because over • Stimulating energy efficiency and use of renewables in the 70 percent of the EU’s population lives in towns and cities. field of transport. Although urban policy is not an explicit competence of the European Union, EU policy has taken on an urban dimension C- Health and sanitation as grand challenges over the last thirty years, and it now recognizes the true impact that urban authorities in the EU can have. In order to Health and sanitation are Grand Challenges.15According to the develop a more integrated approach to cities, the European UN, “The 2020-21 global coronavirus pandemic has already Commission has established the URBAN Pilot Projects and caused unimaginable devastation and hardship. It has brought Community Initiatives. The European Structural Funds were our way of life to an almost complete halt.”16Thanks to the mainstreamed in the 2007-2013 period to support sustainable COVID-19 pandemic, greenhouse gas emissions are temporarily urban development. down and air quality has been better in 2020-21. However, carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, just like viruses, blur To date, there have been three main phases within the national boundaries. The COVID-19 outbreak will have profound development of EU policy in this area. First, since 2008, the and lasting economic and social consequences in every corner Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (CMCE) began to of the globe. bring together local and regional authorities with a view to implementing European climate and energy objectives within Climate, economic, and health crises require “an their territories. Second, between 2014 and 2020, the EU directly unprecedented response—a profound, systemic shift to a allocated fifteen billion euros to developing strategies for more sustainable economy” that works for both people and sustainable urban development through the European Regional the planet. As the head of the UN Environment Programme Development Fund (ERDF). Overall, around nine hundred cities (UNEP), Inger Andersen, has stated, “We need to take on board have implemented strategies through this initiative. Third, there the environmental signals, and understand what they mean was an enlargement of the scope of policies in this area. After for our future and well-being.”17 We can only hope that the initially taking an approach focused on technological solutions, COVID-19 pandemic will be a wake-up call. the EU is now bringing together different policy fields to encourage cities to decrease their environmental impact. The Smart city: definition and evolving concept various EU channels that are encouraging smart city initiatives now include the European Structural and Investment Funds A smart city is a city that takes a forward-thinking approach (ESIF), Horizon 2020, and the European Innovation Partnership to various key areas: economy, people, governance, mobility, on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC).14 environment, and quality of life. A city combines the resources and activities of different public and private actors with those The aim of the EU’s 2013 agreement is to elaborate and develop of its citizens. Macomber (2013) discusses opportunities for sustainable energy action plans and to contribute within each both short-term and long-term investments to come from jurisdiction to the general objective of the 2020 European companies, and he identifies four segments in a matrix: strategy (reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent, developed vs. emerging countries, and legacy vs. new city.18 improving energy efficiency by 20 percent, and drawing 20 percent of the EU’s energy consumption from renewables). We can split into four main periods the ways in which major cities have reacted and will react via the smart cities concept The European projects aim to fulfill the three following main to environmental challenges during the twenty-first century. In objectives: the first period, which ran between 2005 and 2010, pioneers (for •Promoting energy efficiency and encouraging the rational example, London, Singapore, and Tokyo) started formulating (14) https://ec.europa.eu/info/eu-regional-and-urban-development/topics/cities-and-urban-development_en (accessed on 3 June 2021). (15) Grand Challenges is a set of global initiatives. The aim is to speed up innovation and solve global health and development problems. The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation coined the term “Grand Challenges” in 2003 and set up a couple of initiatives. In 2014, it renamed and relaunched the initiative to fix global health and development troubles. Even academia now incorporates this term. https://grandchallenges.org/about; George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. (2016). Understanding and tackling societal grand challenges through management research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6): 1880-1895. (accessed on 3 June 2021). (16) https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061082 (accessed on 3 June 2021). (17) https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061082 (accessed on 3 June 2021). (18)Macomber, J. D. (2013). Building sustainable cities. Harvard business review, 91(7): 40-50. 32 Quélin and Smadja | HEC PARIS | SMART CITIES | The sustainable program of six leading cities | 2021