SMArt CitIES Network for Sustainable Urban Futures (SMARTIES Net)

在一个快速城市化的世界中，超过50%的全球人口居住在城市，城市的规划、建造、运营和再开发方式具有越来越重要的社会、环境和经济意义。人口在城市的集中继续增长，预计到2050年将翻一番，这是由于内部和外部经济流动以及来自农村环境和全球冲突地区的移民对住房、基础设施和服务造成直接压力。政府和城市管理者越来越多地制定城市愿景，确定IT（连接/“智能”系统/数字服务）、基础设施（住房/交通/水/废物/能源/商品/食品）和发展（绿色增长/改善生计）的长期目标，但城市的可持续性受到社会（贫困/凝聚力/包容性/多样性）的挑战。环境因素（极端天气/构造/疾病爆发）和经济因素（衰退/劳动力市场下降/石油价格波动），这些因素往往在较短的时间尺度上起作用，可能对城市、城市生态系统和人民产生严重影响。要实现应对这些挑战的可持续解决方案，需要创新思维和由有才华的研究人员组成的多学科团队，这些研究人员可以与当地、国内和国际的社区和利益相关者合作开发新方法。该项目将来自英国和印度的这样一个团队聚集在一起，创建一个智能城市网络，该网络将开发未来的思维和新方法，以增加两国选定城市的可持续性。通过网络活动、讲习班和企业家竞赛，我们将重点解决城市规划者和管理者面临的重大问题，包括交通拥堵、负担得起的住房、提供无障碍、有弹性和面向未来的清洁水和卫生、交通和能源基础设施，以及废物管理和回收，同时确保所有公民平等获得和参与安全、有保障、包容、健康和理想的城市生活。

In a rapidly urbanising world where more than 50% of the global population lives in cities, the way in which cities are planned, built, operated and redeveloped has increasing social, environmental and economic importance. The concentration of people in cities continues to grow and is anticipated to double by 2050 driven by internal and external economic mobility, and migration from rural environments and global conflict zones putting direct stress on housing, infrastructure and services. Governments and city governors are increasingly developing city visions which identify long-term goals for IT (connectivity/'smart' systems/digital services), infrastructure (housing /transport /water/waste/energy/goods/food) and development (green growth/livelihood improvements) but urban sustainability is challenged by social (poverty/cohesion/inclusion/diversity), environmental (extreme weather/tectonics/disease outbreaks) and economic (recession/declining labour market/oil price fluctuations) factors which frequently operate on shorter timescales and which can impact severely on cities, urban ecosystems and people. To achieve sustainable solutions to these challenges requires innovative thinking and multidisciplinary teams of talented researchers who can develop novel approaches in partnership with communities and stakeholders locally, nationally and internationally. This project brings together such a team from the UK and India to create a SMARt ciTIES Network which will develop future thinking and new approaches to increase the sustainability of selected cities in both countries. Through networking events, workshops and entrepreneur competitions we will focus on addressing the big issues faced by urban planners and governors including traffic congestion, affordable housing, the provision of accessible, resilient and future-proof infrastructure for clean water and sanitation, transport and energy, and waste management and recycling while ensuring all citizens have equal access to and participation in a city life which is safe, secure, inclusive, healthy and desirable.