Page 93 - Enhancing innovation and participation in smart sustainable cities
P. 93
United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Enhancing Innovation and Participation
Maribor is surrounded with hills, nature and is the centre of the Styrian wine region. The city’s goal is to preserve
the natural surroundings and the river Drava is big part of this. The city gets around 60% of its drinking water from
underground water wells (beneath the river) and drinking water quality has improved a great deal since the waste
water treatment has been in place. Having well-preserved natural surroundings is important for the wellbeing of
inhabitants, it provides better air quality (in this area further work remains to be done) and it makes the city
attractive to live in or just to come and visit. Since the start of this project (1994) a lot has happened in Maribor
and strategic goals have been adapted to the changing situation; however, a clear environment is always high on
every agenda. The last strategy that the city adopted in 2016 ‘Integrated sustainable urban development plan’ has
this area high on its list of priorities, with clear river water enabling plans for the further integration of the river in
inhabitants’ lives, with different activities on the river banks planned with the preservation of drinking water
quality is kept in mind.
With this new strategy Maribor decided to follow a circular economy, whereby every resource available in the city
(and produced by city) will be used for processes in the city. A major part of future plans is a waste water treatment
plant, where cleared waste water can be returned through some of the city processes and this will reduce the use
of drinking water for these processes; secondly, a material that will be used back in the city is sludge that is
produced in the water clearing processes. A circular economy for public utility companies is a strategic project for
the city and every possibility will be explored for the use of waste materials from one process as entry materials
in another. A short presentation of this project WCYCLE was given at the Smart Sustainable Cities Financing Forum
Liechtenstein, in November 2016, and again at EWRC 2016 in Brussels. The concept of the project is described in
two slides from the presentation (shown below); the main innovative solution is that all utility companies are
involved in some processes, which will have an impact on energy, material recovery and reuse in the city.
U4SSC series 91