Roman Serdar Mendle manages the Smart Cities Program at the ICLEI and heads ICLEI's work on City-Business Collaboration. His mandate at ICLEI includes advocating for cities' interests in the Smart Cities debate and shape the global understanding of Smart Cities as a means to become more sustainable, rather than an end in itself.
Additionally, Roman and his team support ICLEI Member cities in finding 'smart' solutions to become more livable, sustainable and to transition to a green economy decoupled from harmful emissions and wasteful resource use. Roman is also responsible for the strategic development of facilitation services for ICLEI Member cities to engage with the private sector, to benefit from city-business collaboration and to promote dialogue and cooperation between cities and businesses driven by sustainability goals and values.
A Sustainability Scientist by training, Roman has expert knowledge on sustainability transitions of complex urban systems.
Presentation abstract:
Title: Smartness is a Means, Sustainability is the Goal
Smart Cities are cities that use all means available to become sustainable. While technology and innovation can play a role in this process, cities more importantly need to find their own answer to the following questions: What is the purpose of a Smart City? What is the role of people? And what trade offs should be made?
