Fomento San Sebastián showcases San Sebastian involvement as a Lighthouse City of the Replicate Project on the Forum des Projects Urbains in the city of Bordeaux


Fomento San Sebastián (council of economic development of the Lighthouse city of San Sebastián) showcased the Replicate Lighthouse city project of the H2020 programme (SCC1 Smart Cities and Communities) in the Forum for Urban Projects held in Bordeaux this past April the 4th, 2018.

San Sebastián showcasing the Replicate project at the Forum des Projects Urbains in Bordeaux

The forum, targeted mainly at a variety of different agents involved with urban planning and development of Western France, gathered local authorities and politicians, managers of urban planning and development, architects, planners, as well as investors, promoters and other agents of municipal services such as transport, energy, etc. Together with Fomento San Sebastián, institution in charge of presenting our Lighthouse City as an example of a sustainable urban environment inside the Replicate project (Co-funded by the Horizon 2020 programme); Bordeaux, Nantes, the region of New Aquitaine and Lisbon (to name a few) showcased their projects as well. This forum’s main objective was to promote the exchange of new ways of communication, knowledge and past experiences; A comprehensive guide was also created to reflect all of the project’s involvement and their development planning submitted to the event. The Urban Project Forum is held annually and it is organized by the Innovapresse society, dedicated to the organization and publication of documents regarding urban planning and architecture.

Fomento San Sebastián submitted their planned development of the Urumea District, in which a series of implementations are being developed in this very moment according to specifications of the Donostia/San Sebastián pilot project (Lighthouse city of the Replicate project together with Florence and Bristol). The district was selected in order to materialize the planned integrated strategy with the goal of morphing the district into a Smart neighborhood with close to zero emissions, working on a sustainable district branding. The district reaches a surface of over 200 hectares: A residential area (the neighborhood of Txomin), an industrial park (Poligono 27, which holds a capability of 340 business and 4500 people) and a nature park (Ametzagaina, carbon reserve). The specific actions in which the Replicate project is working towards improving the district can be categorized in three main actions: Energy Efficiency; Sustainable Mobility; and ICT and infrastructure.

Attending to the forum was a chance to share the Replicate projects successes and insights with other agents from other countries; as well as introducing the strategic axis’ of Fomento San Sebastián and the depth of their smart strategic thinking.