Digitization of local governments

DATA-DRIVEN ADMINISTRATION AND DIGITAL URBAN PLANNING - DIGITIZATION PROJECTS FOR THE MUNICIPALITIES OF LOZORNO AND SVIDNÍK

Digitization of local governments is a key element of European strategies Digital Europe or Green Deal. As the introduction of innovations requires appropriate project preparation, the Ministry of Foreign and European Aff airs of the Slovak Republic supported the project Sharing know-how between representatives of Slovak and Czech companies in the fi eld of urban innovation and tools (smart city) within the Project Scheme to Support Economic Diplomacy.

The aim of the project is to support the cooperation of the CZECH. UP association and the Slovak partner WANART and to prepare innovative projects for selected Slovak municipalities Lozorno and Svidník for subsequent submission to one of the supporting fi nancial mechanisms of the EU or national sources.

The purpose of the projects is to prepare municipalities for the use of digital tools for more effi cient management, eff ective response to threats, support for innovation and the digital economy, and the ability to prepare investment projects of municipalities, co-fi nanced from EU resources. Two municipalities were selected for the economic cooperation project, specifi cally in the west and east of Slovakia, which could serve as examples of good practice for neighbouring municipalities and thus become natural „demonstrators“ (i.e., examples of possible municipal approach to digitization). The project also builds on the long-term holistic (multi-fi eld) cooperation of experts within the CZECH.UP association, which deals with these activities at the national level and which is the main researcher of the project.

: Expected result

The resulting projects are proposed as initial, i.e., they are a prelude to further investments of municipalities in their development. Therefore, they focus on obtaining all available data about the municipality and their conversion into digital form, in one data register and on one data portal (future part of the municipality‘s website), supplemented by sensors systems, with training of relevant staff or communication with the public. The aim of the projects is to collect data on the state and development of the city into one data tool for the purposes of city planning in the context of climate change, sustainable mobility, and the Green Deal.

: Project for Svidník

Town Svidník with 11 thousand inhabitants is in Eastern Slovakia in the northern part of the Low Beskydy Mountains about 35 km east of Bardejov, in the Prešov region, on the main route to Poland (Dukla Pass), 130 km from Rzeszów, Poland. There is a strong Ruthenian community and the largest employer is a local hospital. Half of the city‘s expenditure goes to education, culture, and sports. The city has already introduced some digital tools or tools to increase the transparency and openness of the city, such as participatory budgeting, portal for life situations, electronic submission of complaints through the mobile application “My city virtually” or transparent expenses and city contracts available at https://svidnik.digitalnemesto.sk.

„We welcomed the offer of expert assistance with the preparation of a project that would help our city find its way around the current possibilities of digital tools for more efficient city management and propose the necessary investments for future co-financing from European or other sources,“ said Marcela Ivančová, the Mayor of Svidník. „We would like to address some of the challenges facing the city, such as waste management, a moni-

Mayor of the city Svidník Marcela Ivančová toring system for the lonely seniors, public lighting, a lack of parking spaces, and the construction of cycle paths. Svidník is a green and citizen-friendly city and we support openness and social responsibility, even in relation to climatic conditions. This year we also introduced the collection of biodegradable municipal waste and we managed to sort 47 tons. Next year, we plan to invest, among other things, 55 thousand EUR into the project documentation of cycle paths„.

: Sensors network of the Internet of Things

The project proposal thus focused on data-driven management of agendas that the municipality is currently dealing with, as well as those whose property it owns.

„In the energy sector, it is necessary to monitor energy consumption in public buildings and set ideal models, and in waste management to obtain data for analysis and its streamlining,“ said the mayor. „For the right decision, the city needs to map how it is realistic, for example, how many vehicles are looking for parking or what energy consumption we could produce ourselves.“

Map with the design of the sensor network, measuring various quantities, and with the design of two potential local distribution areas

Illustration of the results of the traffi c load sensor network

The project thus focuses on the preparation of an investment in a sensory network of the Internet of Things monitoring the traffi c load and parking in the village, the movement of cyclists, the microclimate and energy consumption. It also suggests sites for the convenient location of plastic waste treatment facilities.

: Transport and parking

When planning the construction of transport infrastructure, e.g., parking areas, it is appropriate for a successful strategy to obtain data from long-term measurement of traffi c load. Therefore, the proposal considers both the sensory elements of simple traffi c counting and the sensors categorizing vehicles for cars, vans, and trucks with the measurement of their speed. The measurement was designed for complete entry and exit from the city and parking in its central part. The network is complemented by monitoring of pedestrians and cyclists on both bridges and the footbridge over the river Ladomírka.

: Microclimate measurement

According to the climatic atlas of Slovakia, the Svidník district is the place with the largest number of storms and with a high number of rainy days. The project thus aims to measure the microclimate to refi ne this information, especially regarding possible investments in photovoltaics or wind energy, but also long-term measurement of climate change and the impact of built-up areas on the quality of the environment.

: Svidník Local distribution area (LDA)

Two localities were proposed for the town of Svidník for the establishment of a local distribution area. The fi rst location is the area around the city centre where a lot of municipal building can be interconnected within one network. The second location is located on the other bank of the river and is designed for energy interconnection of places with signifi cant consumption, i.e. schools, sports grounds or industrial buildings, and the use of built-up areas such as residential houses, garages or parking areas (e.g. bus station). The planned project aims to carry out the passport of the aff ected buildings, design their effi cient interconnection, deploy netmetering (i.e. collection of dynamic data on consumption), tackle related reconstruction of public lighting and more. Regarding the sensory network, it is also a matter of using the measurement of the real intensity of solar exposure and possible confi rmation / correction of data from the solar atlas.

Average hourly solar gain profi les

: Exposure intensity

According to the global solar atlas, the potential for solar profi t for the city of Svidník is 1311 kWh / m2 per year. This information must be verifi ed by deploying a sensory system for measuring the intensity of exposure, which will be deployed at both proposed LDAs before the actual investment.

: The project consists of the following activities

ACTIVITY 1: Collect existing (available) data on the streets of Lozorno / Svidník into one database and create the portal „Moje Lozorno / Můj Svidník“ (illustrative names), where citizens will be able to fi nd out information about their street and compare it with other streets. The data will come from state registers, city registers, mobile applications, and surveys

ACTIVITY 2: Deployment of sensor networks in selected places in Lozorno / Svidník for the purposes of the urban plan, transport and parking, microclimate, and energy. This involves the deployment of an IoT network for the collection of data on traffi c load, temperature and humidity, water level, energy consumption, wind intensity, etc. for the creation of development scenarios of the municipality and discussion with citizens.

ACTIVITY 3: Creation of a SW tool for the work of offi cials / politicians over the obtained data in order to show new possibilities of technological and data support for holistic, more effi cient and wiser local government decision-making, facilitate the work of offi cials

ACTIVITY 4: Creation of scenarios for the development of individual localities of the city by a multidisciplinary team of experts and offi cials concerned on the basis of strategic documents, available data (Activity 1) and data from sensor networks (Activity 2) using SW tools (Activity 3), their discussion by political representatives scenarios for communicating with citizens. This activity also includes the preparation of investments in the LDA.

ACTIVITY 5: Marketing and communication campaign with the citizens of Lozorno / Svidník connected with 2 workshops, participatory discussion of selected scenarios and preparation of investment plans