Becoming ‘climate-smart’ – lessons from Constance

DURING a recent study trip, I had the opportunity to visit Constance (German: Konstanz), a walkable and bicycle-friendly university city with some 83,000 residents located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. With a length of 63 km and a width of nearly 14 km at its widest point, Lake Constance is the third largest freshwater lake by surface area in Central and Western Europe.

Despite differences in terms of population size, urban governance and economic strength, Constance and Singapore have many commonalities, such as their strategic interests in improving the lives of their citizens by becoming a “smart city” (or “smart nation”, in the case of Singapore) and their focus and commitment towards smart urban technology adoption, climate protection, and nurturing startups.

Like Singapore (which came up tops in the 2021 IMD-SUTD Smart City Index ahead of Zurich and Oslo), Constance is making decisive strategic moves to create a digital and sustainable “city of tomorrow”. In July 2021, Constance was selected together with 73 cities as a “smart city” model project by Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community. Strategic aspirations include more citizen-friendly eGovernment services, digital urban planning, climate-friendly mobility solutions, citizen participation, minimising the consumption of resources, support for voluntary work, enhanced quality of life, etc. Core values such as digital sovereignty, digital participation and inclusion provide guidance for policymakers and citizens.