The use of thermal energy from servers in public utilities, houses with zero environmental load, unmanned public transport and separate centralized collection of household waste are all part of the Smart Tampere program, which has been implemented in this Finnish city since 2017 and in 3 years. should change it beyond recognition.
The city of Tampere has a population of 221 thousand people, and until recently it could be called a monocity, since a lot in it depended on Nokia and its mobile device manufacturing plant. But after the curtailment of production, the city faced the need for a deep reform.
Tampere is not like most Scandinavian cities, because it is landlocked, so the solution to the problems that arose had to be non-standard. The Smart Tampere program is one of those. Its first stage consisted in collecting comprehensive information about all the strengths and weaknesses of the region. During the preparatory phase, meetings were held with representatives of hundreds of companies operating in Tampere, city authorities and local activists. As a result, the conceptually “smart” program was divided into 7 parts: industry, education, healthcare, infrastructure, management, mobility, buildings and structures. Moreover, each of the elements assumes the presence of its own events.
A team of 17 people is working on the implementation of the Smart Tampere program, and its budget is 70 million euros. The main sources of funding: Tampere budget (about 2 million euros) and investments from the European Union (more than 66 million euros). The rest of the funds come from private investors. Main goals: generating profit and improving the quality of life and services with the active involvement of local residents in the management of the city. In 2017, within the framework of the implementation of the Smart Tampere program, 1.3 million euros were spent (of which about 30 percent went to the salaries of the project team). The budget for 2018 is 3.7 million euros.
The program contains several dozen projects and activities, the purpose of which is to increase the investment attractiveness of Tampere and develop business. The main areas of work: the creation of a “five-star” city center with 15 thousand new jobs, retraining and construction of a principled new district of Vuores in the west of the city.
