Toni Pérez debates the future of smart cities at the III Congress of the RECI Network

The mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, participated on Thursday in the opening day of the third edition of the Congress of the Spanish Network of Smart Cities, where for two days different round tables and conferences will be held to debate this matter. The mayor of Benidorm has presented all the work that has been carried out in the city in recent years within the RECI Institutional Table on 'The Future of Smart Cities', where he has taken the floor alongside the RECI vice president and mayor from Santander, Gema Igual; the Innovation Commissioner of Barcelona City Council, Michael Donaldson; the mayor of A Coruña, Inés Rey; and the mayor of Alfafar and provincial deputy for Electronic Administration of the Provincial Council of Valencia, Juan Ramón Adsuara.

During his speech, Toni Pérez told the attendees that, even though Benidorm occupies only 1% of the total coastal area of the Valencian Community, it has established itself as the fourth national tourist destination. “A title that we combine with that of the first Smart Tourist Destination in Spain and the national Sustainable City award for water management,” added the mayor, and then indicated that the commitment to matters such as “technology, inclusivity, sustainability, and Security are the keys to its success and with which Benidorm has managed to become a city of the future.”

To achieve this objective, Pérez has listed the different plans that have been carried out in recent years “following the DTI Roadmap starting with the pandemic, when we developed the Benidorm DTI+Seguro Plan and, from there, having "tested our proposals, with the Benidorm Vision 360, Verde Benidorm, Benidorm Azul and Verde plans, the same DUSI Strategy and the continued work on Sustainable Mobility Plans, Energy Efficiency and Adaptation to Climate Change."

"In Benidorm, we know that the world, modern society, develops in cities and that the future of the Smart City must go towards the creation of a system that faces and takes advantage of new technological challenges to promote human and community capital and achieve economic, social and environmental projection,” the councilor defended. After this, he stated that one of the great challenges for every city is “to improve sustainability; in its broadest conception: environmental, economic, social and digital”, and has listed the actions that Benidorm has ahead, all of them encompassed in 6 fronts, to address the most recent studies, which point to “the smart city of the "The future must improve quality of life indicators significantly in the next 20 years: greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 10%, water, and electricity consumption by up to 40%, and non-recycled waste by 35%."

The first of these axes has to do with Technological Innovation, with actions aimed at energy efficiency and a guaranteed green energy purchase system, the development of the 5G Network or self-sufficient buildings, and technological innovation. Secondly, the New urban mobility, through a soft traffic system and sustainable municipal and urban fleets, a vehicle charging network, Low Emission Zones, and the park and ride network. The third front has to do with smart lighting (economic savings), with the installation of LED lights, or the sensorization of the system.

The fourth is related to the cycles of water and waste, through efficient distribution and collection networks, sensorization and analytics, synchronization in supply, purification, purification and reuse, the renaturalization of spaces, diligence and planning selective collection, or active recycling. Fifthly, Security, through the development of the secure data platform, preferential attention to cybersecurity, digital services of the online Administration, or citizen protection. And, finally, Emergency Response, with the approval of Prevention, Emergencies, and Contingencies plans, and climate change adaptation and mitigation planning.

“In Benidorm, we know that we will only be the best city to come to if we are the best city to live in. For us, the epicenter of municipal activity and management is the neighbor, the citizen; the tourist, the visitor,” said Pérez, who has also committed to continuing to improve the connectivity and digital skills of the population, to continue promoting new plans that delve into sustainability or renaturalization, as well as governance and collaboration models. public-private.