San Sebastian, ES

The city of Donostia / San Sebastian is a coastal city located in the Basque Country in the north of Spain and has a population of approximately 186,000 inhabitants.  In 1998 the city of Donostia / San Sebastian signed the Aalborg Charter, thus becoming one of the pioneers in Europe in takingaction to promote sustainable urban development. Since then, the municipality has renewed several times its commitment by joining the Covenant of Mayors in 2008 and undertaking concrete projects to tackle climate change in the framework of its Agenda 21.

Over the last years the city has started a transition process coordinated by Fomento de San Sebastian (municipal company) to transform Donostia / San Sebastian into a Smart City. With this objective in mind the city has developed a Smart City Plan and Action Plan for the period 2016 –2020 carrying out different initiatives in the energy, mobility and ICT fields in the city.

 Different kind of measures have been implemented in the city such as the development of Renewable Energies (geothermal, solar thermal, biomass), Bioclimatic architecture in new buildings, near to Zero Emission Buildings, Energy efficiency and Monitoring of energy consumption and demand in public buildings, business, shops and homes. A smart street hgas also been created in the city centre (SmartKalea project), a micro grid has been developed, and smart mobility and clean transport have been promoted.

The city Smart Cluster has been working actively in the city. Its members took part in the definition of the smart city plan process. Moreover, local companies have an active role in the different smart city projects carried out in Donostia / San Sebastian.

As a leader in the field of smart urban development, Donostia / San Sebastian is working to increase the quality of life of citizens across Europe by demonstrating the impact of innovative technologies used to co-create smart city services with citizens, and prove the optimal process for replicating successes within cities and across cities. To achieve this objective, the city of Donostia / San Sebastian is leading the Replicate Lighthouse H2020 project.

In the framework of the Replication Cluster, the city of Donostia / San Sebastian will have the opportunity to exchange knowledge and share its experience on the implementation of innovative solutions for smart cities’ development.