SiEUGreen: Sino-European innovative green and smart cities

SiEUGreen aspires to enhance the EU-China cooperation in promoting urban agriculture for food security, resource efficiency and smart, resilient cities. Building on the model of zero-waste and circular economy, it will demonstrate how technological and societal innovation in urban agriculture can have a positive impact on society and economy, by applying novel resource-efficient agricultural techniques in urban and peri-urban areas, developing innovative approaches for social engagement and empowerment and investigating the economic, environmental and social benefits of urban agriculture.

In order to achieve its objectives, SiEuGreen brings together a multi-disciplinary Consortium of European and Chinese researchers, technology providers, SMEs, financiers, local and regional authorities and citizen communities. The project consists in the preparation, deployment and evaluation of showcases in 5 selected European and Chinese urban and peri-urban areas: a previous hospital site in Norway, community gardens in Denmark, previously unused municipal areas with dense refugee population in Turkey, big urban community farms in Beijing and Central China.

Throughout SiEUGreen’s implementation, EU and China will share technologies and experiences, thus contributing to the future developments of urban agriculture and urban resilience in both continents. The impact measurement during and especially beyond the project period is a key component in the project’s design. Information and results obtained from the project will be disseminated through diverse communication and dissemination tools including, social media, an innovative app enhancing urban co-design, stakeholder conferences, hand-on training workshops, showcase demonstration forums, municipality events. A sustainable business model allowing SiEUGreen to live beyond the project period is planned by joining forces of private investors, governmental policy makers, communities of citizens, academia and technology providers.