GORIS, Armenia—The City of Goris, in Armenia’s southern Syunik Province, has been selected as a pilot for a “Smart City” concept application in the framework of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) “United Smart Cities” project.

The “Smart City” project is an initiative by UNECE to promote sustainable urban development, especially in transition economies and developing countries. The project envisions a better city through the use of intelligent planning and technological assistance.

UNECE describes the “Smart City” concept as a “city that is dynamic in implementing sustainable initiatives.”

“It is a city, which is able to grant affordable and healthy housing, and reduce its consumption of energy and emission of pollutants. It is a city which supports green, inclusive, healthy, compact, smart and resilient human settlements; promotes investments in its different sectors; and effectively manages its financial resources. It presents an integrated approach to planning and building, while supporting environmentally clean, affordable public transport, higher air and water quality and efficient waste management. It supports a sustainable management of urban land as well as transparent land and property registration. Its efficiency is improved by the use of innovative technologies and information technology within different sectors. Furthermore, it encourages the cooperation of different stakeholders operating in public and private sector, academia, NGOs, regulators, authorities, and citizens,” UNECE says.

The project objective is to strengthen the capacities of national and local authorities in the selected regions for the development and implementation of national and local policies for sustainable urban development.

One of the core elements is the catalytic knowledge transfer within the network to identify best practices and lessons learned from previous projects and exchange of experience between advanced cities and ambitious transition cities.