Tartu City lighthouse retrofitting package of the SmartEnCity project

The main idea of Tartu’s lighthouse project was to turn khrushchyovkas (a type of panel building that was constructed during the reign of Nikita Khrushchev, starting from the 1950s) into smartovkas (i.e., high-quality living environments that inspire the community to make environmentally aware decisions and to change their patterns of consumption behaviour), with a drastic reduction in the energy use of the buildings. Tartu piloted a series of retrofitting solutions in 18 khrushchyovkas in the city centre. The retrofitting included the renovation of all technical systems of the house, and, at the end, every building received an original artwork. In terms of citizen engagement, to boost participation and interest in the project, several measures have been taken, including regular information meetings, technical consultations, study trips to similar construction sites and forum discussions. Once the retrofitting activities have been completed, these awareness-raising activities will be replaced by a social innovation model that focuses on how to motivate residents to use the installed smart devices and to s energy. Other areas of the Tartu city lighthouse project are the implementation of smart city lighting and a new district cooling station. SmartEnCity (Towards Smart Zero CO2 Cities Across Europe) is a project within the EU Horizon 2020 programme. Other lighthouse cities within the project are Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain and Sonderborg in Denmark. SmartEnCity’s main objective is to develop a highly adaptable and replicable systemic approach to urban transformation that creates sustainable, smart and resource-efficient urban environments in Europe. The underlying concept is the Smart Zero Carbon City, where city carbon footprints and energy demand are kept to a minimum through the use of demand control technologies that save energy and raise awareness, the energy supply is entirely renewable and clean, and local energy resources are intelligently managed by aware citizens, as well as coordinated public and private stakeholders.