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Project

SMILE City

Unit(s) of assessment: Architecture, Built Environment and Planning

Research theme(s): Safety and Sustainability

School: School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment

Overview

SMILE CITY provides realistic circular systemic solutions to support the evolution towards a carbon-neutral, environmentally sustainable, toxic-free, circular economy by 2050. The contribution to C02 reduction works on two levels:

  • an intensive use of recycled materials in replacement of virgin ones, without decreasing the performance of final products;
  • the use of such products and applications to increase sustainable mobility.

The project aims to integrate innovative systemic solutions in up to 100 km of cycling paths and implement 20 e-bike charging stations, developed using different types of recycled urban waste: construction materials, EoL (end of life) tyres and EoL batteries from Electric Vehicles. The foreseen innovations include the creation of e-bike charging stations made of recycled concrete precast elements and PV panels equally produced with recycled materials, the installation of recycled rubber moulded products for urban furniture such as rubber bollard, lane dividers, and rubberized asphalt, which contributes both to increase sustainability and safety.

SMILE CITY will thus assemble the technological state of the art of the different value chains involved to implement circular systemic solutions in 7 different EU and non-EU countries, backing the transition towards a regenerative, inclusive and circular economy at local and regional scale across Europe and therefore boosting interregional and cross-border cooperation.

ADBE's responsibility

On behalf of the Nottingham Trent University, the Advanced Design and Manufacturing Engineering Centre (ADMEC) participates in the SMILE CITY project. The ADMEC leads 6 tasks, 9 deliverables and 4 milestones, in the areas of sustainable product design, eco-accounting, digital tools, eco-performance monitoring, and mobile-Apps.

Collaboration

NTU team works with the following partners in conducting the project:

  • Association Europeenne Recyclage Pneus Etra, France
  • Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie, l'Energia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile, Italy
  • Les Industries Du Velo En Europe, Belgium
  • Universita Degli Studi Di Torino, Italy
  • Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche, Italy
  • Politecnico Di Torino, Italy
  • European Cyclists Federation Asbl, Belgium
  • Stratagem Energy Ltd, Cyprus
  • Centre for Experiments in Urban Studies — CEUS, Serbia
  • Solum Photovoltaic Innovation Sl, Spain
  • Botta S.R.L. Italy
  • Fondazione Ecosistemi, Italy
  • Kriti, Greece
  • FlexoFibers Europa Sl, Spain
  • Instytut Podstawowych Problemów Techniki Polskiej, Poland
  • AIMPLAS — Asociación de Investigación de Materiales Plásticos y Conexas, Spain
  • Comune Di Lucca, Italy
  • Instytut Ekologii Terenów Uprzemysłowionych, Poland
  • Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyesi, Turkey
  • Kalyon Gunes Teknolojileri Uretim As, Turkey
  • Obshtina Varna, Bulgaria
  • Institut De Tecnologia De La Construccion De Cat, Spain
  • Cristoforos Kairidis Techniki Kai Emboriki Anonimi Etairia, Greece
  • Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Turkey
  • Comsa Sau, Spain
  • Grad Beograd, Serbia
  • Recykl Organizacja Odzysku S.A., Poland
  • Gmina Sosnowiec - Miasto Na Prawach Powiatu, Poland
  • La Città Metropolitana di Torino, Italy
  • Power Electronics España, S.L., Spain
  • Little Electric Energy S.L, Spain
  • Mednarodno Zdruzenje Upravljavcev Infrastruk, Slovenia
  • Ajuntament De Manresa, Spain
  • Fundacion Patrimonio Natural De Castilla Y Leon, Spain

The NTU team is led by Professor Daizhong Su (principal investigator) and Associate Professor Wenjie Peng (co-investigator).