14 DAY TRIAL // UK's Technology Strategy Board recently made public their Future Cities Demonstrator project, whose purpose is that of offering ₤25 million ($39 million / €31 million) to whatever British city comes up with the best plan to switch towards green living.
We are basically dealing with a competition: cities throughout the UK that have more than 125,000 citizens are invited to apply for the said grant.
Up until the 5th of July, the cities meeting the established criteria are supposed to apply for preliminary funds, which they must use to conduct feasibility studies and to develop their demonstrator project proposal.
These final proposals are to be submitted until the 14th of November 2012, and only one city will receive the ₤25 million grant.
Apparently, the decision to aid only one city in the end has to do with wanting to achieve the best of results.
Thus, the more money are invested in encouraging sustainable development for just one British city, the more likely it is that the Future Cities Demonstrator project will be a resounding success.
In order to receive the final ₤25 million funds, city officials must prove that they are fully capable of using this money so as to both boots the quality of life for local residents, and drastically diminish the ecological footprint of the urban areas under their jurisdiction.
According to Smart Planet, David Willetts, UK's Universities and Science Minister, explained that “Cities face major challenges such as changes in population and demographics, congestion, waste and pressure on resources and services. This underlines the need for our future cities to have high-quality, integrated infrastructure to meet these challenges.”
Although for the time being only one city will be offered the honor of becoming a role-model for human society environmentally-wise, we can expect that similar projects will soon be undertaken in other parts of the world as well.