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The MUSIC project

by Luis de Sousa Mon Dec 3rd, 2012 at 03:30:42 AM EST

This is what I do and these are the folk whom I work with. When I moved to Luxembourg I had no clue I'd be involved in something like this; all I can say is that I feel very fortunate.

front-paged with minor edit by afew

Most of this video was shot back in April at Ludwigsburg, a partner city council, during one of the project meetings. These meetings are one of the highlights of the project, a group of highly committed technicians and public servants from six different European states working together for two days on a common goal is an experience like no other in my career. The subject of Transition is so absorbing and the folk around you are so in tune that discussions continue throughout the day, even during the supposed gastronomic and social breaks. I always return home totally worn out, but with a motivation boost that keeps me going right up to the following meeting.

One of the striking aspects of this project is the quality of the civil servants working in the city councils involved. In Portugal civil servant is unfortunately synonym of a low qualified professional that by one reason or another managed to assess the state work force, just to crystallise in a guaranteed position and slowly loose contact with reality. In the MUSIC project I work with engineers and social science professionals that are perfectly up to date with science and technology and objectively able to contribute to the research side of the project.

Not everything has been easy though, many technological obstacles have been tackled, and many more will come. The most difficult has been to marry the process of Transition Management with the spatial technology of Urban Planning. In first place for the former had an head start over the later, but also because plugging the practical side of social science to theoretical engineering aspects has not been so evident. But this is a research project for a reason, and I sincerely expect some relevant outcomes for the process of the energy transition at the urban scale to come through.

Although I pretty much appreciate writing for the web, working on the MUSIC project I have a palpable impact on the necessary design of a new society for the XXI century. For more details on how these front-runner cities are transitioning to a fossil free paradigm please visit the the MUSIC project website.

The MUSIC movie with Dutch subtitles

The MUSIC movie with German subtitles

The MUSIC movie with French subtitles

This is a crosspost from AtTheEdgeOfTime.

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The MUSIC project | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: The MUSIC project (none / 0)
MUSIC - Mitigation in urban areas
The local action plans and energy planning tools will be tested in pilot projects. 
  • Aberdeen: renovation of a school to become more energy efficient and at the same time, increasing the energy efficiency awareness of students and their parents;

  • Rotterdam: development of new cooperation models between public and private sector to make public buildings less energy consuming. These models will be applied to swimming pools and smart roofs in Rotterdam;

  • Ludwigsburg: building of an energy neutral community centre in a socially and economic weak district in Ludwigsburg, where local residents will be informed on energy reductive measures;

  • Montreuil: building of an energy generating school building. Local residents and students will be involved and informed during the whole building process;

  • Ghent: developing a participation project to receive support from the users and inhabitants of the city. Besides, Ghent will do a major pilot of the GIS support tool by proclaiming the energy saving message during several events.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Sun Dec 2nd, 2012 at 04:02:48 PM EST
Re: The MUSIC project (4.00 / 2)
brilliant stuff, really happy for this, Luis!

thanks for letting us share.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Sun Dec 2nd, 2012 at 09:47:33 PM EST
Re: The MUSIC project (none / 1)
Wow, Great work!
by crankykarsten (cranky (where?) gmx dot organisation) on Sun Dec 2nd, 2012 at 11:02:33 PM EST
Re: The MUSIC project (none / 1)
This is most excellent, the kind of thing that gives me hope.

I was part of what was called then a Swedish study circle about 15 years ago, looking at ways to solve some regional problems, and it's so amazing and invigorating when all the talk and meetings and discussions jell to create workable solutions.

Is this getting any kind of news coverage in Europe, because I wouldn't hope to see it in a US paper.

by Mnemosyne on Mon Dec 3rd, 2012 at 11:44:19 PM EST
Re: The MUSIC project (4.00 / 2)
Nothing relevant so far, although in the cities themselves the project seems to have a good deal of publicity. In Gent they even created a local magazine, each issue protraits a local front runner personality in its cover.

luis_de_sousa@mastodon.social
by Luis de Sousa (luis[dot]de[dot]sousa[at]protonmail[dot]ch) on Tue Dec 4th, 2012 at 03:55:10 AM EST
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The MUSIC project | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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