A Tale of Two Smart and Green Cities: Innovative Solutions for Urban Mobility in Almaty and Tashkent

Project Summary:

In Almaty, transport accounts for 65% of local particulate emissions. While only 5.7 % of its population owned a car in 2003, this figure rose to over 23% in 2018. The concentration of PM2.5 exceeds international guidelines by 5.3 times. The intensive use of old vehicles in a city walled in by mountains has resulted in critically poor air quality. In Tashkent, air pollution has reached a critical point with land vehicles estimated to produce roughly two thirds of air pollution. Motorization has increased by c.16% since 2016 and is expected to continue growing as urban population and income increase. Local particulate emissions in Tashkent are consistently above safe levels, averaging 130% of the WHO’s daily exposure limits. Against this backdrop, this project aims to support Almaty and Tashkent municipalities in the implementation of their smart citiy strategies, drawing upon Korea’s expertise and leveraging on the adoption of smart city technologies to improve mobility conditions and reduce localized emissions. This proposal reflects the requests from the municipalities of Almaty and Tashkent to support the implementation of their smart cities strategies and to improve growing congestion and their environmental impacts while responding to immediate COVID related issues.

List of Activities:

1. COVID-19 Mobility Response Strategy 
   1. Benchmarking the impact of COVID-19 upon public transit
   2. Developing a Mobility Response Strategy
   3. Operationalization of the Mobility Response Strategy
2. Smart Solutions 
   1. Smart solutions viability analysis
   2. Smart solutions road map
   3. Smart city pilot project
3. Knowledge and Dissemination

Outcomes:

Output 1:

• 1.1. ‘Mobility database’ and focus group case studies 
• 1.2. Mobility Response Strategy
• 1.3. Written Resilience Plan 

Output 2:

• 2.1. Joint paper (section 1) detailing project selection methodology and the completion of training plan
• 2.2. Joint paper (section 2) detailing a smart city project pipeline and presentation deck 
• 2.3. Pilot project designs and presentation deck 

Output 3:

• Press release covering sub-activities 2.1 and 2.3 

Outcomes:  

The expected outcomes of this project include: (i) improved efficiency of public transport through the adoption of smart city technologies to address congestion and environmental concerns; (ii) more resilient public transport as part of the post-COVID resilience plan and increased focus towards greener modes such as public transit and non-motorized transport (NMT); and (iii) increased competitiveness of Almaty and Tashkent for international companies and investors. These outcomes will realize based on the development of local knowledge and expertise on smart city technologies and solutions, leveraging on Korea’s model and know-how. 

Collaboration with K-Partners and Others:

• Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG)
• Seoul Urban Solutions Agency (SUSA), who will add value to the project’s activities through their technical knowledge in the development of urban mobility systems and smart city strategies in Seoul Metropolitan area.