Prof. Raoul Bunschoten, sustainable development expert from TU Berlin when conveyed the Conscious City idea

ITS Campus, ITS News – Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) is again taking a role in city development and civilization development. This time, through an International Seminar titled Conscious City: Sustainable and Equitable City-Making, ITS in collaboration with Technische Universität (TU) Berlin discussed the concept of Smart City and a new idea which is Conscious City in the Main Meeting Room of the ITS Rectorate, Wednesday (4/9).

Both concepts were analyzed and developed in the international forum to find the best design to develop an area to become a sustainable city. As it is known, Surabaya is currently known as one of the best smart cities in Indonesia. So it is familiar for the community to come into contact with technology.

ITS Rector, Prof Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng, delivered his speech at the Conscious City International Seminar

In his speech, ITS Rector, Prof Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng stated that in realizing the smart city, it is not only the technology that plays a role but also the aspect of the development of the city itself. “In this seminar, we will look at the smart city from a different perspective, where the aim is to realize the better health, greater prosperity, and efficiency,” he said.

The Seminar which also collaborated with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the University of 17 August 1945 (Untag) Surabaya discussed the ongoing city transformation and analyzed a new scheme of city production, digitization in cities, development of smart infrastructure, and also the economic aspects of affordable living space and energy-efficient.

These things will later bring a city into the sustainable city, where city building takes attention to the impact on the environment and energy efficiency. As its name implies, the concept of a sustainable city is expected to be able to realize the goals listed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Meanwhile, Prof. Raoul Bunschoten, Head of the Conscious City Laboratory of Technischen Universität (TU) Berlin, who was a keynote speaker, explained that efforts to realize the smart city concept was carried out to solve various problems faced by humans. One of them is about rising climate change. “One of the causes of climate change is human behavior that tends to waste energy,” he said reminded.

According to Prof. Raoul, there are two real aspects of life on this earth. First is the earth itself, and the second is what we build and establish above, within and underneath the earth. From those two things, he implies that what humans do is to continually balance the nature with human behavior itself.

The interrelated and dynamic construction built by human also becomes a problem. “The smart city is included because its improper application encourages people to become energy-wasteful,” said the sustainable development expert.

Given the magnitude of the influence of the development of a city, Prof. Raoul then expressed the idea of Conscious City, where each city does not have to apply the whole concept of the smart city and remain focused on the potential of the area. This concept emphasizes the regional potential, where development can originate from those potentials, ranging from nature to the culture of the region itself.

“There is no need to immediately build infrastructure and perform massive digitization, the most important is to realize the potential,” he said. If the concept is properly implemented, he continued, various development projects that are not environmentally friendly can be avoided, thereby reducing the potential for climate change.

Dr. Ing Ir Bambang Soemardiono when delivering his speech at the Conscious City International Seminar

Dr. Ing Ir Bambang Soemardiono, as the chairperson of the event, revealed that the concept of the smart city itself pays attention to many aspects and its implementation needs to be adjusted to the characteristics of an area. Besides that, the concept does not depend entirely on its technology and infrastructure, but rather on humans. “Therefore, the humans’ role becomes very important, and the concept of the conscious city is more than just a smart city,” said the ITS Architecture Department lecturer. (yus/gayatri/ITS Public Relation)