On 16 September 2020, the first SPARCS city lab assessment week started with the Fellow City of Reykjavik in a virtual format. This co-creation event was planned as a physical process but had to be adapted due to the pandemic. In collaboration with the City of Reykjavik, a team of researchers from Fraunhofer IAO carried out 13 interviews with more than 30 interviewees. These interviewees were experts from various departments and institutions, ranging from the City of Reykjavik’s departments of Environment and Planning, Services and Innovation to the companies and institutions responsible for Reykjavik’s energy, waste management, transportation, harbors, corporate social responsibility as well as the city’s academic bodies. The planned site visits were replaced by the online videos and documentaries that capture the essence of some of the most important spots and places in Iceland and specifically in Reykjavik as well as providing a better understanding of the local culture, opportunities and challenges in the city.

The on-site assessment phase is a vital component of the SPARCS Fellow Cities replication process. The aim is to develop and co-create project ideas together with local experts and stakeholders in order to improve the city’s sustainability performance within the analyzed system elements such as mobility, governance, energy, and waste. The solution catalogue produced will be part of the City´s Implementation Plan.

The adaptation of the usually physical process has proven to be successful with more than twenty project outlines co-drafted with the key stakeholders and experts during the interviews. The developed project outlines aim to tackle a number of challenges, using the existing opportunities to foster sustainable urban transformation.

The on-site assessment planned in the remaining Fellow Cities will be happening in a similar way or being postponed until the pandemic allows for travel.

Authored by Marielisa Padilla, Reef Qubailat (Fraunhofer IAO).

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