Digital and «green» solutions are applied in Belarus for the sustainable development of small towns

11 May 2023

From 2016 to 2021, Belarus implemented the project «Belarus: Support for Green Urban Development in Small and Medium Towns of Belarus». For seven cities, strategies were developed and implemented to improve urban planning practices to promote low-carbon development and increase the resilience of small towns to the impacts of climate change. Innovative solutions have been used to improve urban road infrastructure, manage municipal waste, increase the energy efficiency of residential buildings, and expand the area of green spaces:

• for Polotsk, Novopolotsk and Novogrudok, a single set of measures has been developed to reduce traffic intensity, which helps to improve pedestrian safety and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 3,763 tons per year;
• in Novogrudok, an intelligent street lighting control system was piloted, which makes it possible to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 90 tons per year;
• in Pinsk, Polotsk and Novopolotsk, a digital system for managing the collection of household waste was piloted. 66 sensors connected to the cloud system were installed on the garbage containers, which ensure timely and economical waste disposal;
• in Korma, Novopolotsk, Pinsk and Novogrudok, a digital inventory of city parks, squares and alleys was carried out — the collection of information into a single database helped determine further steps to improve the quality of green areas and expand their areas;
• in Novogrudok, residents of two houses became participants in an information campaign to stimulate responsible consumption of heat and water — residents were able to reduce cold water consumption by 7%, hot water by 5.5%, and heat energy by 5.9%, etc.

The piloted solutions made it possible to create sustainable mechanisms and infrastructure for further promotion of innovations in urban planning and improvement of small towns, which will make an important contribution to the achievement by the Republic of Belarus of Sustainable Development Goals 9, 11, 12, 13 and other SDGs.

More detailed information about the results of the project can be found at the link.

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