The worlds first smart city project has gone live

Dijon Metropole is now remotely managing urban equipment of all the metropolis’ 23 municipalities from a connected control centre.

The capital of one of France's principal wine-making regions, known for its traditional mustard and range of architecture from gothic to art deco, Dijon, is now the first city in the world to roll out it's smarty city initiative: OnDijon.

After one year of work, the connected control centre at the heart of OnDijon was unveiled by the cities Mayor and former minister, François Rebsamen, along with delegates from the consortium behind the project.

The city has developed what they hope is a region of the future which has built-in services for citizens and the modernisation of public action at the heart of public space management.

Urban equipment is connected to and remotely managed by the connected control centre.

The OnDijon smart city project has an unprecedented scope as it includes all 23 municipalities of Dijon metropole. Urban equipment is connected to and remotely managed by the connected control centre, service vehicles are geolocated and there are even features for better co-ordinated public interventions including waste removal, street cleaning, urban traffic regulation and surveillance of public areas.

The project was built by a consortium will manage the project for 12 years under a public design, construction, operation and maintenance contract. The project's total cost is an astounding €105m with €53m coming from public investment. Most of the budget is has already been allocated with a large focus on an urban equipment renewal programme. 

What is incredible, is the environmental impact of the scheme. By modernising public services and equipment, installing 100% LED lighting, the city is predicted to save 65% of it's energy usage over the next 12 years.

To date, the project has seen the implementation of:

• 34,000 LED lights 
• 113 traffic lights and 180 busses fitted with bus priority systems 
• 205 gelocated vehicles and 130 of those equipped with radio communication sets
• Over 140km of brand new fibre optic cabling across the city
• 180 buildings operating with direct connection to the control centre which included the renovation of 13 buildings
• Renewal of 26 retractable acces points
• Renewal of 269 cctv cameras. 

Not only is the project there to connect an entire city but it also shows us how the future of what we do in construction will have a wider impact on our cities. By connecting 180 buildings to the control centre, OnDijon is implementing digital twins on one of, if not the biggest scale to date. Creating buildings with the correct data is so crucial to not only our post project facilities management but for the safety and security of the people using these spaces. 

What about privacy? Well, Dijon Métropole and the OnDijon project are pushing an 'open data' strategy. On one hand, the data wants to be available to local digital businesses for anything such as lighting, traffic and water to promote the continuous innovation and development of the businesses in the city. However, there could be limits to what can be provided to businesses under a local governance of data for the users right to privacy and protection.