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IEB

Conference Smart Cities: Myth or reality

Smart cities have been attracting an increasing amount of interest from politicians, public administrators and the world of business for years. To date, it has proved difficult to distil a precise definition of the concept; however, it seems to be agreed that a smart city is one that efficiently combines high levels of human capital and entrepreneurship, good governance, high technology and big data collection, and a clean environment. And yet, despite the important role that each of these factors plays in meeting recent urban challenges, the smart city concept has been criticized for being overly influenced by attempts to merely create a good urban brand. Academic research has just begun to take a more systemic approach to its evaluations of the phenomenon, but some scholars conclude that making a city “smart” is simply one more policy strategy for mitigating an array of urban problems (from unemployment and neighborhood segregation to industrial decline). But, what exactly makes a city smart? Are smart cities more successful than other cities?

Under the title “Smart cities: myth or reality?”, the main goal of the conference is to bring together experts from the worlds of academia, public administration and business to debate the following questions: 1) What is a smart city exactly? 2) If smart cities are better than other cities, what makes them better? 3) How can the collection of big data help create better cities? 4) What type of policies can be designed to create smarter cities?

Jornada sobre Corrupción

A día de hoy, la corrupción es considerada como uno de los principales problemas por la sociedad española. Desde inicios de la pasada década, los medios de comunicación han publicado un gran número de escándalos de corrupción. La mayoría de ellos están vinculados al urbanismo y a la financiación de los partidos políticos. La corrupción puede erosionar la confianza de la sociedad en las instituciones públicas. La falta de confianza en los gobiernos puede generar desafección y provocar que los individuos dejen de participar en el proceso electoral. Por tanto, la corrupción es una grave amenaza para que el proceso de rendición de cuentas funcione, elemento clave en las democracias. En esta jornada se presentará el contenido del IEB Report sobre corrupción. En este informe, en primer lugar, se presentan los diferentes indicadores que se pueden utilizar para medir la corrupción, así como sus valores actuales para España. En segundo lugar, se analizan las causas y consecuencias de la corrupción.

Foro Fiscal IEB 2·0: «Modelos de administración fiscal»

Forum IEB 2014

Presentación Libro «POR UNA VERDADERA REFORMA FISCAL»

1st Meeting on Transport Economics and Infrastructure

Although the transport sector cannot be considered as one of the culprits of the current economic crisis, it is obviously influenced by its consequences. The ability of the public sector to finance new infrastructure projects or to subsidise the operational deficits of public transport modes has certainly diminished. This is forcing administrations around the world to reassess their investment and pricing policies. Other current debates in transport economics focus on the possibilities of curbing atmospheric emissions, the effects of liberalising sectors that had been insulated from competition or the changes in accessibility due to urban and regional transformations, among others.

The aim of this meeting is to discuss recent research in the area of transport economics. The meeting will focus on issues related to pricing, investment and competition. However, research papers in other areas of transport economics and infrastructure analysis are also welcome both from empirical and theoretical perspectives. Between 10 and 12 papers will be accepted for presentation and discussion at the meeting, which will take place during a single day at the University of Barcelona (Av. Diagonal, 690, Barcelona).