The future of urban security: Urban planning and adoption of advanced technological solutions

30-31 January 2023
Rotterdam Hilton Hotel, Rotterdam

We are delighted to announce that the IMPETUS Project successfully arranged these two amazing days. The Final Dissemination Event in Rotterdam, The Netherlands was an undoubted success! This event was organised with the support of the Secu4All project. Secu4All is coordinated by Efus (European Forum for Urban Security) and their members, and funded by the European Union’s Internal Security Fund — Police. Some 70 participants from IMPETUS, COSSEC and Secu4All gathered to discuss the future of urban security - how to adopt advanced technological solutions in the urban planning and city daily live.

Members of the research teams, representatives of interest organizations and representatives of the management of cities and municipal organizations discussed the progress and results of the research projects. They discussed the problems that accompany the adoption of new technologies and solutions and ways to overcome them. We also presented the Practitioner Guides, or training methodologies or exercises, and discussed how these can be suitable tools for further use of the project results.

The core theme of the event was improving safety in public spaces in urban environments. The event had three main goals:
1. Networking: To bring together actors in the field (the organising projects, other projects, municipalities, law enforcement, policy makers, …) to share results and experiences, and to establish co-operations for the future.
2. Increasing awareness: Help stakeholders understand the potential and challenges of adopting technological and non-technological approaches to urban security by presenting and discussing what we have achieved and learned in IMPETUS, Secu4All and other projects.
3. Moving forward: Explore ideas on how potential barriers to adoption of new approaches (including ethical concerns) can be overcome; identify what future steps are needed before the full potential can be realized.

The two days covering these goals were busy ones... The first day started with a meet-and-greet at the Rotterdam Hilton Hotel, which was followed by a "walk-and-talk" around the Rotterdam City Centre for invited guests. The walk-and-talk session took a look at the mitigation strategies preventing insecurity in public spaces. This afternoon session was followed by an evening project poster session that gave guests the opportunity to mingle and network with some refreshments and light snacks.

A poster presentation station for the IMPETUS Practitioners Guides

Mingling and discussions over drinks and snacks on the first evening of the Event at the Hilton

The day ended with Brazilian cuisine at Rodizio Rotterdam Brazilian Grill. The conversation and networking carried late into the night with much laughter.

Joe Gorman (SINTEF, IMPETUS Project Coordinator) introducing the IMPETUS Tools

The second day included the main agenda items of the event, and started with introductions and welcomes with presentations by both Joe Gorman (SINTEF, IMPETUS Project Coordinator) and Pilar De La Torre (Efus, Secu4All Project Coordinator). The topic of the sessions included on the second day were:

• "Adopting technology for urban security – how did it go and what did we learn?"

This session included presentations/videos about the work carried out, as well as open discussions in which experiences and views on the benefits and challenges face in introducing technology in pilot cites in the context of EU projects.

Bente Skattor from Oslo Police leading the first panel

Project participants together with people from cities and other potential users

• "Dilemmas arising at the intersection of Security, Technology and Society – and how to approach them"

This session was set up as an open discussion which covered societal, ethical, data privacy, legal and civil rights challenges that can arise when adopting hi-tech solutions for security in the context of IMPETUS and Secu4All. We also looked at how these can be addressed with respect to how public perceptions and future technology evolve.

• "Exhibition: Key results of the IMPETUS project"

These one-on-one informal discussions gave attendees the chance to engage with both the project participants and the tools that were presented. We not only spoke of the successes but also the lessons that were learnt from the challenges that we faced - and overcame! - in designing the tools.

Project partners showcasing their IMPETUS Tools at the Exhibition in an interactive and integrative fashion

• "Facilitating widespread and responsible uptake of new approaches to urban security"

In this session, we examined the factors that could stand in the way of successful adoption of new approaches to urban security for resilient cities, and consider what can be done to make things easier.

Jaroslav Pejcoch from TIEMS starts the last panel

• "Quo vadis – where do we go from here?"

In an open panel discussion, we dare to dream about what the future may hold for the technologies, IMPETUS, Secu4All, COSSEC....

A pdf of the Agenda can be download/viewed by clicking here.

This event showed what can been achieved in the organizing projects. When it comes to technology, we are proud of what we have developed and demonstrated in IMPETUS. But other tools exist, and new ones will surely emerge in the future. At this event, we looked at the broader picture – even dreamt a little – about what the future may bring.

A full report from the event will be covered in IMPETUS Newsletter 4, scheduled for publication on IMPETUS website mid-February.

Want to know more?

For IMPETUS: Contact Joe Gorman, Coordinator: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
For Secu4All: Contact Pilar De La Torre, Coordinator: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For any municipality who would like a deeper dialogue about the topics covered or about adoption of technological solutions, IMPETUS is willing to arrange an on-site visit to your location in the course of February 2023. If interested, please contact Joe.