Rennes Métropole

As the economic capital of Brittany, Rennes Métropole – the Rennes Metropolitan Area – is aiming to become a Smart City in the European style; enterprising and creative, focused on experimentation and innovation. This ambition, one to which the Rennes Métropole eco-nomic development strategy is devoted, is part of a comprehensive political programme, based on confidence in the future and the construction of a competitive, yet mutually supportive, landscape. The programme not only harnesses the desire of the local area to play a leading role in anticipating the consumer habits and markets of tomorrow, but also ensures that the public sector optimises the ways it can best satisfy the expectations of local people.

Today, the various bodies comprising the Rennes Metropolitan Area are drawing up the conditions essential for its renewal, identifying the instruments they can call upon to bring about energy and digital transition, the development of urban infrastructure and the involve-ment of all citizens.

As Smart City Rennes develops, three main issues are emerging:

• What is the role of the local authority in the management of resources and the production of public goods (including food, water, waste, energy and data)?
• How should a Smart City be laid out: intelligent habitat, improved mobility, time-frame management? The depiction and modelling of the city is playing a key role in predicting and preparing for the future, hand in hand with local inhabitants.
• Participation in the Smart City: where do citizens fit in? From “living together” to “working together”.