# Implementing Smart City Technologies to Inspire Change in Consumer Energy Behaviour
## 2 EU and LAC Policy and Legal Context for Smart Cities
Research and innovation activities focused on accelerating the development and deployment of low-carbon technologies in Europe are guided by the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) [25]. Therefore, it has brought together detailed implementation plans in key priorities, described briefly under the headlines: renewable energy sources (solar, geothermal, ocean and offshore wind) and storage, efficient energy systems for buildings and industry, renewable fuels and bioenergy, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, nuclear safety and positive energy districts. The implementation plan of the SET plan action devoted to smart cities intends to support the planning, deployment and replication of 100 Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) by 2025 for sustainable urbanisation [26]. It is supported by European Energy Research Alliance (EERA) Joint Programme on Smart Cities. PEDs projects are developed and funded through Horizon 2020 Lighthouse Projects and in projects where Member States cooperate through the Urban Europe Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) on PEDs. Besides, the goal of the new Horizon Europe Mission on \"Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities\" is to maintain, develop and give evident cases of 100 European cities in their transformation towards climate mitigation by 2030 and make these cities into experimentation and innovation hubs.s [27]. Cities play a leading role in economic and demographic development of LAC, where two-thirds of the gross domestic product of the countries is generated in urban centres and eight out of every ten people reside in urban areas [28]. LAC countries and cities are among the most unequal in the world [28; 29]. Therefore, the process of national urban policy development in LAC is characterized by innovative and committed efforts towards addressing social inequalities [30]. LAC countries have shown political commitment towards the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed by United Nations [29; 31]. While SDG 11 explicitly addresses sustainable cities and communities, smart cities address many other SDGs, including SGD 13 on climate action and SGD on affordable and clean energy. It is expected that by 2040, the primary energy demand of the entire LAC region will be at least 80% higher than it is today [32]. As regards electricity needs, they are expected to increase by more than 91% [32]. The region's growing material intensity and carbon intensity is rooted in its very low technological base [29; 32]. Cities in Latin America are lagging particularly in installing the sensor layer, which is considered as the most capital-intensive aspect of smart city development [2]. Despite multiple benefits offered by the deployment and use of smart meters, most developing countries in LAC, e.g., Brazil, still hold on to standalone energy meters. In Brazil, so far, the development and application of smart metering--and related smart grids--has been mostly restricted to research [33] and relatively isolated groups of consumer units (cities) [34]. In Chile, the electrical regulation in distribution published in December 2017 made it mandatory for the electrical distribution companies to change all the measuring equipment by smart meters gradually increasing until 100% in the year 2024. However, making the installation voluntary and paid by the customer has lowered rates of smart-meter adaptation. The changes in the energy matrix, with large participation of wind and photovoltaic energy, were not translated into the changes in consumption culture. Thus, improving energy efficiency and changing consumption patterns is the key priority in decoupling economic growth from resource use. In the situation of insufficiently developed smart metering systems, elaborating on alternative solutions allowing participants to make more informed decisions is the top priority. The ITCity project's proposed solution is an end-user energy consumption habit assessment based on gamification--usage of game mechanics and game thinking in serious contexts [35; 36; 37].