IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

When talking about smart cities, we almost always forget to analyze the groundwork that must be laid before the innovation process of cities can actually start happening.

Smart Cities

In 30 years from now, we are going to talk about mega-cities. In fact, every city in the World is going to double in size, bringing us from roughly 40% to 70% coverage of urban areas. Of course, such an increase in population density is going to need to be proportional to the increase in efficiency, meaning that we need to build new infrastructure in order to support governance and the economy itself.

Smart is increasingly becoming the “pre-fix” of cities when talking about the near future or even the present of the places where most of us live (or spend most of our lives).

Mayors across the Globe, and even more across Europe, are announcing claims to promote the smartness of their cities, in opposition to a presumed “dumbness” of less developed areas. But, what is really a smart city? And are digital technologies (the always acknowledged building blocks of a smart city) enough to make a city really smart?

Unless you’ve been stuck under that proverbial rock for a few years, you’ve at least heard of the Internet of Things (IoT) and how it is connecting us in new and interesting ways. The rise of the smart home is one way that the IoT is changing things for people around the world – homes filled with devices that can communicate with one another, with people living in the home, and even with outside third parties (think a refrigerator automatically contacting a grocery store when key items like milk or eggs run low to order more).

However, this technology is not constrained just to our homes. It’s growing in terms of both scope and capabilities. Enter the smart city, where the Internet of Things will impact everything from lighting to the flow of traffic through urban centers.

Smart Mobility, whether it be moving people, goods, or services is the lifeblood of our future city, and one that we must get right before a city can truly become a well-oiled machine. Without it, it is impossible to move commerce efficiently through time or space.

In a perfect world, a transportation system should move the necessities required for complex urban life the same way the blood system moves nutrients throughout a body. If a body’s bloodstream is clogged, pressured, and inefficient, the body will breakdown – the same holds true for a smart city. For example, a hospital can identify that a required medical device is in a hospital across town, but if moving the patient or the equipment remains inefficient then the benefits are non-existent. On the other hand, a system that allows for faster and prioritized routing, and seamlessly integrates with all modes of transportation to find the most efficient route increases the usefulness of detecting, identifying, and servicing the need.

In major metropolitan areas and smaller cities alike, governments are adopting software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualisation (NFV) to deliver the agility and flexibility needed to support adoption of ‘smart’ technologies that enhance the liveability, workability and sustainability of their locale.

Today, there are billions of devices and sensors being deployed that can automatically collect data on everything from traffic to weather, to energy usage, water consumption, carbon dioxide levels and more. Once collected, the data has to be aggregated and transported to stakeholders where it is stored, organised and analysed.

When most people speak about smart cities, they often imagine a futuristic metropolis, as depicted in movies and television. In reality, smart cities will be the product of the ongoing and gradual evolution of information technologies — with which we’re already familiar in our everyday lives — and will not look much different than they do today.

The smart city market is projected to grow from $81 billion globally in 2018 to over $158 billion in 2022, according to IDC’s Worldwide Semiannual Smart Cities Spending Guide. In a smart city, internet of things (IoT) networks can be deployed to create applications that will change the manner in which residents coexist with technology. Soon, parking structures will tell drivers which spots are open, smart outdoor lamps will automatically adjust for weather and climate conditions and green buildings will be able to monitor air quality and optimize energy consumption. The IoT will enable us to constantly sense and process information from the outside world in an effort to bring efficiency to everyday life in a city.

Technology is helping China move 250 million people from the countryside to its new 'smart cities' by 2025

Standing in the middle of Yinchuan's cavernous City Hall, it's difficult not to be awed by the scale of ambition of the city's young mayor, Bai Shangcheng.

The building's vast marble foyer bristles with technology: sliding glass doors that greet you as you enter, self-service touchscreens on huge monitors, a cinema waiting room where you can watch films while you kill time, and QR codes scattered liberally around the building to quickly answer common questions, so you don't have to queue for a service desk if you have your smartphone with you.

Smart CityOnce a week some city on the planet announces it will become a “Smart City”. Most can’t exactly describe what makes a city smart but they know it involves ubiquitous high speed internet and lots of smartphone apps. They hope that just by labeling the city smart it will surely increase economic activity and its “livability”, draw people to the city, and lift spirits of the citizenry and productivity for all.

5G is expected to have an impact on many industries, from manufacturing to healthcare.

It will enable the creation of a connected infrastructure, such as smart electrical grids that will be able to monitor and analyse energy consumption, smart streetlights with gunshot detectors to improve police threat response, and connected traffic lights across the city to facilitate a seamless flow of traffic. 5G is a key element in making smart cities a reality and, in the shorter term, it will transform the way we travel around cities.

Smart city is a great buzzword. The term envisages a city where information and communication technologies like ‘the internet of things’ are connected to enhance the quality and performance of urban cities and thus urban living itself.

But where do banks fit into the smart city vision?

One aspect of how banks may help a smart city to develop will be how banks can use their own digital capabilities to support the smart city ambitions of a city’s political leaders and public servants. Through its research arm, BNP Paribas is one of several banks discussing how a bank could lend its local transaction data analytics and insights to help city planners plan and run services.

Smart cities are all the hype these days. Everyone from urban planners to private companies have been throwing the two words around lately, as a common aspiration for metropolitan cities in the coming years. It comes tied with a bunch of other complicated concepts, from the Internet of Things (IoT), to 5G, autonomous transportation and information and communication technology (ICT).

While it all sounds complicated, we already see plenty of early smart city traits blooming in cities like Singapore, Dubai, New York and Shanghai today, amongst many more. You probably have the key to smart citizenship right in your hands too – your phone, which unlocks a bright and exciting future ahead.

The desert around Tabuk remains silent around morning. But the silence isn’t peaceful—it’s heavy, interrupted only by the distant whirl of machinery. This is where Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious urban experiment, The Line, is happening.

Originally envisioned as a 170-kilometer stretch of high-density futuristic living, The Line was touted as a clean, car-free utopia with a five-minute walk to everything. But lately, that promise has starting to feel like a mirage. Complaints are rising—from workers, residents, and planners. Not all of them loud, but most of them urgent.

With advancing technology and the ubiquitous Internet, it is easy for any organisation to be susceptible to hackers and terrorist attacks.

For instance, July 2018 saw Singapore's worst cyber attack when 16,000 people, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had their personal information stolen when hackers infiltrated SingHealth computers.

Around the world, cities are exploring how they can best make use of technology to improve quality of life for their citizens, run public services more effectively and provide businesses with a springboard for growth. The various applications of Smart City technology are numerous, from managing a city’s waste or road networks to making citizens safer or improving sustainability.

It’s time that we start to embrace that in Africa. We’ve already started, with deployments across Africa with the City of Tshwane and Western Cape in South Africa setting examples for municipalities across the country to follow. It’s great to see that there is government level support too, with municipalities going digital in their efforts to boost service delivery.

Unprecedented urbanization is compelling cities to fundamentally reimagine and transform for the future – and fast. According to the 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, roughly half of the world’s population lives in cities today and that figure is expected to increase to 68% by 2050.

You don’t have to be a city planner to imagine the impact of urbanization on infrastructure, systems and resources. There are undoubtedly risks – increased pollution, poverty, crime and cost of living, among others. But cities that take steps now to get smart and prepare can make way for economic growth, efficiency and a better quality of life for citizens.

The spread of the ultra-fast mobile communications standard and, in parallel, the introduction of company-owned 5G networks, so-called campus networks, are still in their infancy. Now 5G may not be relevant to all sectors of the economy - however, numerous industries need the technology if they are to continue generating growth. NTT Ltd, a leading global IT services company, lists the top 5 deployment scenarios.

If companies want to implement business models or processes that need to process high volumes of data at low latency, they rely on 5G. From development to production, from logistics to sales - potential applications exist almost everywhere. Especially in the industrial environment, campus networks with a large ecosystem of providers help to remove previous technological obstacles.

The Smart Dubai Executive Committee and du, the Smart City Official WiFi Provider in Dubai, today announced the roll out of WiFi UAE services in various public areas. The service will empower residents by enabling seamless, reliable and secure connectivity to access the internet, browse government websites and apps, pay bills, get updates about applications and avail eServices, among other benefits. The target is to enable WiFi connectivity through more than 300 locations by the end of the year, in line with the city’s vision to implement services that lead to overall happiness of people as envisioned in a Smart City. Customers of any UAE-based telecom operator can access WiFi UAE.

We are living through interesting times. As Dickens might put it, it is perhaps the best of times for tech companies. The digital revolution is mind-blowing. But for most people, it could be the worst of times, given the global crises and challenges facing humanity.

One thing is certain: we live in a world of cities, and our planet is increasingly urban. By 2050, more than 70% of the world’s population will live in cities. Cities are the new engines of growth in the global economy, responsible for 80% of global GDP.

Business Chief investigates the 10 most sustainable cities in the US, based on WalletHub’s rankings of 26 different ‘green indicators’.

10. Portland, Oregon

The largest city in Oregon, Portland is a modern cultural mecca, which translates into city planning initiatives that support its environmentally conscious populace. Known for its high number of cycle lanes and footpaths, the city boasts extensive public transportation investment and over 92,000 acres of green space. According to the Green City Times, the city generates a significant portion of its electricity from renewable energy (mostly hydroelectric), and is on track to reach 100% renewable sources by 2035.

This week’s Smart City roundup features Australia’s need to focus on smart infrastructure, Canada’s lead in the race for smart infrastructure deployments, fresh smart city solutions to be featured in Ecobuild 2016, and India’s new list of cities included in the 100 Smart Cities project.

Australia’s need to focus on smart infrastructure

The population in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne is set to double by 2050 and now officials are looking at how to better approach infrastructure planning and operation to accommodate this growth.