Hard times breed innovation and ingenuity. Take 19th century London, where a series of cholera outbreaks taught the city to send its poop downstream. Today, COVID-19 could catalyze a wave of smart city upgrades as governments turn to digital infrastructure to guard against future crises.&
Cities moving from containment to recovery offer a glimpse of what could come. In Wuhan, China, factory operators register workers’ temperature daily. Returning employees are working alongside more robots than when they left. And to get on a train, residents display app-based “health codes” ranking them by infection risk levels.
Those methods have some privacy advocates bucking like an unbroken colt. But not all solutions have to come at the expense of personal liberty.
- In Antwerp, Belgium, workers at Europe’s second-largest port are testing bracelets that buzz if workers are too close. They don’t collect data or track movements.
COVID-19 could also accelerate tech not tied to virus tracking, including...
- Automation: Fewer hands = less transmission. Companies could deploy more robot workers in factories/stores, or autonomous vehicles and drones in delivery networks.
- Connectivity: As more workers go remote, internet connections need to improve outside cities. Governments may double down on broadband and 5G buildouts.
Reality check: Smart cities aren’t cheap, and governments are facing severe budget shortfalls from COVID-19 that could hamstring funding for tech-savvy initiatives.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Alex Hickey
Quelle/Source: Morning Brew, 24.04.2020
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