Imagine living in or visiting a city where you could find parking easily using an app through a smart parking meter through which you could also make digital payments, or where traffic does not get too congested because of smart traffic management, or where public transport is efficient through smart public transit, or where sanitation has been greatly improved...
IoT Agenda (2017) discusses these features of a smart city - built-in with sensors for its smart function even in buildings to ensure public safety by monitoring the structural health of buildings.
A smart city is defined as a municipality that uses information and communication technologies to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare.
Some examples of smart cities listed include Kansas City which consists of smart streetlights, interactive kiosks and more than 50 blocks of free public Wi-Fi. Available parking spaces, traffic flow and pedestrian hotspots are all publically available through the city's data visualization app.
San Diego is also a smart city listed on IoT Agenda, which installed 3,200 smart sensors in early 2017 to optimize traffic and parking and enhance public safety, environmental awareness and overall livability for its residents. Solar-to-electric charging stations are available to empower electric vehicle use, and connected cameras help monitor traffic and pinpoint crime.
Some examples of smart cities listed include Kansas City which consists of smart streetlights, interactive kiosks and more than 50 blocks of free public Wi-Fi. Available parking spaces, traffic flow and pedestrian hotspots are all publically available through the city's data visualization app.
San Diego is also a smart city listed on IoT Agenda, which installed 3,200 smart sensors in early 2017 to optimize traffic and parking and enhance public safety, environmental awareness and overall livability for its residents. Solar-to-electric charging stations are available to empower electric vehicle use, and connected cameras help monitor traffic and pinpoint crime.
The construction of smart cities from the ground up has also already begun. According to Forbes (2018) Bill Gates has invested $80 million toward the development of Belmont, a smart city in Arizona. There are also plans for autonomous vehicles and a sophisticated data hub in Belmont.
As if straight from a Hollywood basement, smart cities depend entirely on ICT to run its operations daily and improve the quality of life for its citizens. Rome was not built in a day and so are smart cities gradually accommodating urbanization and transforming urban living.
References:
- IoT Agenda (2017) Smart City [online] Available at: https://internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com/definition/smart-city [Accessed 25 July 2018]
- Forbes (2018) The Smart Way to Build Smart Cities [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hbsworkingknowledge/2018/04/04/the-smart-way-to-build-smart-cities/#44f1b5347b19 [Accessed 25 July 2018]
This is the kind of future I'll be looking forward to. However, as a pessimist, I do wonder about how easy it could be for terrorists and anarchists to infiltrate and disrupt cities. Obviously I assume they'll be security measures put in place to avoid such disruptions... but I still wonder...
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. Imagine the structural and financial damage as a result of terrorist attacks. But I think no ICT system at that level would be developed without strong security. Efficient networks would have to be installed to monitor such activity.
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