This audio was created using Microsoft Azure Speech Services
By 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will reside in our cities – a rapid migration which will push our urban centers to their seams and expanding our current industrial and residential infrastructures beyond their breaking points.
Cities can be built to be more efficient, sustainable and liveable in both the short and long term. These “Smart Cities” will use technology improve living conditions in cities, decrease carbon emissions and improve the quality of life for all that live there.
A city can be defined as ‘smart’ when investments in human and social capital and traditional (transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory action and engagement. (Caragliu et al. 2009)
This will not be easy! Local governments, investors, industry suppliers, NGOs, utilities, planners, developers, and global technology providers must join forces to deliver the benefits of smart cities. Additionally, smart systems are the cornerstone of a smart city. Data, technology and integration will provide the means necessary to operate cities in a more efficient and effective way.
A great example of a smart city is being built in Berlin today at the EUREF-Campus office and science location. This campus includes multiple mass transit options, protected heritage buildings right next to modern highly energy efficient buildings, a mixture of renewable energy and intelligent energy supply, innovative community interactions and a program to make the campus an attractive environment for work and well being.
So what is a good place to start? Smart Cities can be built effectively and efficiently in five steps
- Setting the Vision
- Bringing in the Technology
- Working on the Integration
- Adding Innovation
- Driving Collaboration
You can read more details about each of these steps in the white paper “The Smart City Cornerstone: Urban Efficiency”.
Conversation
Vincent BRYANT
11 years ago
Good presentation of how to start making a city smarter. However, don’t forget the reasons why a city would like to set off. I tried to list main benefits for cities here: . Feel free to complete.
Brandi McManus
11 years ago
Great blog about the drivers of smart cities. It seems that these drivers vary city to city from the desire to be green, energy security, cost, carbon and many others.
Jet Chen
11 years ago
Everyone and every building can generate green energy and share with each other, breaking the current top to bottom power supply structure.
Mike Romanco
10 years ago
Smart cities, start with sustainable practices in buildings. People spend most of their days INSIDE buildings. The environment must be conducive to productivity and comfort, and be one that is truly sustainable. It’s common for us to want to focus on transportation, since it is obvious. However, we spend only a fraction of our day commuting, and vehicle manufacturers have spent billions making their cars more efficient, comfortable, and sustainable. Just look at how long cars last, and the continuous innovation and use of smart technology in cars. The same has yet to be done for buildings. In fact, buildings are so archaic in their operations, and so not conducive to productivity, it’s a wonder people actually still want to work at an office outside of their homes. An easy place to start is with lighting, which dramatically impacts comfort, and productivity and energy costs. From their you can build an entire smart building platform. Lighting is ubiquitous, and sensors that are intelligent, placed at every fixture become the backbone. Install LED’s with them, and you’ll have high quality, non glare, full spectrum lighting with no UV (fluorescents emit UV), eliminate sources of migraines, and save as much as 92% on lighting costs. From there come a whole host of other sustainable, productivity enhancing, energy efficient APPS, that can be built off that backbone and platform. It’s the IOT for buildings. Check out my website if you wish to learn so much more about sustainability for buildings, operations, and the core of smart city sustainability.