IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Smart cities are gaining traction in the Middle East, but creating a future-proof master plan to design, build, and retrofit the urban world is a challenge. Hamed Zaghw, chief executive officer of Aecom, said planning is key to ensuring that the evolutionary nature of technology does not render long-term smart city initiatives in the Middle East obsolete.

“There are two ways to look at smart city master planning – the micro and the macro. If you have a framework that is both environmental and urban, you can have a basis for a master plan that can survive the ages – and changes in technology.

Utilising innovative global strategies & solutions to advance government integration, automation & performance.

Advanced Conferences & Meetings (ACM) is launching the Abu Dhabi Digital Transformation Summit on 13-14 November 2017 in Abu Dhabi. This specialised summit will focus on utilising innovative global strategies & solutions to advance government integration, automation & performance.

Abu Dhabi continues to position itself as one of the leaders in digital transformation in the era of smart government development. The announcement last year by the Abu Dhabi E-Government Supervisory Committee and the Digital Transformation Leadership Team, demonstrates the intention of the Government of Abu Dhabi to increase momentum on its quest to improve government performance, optimise service delivery and transform the Emirate into a truly Smart City.

The French Development Agency (AFD) is financing the creation of a network of cities in Africa around the challenges of "smart city". It has entrusted the National Agency for Urban Renewal (dubbed ANRU in French) with the implementation of this project, which will benefit 12 African cities across the continent. A referent expert is being recruited.

What can be done to advance thinking on smart city in Africa? The French Development Agency (AFD), mobilised on the issue of digital transition for urban development, has decided to finance the creation of a network of African cities around the challenges of smart cities, called ASToN (African Smart Towns Network). The bank has called on the National Agency for Urban Renewal (ANRU) to implement this project. This French establishment, located in Paris, is also responsible for managing the European URBACT programme in Europe, whose method it will use here.

Smart cities are the future, there is no doubt about this.

With numerous challenges both existing and emerging, exacerbated by growing populations and dwindling resources, it is essential for municipalities to more effectively control and manage many areas. These include water and electricity, traffic flow, parking, refuse removal and sewerage to name but a few.

The concept of Smart Cities will play a critical role in driving Africa's urban revolution and urbanisation, President Paul Kagame has said.

Kagame was speaking in Doha, Qatar at the Smart City Expo organised to showcase the latest smart technologies and innovations advancing the urban future.

Smart cities are a potential solution to Africa’s urban challenges

Amid all the headlines about weakening currencies, rising inflation, and political instability, it’s easy to get caught up in the negatives, but there’s a lot to celebrate on our continent. As we come to the end of Africa Month in May and we approach the African Smart Cities Summit in June, it’s a great time to recognise the remarkable advancements in Africa’s top-performing smart cities.

In February during an event in Busan, President Moon Jae-in said smart cities incorporating leading technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), Internet-of-Things and big data analysis, will improve the quality of life by raising public safety and efficiency.

“Transportation, accident prevention, administrative processes, medical services and child care services, which have historically operated independently, will be connected more organically and efficiently.” Moon said. “With consolidated safety management systems, disaster information - like that related to earthquakes and fires - will immediately be sent out by alert, and this will reduce firefighter response time by five minutes, while the crime rate will drop 25 percent and vehicular accidents will be reduced roughly 50 percent.”

What are the fears around data while exploring potential use cases to demonstrate the value for the ‘smart citizen’? Here is a look.

With The United Nations reporting that two-thirds (68%) of the world’s population are expected to live in cities by 2050, scientists are seeking new and innovative ways to improve the quality of life in our urban jungles. With a recent death in the UK linked to illegal levels of air pollution, it’s more important than ever to utilise technology that drives progress and innovates to develop a more sustainable future – creating smart cities.

According to Trend Micro, soon, smart technologies will be universal. This is, however, just the starter in terms of the types of technologies and potentially life-changing innovations that smart cities promise. These trends are captured in a new report.

The question posed by Trend Micro is what does it take to build a smart city? This is an intriguing question, given that more than half of the world’s population live in urban areas, but few of these locales can be considered smart. This also depends on how a smart city is defined and understanding the drivers for this form of urban living.

At the recent Blockchain LIVE 2019 hosted annually in London, I had the pleasure of giving a talk on Next Generation Infrastructure: Building a Future for Smart Cities. What exactly is a “smart city?” The term refers to an overall blueprint for city designs of the future. Already half the world’s population lives in a city, which is expected to grow to sixty-five percent in the next five years. Tackling that growth takes more than just simple urban planning. The goal of smart cities is to incorporate technology as an infrastructure to alleviate many of these complexities. Green energy, forms of transportation, water and pollution management, universal identification (ID), wireless Internet systems, and promotion of local commerce are examples of current of smart city initiatives.

Smart cities are built around IoT

Artificial Intelligence is a technology whose time has come and it is making the most out of it. Perhaps most people get to here AI in relations to robots but this technology extends far and wide. Coupled with the Internet of Things (IoT), AI is transforming cities into smart ecosystems.

The report said a wider collaboration among various stake-holders such as government agencies, technology vendors and users, is desired to drive these missions successfully.

Smart city initiatives in the Asia Pacific will not reach their potential if they focus on delivering cutting-edge technologies without paying enough attention to the needs and experiences of citizens, according to a report ‘Smart Cities Success: Connecting People, Proptech and Real Estate’, released by leading real estate consultant JLL on Wednesday.

With South Korea becoming the first country to "turn on" 5G at scale, now is the time to be looking to Asia to see what the US and Europe can learn from their innovations. In particular, the US and Europe have much to learn from the successful teamwork and collaboration on smart city projects in the Asian-Pacific.

Smarter devices and smarter technologies make for smarter cities. You only need to look to Asia to see the power of connected systems in action. Metropolitan centers like Singapore or Seoul not only collect and interpret data, but they integrate it into more efficiencies. Better yet, the region’s capitals are collaborating to create a network of integrated digital ecosystems.

The City of Vienna has joined forces with Big Four firm Ernst & Young to validate and secure the city’s Open Government Data (OGD) by using blockchain technology. The OGD is an open data portal which includes data such as public transport routes, train schedules and surrounding communities’ voting results.

August 2018 has been a big month for Vienna, with the city being named as the world’s most liveable in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index 2018. Just days after the announcement, Vienna has now shown its hand in the global battle to be recognised as the world’s smartest city. As a part of Vienna’s smart city drive, the city has crafted the digitalisation initiative called DigitalCity.Wien, an independent and not-for-profit initiative of the city in collaboration with several committed ICT companies based in Vienna. The organisation aims to create a tech heart in the central European city, drawing talent into ICT jobs and building a stronger Viennese economy.

From communications to services, the modern world is changing. We are more online and more digital than ever before. And it’s no wonder why. According to recent research, digital transformation will add an estimated $45 billion to Australia’s GDP by 2021 and increase its total growth rate by 0.5 per cent each year.

With an emphasis on digital products and services, alongside a focus on the adoption of emerging technologies, digital transformation has the power to accelerate growth, drive competitive advantage, and improve areas like work, healthcare, and education.

It’s official: the success of the Rockhampton Region is going global.

The region was recognised with an Asia-Pacific Leading Smart City Award at a recent international conference in China.

Rockhampton Region Mayor Margaret Strelow said Council’s commitment to embracing a digital future and building a Smart Regional Centre was clearly paying off.

Australia touts new '4D' modelling of infrastructure as boon for region's urban planning.

Australia is integrating new technologies into its urban centres and one of the projects that showcase this urban development innovation is "Data61".

Warren Lemmens, the CTO of Nokia Oceania, discusses Australia's emerging smart city landscape — and what the U.S. can learn from it.

Word from down under: Cities need to get smarter about data, younger people need to lead the charge, and the U.S. is not exactly out front on this stuff.

When Nokia released a detailed analysis on civic tech in the southern hemisphere, titled A new world of cities and the future of Australia — which gives a thorough accounting of the emerging smart city landscape there — we talked to Warren Lemmens, Nokia’s CTO Oceania, about the report's findings and its implications for U.S. cities struggling to get a handle on the smart city landscape.

Smart furniture sensors enable council to access information on the daily use of public spaces and obtain data for more efficient maintenance and waste services: Mayor Greene

Georges River Council is taking the wrappers off integrated smart city technologies - including the rollout of IT-enabled ChillOUT hubs and furniture sensors - in a bid to “continue to innovate”, according to Mayor Kevin Greene.

ASX listed artificial company SenSen Networks (ASX: SNS) has launched a smartphone app for city council staff that it says will contribute to the development of smart cities by making operations related to civic compliance, asset management, traffic data collection and analysis, security and surveillance more affordable, accessible and versatile.

It claims the app, GeminEYE, does this by using proprietary AI-powered process automation software that can pull information from video, sensors and other data points to automate labour intensive processes.