IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

According to a report released by UN in May, today 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050, with 90% of this increase taking place in Asia and Africa. An earlier report by the organization also projected that Africa and Asia together will account for 86 per cent of growth in the world’s urban population over the next 4 decades.

The central province of Thua Thien-Hue is working to build its capital Hue into Vietnam’s first smart communication city.

Accordingly, a project worth over 22 million USD is being carried out on 39.6 ha of land in the An Van Duong residential area of the city, according to Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue People’s Committee Phan Ngoc Tho.

"Smart cities" and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure offers business opportunities ranging in the billions for network operators, according to the latest report from Heavy Reading Insider (www.heavyreading.com/insider), a subscription research service from Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com).

Smart Cities: The Opportunity for Wireline Network Operators delves into what a smart city really is, identifies exemplar developments, proposes a simple model of a smart city and its components and shows how islands of smart technology and processes can be joined together. It summarizes the relevant smart city products, services and solutions of several leading technology providers, indicating which of them are sold direct to city authorities and which can be used by wireline operators to help build a compelling smart city solution of their own. Finally, it profiles eight technology vendors and describes the activities of three network operators taking different approaches to capturing the opportunities presented by smart cities.

The United Nations is predicting that the world's cities will need to house an additional 2.9 billion people by the middle of what is being called "the urban century". Hundreds of cities will be built and expanded to accommodate migration and growth - particularly in China and India.

"This is leading to a rise in competition among cities to attract and retain the investment and people needed for urban development and revitalisation," said Dr Steve Hodgkinson, an Ovum research director and author of the report "Is Your City Smart Enough?"

Convergences among transportation, energy, and cities will become reality as new technologies emerge to enable a more efficient and sustainable delivery of services consumed in an urban setting.

ICT can enable the smooth flow of information, money, and energy among different devices, stakeholders, and systems to bring about positive experiences for citizens. It is also through ICT that services consumed in a community will change and thus create new opportunities via revenue streams.

More than half of the world’s population live in urban areas, with many suffering from inadequate transportation, sub-standard buildings, lack of sanitation and poor public safety.

Bandung is emerging as Indonesia’s leading smart city. Spurred by Indonesia’s economic growth in the past decade, Bandung has developed into a thriving hub for manufacturing and creative industries. The city’s economy is growing at an annual rate of 9%, and its population is estimated to reach 4.1 million by 2030. With this rapid urbanisation, the city is starting to face a number of challenges such as traffic congestion, rising crime rates, waste management, air pollution and housing shortages.

To address these challenges, the government has announced that it will quadruple the budget for its smart city programme next year, from IDR25 billion (US$1.8 million) to IDR 100billion (US$7.3 million), which will be used to build up the city's digital infrastructure. Over the past year, the government has installed about 5,000 free wi-fi hotspots across the city, and they have set a target to install up to 40,000 hotspots to provide more citizens with access to free connectivity. “Bandung has 10,000 neighbourhoods and we intend to provide each with four wi-fi hotspots,” said Ridwan Kamil, Mayor of Bandung.

Is Jakarta, a city with 9.6 million people, a smart city?

For six Jakarta administration officials and 80 expert staff members tasked with running the Jakarta Smart City (JSC) program, launched four years ago by former governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, the answer is a resounding yes.

Both Jakarta and West Java capital Bandung have both been deemed "smart cities" in a region-wide research project from the Economist Intelligence Unit, thanks to recent technology programs adopted by local government in both cities. Jakarta and Bandung are among 20 cities across Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific identified by Startup My City, a research program by EIU, a branch of the Economist Group which provides global economic data and advisory services for industry overviews, and sponsored by Hitachi.

Just as it would not make sense to only fund bridges and highways in one city in the United States, it makes no sense to limit investment in the sensors, systems and networks needed to build smart cities to a single location.

Many governments around the world are working diligently to build smart cities — those that use sensors, data and analytics to tackle important urban issues such as how to better manage sanitation systems, improve transportation networks and deliver government services more efficiently. For example, cities can install sensors in water mains to detect leaks or conduct computer-based analysis on real-time video feeds to combat crime. Unfortunately the United States has woefully underinvested in smart city efforts compared to other leading countries. To address this shortcoming, federal, state and local governments should come together to create a new stream of funding for U.S. cities to increase investment in the digital infrastructure they need to ensure they are modern, sustainable and competitive.

Smart cities are built around resource planning, effective governance and an easy connect between citizens and government

A smart city is not just about accessibility and next-gen telecom networks. It is, in essence, about citizens being able to ‘talk’ to the government effortlessly, and vice-versa.

A smart city is about e-governance, the e-connect between executives and residents, efficient transportation and traffic management, and efficient civic administration, whether it’s water supply, power, waste disposal or safety. In a smart city, residents live and work in a clean, safe and healthy environment. The Centre has identified certain parameters that will help build a smart city. It is indeed an ambitious project and calls for rigorous planning and clearly defined implementation guidelines.

Faced with mass urbanization, "smart cities" will increasingly harness technology and data to ensure efficient management of urban resources and assets for their citizens.

More than two-thirds (68%) of the world’s population is expected to live in urban areas by 2050, according to the United Nations. Combined with global population growth, another 2.5 billion people are forecast to make the world’s cities their home.

The city of Tel Aviv has a sterling reputation as a smart city, using its influence as one of the world’s ‘techiest cities’ to drive digital initiatives that serve as a blueprint for other municipalities. It is also renowned as the epicenter of Israel’s startup ecosystem, tapping into the entrepreneurial spirit of its residents for urban development.

In 2014, the city was crowned the “World’s Smartest City,” besting 250 competing locations including London, New York, and Amsterdam at the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. It remains a badge of honor and the city’s efforts for smart transformation have increased tenfold since then, striving for digital revolution.

Due to significant growth in automation technologies such as internet of things (IoT) and adoption of cloud based technologies, the global smart cities market is gaining huge traction. In addition, effective city asset management for public welfare, substantial operational cost savings, and automated public data generation applications contribute to the growth of global smart cities market.

Apart from this, the rapid growth in global smart cities market is owned by increase in demand for systems that help local and national bodies in designing various public interest policies, such as implementation of public safety measures, appropriate guidelines for pollution control, and public health parameters. As per the findings of the research, hardware component generated larger revenue as compared to the software component, in the global smart cities market.

Hitting out at the plan, they alleged that the plan was outdated and won't be able to get the central government's nod. Some opposition corporators also alleged the plan would benefit just a few select developers and wasn't smart in the real sense.

The BMC plan to make Mumbai a smart city is not smart enough. At least that's what corporators from across parties believe. Corporators ripped apart the BMC's proposed smart city plan at the civic standing committee meeting on Friday.

Smart City budgetary allocations will not help address the urban environmental disasters that are looming in the future.

Smart’ Cities are one of India’s flagship projects. Of the proposed 100 Smart Cities, many face severe ecological and environmental risks from climate change-linked disasters such as flooding, drought and cyclones. However, Smart City budgetary allocations will not help address the urban environmental disasters that are looming in our future, given the shift in focus from an early emphasis on city-wide development, towards area-based development (ABD).

After a 11-year wait, SmartCity Kochi (SCK), the dream project of the state, will be a reality when its first phase is dedicated to the nation on Saturday.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Chairman of Dubai Holding Mohammed Al Gargawi, Minister for Industries & IT and SCK Chairman, P K Kunhalikutty, Leader of Opposition V S Achuthanandan and Dubai Holding Vice Chairman and MD Ahmad Bin Byat will be present on the occasion. The launch of SCK Phase 2 will also take place. The Phase 1 includes a 6.5 lakh sq ft IT tower.

A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Smart City Special Purpose Vehicle held on Friday selected the technical committee for the scrutiny of the bids submitted by various management consultancies, for the implementation of the city Corporation’s Smart City project. The committee consists of Smart City CEO M. Beena, Finance Expenditure Secretary Sharmila Mary Joseph, Secretary of Urban Affairs B.Ashok, Chief Town Planner K.Ramanan and city Corporation Secretary L.S.Deepa.

Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), one of the India’s first Greenfield Industrial Smart Cities along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), has attracted a record investment of Rs. 3,600 crore (Rs. 36 billion) as of 31 December 2018 from investors. Planned to perfection across an area of 10,000 acres in Maharashtra State (on the outskirts of Aurangabad), AURIC has allotted 50 plots comprising 507,164 sq. mt. thereby creating 2,000 direct employment opportunities.

Infrastructure packages of Rs. 7,947 crore (Rs. 79.47 bn) has been approved by the Government of India to help AURIC offer high-value, sustainable infrastructure that will support long-term economic vitality, a high quality of life, and a knowledge-based ecosystem with breakthrough innovation and efficiency.

A smart city must also be a safe city, with a good disaster response system.

With the implementation of the Smart Cities Mission moving forward in a phased manner and technology forming the backbone of smart cities’ architecture and governance, one of the major challenges identified for the future is cyber security.