Cities that adopt smart technologies into their infrastructure improve some quality-of-life measures for residents by as much as 30 percent
It’s no secret that technology can make our lives easier in a variety of ways, and that rings true not only at the individual level but also on a larger scale. Cities that adopt smart technologies into their infrastructure improve some quality-of-life measures for residents by as much as 30 percent, according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute.
Weiterlesen: How ‘Smart City’ Technologies Can Boost Quality of Life
For nearly as long as there have been cities, there have been efforts to create ideal cities. The Italian Renaissance saw the birth of places like Pienza and Palmanova, exquisitely planned centers that were monuments to humanistic thinking. In the 20th century, Brazil's Brasilia and India's Chandigarh fused political goals with avant-garde architecture. The dream seems ever constant: to fashion that fresh start, to build a living prototype that will inspire the world.
Weiterlesen: How These 4 Countries Are Designing Futuristic Cities—From Floating Neighborhoods to...
A more sustainable and intersectional approach to smart city design is fundamental to improving the quality of life for all citizens
Technology is rapidly transforming the way our cities operate and how we live within them, with increasingly sophisticated machines and algorithms adding layers of intelligence once only thought possible in science fiction.
But smart cities are not about innovating for the sake of innovation. They are about providing solutions to some of our biggest issues in society, from public health, safety and wellbeing to sustainability, biodiversity and social equity. Fundamentally, they are about improving the quality of life for all citizens and societies as a whole.
Weiterlesen: How to design smart cities that enable urban populations to thrive
The twin challenge of urbanisation and climate change are taking their toll in the form of increasing water scarcity in cities around the world. More people are moving to urban areas – already half the world’s population (55 per cent) lives in cities, and the United Nations expects that number to rise to two thirds (68 per cent) within just a few decades. At the same time, climate change is already seeing large swathes of the planet being affected by drought, with coastlines being eroded and livelihoods disappearing. In 2022, more than 2.3 billion people face water stress, almost 160 million children are exposed to severe and prolonged droughts.
Yet, although more than 70 per cent of the planet is covered in water, only 3 per cent of it is drinkable, and a significant portion of these freshwater resources is locked in glaciers and ice caps. Worse, water demand is projected to increase by 30 per cent by 2050, with the UN’s forecasting a global water deficit of up to 40 per cent by 2030.
Weiterlesen: How digitisation is helping cities to provide clean water
Building liveable and smart cities can only come from the backing of citizens as well as government master plans, a major conference in Singapore heard last week.
The eighth edition of the biennial World Cities Summit returned to a fully in-person conference format at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Marina Bay Sands after a largely virtual summit last time out. At the event, numerous examples were outlined of global cities responding to urban challenges in terms of how to be more resilient, sustainable, and cohesive.