To better manage their fiscal challenges and limited resources, cities may view themselves as companies serving a complex group of citizen-customers
By 2050, it is expected that nearly 70 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities. The cities of the future are likely to be massive urban conurbations, expected to swell to double their size by 2070 due to continuing migration. And as long as cities continue to be the growth engines of economies, generating more than 80 per cent of global GDP, they will keep growing.
Weiterlesen: The future of cities: Is digitalisation the solution for urban challenges?
Smart city is the one which is well connected, sustainable and resilient, where information is not just available but also findable, and this aim can’t be turned into reality without technologies. In other words, Smart city needs to leverage technologies to increase efficiencies and improve the quality of services and life for its residents, in fact the awareness that these technologies are beneficial for cities is growing and a lot of money is already being pumped in these innovations to design smart. let’s talk few (but impactful) of them here:
Weiterlesen: Disruptive technologies in the making of Smart Cities
Implementing evolving technologies at an affordable rate and moving toward zero emissions is the biggest benefit of being a smart city, according to a report by IDTechEx.
How smart cities are adapting to constantly advancing systems and technologies, what they might look like in the future, and how they will benefit is studied in the report, which analyzes smart cities through 2042. It especially sees communities taking advantage of hydrogen and renewable electricity, smart materials and transportation as the report says advanced technology hardware for smart cities will reach $1.7 trillion by 2042.
Weiterlesen: Smart Cities Use Rapidly Changing Tech to Advance Zero Emissions
Mayors and urban planners have crucial roles in the management of cities. They must help cities adapt rapidly when confronted with external shocks—the pandemic is only the latest one of these. To be a prudent and efficient janitor is the main task of mayors.
However, mayors and urban planners feel obliged to invent more glorious tasks to demonstrate their creativity during political campaigns. Mayors must now have a "vision" rather than simply being competent managers of the capital represented by urban infrastructure and facilities. Urban planners often promote this confusion about mayors' missions. They pretend that a city is a complex object that must be designed in advance by brilliant specialists. They would then impose their design on the city's inhabitants who lack vision and genius.
Instead of adding layers of tech, we should be getting back to basics.
We have long complained about "smart" everything, writing in praise of dumb homes, dumb boxes, and dumb cities. We are not going to do that anymore: The use of the word dumb is ableist. We are also not alone in complaining about the silliness of "smart." Writing in Yale 360, Jim Robbins explains why the luster on once-vaunted smart cities is fading and looks at some of the smart city proposals on the boards and in the dumpster. He quotes Boyd Cohen, a professor and climate strategist at EADA business school in Barcelona, about what has to come first:
Weiterlesen: Enough With 'Smart Cities'—We Need Cities Done Right