In 2006 the world experienced a unique phenomenon: for the first time in human history, the number of people living in urban areas equalled the number living in rural areas.
This was due to what is often labelled as the “biggest mass-migration in history”, where the world’s population is moving en masse away from rural areas into urban areas.
Weiterlesen: Smart cities key to Earth's future as urbanisation balloons
Ancient Rome was, at its peak, the greatest power in the world. Roman engineering and architectural achievements survive to this day in the form of aqueducts, roads, and buildings. Roman social institutions have survived for the long haul. And of course, the Roman military was a beacon of professionalism not seen again for hundreds of years. While Rome’s military was successful for numerous reasons, one factor, in particular, was the army’s focus on building group strength through individual contributions. The great Roman legions were powered by thousands of well-trained, well-equipped individual legionaries who collectively were more than the sum of their parts.
The same is true in smart cities, whether or not governments and planners acknowledge it. The best smart city initiatives in the world need to “talk” to buildings and local spaces in order to be fully efficient. To simplify, if the vision of smart cities is an operating system for urban areas, it doesn’t make much sense if each building in the city has its own OS, none of which can talk to each other.
Weiterlesen: When Building Smart Cities, Don’t Forget the Neighborhood
The world is changing, as are the cities we inhabit. As the number of global megacities continues to rise, the international trend of explosive urbanization is increasingly difficult to ignore. With the world’s urban population growing from 751 million in 1950 to 4.2 billion in 2018 and continuing to rise, governments face mounting problems as a result, from urban efficiency to environmental sustainability.
These issues have forced urban planners to explore new models and technologies to yield new solutions – giving rise to a new generation of smart cities which enhance the performance, liveability, and cost-effectiveness of urban centers.
Weiterlesen: New Problems, New Solutions: The Rise of the Smart City
“If the essence of urban development is individual action, then a city can only be as smart as its citizens.” - Michael Batty, Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London
Despite their recent surge in popularity, smart cities are not a new idea. In fact, their origins can be traced back a hundred years to the work of early 20th century urban planner Le Corbusier, who understood the home as a "machine for living in."
Weiterlesen: Smart Cities Are Built By Smart People Not Smart Things
A city is only as smart as the data it collects.
Can traffic be both a problem and a solution? Yes, and the reasons why highlight how telematics data enables cities to minimize pollution, gridlock and accidents while maximizing the impact of their transit and infrastructure budgets.
Demographic trends are poised to make traffic congestion and pollution even bigger problems than they currently are. For example, by 2050, 66 percent of the world's population are predicted to live in urban areas, up from 54 percent today. Even if cities had unlimited infrastructure budgets—which they obviously never will—expanding roads and bridges would still be difficult and often impossible simply because space is so tight. But with telematics data, even the fastest-growing cities can keep traffic and lungs flowing freely. Here's how.
Weiterlesen: Telematics Data Helps Smart Cities Minimize Pollution, Gridlock and More