The integration of BIM, IoT, and blockchain technologies in smart buildings and cities enhances urban living by optimizing data management, improving user experiences, and ensuring data security. Effective synergy between these technologies is crucial to meeting user expectations for comfort, cleanliness, security, and efficient space usage in urban environments.
In the bustling landscape of urban development, the integration of digital construction technologies in smart buildings and smart cities is reshaping how urban environments cater to user expectations. A study by researchers at Birmingham City University and the University of Manchester explores the synergy between technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), the Internet of Things (IoT), and blockchain, emphasizing their potential to meet the growing demands of building users.
Airspan Networks, with $95 million in fresh equity funding, has said it has been selected by Boldyn Networks to supply the private radio network (RAN) infrastructure for the city of Sunderland’s smart-city 5G project in the UK. The US vendor’s AirSpeed 1900 outdoor small cells have been incorporated already into existing street furniture around the city, it said.
The open RAN units are providing “high-performance and high-capacity connectivity” across Sunderland, it said. UK-headquartered Boldyn Networks, which bought private networking specialist Edzcom from Spanish tower company Cellnex in March, amid a string of acquisitions, was appointed to manage networking elements in the Sunderland smart-city project in 2022, when it was still BAI Communications.
Read more: Boldyn picks Airspan for private-5G smart-city project in Sunderland, UK
Street benches which can power your phone could soon be making their way to Wrexham city centre as part of a regeneration scheme.
The so-called “smart” benches use solar power to charge the battery of mobile devices while you sit down.
Similar seats have already been installed elsewhere in North Wales after they were placed in the villages of Llanfair Talhaiarn and Llangernywl in Conwy in 2019.
Safety concerns have been raised after it was suggested women who run out of battery on their phones on nights out in Wrexham could be directed to use street benches to charge them.
Wrexham Council is planning to install so-called “smart” benches, which use solar energy to power the battery of mobile devices, on the city’s High Street.
Speaking during a meeting this week, an official from the local authority said they were partly being introduced to improve the safety of people visiting night-time venues.
Read more: GB: Wales: Wrexham: Safety concerns raised over ‘smart’ benches plans
Councillors have unanimously backed calls to review how local authority services are offered in Sunderland to ensure nobody is left behind as part of ‘smart city’ plans.
It comes after a motion was put before the latest meeting of Sunderland City Council seeking to ensure everyone in the city can continue to access local authority services, “even if they cannot or do not want to do so digitally”.
Read more: GB: England: Inclusive smart city motion approved for Sunderland