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Tuesday, 8.10.2024
eGovernment Forschung seit 2001 | eGovernment Research since 2001

"Smart city" is a buzzword, but what is so "smart" about a "smart city?"

Cities have evolved over the last few decades along the same lines that we moved from landline phones to regular cell phones to present-day smartphones. This transformation applies to several facets of city planning and infrastructure, including basic facilities like water, electricity, sewer, education, healthcare and transportation.

The Role Of IoT In Smart Cities

At the heart of smart cities is the Internet of Things (IoT).

In smart cities, IoT sensors and devices collect data relating to, for example, the condition of cities' roads, buildings, water bodies and bridges. IoT sensors can also monitor and control traffic, optimize maintenance and improve public safety.

Here are a few important use cases to understand.

  1. Sensors in bridges can monitor structural stability and detect possible damage to minimize the risk of accidents.

  2. IoT devices can monitor electrical power consumption to optimize usage.

  3. Video surveillance systems and sensors can help detect suspected movements and possible unlawful activities. These systems are also used to watch for and respond to accidents and natural calamities.

  4. Smart dustbins equipped with fill-level sensors that can alert city sanitation departments which bins need to be emptied.

In other words, IoT helps cities make good use of their resources. As these technologies keep advancing, they will play an even bigger role in cities.

Key Examples Of Smart Cities

While these benefits can seem great in theory, it's important to understand that many of the world's leading cities have made immense progress in implementing these technologies.

Singapore, for example, was ranked the top smart city in the world in 2018 and the top smart city in Asia in 2023 by the Institute for Management Development. They have been building and improving their "intelligent transport system" for the last several years, which has helped to improve their sustainability efforts and reduce congestion.

Likewise, a suburb of Cape Town in South Africa has reported a 65% drop in crime following the deployment of a vehicle license recognition solution. This solution uses 40 cameras to monitor an average of over 300,000 vehicle movements per hour.

Finally, for a pilot project in San Francisco, the city installed sensors in 48 of the city’s 3m800 public street bins. The pilot was able to show a reduction of 80% in overflowing waste, a 64% reduction in illegal dumping and a 66% reduction in street cleaning requests.

Future Evolutions Of Smart Cities

What next for smart cities?

Urbanization is on the rise across the world, and people are flocking to big cities. The UN predicts that two-thirds of the world’s population will likely live in urban areas by 2050. These populations will require large resources, all of which require intelligent use of "smart city" concepts and deployment of IoT technologies.

Having said that, smart cities, like every technology, have challenges, such as security and privacy issues, which will require laws, policies and frameworks. Added to this, IoT devices come with limitations in terms of possible hardware failure, data storage, processing capabilities and dependence on external power sources, which will require technical improvements and increased budgets.

Technologies, city developers and other stakeholders will need to work together to solve these challenges because smart cities are no longer a futuristic concept but a very real and ever-improving idea that can hugely benefit the lives of city inhabitants worldwide.

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Autor(en)/Author(s): Punnam Raju Manthena

Quelle/Source: Forbes, 27.08.2024

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