In 1950, 746 Million people lived in cities but just one hundred years later in 2050, this is anticipated to surpass 6 Billion – some 66% of the world’s population. In this increasingly urban, data-driven and hybrid world that integrates the physical and the virtual, the concept of ‘smartness’ comes to the fore. The vision of a ‘smart city’ has been in existence for many years but it is only recently that advances in technology have enabled tangible progress towards its real-world actualization. I believe this is also critical to the successful implementation of the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGS). So, what does a smart city mean to you?
The concept may conjure up visions of sensor rich, fully automated buildings, intuitive parking and traffic management systems, and utilities that provide precision like efficiency in their deployment. All things that make our everyday that every bit easier to navigate and to optimise, whilst reducing frictions such as ageing or legacy IT. Our needs are met by systems that anticipate what we may wish to buy, monitor our health and wellbeing, and preventively prescribe maintenance treatments, as well as cater to our insatiable demand to be informed and entertained!
And as we commence 2020, we are already seeing transformations that are bringing real-world actualization to smart city anticipation. Mobility is a key example, with today’s passenger increasingly expecting on-demand and intermodal transit options that are both reliable and affordable. As the decade progresses, we can realistically envisage autonomous taxis and minibuses covering ‘the last mile’ between our homes and public transport hubs; bringing together convenience with a reduction in congestion.
Similarly, today’s driver expects ever more sensory communication from their vehicle and its surrounding infrastructure as exemplified by Connected Vehicle projects that enable this authentic human-tech partnership, rather than replacement. This is an era of interconnected and digitalized mobility, which is evolving our everyday travel behaviors. The future of urban mobility will become increasingly autonomous, connected, electric and shared.
These developments can perhaps be considered as a delivery of the promise of integrating the Internet of Things, 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Storage, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain, Robotics, Autonomous Vehicles, Drones, Voice Activation and Biometric Recognition. Is this a utopian city vision that offers people a dreamlike future existence? Or, do we need to focus more on aligning the technological promise with the very human nature that lies behind the beating heart of our cities. Surely, it is really all about people and our collective Quality of Life:
“The city is what it is because our citizens are what they are.” (Plato)
This refocuses attention to the purpose behind the technology and the spaces, communities and overarching society that makes up our cities and with this, issues of access, inclusion and diversity.
