Future of Digital Transformation
Nowadays, I keep hearing people talk about a smart city. But what is a smart city and how it differentiates from a normal city?
A city whose foundation is information technology or IT is known as a smart city. Information technology is the basis of the entire city, its real estate, channels of communication as well as other facilities.
Each city or country defines this term based on its willingness to adapt to this technology and the desired level of development for a specific city.
Technology experts IBM define a smart city, as one wherein technology is used to create “instrumented, interconnected and intelligent” systems.
2008 – Global Economic Depression 2009 – IBM launches the Smarter Planet Initiative Gradually, several countries have been inspired to join the campaign. Presently, many countries including India are taking effective measures to develop smart cities.
Curitiba, the capital of Parana in Brazil, is a great example of a smart city. Earlier, this city faced problems of waste management as a result piles of waste was thrown on the streets. The city launched a smart solution thereby recycling waste products and citizens participating in this activity were rewarded by the government. Hence, in a period of five years, 70% of the population actively participated in waste management and in this way keep the city clean as well.
Forbes report titled Ranking The World’s ‘Smartest’ Cities, Jul 6 2016 presents the annual IESE Cities in Motion index examines all aspects including sustainability and quality of life in 181 key cities of the world.
This index studied 77 indicators, covering 10 distinct dimensions of urban life: economy, human capital, technology, social cohesion, environment, international outreach, mobility and transportation, public management, urban planning, and governance.
To top the list, a city must perform well across a range of metrics, not just excel in one area. Even the highest ranked cities have some areas for improvement.
New York (U.S.), London (U.K.), and Paris (France) are the top three cities recording best performance across various metrics.
Frost & Sullivan research estimates a global market potential of $1.5 trillion for the smart city market in segments of energy, healthcare, transportation, building, infrastructure, and governance.
Abundant fresh, clean energy, efficient travel, safety and security standards are few of the benefits that a smart city offers. It is predicted that by 2050, about 66% of the global population will be residing in urban regions.
Major challenge for enterprises will be supply of basic resources such as hygienic and nutritious food, clean water, sufficient energy, and overall economic, environmental and social sustainability.
No city will be smart without electricity. A smart city depends on continuous supply of electric power to move people and things, collect data, and sharing information. To build an efficient smart city you require urban infrastructure, reliable energy access, and most importantly, electricity.
In addition, a smart city requires strong collaboration of different organizations in order to address the need of technology integration.
According to the World Urbanization Report of the UN, above 50% of the global population reside in urban areas. The rapid increase in global urban population has called for optimization of efficient, sustainable, and secure systems that will affect the quality of our daily lives.
IoT, big data analytics and other forms of information and communication technology will certainly play a vital role in developing smart cities.
However, along with the benefits of these emerging technologies, you also need to be aware of the risks involved such as personal data breaches, harm to critical infrastructure or damage to public trust.
