Digital Energy Net

Why Do We Need Smart Cities

Why Do We Need Smart Cities
Marina Lopez

We need to go beyond using smart cities as a buzzword and start implementing the capabilities of IoT technology that we can use to make better use of our resources and improve the quality of life for our cities and urban dwellers. The clamour for “smart cities” is all around us, but what about the water? We need a plan to make our water smart so that the smart city can become a real reality, and we are doing this by going beyond the buzzwords we use to use it and starting to implement the ability of IoT technology that we need to use to make better use of these resources to improve our quality of life in the city and among our city dwellers. Sources: 15, 22

The development of a smart city starts with a digital foundation that enables better functionality, responds more to citizens and ultimately creates a better urban environment. Sources: 17

Hype or real benefits?

The hype surrounding the Smart City also requires the public sector to become smarter in dealing with global corporations and in global competition for cities. Looking at Madreiter’s talk, it became very clear to me that data will be the lifeblood of smart cities, and the amount of data to collect is amazing, even if a “smart city” is fully developed. As urban operators collect enormous amounts of this data, they must be able to protect and use it prudently. Over time, a successful Smart City should theoretically be able to respond to incoming data by providing exactly what the city and its citizens need without wasting resources. Sources: 0, 6, 19

Cities should also raise awareness and offer digital education to ensure that residents understand how smart cities are defined and what impact they could have. Sources: 20

Social factors

In general, smart cities are cities that use technology to provide services and solve their problems, but, apart from technology, they must also take into account social factors that create a cultural fabric that is attractive to residents and gives them a sense of place. A truly intelligent city improves the quality of life for citizens and visitors. Smart city strategies also require cities to define what “Smart City” means to them, as there is no uniform definition. Some are smarter than others, while some can be many things, just like humans, and others are clever in relation to others. Sources: 1, 2, 11, 16

Learning capacity

Finally, many panelists mentioned that smart city strategies should always include the ability to share what the city has learned and to learn from other cities. Understanding the characteristics of smart cities and recognizing the importance of big data in their development and implementation facilitates the process of assembling technologies to begin building smart city applications. It is not a challenge to integrate big data applications to support smart cities, but successful implementation can go as far as that, no matter how smart a city is. In addition to the use of technology, there is also a need for data analysts to evaluate the information provided by smartCity systems to address problems and find improvements. Sources: 1, 8, 16

As cities continue to grow, smart urban technology will make urban areas a better place to live and help create better worlds in the future. The smart cities of tomorrow go beyond just connected infrastructure and smart things. Ultimately, they will involve building smart, connected ecosystems around sensors – based physical infrastructure. Sources: 7, 14

As smart city technology continues to improve and cities continue to expand, connectivity will become even more important for them. Cities of all sizes can become smart cities, because that is all it takes to find solutions to everyday problems together. For cities to realise the full potential of smart cities, they need to overcome organisational and technological silos. Bringing these groups together will ensure that they can be built to meet the needs of citizens while allowing the private sector to continue to flourish. Sources: 2, 3, 21, 22

People who live in smart cities and those who visit them have the opportunity to connect with government bodies, information and services. Smart politicians lead Smart City and understand that voters are more interested in issues that affect their daily lives when it comes to local government than in the high-level policy changes that politicians promote. Sources: 2, 10

Physical infrastructure

The benefits of smart cities are that they operate on a larger scale and more efficiently than ever before. The ability to use data from thousands of devices and flow through cities, as well as access to real-time information, enable smart cities to tackle problems such as congestion faster and more efficiently. Connected sensors that collect data can help cities optimize the performance of their physical infrastructure and are a key element in building a “Smart City,” and this plan makes smart cities a reality. Sources: 7, 9, 12, 18

The main objective of smart cities is to optimise the functions of cities and promote economic growth, while improving citizens’ quality of life through the use of smart technologies and data analysis. Smart city technology allows city officials to interact directly with communities and urban infrastructure, and monitor what is happening in the city and how it develops. Smart citizens must help create smarter cities and communities. Birch notes that this arena of conversation is necessary to bring people together to understand each other’s motivations and learn how to work toward consensus rather than division. Sources: 4, 5, 13, 16