What does it mean by Smart Cities?

Smart city uses the technological advancements to create, deploy and promote development of the area and to address challenges in urban environment for creating technologically enabled and sustainable infrastructure. History of smart cities dates back to 1960s and 1970s when US Community Analysis Bureau started using aerial photography, databases to collect resources and data and addressing issues against disaster. This was the first generation of smart cities. Whereas the second generation of smart cities looked at smart technologies and innovations which helped finding municipal solutions. Third model was based on the public engagement in the planning of smart cities. In today’s generation however, smart cities use multiple software, user interfaces, communication networks and the Internet of things for finding solutions to the public problems.

Features of Smart Cities:

Digital interventions in Urban Design will help in creating a city which is more user friendly. For example, the use of smart parking can help drivers find a parking space in less time and can also help in digital payment.

Moreover, traffic congestion can be reduced by using smart traffic management to monitor traffic flow and designing ride sharing services. Energy conservation and environmental efficiencies are also features of smart cities, for example, when the roads are empty, the streetlights that dim. Such kind of technologies help in improving everything starting from operations to maintenance and planning to power supplies. In addition, climate change, waste management and air pollution issues can also be resolved using the initiatives of smart cities with the help of internet-based garbage collection, bins, and fleet management systems. Also, smart cities help in creating safety by providing constant monitoring high crime areas or using sensors to enable an early warning for incidents like landslides, hurricanes, floods etc. It can also help in urban farming and optimal energy use.

Why do we need Smart Cities?

Smart City initiatives facilitate in creating urban environment that delivers a high quality of life to its residents along with generating economic growth. This is gaining importance in the light of future population growth in urban areas. These improvements will provide a new value from the existing infrastructure to help save money for governments and citizens. It will also help in reducing the cost of infrastructure.

One of the important aspects of smart cities is the sustainability which can improve efficiencies in urban areas and improve welfare of citizens. Cities may have smaller geographical footprints but they need fossil fuels to power them, hence impacting negatively, but with the use of electric transport system, we can reduce the emissions. Therefore, bringing about the positive change with the use of smart technology.

Smart Cities in Urban Design

Now a days, we can use BIM software to easily develop our design digitally which is less time consuming and helps us to understand out project and the site better along with providing numerous possibilities of form and function. It also helps us in building schedules and calculating estimated costs.

Challenges in Smart Cities

Smart city projects need to be transparent to the citizens through open data portal, this will help in the engagement of residents with the data, and it will also help in making the design more user friendly. In addition to this, we should not forget that every place has a unique cultural fabric that is attractive to the residents and offer a sense of space. Hence, the smart cities should also account for such social factors.

References:

1. https://ncl.instructure.com/courses/42972/files/4886887?module_item_id=2008296
2. https://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleyperez/the-city-of-the-future-is-here?sub=2322325_1262432&epik=dj0yJnU9SXg4dThsR2lvdHpRWTVKVC00cmR4MW5lMFUyS2VKMG4mcD0wJm49UjFlWE5jRnJpM2wyajRMOFc4YzdVdyZ0PUFBQUFBR0dVaGw4
3. https://masdar.ae/en/masdar-city/the-city
4. https://safesmart.city/en/santander-smart-city/
5. Smart City Solution Engineering by Jerker Delsing
6. http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/masdar-institute/
7. https://ubidots.com/blog/smart-city-pioneer-santander-spain/