About 3.5 billion people around the world live in cities, and the UN believes that this figure will double by 2050, and successful urban planning will be the key to managing the influx of the population in cities. Transport, energy and utilities, as well as public organizations providing urban services, will have to help in the management of the population growth, therefore the interaction of these areas and all interested parties of the industry is most likely the key to success.
This year, Singapore received the award as the smartest city in the world, and it is believed that this city is on the top line in the list of cities that are best adapted to the influx of the population. Singapore is in the process of creating a virtual representation of the city, deploying a huge number of sensors and cameras, in order to more effectively monitor cleanliness, public places, construction, as well as road traffic.
While Singapore leads in the list of cities, which are best adapted to an increase in the number of people living in cities, and other cities and countries are trying to use measures of the same order, including Great Britain. If you look into Glasgow, you can find an example of good use of smart lights that record air quality, noise level and movement to save energy. And Milton-Kins uses parking sensors that improve the infrastructure and life of residents, as well as some general information systems, for example, open energy use cards that help people understand how best to use fuel. In a broad sense, the UK government encourages families and business for smart technologies. The general goal of the initiative to encourage is to achieve a low carbon, effective and reliable system.
There is no doubt that sensors are absolutely useless without a system for analysis of data that they collect. In other words, data from sensors must turn into valuable information and transmitted to the interested parties, and otherwise, they are meaningless. Information from city sensors can be useful to both residents and individual organizations, for example, construction companies or energy industries or technology suppliers.
Investments in infrastructure are mandatory for cities that want to support their integrity and not “fall apart”, turning into densely populated unorganized anthills, in the next couple of decades. Experts believe that the authorities of cities should study platforms, tools and technologies, and primarily the Internet of things (IOT). Only this will allow cities to analyze data on a large scale and cope with the flow of people without damaging the quality of life of their inhabitants.
