Imagine you live in a city where there’s no traffic congestion, is safer and has a very low carbon footprint. This might sound like a utopian dream, but with right technological integration and efforts from the governments and infrastructure companies, it can soon be a reality.
The need for smart cities is obvious, it is expected that by 2025 there will be 34 cities around the world which will be having a population of more than 10 million. This is because of the growth in the number of people who are moving towards major cities. This movement of people has already led to a steep rise in the demand for basic resources and services.
So what roadmap do we have to build smarter cities that ensure its dwellers get all the resources they need? We need to build smarter cities that use all its resources efficiently and the first thing that we will need is a high-speed digital infrastructure.
Angus Reed – a property developer, told us what vision should we have in order to develop these smart cities. He is a Managing Director in Lotus Equity Group, the group which has made big investments in building the infrastructure of USA’s upcoming smart cities.
Smart Buildings: Buildings provide essential facilities like water, electricity and internet access. These things can be integrated with the technology that will ensure its efficient use. There are many companies that have come up with innovative and smart indoor lighting solutions. Wireless water meters is another technology that can help save water.
Smart Transport : This means improving and integrating all the traffic signals in a way that results in smoother traffic flow. When the engine of a car is idle, it emits greenhouse gases into the air. With a smoother traffic flow, we can not only reduce the carbon footprint, but also save the energy and fuel.
Public buses carry millions of passengers daily, and with technologies like traffic signal prioritization, it is possible to reduce the delays in signals and make its passengers reach their destination faster. This will also encourage people to use more public transport services.
Smart Waste Management: Large cities need more efficient ways of waste collection and management. With higher integration of technologies, the sanitation services would know which bins they need to empty and their trash levels. It has been proved that the efficiency in waste management can be increased by 50% to 80%.
Real-time Air And Water Quality Monitoring: Poor air quality results in many deaths and illnesses in urban areas. Elderly and young children are among the worst hit. With real-time monitoring of air, we can create alert systems which can warn the residents about the high levels of toxic gases in the city air.
Water in our cities comes from various reservoirs which are not tested continuously. Smart cities should have a proper water quality monitoring system which should test the quality of water from all the supplies. These monitoring sensors should be set in a way that they notify the City Heath Department about any contamination in water.
Efficient Law Enforcement and City Other Services: Technologies such as gunshot detection system can be put in place to reduce the incidences of crime in a smart city. Using A gunshot detection system can accurately locate a shot within 25 meters of its location and needless to say, it can record the exact time of the shot too.
A smart city shall have app-based service request such as reporting of a pot-hole. These apps will ensure quicker action on the requests.
What Is Internet Of Things?
It is an inter-networking of the devices that we see around us, that will enable these devices to receive and transmit data. These devices (or objects) will work in a way that delivers better efficiency and accuracy which will result in its economic benefits too. The basic requirement in application of this technology will be an interconnection of these smart devices with a high-speed internet connection through Wi-Fi.
Conclusion: Many governments have already started to make their cities smart. Cities such as New Jersey is all set to be resurrected as a technology hub because of the efforts of tech-savvy developers such as Lotus Equity Group.