Smart Cities : The habitation of future
- In Economics
- 05:09 AM, May 25, 2017
- Krishna Kant Sharma
Human settlements have been around for nearly 20,000 years. And it is only now that they are getting smart.
Imagine you are ready to go to your office in the morning. An app on your mobile shows you the optimum route to reach office , shows you real time 3D maps, shares traffic updates, tells you the best location to park, pays tolls & other charges, tracks dangerous driving. It also monitors the air pollution, humidity & rainfall for you. Meanwhile the street lights know when you are walking or driving past, and light up accordingly, dustbins tagged with RFID systems are tracked by GPS enabled trucks for garbage collection, transportation & disposal of waste. Amazed? This isn’t a scene from a sci-fi movie. Welcome to the incredible world of Smart Cities.
The examples cited above are just some of the many potential benefits of living in a ‘connected’ smart city. Health, Education, Power, Water, Waste Management, Transportation, Disaster Management; there is no domain left, where technology has not made its presence felt & ensured a more sustainable living ecosystem.
Centuries of exploitation of natural resources, rapid urbanization has led to social & environmental challenges. As more and more people migrate from rural areas to urban centres of growth, cities of today are facing an existential threat. Over population, citizen’s demand of basic amenities like water, power, and clean environment is straining existing resources like never before. Every year, millions leave their traditional homes in rural towns and villages and head into urban areas.
In 1800, only 3 percent of the world's population lived in urban areas. Today 54 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas; a proportion that is expected to increase to 66 per cent by 2050.The urban population of the world has grown rapidly from 746 million in 1950 to 3.9 billion in 2014 and is expected to surpass six billion by 2045. In 1990, there were 10 “mega-cities” with 10 million inhabitants or more, which were home to 153 million people or slightly less than 7% of the global urban population at that time. In 2014, there are 28 mega-cities worldwide, home to 453 million people or about 12% of the world’s urban dwellers.
Delhi, Mumbai & Kolkata are currently on the list of mega cities in India, with Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad expected to join the list by 2030. The United Nations World Cities Report 2016 finds that big cities "create wealth, generate employment and drive human progress". On the downside, megacities are also responsible for driving climate change, inequality and exclusion, as well as the breakdown of traditional family structures, which leaves elderly people isolated and vulnerable.
As more and more people move towards the new urban centres of growth, the cities are faced with challenges ranging from over population, huge amounts of human & industrial waste, pollution, affordable public transportation systems, safety & security etc. And this is where technology steps in to aid the city planners to plan for cities with safety, sensitivity & sustainability.
The integration of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) with Internet of Things (IoT) is the foundation of Smart Cities. Envisage a scenario where millions of embedded sensors, connected devices record, harvest & analyze data to predict scenarios and take autonomous decisions. A typical IoT solution is characterized by many devices (i.e. things) that may use some form of gateway to communicate through a network to an enterprise back-end server that is running an IoT platform that helps integrate the IoT information into the existing enterprise. Constant assessment & adaptation is a key for a successful Smart City strategy.
Climate Change is currently a priority item for governments across the world. Carbon dioxide emissions are raising the global temperature. Rising sea levels threaten the very existence of countries like Mauritius. Smart Grids, Energy Efficient Buildings, using Biomass & Waste for Heating Systems, Efficient lighting systems, Automation, Water Harvesting are some of the ways Smart cities will contribute towards reducing carbon footprints. A new research effort co-sponsored by mobile technology research and development company InterDigital (Nasdaq:IDCC) highlights the potential for enormous energy reduction and cost savings accessible through IoT technology – the equivalent of 41 million barrels of oil per day. Effective roll out of IoT technologies will also enable the Telcos to recoup their capex more quickly.
Smart Cities are also ‘Sustainable Cities’. In October 2015, ITU-T Study Group 5 agreed on the following definition of a Smart Sustainable City: “A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects”. Functioning smart sustainable cities contain eight physical infrastructure and service elements: Real estate and buildings, Industrial and manufacturing, Utilities - electricity & gas, Waste water and air management, Safety & security, Health care, Education & Mobility. The smart sustainable city employs the ICT infrastructure in an adaptable, reliable, scalable, accessible, secure, safe and resilient way to achieve its objectives.
Terrorism, Cyber Attacks are challenges which confront every government in today’s geo-political scenario. Smart Cities are also ‘safe cities’ where the integration of ICT, IOT with local law enforcement agencies, helps them monitor crime & gives citizens a true sense of security. Early detection is the best form of protection. Monitoring real time video surveillance data, broadcast over high speed internet services, analyzing data stored in cloud, sharing & analyzing it, gives greater agility to the law enforcement agencies. A high rating on public security also enables cities to rank high as tourist high-spot & ensures economic gains for the local community, resulting in an overall win-win situation for citizens & the governments.
Sensing the vast advantages and cost benefits which a ‘smart city’, offers, the Government of India in a determined bid to recast the urban landscape of the country and drive economic growth, launched the Smart Cities Awas Yojna Mission by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015. A total of Rs. 980 billion (US$15 billion) has been approved by the Indian Cabinet for development of 100 smart cities (later revised to 109 cities) and rejuvenation of 500 others. While Rs 48,000 crore has been allowed for 100 smart cities, now renamed Smart Cities Mission, another Rs 50,000 crore has been sanctioned for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) of 500 cities. Each city would get Rs 100 crore every year from the Centre for five years. The remaining money has to come from the states, urban bodies and the consortium that they form with corporate entities. The objective is to “promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring cities”. ‘Smart Solutions’ are supposed to be the backbone of the ‘Smart Cities’.
However, implementation of these ideas is not an easy task. A recent study by WEF noted that ‘India needs priority reforms in land acquisition, dispute resolution, permitting processes and addressing risks in PPP to overcome business environment challenges for successful execution of the smart cities project’. Supply gaps and challenges in India's urban regions include water, waste management, energy, mobility, the built environment, education, healthcare and safety which are at the risk of exacerbating further if timely action is not taken. Dedicated effort will be required by all stakeholders to create an environment where a balance is achieved between the private sector's goal to achieve maximum returns and the public sector's goal to achieve social welfare at minimum cost.
While, Smart Cities, as a concept has just taken off, there is a lot which can be done to improve this journey. Some of these key steps will include:
- Preparing robust business models which enables the private players to recoup their investment in a time bound manner
- Having a single governance framework, thereby removing fractured accountability
- Future proofing and interoperability of devices ensuring smooth functioning
- Ensure that farmers, informal workers & other weaker sections of society are not marginalized
- Bridge the Digital divide, ensuring that communication is not only for the privileged lot of the society
- Promote gender equality & empower women; engage with women to bring about real change
- The interconnected world is susceptible to data leaks & breaches; plug them
- Curtail snooping by government or any other agency thereby respecting individual privacy
- Ensure capacity & skill building to leverage the benefits of smart city
- Involve the citizens in the decision making process, enable them & treat them as the most important stake holder
Clearly technology is the glue which will hold together Smart Cities, but the role of its citizens is equally important. Effective leveraging of Social Media, co-relating citizen reports, crowd sourcing will create ‘engaged citizens’. If we have to leave a more sustainable world to the future generations, then clearly Smart Cities is the way forward. A concerted effort by the government, various industry bodies, citizens etc will ensure that the dream becomes a reality.
Sources:
- The 2014 revision of the World Urbanization Prospects by UN DESA’
- The United Nations World Cities Report 2016
- The Fourth Industrial Revolution: what it means, how to respond: Klaus Schwab, Founder & Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
- Itu.int
- smartcities.gov.in
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