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What Makes Smart Cities Smart?

Samar Kaunain

1 Evolving technologies are reshaping our lifestyles much faster than we even realize. The widespread availability of smart technologies has had an impact on practically everything from the way we work to the way we communicate, shop, plan and commute, and its effects can be seen in every aspect of our lives. What once were science fiction fantasies are turning into realities right in front of our eyes.

2 We are not using flying cars to get to work or wearing silver foil jumpsuits yet. However, we are close to the day when we will see digital billboards communicating with passers-by as in the sci-fi movie Minority Report. As the world's population increasingly becomes tech savvy, the cities need to evolve as well in order to be in sync with the times. Information technology is becoming the fourth utility, and more and more governments and municipal planners are embracing smart city projects.

3 Globally, as many as 180,000 people relocate to cities every day, and this influx raises several challenges. Increasing urbanization means additional consumption of already depleting resources. Despite shrinking budgets, governments have to provide more and more services even before they can collect taxes. Rapidly growing urban populations are straining inadequate infrastructures. Around the world, most cities have outdated foundations making them ill-equipped to fully cater to food, water and energy needs of their inhabitants.

4 It is obviously challenging to supplant the existing infrastructures with new ones. A faster, and more practicable solution is to digitize and modify existing infrastructures so that cities can intelligently cater to new demands as they arise. A number of cities in industrialized societies are already doing so, Amsterdam being just one example. The city won the Smart City Award for its innovative Open Data Program for transport and mobility. Amsterdam's Department of Infrastructure and Transportation makes traffic and transportation data publicly available. Using a mobile app, smart phone users can easily access real-time transport and travel information on parking (tariffs, availability and time), taxi stands, cycle paths and traffic jams.

5 In Arizona's city of Mesa, the police department has reduced crime rate by 25 percent, thanks to an altered smart policing approach. With telecommunications networks breaking down barriers to rapid communication, the police department shares information with police units in almost 50 cities throughout Arizona. In addition to making investigations more effective, this saves the department both time and money.

6 Existing infrastructures can be improved by retrofitting, which involves simply modifying the equipment that is already in service. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, for example, is retrofitting its 1,000 mile waste water system with sensors to spot and repair leaks. This prevents the overflowing of drains in the storm season, and mitigates the risk of mixing public water with untreated sewage.

7 Of course, a more radical approach to dealing with the rising population and dwindling resources is to build entirely new smart cities. Many of us are in awe of the city of Panem in the movie Hunger Games, in which residents are mostly preoccupied with fashion, food, and entertainment. Despite its dystopian view of the future, the movie provides what some would consider a glimpse into the future.

8 In the modern age, one of the most ambitious smart city projects is Masdar City, currently being built in Abu Dhabi. With a price tag of $22 billion, it is due to be fully functional by 2025. Masdar's foundations are not being laid just with bricks and mortar, but are being weaved into the city's infrastructure through social innovation and technology. Deriving energy from a solar farm located outside city limits, Masdar would use low energy appliances, thus saving on energy consumption. Instead of petrol-fueled cars, Masdar will only allow self-running electric cars which drive through specially built tunnels.

9 Many critics are already questioning the practicality of Masdar, claiming that by the time the city is built, many of the technologies on which its foundations are based will become outdated. On the other hand, proponents of Masdar contend that while sooner or later every technology gets outdated, this should not be reason enough for not ushering new technologies. Whether it is retrofitting existing cities or building new smart cities, the bottom line is that to meet the changing needs of urban populations and strained infrastructures, cities must become smart too.