HOW TO MOVE TOWARDS SMARTER CITIES

INTRUCTION

A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. In other words, smart cities are responsive cities that are able to receive, process and return efficient information and services.

The way to make a smart city successful is to capture the soul of a place and connect it with impactable technology. There are seven steps can help us better move towards smart cities.

Figure 1: The picture of the Smart City

1. Institutional capability

The foundation of any smart city is its institutional capabilities. Without human capital and efficient administrative structures, smart cities can’t be built.

In addition, the physical structure is also important. If a city hall doesn’t have telephones, Internet and meeting rooms, efficient management would be difficult to achieve.

Figure 2: Institutional capability

2. Management capability

This demand on how to build smart cities drives market investment. From small businesses to large corporations, everyone wants to sell their products to municipalities. But if cities still use paper-based processes which waste so many time unnecessarily, this will significantly discourage investors from investing.

So that the second step of a smart city is to improve its management capabilities, which can significantly reduce wasted time. In Brazil, a public software portal was created to help the government solving various information technology problems.

Figure 3: Brazilian Public Software Website

3. Information collection and processing capabilities

Large cities require huge data collection and management capabilities. We can’t just base citizen participation on public hearings which would lead to weak data collection. Therefore, creating a smart city not only requires the establishment of a friendly interactive platform, but also requires qualitative analysis of the collected information.

4. Environmental monitoring

Global warming affects the global climate and natural environment, and only cities with strong resilience could overcome the difficulties. Public administrations need to effectively understand stormwater, soil structure and traffic so that they can nip problems before they happen, and predict, observe, respond to the environment in real time.

Figure 4: Environmental monitoring map

5. Territorial management

Building a smart city is a multidisciplinary endeavor that involves many fields. Therefore, another necessary step for smart cities is territorial management —- an efficient municipality must be able to effectively manage the areas where all urban phenomena occur.

Therefore, it is important to draw the local map which need contain the public facilities, public spaces, barrier-free sidewalks to help people deeply understand the city. Smart cities will not survive without clear and applicable urban standards and a master plan with long-term action and urban control.

Figure 5: Flood risk areas map

6. Financial autonomy

Maintaining a smart city needs to pay the price. Although it costs much less than inefficient cities, it still requires resources. Therefore, financial autonomy is crucial. If a regional municipal revenue sources are beyond the municipal control, its administration will be less efficient.

That’s why a tax system with clear and socially fair rules in the hands of an efficient and responsive state could transform smart cities. The closer the management of public resources is, the easier social control will be and citizens will understand their responsibilities as well.

Figure 6: The picture of money

7. Leadership

All of us want a city that has institutional capability, Management capability, Information collection and processing capabilities, environmental monitoring, territorial management and be financial autonomy. However, it also lacks the final step that makes smart cities actually ahead of all other cities: leadership.

Figure 7: Leadership team

Cities cannot reinvent themselves, and every innovative initiative needs someone to make it happen by placing this agenda at the center of municipal debate. A good urban planning leader and leadership team are important guarantees for the further development of smart cities.

Summary

The construction of smart cities cannot only rely on the seven steps. Besides good methods, we also need the government and residents work together to create a beautiful future.

Reference

Bruno Ávila, 2017, Sete passos para cidades mais inteligentes.

Kaley Overstreet, 2020, Smart Cities abrindo o caminho para um futuro inteligente.

Figure 1 source from https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2021/02/tech-alone-isnt-enough-to-create-a-successful-smart.html

Figure 2 source from https://cursos.iadb.org/en/indes/pla/institutional-capacity-assessment

Figure 3 source from https://softwarepublico.gov.br/social/search/software_infos?utm_medium=website&utm_source=archdaily.com.br

Figure 4 source from https://www.digi.com/blog/post/what-is-environmental-monitoring

Figure 5 source from https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/parks-leisure-and-culture/arts-and-culture/popular-local-maps

Figure 6 source from https://coinunited.io/news/en/2023-10-25/crypto/cunews-apple-s-project-breakout-a-move-towards-financial-autonomy-and-tech-driven-innovation

Figure 7 source from https://www.imsa-search.com/articles/leadership-2022-style/

Smart city is a new concept that requires responsive cities to collect urban data through technology or other modern technological means, such as electronic sensors. With the continuous advancement of technology, the author of this article has divided the article into seven parts, with clear logical thinking and presenting each concept to readers in simple and understandable language.
In the first part of the article, the author mentioned institutional capabilities, which are further divided into six different stages. I think the content of the second part is similar. The author tells us how to drive market demand and process this information. A successful case is a website in Brazil. After collecting evidence, each department needs to conduct some data evaluation on the city, understand the composition of different elements in the environment, and coordinate accordingly. Finally, maintaining a smart city requires some investment. Although the maintenance cost is not very high, it also requires appropriate resources and coordinated management efficiency. This article made me feel the importance of smart cities up close for the first time. Building a good smart city requires the government and people to work together to achieve it.
I recently saw an article online about the importance of smart cities (Francois, 2018). In this article, I learned that many places that are committed to building smart cities are facing many problems, such as a lack of sufficient freshwater. But there are also successful cases, such as Barcelona. The local government has installed many sensors around the city to help monitor noise. At the same time, the government helps people implement weather forecasts through these sensors. However, in the future, more and more cities will target smart cities, with approximately 66% of the population. The issue of resources will become the most important part.While maintaining sufficient energy, it is also necessary to maintain social and environmental sustainability. So smart cities are not an easy task for people and governments.
I have also seen many successful cases of smart cities (Satavisa, 2022). In London, UK, there is a database that provides various data on the development of this city, and any citizen has the right to log in to this website to access it. People build sustainable cities through this website. Meanwhile, in terms of transportation, London Heathrow has created a corridor connecting the city and the airport. This is also one of the successful elements of smart cities.
The second successful case is in Iceland. Iceland, as a country in the northern hemisphere of the Earth, experiences a lot of extreme cold weather. Its smart city attaches great importance to geothermal energy. Geothermal energy, as a renewable energy source, has enormous potential for this country. Meanwhile, 70% of the country’s energy comes from renewable resources, which is not an easy task for a small country.

Reference:
(1)Artusse, F. (2018) The Importance of Smart Cities, Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/zify/the-importance-of-smart-cities-2a4f7f89a6cd.
(2)Pati, S. (2022) Top 10 Smart City Projects that Have Shocked the World Today, Analytics Insight. Available at: https://www.analyticsinsight.net/top-10-smart-city-projects-that-have-shocked-the-world-today/.