The future is here and it is time to embrace it – cities are getting overpopulated, pollution is high, and it is similar in every corner of the world. We need technology to help us not just at work and home but also on a larger scale because the development of the cities cannot be left to its own devices. It needs to be planned and monitored if we wish for it to be functional.
As mentioned, technology can be of great help in this regard and some of the solutions are already in use in cities around the world. With that in mind, here are a few practical solutions that can be incorporated into any city.
Higher control over traffic
One thing that almost all citizens can agree on, regardless of the city, is that they hate rush hour traffic. As more and more people are leaving the countryside and gravitating towards cities, they are getting crowded and it seems as though everyone has a car on their own. This not only creates issues with traffic but also pollutes the environment.
A manner to deal with both these issues is to introduce smart traffic lights and smart parking. This basically means, in case of the smart traffic lights, that they monitor the traffic flow so for instance, if it is 3 AM and the traffic is almost non-existent on some road, the traffic lights might turn themselves off because there is no need to control the traffic. As for the parking, the idea is that people will not lose time looking for a parking space because they would have a tool for knowing exactly where they can find a spot for their car.
Energy-saving solutions
The proper lighting system is necessary for making the citizens feel safer and so they can go about their daily activities. Energy-efficient LED lighting has revolutionized energy expenditure and it is already present in many buildings, both commercial and residential, as well as with smart streetlights. Low energy consumption for more light is just one of the benefits of installing high quality lighting products in all areas since they offer benefits such as presence control, daylight savings while guarantying optimal visibility and easy maintenance.
People are turning towards different solutions for reducing energy consumption and most buildings and their residents closely monitor their energy usage. These solutions range from solar power systems and electric vehicles all the way to smart grids which can help improve outage detection, speed of data capture, disaster recovery as well as field service operations. Exerting higher control over energy consumption can reduce it significantly, as well as help our environment to a great extent.
Infrastructure improvements
Employing technology to aid infrastructure is not a complex step and it can help immensely. Imagine just how many public health issues could be prevented by being able to, for instance, test for lead content in water in real-time. Smart solutions nurture pro-activity which would help save lives, resources, and cut down unnecessary expenditures so that the money could be put to better use.
Another manner in which technology could help city infrastructure is better planning – being able to accumulate and analyze a large amount of data, the decisions of when, where, and what to build would be made much quicker and efficient. As already noted, the cities are getting crowded by the minute so there is a strong need for them to expand and grow making smart infrastructure planning a crucial element for having functional cities in the future.
Conscientious land exploitation
Speaking of urbanization and cities getting crowded, we have all witnessed an increase in the number of building and expansion of cities. However, besides a more efficient building process, we also need to consider our land exploitation practices because if we don’t strive to achieve sustainability via modern technology, we risk causing severe ecological damage.
Even agriculture has had a negative impact on the land so using non-toxic materials and giving it space to ‘breathe’ is essential if we want to live in a healthier world. The land is a finite resource and when it comes to construction, it is imperative we use the technology to determine which land should be used for building and which should be turned to parks and forests so that we can allow land to recuperate and decrease the environmental impact of individual construction projects.
Data management for better planning
A smart city will accumulate a vast amount of data but the trick is to analyze them quickly and to make use of them since simply storing them or using just a portion isn’t practical and it doesn’t make any financial sense. Predictive analytics with the aim of facilitating everyday lives can be used in this sense to assess future patterns and that is applicable in numerous aspects of urban city life.
For instance, data collected from streetlights can not only help regulate traffic and save energy, as already mentioned but the traffic flow in different times of the day can indicate that a particular neighborhood is gaining in popularity and that information can be used to build some public facility, a new restaurant or a shopping mall. The options are numerous and it is all connected with smart planning with the goal of making life easier for its citizens.
Wrapping up
The top priority of smart infrastructure systems should be – people. The main reason why we need better control over the development of the cities is so they could accommodate all the people in such a way that we can all function optimally. It all starts with building a system that can sustain accumulating and analyzing a vast amount of data pouring in from all sides.
Managing this data can aid proactivity in building planning, while numerous energy-saving solutions can also reduce pollution and cut down expenses. Traffic is another point that needs to be monitored because by reducing vehicle traffic, people and goods could be moved easily through various means of transport. Depending on where you live, some of these smart solutions are more or less present in your city but they will all be implemented in a not so distant future.