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Cisco’ s chief globalization officer says that we will need to build 200 cities in the next 50 years to support the urbanization of our world, but it presents a great opportunity to transform how we live by building Internet-enabled and networked cities from the start.
Wim Elfrink addressed this subject during a presentation at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. His talk, “The Network Is The Platform For Transforming The World,’ focused on four “megatrends’ that he believes will change the world: the aging and decline of the labor forces of developed countries, the impending population boom of emerging countries, the shift of economic power to developing nations and urbanization of the world’ s population.
With those key points in mind, Elfrink laid out his vision of a world where cities are built from the ground up with the network in mind. These would be cities powered by the “Internet (Internet) of things.’ The buildings would be smart and know where to allocate energy, and your toilet could even provide you with nutrition advice. He said he believes a connected city could help save energy, decrease wasted water and traffic and lower crime rates.
Via Mashable