Smart City projects are moving from planning to implementation, with projects gaining traction, delivering concrete results, and knowledge and good practices spreading. As dozens of Smart City projects are underway around the world, ranging from relatively minor interventions to brand new cities built from scratch, it is worth taking a look at the current state of play in the field.
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Intelligent Cities / Smart Cities
Battery powered e-bikes and e-scooters have been becoming increasingly popular worldwide, from Tel Aviv to Los Angeles, and major companies like Ford, GM and Uber and jumping on the trend. Smart Cities, eager to become cleaner, reduce traffic, and improve urban life, can find some potential in such vehicles, but their smart and efficient use depends on several factors.
The rapid progress of intelligent urban innovation, reflected in the transformative impact of Smart Cities, a trend which is already immensely popular and becoming even more so, raises a number of questions. As the popularity of Smart Cities constantly rises and their implementation spreads, so do the opportunities for cybercriminal attacks.
Applications have opened for the 2019 North American Readiness Challenge for cities, an annual program by the Smart Cities Council, running for the third year. Past iterations of the Challenge have helped nearly a dozen cities and states advance their smart cities initiatives. The deadline is on January 18, 2019, and five jurisdictions will be selected in March 2019, to receive significant assistance in their effort to become smart.
In early November, the Center for Digital Government (CDG) announced the winners of the 2018 Digital Cities Survey, running for the 18th year and recognizing US cities which use technology to make better use of their resources in ways such as tackling social challenges, enhancing cybersecurity, improving transparency etc.
Artificial Intelligence can play an important role in the development of Smart Cities. This is a part of the vision to transform Thailand’ s economy into an innovation-driven economy, as a part of the Thailand 4.0 Initiative, which includes the creation of 100 Smart Cities within two decades, in order to improve citizens’ quality of life.
The Internet of things (IoT) is a popular term used to describe a network of physical devices connected with each other to exchange the data they collect. IoT devices are becoming widespread on a consumer level, making peoples’ lives more efficient. Used on a city level, however, the IoT can help make Smart Cities green and eco-friendly.