Abstract
With a rapidly growing world population, urban populations are estimated to increase significantly over the next decades. This trend is reason for concern since the planet's resources are limited, and climate change is inherent. This chapter focusses on the question about whether new technologies employed in smart cities can be the answer to current and future needs of a city population. Cutting-edge technological advances are reshaping our ecosystem; transforming society, living, and work environments; transport systems; energy grids; healthcare; communications; businesses; and education. How can cities respond to the multitude of challenges by employing technology and at the same time ensure the public well-being, improve the quality of life of city inhabitants, and make sure that the human is still at the center of decisions?
TopIntroduction
The world is rapidly changing. In the 1950´s, around 1 billion people were living in urban areas around the world. By the year 2018, the urban populations counted for 4.2 billion people. 55% of the cities’ population lived in urban areas. These areas account for as much as 70 percent of global GDP nowadays. The United Nations estimates an increase up to 68% of this percentage by 2050. The most urbanized areas are the American continent followed by Europe, Oceania and Asia whereas Africa is the continent with mostly rural residents (United Nations, 2018).
The increased trend of urbanization brings concerns on how the future generations will live. The actual resources that our planet provides us with are limited and not sufficient, and upcoming generations will see themselves affected. We will face challenges regarding sustainable, socio-economic development, politics and environmental issues.
This chapter focusses on the question whether new technology can be the answer to our future needs. Will Smart Cities be the solution? The main challenge is to recognize needs, interpret digital data and predict changes with the help of technology. It is time to examine technology and think about its implications.
Technological advances are reshaping our ecosystem with cutting-edge technology such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Cloud Computing, Blockchain, Cybersecurity, just to name a few. It transforms everything that surrounds us, beginning with society, work environments, transport systems, energy grids, health care, communications and even relationships. This opens a debate on how the Human is adapting to these new technologies, not only on an individual level, but collectively. Therefore, the next question to ask is how cities can respond to all these challenges. How can we not only adapt and turn our cities into smart cities, but also how can we turn our economy into smart economy and citizens into smart citizens along the way? This is an opportunity that should not only be about technology but also embody the human being.
The objective of this chapter is to review the Smart City discussion by introducing different elements, by illustrating the efforts that have been made so far in this area, the weak links that need to be tied up, the potential Smart Cities have to improve the life of citizens and last, but not least, to provide a perspective for the future.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Smart City: A City that enhances the quality of life of its inhabitants by taking advantage of the possibilities offered by digitalization and technology in order to solve urban problems and challenges in a more efficient and sustainable manner.
Smart Economy: An economy that is based on technological innovation, resource efficiency, sustainability and high social welfare as engines for success. It adopts innovation, new entrepreneurial initiatives, increases productivity and competitiveness with the overall goal of improving the quality of life of all citizens.
Big Data: Huge and complex quantities of data sets that can be analyzed to reveal trends, patterns and behaviors. The resulting insights can be used for better decision making or for the development of new products/services.
Smart Citizen: A digitally literate person that takes advantage of technology in order to engage in a Smart City environment, address local issues and take part in decision-making.
Artificial Intelligence: It is a computer system’s ability to simulate and imitate intelligent behavior. It can process complex information, perform tasks, interpret data and learn from the data in order to apply the learnings to achieve an established goal.
Urban Innovation: This is the essential way forward for smart cities to confront the economic, social, ecological and technological challenges of the 21 st century.