Smart Cities

SMART CITIES-2

In July 2014, post the maiden budget being presented by the NDA Government, I had first published a post on “Smart Cities”. So the title Smart Cities-2

Eight months down the line the proposal does not seem to have moved much forward. Though we do hear of Vizag, Ajmer etc. being considered by the Industry/Govt. to be developed as smart cities and some task force or the other having being formed. But little seems to have taken place on the ground.

In my post in July I had given the definition of a smart city given by EU “Smart people; smart mobility, smart governance, smart living, smart environment & smart economy." I had added that we must add smart energy also to this definition.

Subsequently, after searching on the net, I have come across a ‘Smart City Council’ (http://smartcitiescouncil.com) where the tag words are livability, workability and sustainability. The ‘lead’ partners in this Council are Companies like GE,IBM, CISCO, Alstom grid etc. That is to say that these are primarily companies engaged in IT & ITES. Even Associate partners are leading IT companies. My assumption is that this Council represents collective wisdom or provides a platform for leading IT Companies to present and discuss technological solutions for cities which can be used to better manage the services or provide intelligent services and controls.

Further search has lead me to a post by Federico Guerrini in January this year on Forbes (http://www.forbes.com) wherein he has listed seven cities identified by a US based think tank (http://www.forbes.com/sites/federicoguerrini/2015/01/28/worlds-top-7-smartest-cities-of-2015-are-not-the-ones-youd-expect/). The cities listed are: Arlington County in Virginia, USA; Columbus in Ohio, USA; Ipswich in Queensland Australia; Mitchel in South Dakota, USA; New Taipei City, Taiwan; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Surrey in British Columbia, Canada

Write up about these cities shows primarily the steps taken and being taken by the city managers to provide intelligent services using IT solutions. (I would urge those who read this post to visit the original page and read for themselves. It is interesting.)

What Federico writes in his post about concept of a Smart City is –“a city which uses digital technologies to improve the quality of public and private services, while reducing costs and resource consumption.” He also mentions that “The Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), a New York-based think tank, prefers to focus on Intelligent Communities, defined as “cities and regions that use technology not just to save money or make things work better, but also to create high-quality employment, increase citizen participation and become great places to live and work.”

Another interesting read was a post published by Boyd Cohen in January 2012 (http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679127/the-top-10-smart-cities-on-the-planet). He, after research has listed cities like Vienna, Hong Kong, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Berlin, Tokyo, London, Paris, New York, Toronto. He does talk about cities which have adopted low carbon technologies etc. However primarily again the focus is on technology

While I have no issue with technology lending a helping hand in making a City Smart it alone cannot do so. Nor we should, in my opinion, give too much emphasis on technology. Can we transport water or sewerage using IT? Can transport run just on IT? Can buildings, parks, roads be built using IT? Answer of course is a resounding No. But it is a fact that we can manage the resource better and facilitate taking of decisions based on data which is in real time and correct.

However the output or outcome will depend upon how good the DESIGN and IMPLEMENTATION is. This in my opinion is the crux.

So I come back to my first post. What we need is:

·         Good designers who are capable of utilizing the given geographies and create passive infrastructure. Designers who understand local climatic conditions and who can create assets which make best use of wind and sunlight. We need designers who understand how economic activity takes place and are able to integrate same with other activities such as recreational, leisure, commercial, education etc. so that people travel less and enjoy a quality life.

·         We need very good engineers who can manage the resources in an efficient manner with minimum wastage and produce quality assets which reduces post installation maintenance costs and who can translate the designs in an efficient manner.

·         We need engineers who can design efficient road systems, efficient water supply and sewerage systems, efficient and smart energy grids which give reliable and stable power.

·         We need very good artisans and very good and reliable material sources which reduce time and production costs.

Once we have these and we are able to create smart infrastructure then we can put in IT backbones and other related infra to manage the systems on a scientific basis and create real smart cities and even smarter and sustainable communities.

New cities will present basically a design challenge but existing cities will present more of an engineering challenge. Whether it will be better to create new cities or to make existing cities into smart ones is difficult to say. But considering the issue of land acquisition creating new cities may prove to be difficult. In case of existing cities selling the likely benefits to existing populace and getting them ready to face the hardships that they will have to face while infra is being laid will also be a challenge. The issues can best be dealt with by political entities or city managers. Once the first smart city gets created it will be easier to sell the idea and get the people on board. In fact the first may not really be very smart but it will help in getting the things right in subsequent ventures

For this concept to succeed a lot of capacities will have to be created and harnessed and even more than the technical expertise we will need leaders who have the vision and the ability to put together capable and empowered teams and give them the resources to enable them to create world class cities where people live in harmony with nature and lead comfortable and fruitful lives. We need leaders who understand that besides designs innovative ideas will have to be developed to incentivize the creation of smart cities and smart communities. Once the vision is in place and teams have been created necessary financial resources will flow as financiers will be assured of good returns.

Would like to request all who get to read this post to chip in with ideas which can be compiled and shared.