What smart cities have in common is the way they leverage industrial big data, AI, Internet of Things and the cloud to solve urban challenges and help accelerate sustainable, liveable cities. These technologies are being combined into a class of software referred to as Industrial Intelligence as a Service, explains Lisa Wee at AVEVA.
By 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people are expected to reside in urban areas, and nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in cities within just 30 years.
Last year, the UN warned that climate change has now overtaken disease as the foremost urban health threat.
A centrally coordinated control platform functions like a central nervous system, transmitting and receiving information from a network of sensors across the city.
Cities are considered smart when they integrate information and communication technology into administrative functions.
Civic planners find themselves on the frontline of the climate crisis and social evolution. It is a dynamic environment and increasingly, urban authorities are turning to digital insights to help manage complex interdependencies and deliver safe, secure, improved quality of life.
There are many reasons for this increasing complexity. First, many cities face dramatic increases in population growth.
For example, London counted 7.3 million people in 2000. By 2030, some 9.4 million people will live in the British capital, according to the Trust for London foundation. The New York-Newark combined statistical area, often called the Tri-State area, hosts 23.5 million people, according to 2021 census data—up from 17.8 million two decades ago.
Shanghai, in China, has likewise seen its population expand from 13.4 million in 2020 to 27.8 million today, rising to a projected 34.3 million in 2035. And the UN predicts that 40% of the world’s most populous country, India, will reside in urban areas by 2035. That is estimated to be more than 607 million people.
These numbers mirror a global trend. By 2050, an additional 2.5 billion people are expected to reside in urban areas, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates. In other words, nearly 70% of the world’s population will live in cities within just 30 years.
But with growth comes complexity and resource challenges. They release 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, largely from carbon-intensive construction and transportation. Moreover, urban dwellers are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Rising sea levels, hurricanes, droughts and other extreme weather events will continue to affect hundreds of millions of city residents.
Last year, the UN warned that climate change has now overtaken disease as the foremost urban health threat, and could lead to consequences such as extreme poverty, a collapse of governance and financial resources, and reduced credibility of the global multilateral system.
How civic authorities respond will be critical to limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, in line with the Paris Agreement.
As populations grow and the focus on sustainability increases, many civic authorities are using intelligent, data-led tools to create an ecosystem that minimizes energy consumption, improves efficiency, and controls maintenance expenses. Urban leaders are turning to data-driven smart city models to promote a more liveable environment for residents.
Cities are considered smart when they integrate information and communication technology into administrative functions to enhance efficiency, interaction with stakeholders while improving viability and wellbeing for citizens.
Advanced industrial software can now collate, visualise and analyse data from a wide range of civic services onto a single unified digital backbone. With a holistic view, teams can spot trends and predict operational challenges, while improving situational awareness and crisis responses – all from a single portal.
Together with other strategic measures such as community engagement, policy frameworks, infrastructure investment, and awareness programs, digital technology can help create more sustainable and liveable urban areas.
By just one measure, currently available, digital solutions could drive up to 20% of the energy consumption reductions needed to hit the International Energy Agency’s 2050 net-zero trajectories in the energy, materials and mobility industries, according to analysis by Accenture and the World Economic Forum.
With advanced digital systems, utilities can collate and analyse operational data in real time. In the process, they become more efficient and innovative, and customer service improves. It’s something Barcelona in Spain, has firsthand knowledge of.
A centrally coordinated control platform functions like a central nervous system, transmitting and receiving information from a network of sensors across the city. Using tablets and smartphones, planners can monitor and optimise urban operations in real time. Park irrigation, for example, can be remotely turned off as weather conditions change. Resource management is now much more efficient, and liveability has improved—while Barcelona maintains its status as a sustainable smart city.
Energy usage remains a challenge for cities, but it can be optimised across urban facilities with real-time monitoring and the use of data analytics infused with AI. Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, PCMC in the Indian state of Maharashtra, aims to become India’s most liveable city by 2030 and serve as a lighthouse for the country’s $13-billion Smart Cities mission.
Using a data-driven approach to service delivery, PCMC has enhanced the safety and wellbeing of its two million residents. Smart metering has seen energy usage and emissions drop by 15-20%. At the same time, syncing traffic lights has reduced intracity congestion by 20-25%, cutting pollution and accelerating traffic circulation.
With climate change now an urgent priority, smart cities are using digital systems to accelerate the adoption of clean energy and facilitate the transition. Seattle, Washington, is one of US’ most environmentally aware cities. Its City Light utility has been carbon neutral for nearly two decades now, thanks to a power mix that is largely hydroelectric, 84%, alongside other clean energy sources, including nuclear, wind and biogas.
To ensure its energy infrastructure remains resilient and secure, the utility is now exploring grid modernisation, recently initiating construction on a solar microgrid demonstration project in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood. The continued transition to lower-carbon sources of energy will see Seattle’s residents benefit in terms of improved air quality, energy efficiency and quality of life.
Transport comprises the largest share of energy-related emissions for nearly half, 45% of the world’s countries, according to the UN. But convincing urban residents to switch to public transport requires an extensive network that is safe, widely accessible and runs on time. Seoul, South Korea, has the world’s longest metro system, transporting 2.6 billion passengers annually.
To enhance its services, the city is moving from time-based maintenance, where assets are upgraded according to a fixed schedule, to a more predictive system that helps prevent problems before they happen, thanks to digital technologies such as big data and machine learning.
With four lines completed, the transit system enjoys a significantly reduced mean time to repair, far fewer manual inspections and decreased project engineering costs, all contributing to a safer, more efficient service for passengers.
Smart city solutions can directly contribute to achieving net-zero targets, helping improve outcomes even in existing facilities. Some 62% of governments around the world have put in place an enterprise-wide sustainability strategy, according to 451 Research’s 2023 Voice of the Enterprise survey.
The University of California, Davis, pulls together data from multiple campus systems and applies algorithms to improve efficiency, optimise energy use and streamline HVAC scheduling across 1,000 buildings. With this newly sustainable infrastructure, the campus forecasts projected savings of $197 million over 60 years and is on track to achieve its carbon neutrality goals by 2025.
What all these cities have in common is the way they leverage industrial big data, AI, the Internet of Things and the cloud to solve urban challenges and help accelerate more sustainable, liveable cities. Now, these technologies are being combined into a flexible, scalable class of software solutions referred to as industrial intelligence as a service, IIaaS.
Thanks to its ability to create powerful connected industrial ecosystems, through combined computing, storage, and intelligence capacities, IIaaS enhances collaboration within and between industrial entities while improving outcomes for consumers.
For cities, it is a way to further optimise their operations, reduce waste and resource use, and innovate in real time on the road to a low-carbon future, while enhancing citizen engagement, liveability, and wellbeing.
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