Smart City: What is a Smart City and How Does it Work?

The smart cityalso called smart city, is not a utopia or an invention of some futuristic novel set in the 3000s. Even if the name can make us imagine a reality governed by robots, at the base of these urban agglomerations there are not humanoids. But instead there is a technology at the complete service of citizens.

If we wanted to give a definition to the concept of smart city, at its base there would be the use of ICT to improve everyday life. In detail, a smart city uses digital technologies to implement public safety or even energy efficiency.

In short, thanks to ICT, the services that each city makes available to individual citizens and businesses are improved through innovative digital solutions. This also translates into greater environmental sustainability, if we consider more efficient and low-emission public transport, or greener waste disposal.

According to an estimate made by the United Nations, by 2050, 70% of the global population is expected to live in urban centers, which means that large cities will have to face urbanization challenges. But smart cities could be the answer to this mass movement, making the lives of their inhabitants easier and more sustainable.

What is a smart city?

We have written it and we repeat it, artificial intelligence will not replace humans in command of a smart city. But it is also true that the technology is the great protagonist of these urban realities. Today there are some large global metropolises that already offer an idea of ​​what the future could be like seen through the filter of ICT.

But what exactly are smart cities? A smart city is a city that uses information and communication technologies to improve its operational efficiency, share information with the public, and provide better quality government services and citizen well-being.

The main goal of a smart city is to optimize city functions and promote economic growth while improving the quality of life of its inhabitants, using intelligent technologies and data analytics. The success of a smart city also relies on the efficient relationship between the public and private sectors.

How? Because much of the work to create and maintain a data-driven environment is outside the purview of local government, support for a smart city may come from private sources. One example is surveillance cameras scattered throughout urban areas, which may require the expertise and technology of multiple parties.

Smart cities: virtuous examples

There are large metropolises scattered around the globe that have already embraced the concept of intelligent city, true smart cities ante litteram. Singapore, Copenhagen and Oslo are certainly among the examples not to be forgotten. Three realities that have said yes to a fruitful use of ICT to make the territory more livable and usable.

Singapore

South of Malaysia, Singapore is an island that has always stood out as a smart city, at the forefront of new technologies serving the community and the economic sphere. For example, the smart city was among the first globally to choose a digital health systemwith wearable devices to monitor patients remotely.

And Singapore may be the second most densely populated city on the planet, but its smart vision aims for unprecedented digital optimization. With the use of sensors, they already collect a huge amount of useful information for well-being and can measure everything from how clean a certain area is to how crowded an event is.

But Singapore also aims to amaze us with special effects, as it is working to be the first eco-smart city, completely free of vehicles.

Oslo

But Oslo also aims to solve the traffic problem, this time focusing on electric vehicles, which should be the only ones on the road in the city by 2025. And to make the switch to electric more attractive, the Norwegian capital already has incentives in place for zero-emission cars, including free parking, the use of preferential lanes and reduced taxes and tolls.

If this were not enough to make us elect Oslo as a smart and sustainable city from the point of view of mobility, it should also be added that technology also supports urban traffic. Which means monitoring car license plates, through detectors, to avoid congestion.

Copenhagen

Like Oslo, Copenhagen has chosen to adopt a sustainable approach to make the city smart and more livable. In 2017, the Copenhagen Solutions Lab received an award for its system that monitors air quality, energy consumption, traffic and waste management.

The system also connects parking systems, traffic lights, buildings, smart meters and electric vehicle charging stations to manage traffic in real time. The Danish capital is also working with MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to develop a system of smart bicycles.

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