Urbanization:
By 2060, over 60% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, according to a report from United Nations. Urbanization for the long-term creates many unhealthy bi-products. It creates a significant portion of the total greenhouse gas emissions and pollutions; people live in confined spaces, there is stress, uncertainty, and a lack of personalized solutions.
Governments and large organizations worldwide finally wake up and start looking for alternative solutions to create a cleaner future with more effective and efficient technological solutions.
Technology advancement:
The movement to build smart cities has started already, although with slow and small steps. Today it is clear that with the use of IoT, IoT, and big data, we can create more efficient systems on the road; sensors to track traffic, transportation systems, cameras to monitor the roads, drivers, and travelers.
Autonomous cars are being developed by technology and car companies to replace gas with electricity. They apply smart technology to make cars more efficient, safer, and more reliable on the roads. Micro mobility devices are introduced to areas where public transportation is difficult to manage or not possible. These transportation options provide people with the opportunity to commute while also utilizing the most eco-friendly options. Congestions and peak times are better managed by road monitoring systems and understanding how to alter the traffic when and where it is necessary.
It’s been recognized that implementing a smart city system requires people, cities, and nations to work together and introduce (worldwide) standards that are borderless and enable better communication, real-time data collection, data-sharing, and processing.
The future:
While various movies describing the future are filled with faceless robots, overarching, unfriendly automation systems, and driverless cars, we expect that the future of smart cities will be similar to what we have now with smart automation, clear and conscious city planning, and data management run from the background.
Summary:
The future lies in smart cities because our natural resources are not endless, and those often old-fashioned resources generate enormous amounts of pollution and significantly increase global warming. Finding ways to breathe cleaner air, living in less congested and greener cities, will help transform the life quality (and perhaps also the life expectancy) of humanity.