Can Smart Cities Save Mankind?

What is a 'Smart City'

A 'smart city' is one that is purpose-built for 21st-century living. That means offering an infrastructure that enables everyone to access modern technologies easily and cheaply, so that communities can benefit from smarter collaboration.

The London Example

In 2013, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson revealed his comprehensive 'smart city' plan. He mentioned that, in London, between 2011 and 2021, more than 800,000 homes would be built, 641,000 jobs would be created, and 600,000 additional passengers would be using the city's peak-time public transport services.

The city has already entered 'a perfect storm of technological innovation', utilising intelligent products and digital technology on a grand scale, and leading the journey to a new era of data science infrastructure.

Combating 'digital exclusion'

Part of London's smart city plan involves removing skills gaps and digital exclusion in the educational sector. One way to achieve this is through the London Schools Excellence Fund initiative, which aims to boost enrolment for computer science courses to 450 schools and get 1,500 teachers involved.

There are also plans to provide fee Wi-Fi in all museums and art galleries, and to ensure London has one of the fastest Wi-Fi networks of any city in the world. Already, in the City of London financial district, the council has introduced 'smart' recycling bins, which feature digital screens where users can find information on the city and access the internet.

Tackling congestion

Unfortunately, in 2014, King's College London's Environmental Research Group, the U.K's leading air quality researcher, revealed that Oxford Street is one of the most polluted streets on the planet, with nitrogen oxide levels that greatly exceed the EU's safety limit. Part of the problem is the particularly high volume of buses here, which emit large quantities of diesel into what is a heavily built-up, predominantly concrete thoroughfare.

The smart approach to public transport

Perhaps the implementation of more bus-only lanes could help ease congestion and reduce journey times for hundreds of thousands of passengers every day. In Buenos Aires, for example, the launching of new bus corridors on streets such as Avenue 9 de Julio (the world's widest avenue) has already reduced commuting times there by around 20 percent, and cut pollution and traffic noise.

The smart approach to electricity and waste collection

In 2013, the city of Santander in northern Spain introduced a new 'Smart Santander' initiative, which included the installation of 12,000 sensors on items such as lamps and rubbish buns.

Lamps would turn off if the sensors could not detect anyone, and the sensors in rubbish bins could automatically detect when maximum capacity had been reached so that they could be emptied as quickly as possible.

This smart approach, which has already led to a 25 percent reduction in electricity usage in the city, also gives the power to the people, because anyone with a smartphone can simply take a picture with the Pulso de la Ciudad app and send it straight to the local government.

Smart cities could save the world trillions

According to the Global Commission on Economy and Climate, investing in 'climate-smart' cities - with environmentally friendly architecture and transport networks - could generate savings of up to £14 trillion over the next 35 years.

The Internet of Things has the potential to solve our overcrowding and housing crisis, and also see the population of cities such as London rise faster than predicted.

Alex Viall is the Director of Mustard IT, a London-based company that offers professional IT support to businesses across London and the Home Counties.