What is a Smart City?
In a smart city, crowdsourcing data enables better analysis of overall behaviour patterns for efficient resource management in increasingly challenging urban environments. The term ‘smart city’ refers to 360 degree connectivity in a built environment. It includes IoT technology-enhanced equipment both in the home and in the workplace connected to and communicating with each other, and also connected to product suppliers and utility providers, plus personal and commercial transport connected to the traffic infrastructure. However, smart city mobility and other technology is itself increasingly under threat from hacks, and cybersecurity systems have to be able to handle the fast growing number of entry points. Given this risk, a high level of citizen engagement is required to maintain overall positivity.
Why are Smart Cities Important?
The keyword is sustainability. Today, 55% of the world’s population live in cities. By 2050, it is estimated that it will be 66% of what will be a bigger total population, adding a further 2.5 billion city dwellers. Enough cities cannot be built or extended fast enough to cope. The rush to build and build means that the second most used liquid in the world after water is concrete, which gives off high levels of carbon emissions as it sets. The global construction industry accounted for 38% of the world’s greenhouse gases in 2019, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
This means what we already have must be used more efficiently, and this covers energy, water, food, transport, and medical resources. Furthermore, for smart cities to maintain citizen engagement and be embraced by the public at large, governments must be perceived as being fair to everyone, without creating a class of dispossessed and disenfranchised citizens. Smart technologies have to be deployed in a way that protects civil liberties, and through systems that protect personal data and are secure from malevolent hacks.
This article was first published by Crowdsourcing Week and you can finish reading it at https://crowdsourcingweek.com/blog/mobility-and-sustainability-in-smart-cities-requires-citizen-engagement-and-tight-security/
