The future of the world’s population is urban. More than two-thirds of our planet’s population are expected to live in urban areas by 2050, driven by rapid urbanization in Asia and Africa. Even as another 2.5 billion people are expected to be added to our cities over the next three decades, the challenges of providing critical infrastructure and urban services to them, loom large.
As with all other challenges, man is turning towards technology to create better, safer and more efficient cities. From utilities, transportation, traffic, waste management, pollution, sustainable living, to safety, healthcare and governance, smart cities are emerging as the answer to managing growing urban agglomerations.
Smart city initiatives are game changing. Home heating from renewable sources in Yokohama, Barcelona’s digitized waste management systems, smart parking solutions deployed by Canberra, real time public transport monitoring in Groningen or a distributed air quality network at Nijmegen – are just a few examples.
Interconnectivity is a Double-Edged Sword
Smart cities run on the backbone of sensors and IoT devices that are connected – to each other, to control systems and…
