This article is part of a blog series on what smart cites are and what services they provide.

By using technology and data analysis, Smart Cities can enhance their operations, boost productivity, maximize economic growth, and most importantly raise their citizens’ quality of life. Smart City governments should be more interested in how and why they need technology if they want to be successful.

How does the Internet of Things (IoT) make cities agile and great?

Secure Wi-Fi, internet connectivity, mobile devices, and Internet of Things are essential elements to transform traditional city life.

The power of IoT

IoT had a great impact on the development of cities by revolutionizing the way we live.

The use of massive volumes of IoT devices and sensors in the smart city concept, helped the municipalities to monitor, expand, and control every aspect of city operations and functionalities. Managing the volume and interconnection of these devices is a challenge. The scope of the deployment is:

• building, operating, and maintaining the devices
• developing software and some services
• scaling possibilities
• developing projects, requiring low power, and being inexpensive.

Smart city IoT applications

IoT devices help to automate mundane tasks to solve public safety, traffic, and environmental issues.

Examples of IoT networks delivering effective public services are as follows:

Better traffic management

Large-scale urbanization and a developing population forced municipalities to find solutions, using the IoT, for heavy traffic congestion and increasing road accidents to:

• improve safety
• decrease road accidents
• connect vehicles
• reduce traffic congestion
• find available parking places easily.

Smart transportation

Improved traffic management implies more connected vehicles and better smart transportation means.

Statista projections show that by 2025, globally there will be over 400 million connected cars in operation, up from some 237 million in 2021.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes cities smarter

Smart cities with huge networks of IoT devices will gather enormous amounts of data, which will require processing. Using Artificial Intelligence is helping Smart Cities to:

• improve transportation
• ease maintenance planning
• enhance safety.
  

AI Solutions in Smart Cities

Smart City solutions powered by AI can:

• learn from citizens' interactions within communities, and with the town management
• open up the potential to apprehend metropolitan residents’ habits to improve municipalities' planning and services
• expose unknown facts that will help to better prepare for the changes required by citizens in advance.

A lot of data is collected by municipalities from:

• public transport
• city taxes
• police archives
• service sensors
• weather forecast.

It would be difficult, if not impossible, for any individual to make sense of the intelligence collected on their own. With the help of AI, it becomes easier to connect, decipher, and assess data.

AI has the potential to absorb and analyze an enormous amount of information coming from various sources. The analysis will allow the municipality to:

• improve the town agencies' communication and capability
• reduce costs
• better use of the infrastructure.

Where and how to use AI in Smart Cities

Let's go over some potential use of AI in smart cities:

Transport systems

To avoid congestion, Smart Cities can use AI combined with traffic lights and sensor systems to:

• collect data in real-time, from AI-powered traffic cameras, on vehicle density
• send information to the traffic control center
• make adjustments to the timing of the signals
• reduce driver stress
• improve traffic flow
• save citizens money on gas.

Energy consumption

Data collected are interpreted to monitor and assess the energy consumed by businesses and citizens to:

• optimize the renewable energy generation facilities’ locations
• identify areas of high energy waste
• implement energy consumption quota.

Public safety

To prevent crime and save lives, AI can take advantage of sensors and camera networks used for traffic monitoring.

For example, analysis of vehicle license plates can help to:

• locate stolen cars
• spot expired registrations
• track and monitor sexual offenders
• combat gang violence.

Sustainability

AI and machine learning can be used to control pollution, energy consumption, and improve decisions for the environment and the transport system.

Smart Cities using AI applications can increase their productivity, efficiency, safety, and economic interest.

Digital Twins can make cities smarter

The use of digital twins, combined with the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, extended reality, and the cloud is helping governments and cities around the world to:

• virtually visualize concepts before they exist
• simulate the impacts of new construction
• evaluate changes needed to a core IT system or healthcare design.
  

With a digital twin, authorities can simulate a system or a process to predict outcomes they may have in the real world. They can, for example, simulate the sending traffic alerts to cars to predict how drivers will react.

Digital Twin collecting data from sensors and other sources in the physical world and inputting them into a computer create a twin model of the real-world construction that can be manipulated and analyzed in real-time.

For example, in Orlando, Florida, they created a digital twin, revealed in October 2022. The digital twin, using various data sets, allows all stakeholders of the city- businesses, local governments, and nonprofits to visualize how planned changes will impact the region. The model is critical to configure the economic development strategies of Orlando.

The city partnered with Unity, a software development company, to bring the project to life. Executives in the city’s economic sector hope that it will help develop flexible solutions to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, review its infrastructure, and Smart City expansion.

The Digital Twin functionalities will be:

• a critical resource for decision-makers in the area
• simulations of climate change projects, based on historical rainfall totals, and flooding patterns
• predictions of traffic bottlenecks using sensor data from stoplights and highways, informing transportation planning.
• the use of historical population data, to predict future density for transport mapping, housing development, and power grid expansion
• able to show available land and real estate, areas of interest for different industries, infrastructure connectivity, and talent availability to companies wanting to move to Orlando without traveling to sites.

Other cities’ digital twin applications have normally been less ambitious, only working across smaller areas.

Digital twin technology creates opportunities, at government levels, to:

• optimize economic development planning
• streamline healthcare options
• enhance traffic response
• transform the way they plan, manage and operate their cities and communities.

Immersive Technologies In Smart Cities

Augmented reality and virtual reality, called immersive technology help Smart Cities to improve residents' lives and city management decision-making.

Virtual Reality immerses users into an interactive and digital environment. Augmented Reality (AR) superimposes digital content into a physical world.

AR tools can provide the best assistance, but we still do not have a pair of AR glasses, at an affordable price, to make their adoption a reality.

Immersive technology usage in smart cities is discussed below.

Augmented reality (AR) in Smart Cities

The next generation of glasses will probably be an extension of our smartphones. The next steps will see AR glasses removing the need for the smartphone.

AR applications will certainly be able to address some of the following issues for Smart Cities:

Navigation

Navigation apps today are important tools for commuters in urban cities. We use our smartphone navigation app to find the quickest, most available route to go where we want. Watching the smartphone screen is inconvenient and unsafe.

AR navigation can use the phone to:

• get the user’s location
• augment navigational information on the mobile display
• help navigate using an indicator to point out the right direction.

Disaster feedback

First responders in a disaster zone need to be as efficient as possible. They should be able to:

• have clear communication with each other
• get proper information about current conditions
• make decisions about resource allocation
• give appropriate guidance and help.

In a flood situation, for instance, AR will be able to help guide the rescue officers quickly and safely to the destination reducing the risks.

AR could also be used to train rescue officers with interactive visual effects, helping them to experience real threats.

Virtual reality (VR) in Smart Cities

VR, a technology that immerses users into an digital world, giving them an impression of reality, has the following potential uses in smart cities:

Urban planning

Building new structures or infrastructures in a Smart City means incorporating in the BIM execution plans to include objects such as sensors, cameras, and actuators that enable movement to:

• optimize of space
• improve users’ wellbeing
• make transportation easier
• lower greenhouse emissions.

Smart Cities require extensive work from city planners and structural engineers before the construction starts.

The combination of VR and BIM models allows city planners to verify that the unbuilt model will conform to the municipality's structural constraints and space. The engineers can make adjustments in the digital model if needed, to avoid costly reworks to the model, whilst constructed.

The combination of affordable hardware, internet connectivity, AR, and VR can help convert town plans into reality and revolutionize residents’ lifestyles.

Robotics and Smart Cities

Robots are required to do mundane tasks that humans do not want to do, like jobs that are dangerous.

Startup costs are high

This issue is easily overcome. Robots' ROI is high as robots are very cost-effective. They:

• do not unionize
• are not absent for sickness
• do not need healthcare
• are loyal and dedicated
• endlessly repeat the same action time after time
• are very accurate in providing high-quality work
• improve safety as they are not prone to accidents
• can easily be financed.

Mixing AI with robotics will:

• make human-to-robot communication and work sharing easier
• increase vision ability when interacting with, or avoiding certain items undetectable by the human eye
• help navigation on hazardous terrain, as robots perceive their surroundings, and process data more accurately than humans
• soon be replacing jobs that humans actually do
• create jobs because robots need maintenance that will be provided by humans.

Robots in Smart Cities

Smart Cities’ robots are designed to:

• enhance parking management
• facilitate transportation support
• be autonomous and programmed to perform traffic security tasks
• address humans politely, for example, asking them to pick up their litter.

By the 2030s, expect to see robot-powered vehicles in Smart City infrastructure. E-vehicles will be available on demand and environmentally friendly and self-driving cars will be the norm.

Are drones allowed in Smart Cities?

As drones become safer and more sophisticated, smart cities will be adopting their use.

Smart City planners’ main task is to increase connectivity between citizens and services. Using drones would certainly help them achieve these goals, but it is often illegal. The drone industry is working actively with drone lawmakers, designing new laws and frameworks for Smart Cities.

The key questions are:

• how can drones contribute to a smart city?
• are these contributions currently permitted under the country's laws?

Potential use of drones in Smart Cities

Safety and security

Drones can help municipalities with:

• traffic management
• car parking
• crowd monitoring and control
• weather assessments

Delivery

Drones in smart cities are able to:

• perform fast and efficient delivery
• transport medical deliveries quickly
• communicate precise GPS location information for package tracking
• reduce traffic congestion in urban areas and gas emissions.

Infrastructure and planning

Monitoring the development of new buildings, and inspecting old infrastructures, are tasks that could be performed by drones very soon. They will:

• gather information in locations where traditional methods are difficult or dangerous
• provide real-time data, collected on construction sites and development projects, to ease communication between private and public sectors
• facilitate the implementation of 5G networks, helping to build the network and detect dead spots
• fly over long distances, without interruptions, even if there are changes in the network.

Drones will play a vital role in modernizing cities and in the emergence of smart cities today!

In Conclusion

The EU has been proactive in growing smart cities throughout Europe. It encouraged its member nations by allocating funds to smooth their implementation.

The US needs to accelerate the development of Smart Cities. It is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, but most Smart City development is only related to public safety and traffic. There is still a lot of potential to develop other solutions.

In Asia, countries like South Korea and China already use IoT-powered smart city solutions to help reduce traffic congestion and CO2 emissions.

Smart Cities' ultimate goals are to provide:

• improved citizen services
• a better lifestyle for urban residents

Governments, urban planners, engineers, and architects are collaboratively strategizing and leveraging new digital technologies.

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