Smart Cities – 5 Examples of How IoT Revolutionises Urban Living
IoT (Internet of Things) technology influences and revolutionises our lives in many ways.
From healthcare to industrial and commerce solutions, IoT enhances our ability to work, consume, and keep healthy. The concept of ‘smart living’ encompasses all these ideals and takes them further by ensuring their integration to form one interconnected solution.
One of the most impactful aspects of IoT is its ability to enhance our quality of life. Urban settlements worldwide have adopted and used IoT technology for years, using data collection and data analytics to improve city operations and decision-making.
What is a ‘Smart City’?
The term ‘smart city’ refers to an urban environment that uses digital technology for data collection. These are often large metropolitan areas and conurbations, but smart city technology can also have a presence in smaller towns and cities.
The data collected by IoT devices helps influence factors like traffic, air quality, public transport, and various public services like water and waste management. These efforts have proven extremely useful in urban areas worldwide.
Here are some examples of smart cities across the world:
Singapore
Singapore is the world’s premier example of a smart city. It combines technology and robust urban planning to amplify residents’ quality of life.
In 2014, Singapore established its Smart Nation initiative to facilitate the adoption of digital technologies across all facets of life. Standout examples include healthcare, transportation, sustainability, and public services, which directly and indirectly influence life in Singapore.
The city-state boasts one of the world’s most advanced public transportation systems, featuring its MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) network and an extensive bus system. Many of the trains used on this system are driver-free and connect almost the entire island. Singapore’s Land Transport Authority also uses IoT technologies within its Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to monitor and manage traffic conditions through sensors and cameras.
Singapore’s ‘Virtual Singapore’ (VSg) initiative involves creating a dynamic 3D digital twin of the city from IoT sensors, integrating real-time data to simulate and analyse urban and natural scenarios. It’s proven helpful in urban planning, disaster management, and energy management.
The government also deploys drones to survey areas that contain stagnant water, such as gutters on high-rise buildings, which helps contain diseases like Dengue Fever.
London
London has adopted IoT solutions to help manage air quality, flooding, street lighting, and transport.
The city is a hub of hustle-and-bustle like no other. Smart transport and traffic solutions make everyone’s day-to-day less hectic, especially in busy areas across Central London where the lives of tourists, workers, and residents intermix. Specifically, TfL (Transport for London) employs IoT technologies to optimise traffic flow and enhance public transportation, contactless payment systems, and real-time tracking of buses and trains to improve urban mobility. The less time spent messing around with cards and tickets at a busy Underground station, the quicker and more smoothly a busy crowd can move the gates.
The City of London Corporation has implemented a street lighting system comprising approximately 12,000 IoT-equipped luminaires. They are controlled and monitored remotely, which allows for dynamic adjustments based on real-time conditions. These efforts have proven helpful in improving energy consumption and reducing costs.
In addition to transport and street lights, London also pioneered the use of IoT-enabled sensors to monitor air pollution. They do this at a hyper-local level to gain high-precision insights into specific neighbourhoods, streets, and busy roads.
You can also find LinkUK kiosks in London, created in partnership with BT, that replace traditional phone booths with free Wi-Fi, phone calls, device charging, and city service access. These kiosks are one part of the city’s wider efforts to enhance digital connectivity and provide apps and smart services to all.
Lausanne
Lausanne, a Swiss city of approximately 140,000, has emerged as a world-beating smart city. Like London’s street lighting, Lausanne’s uses IoT-enabled technology—however, despite its significantly smaller scale, these sensors control approximately 14,000 street lights, marginally exceeding London’s 12,000. They use sensors to monitor and adjust lighting based on real-time conditions to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs.
The city employs IoT-enabled sensors to monitor air quality and noise levels. These sensors provide real-time data, enabling city authorities to implement targeted measures that help improve environmental conditions and public health.
Despite Lausanne’s small size, it has its own metro system. Its M2 line is fully automated and driverless, and it connects to centralised control systems that monitor train movements and system status in real-time. The metro system provides passengers with regular updates on train schedules and service statuses through digital displays and mobile apps, and these systems rely on IoT devices to ensure accuracy and timeliness.
The city also uses parking sensors that provide information on available parking spaces around the city, reducing traffic congestion and emissions by guiding drivers straight to vacant spots.
Oslo
Oslo is another example of a leading smart city. Key initiatives include smart street lighting, electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, environmental monitoring, and smart waste management.
The city has an extensive network of over 2,000 EV charging points, supported by IoT technologies that monitor usage patterns to optimise energy distribution. Oslo aims to significantly reduce emissions and promote sustainable transportation, and this infrastructure is one such example. Much of the world is falling behind when it comes to EV infrastructure, but Oslo has shown that investment can be successful.
In addition to sustainable transport facilities, Oslo utilises IoT-based waste management systems such as sensor-equipped bins that monitor fill levels. The data allows for optimised collection routes, which reduce operational costs and environmental impact.
Like with other smart cities, IoT-based technology is embedded firmly into Oslo’s public transportation. Various devices provide real-time updates on vehicle locations and traffic conditions, helping optimise routes and schedules and improving the passenger experience.
Beijing
While somewhat isolated from the Western world, Beijing has made great strides in cementing itself as a smart city, perhaps more so than others. For example, they have deployed a smart traffic management system consisting of 157 high-definition cameras on expressways around the city, which automatically count vehicles, provide traffic flow statistics, and detect accidents and other incidents. These initiatives have proven helpful as they usually result in authorities being alerted.
Beijing uses IoT-enabled sensors within its urban pipeline management networks to monitor real-time conditions and detect leaks. The system employs a digital twin command centre which allows for proactive maintenance and efficient resource management.
Environmental concerns have long been an issue in China. To combat this, Beijing uses IoT devices to monitor air quality and environmental conditions across the city. These sensors collect data, which enables authorities to implement targeted measures for improving environmental quality and public health.
Beijing’s public transport system, namely its subway, uses facial recognition technology to allow passengers to access services through quick facial scans. Big screens display real-time information on carriage occupancy, helping passengers make well-informed decisions.
Have Smart Cities Been a Success So Far?
Smart cities have been heralded by experts as successful thus far, and things will only become increasingly integrated as time passes. However, many initiatives come at the expense of privacy, a universal criticism of most smart city initiatives.
One of the main issues with smart city initiatives is citizen engagement. Sensors, cameras, and tracking applications provide an element of surveillance, which many people dislike. Some cite information sharing as shifting from horizontal (between citizens) to vertical (citizens and the government), and much of this can be attributed to smart living technology. In Beijing and other Chinese cities, this has become ubiquitous through facial recognition and social scoring technology.
Overall, smart cities have transformed urban living, but in some cases, the benefits have come at the expense of privacy. Despite the perks and downsides, the IoT technology that powers many modern-day smart city solutions is extremely powerful, and it’s certainly here to stay.
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