Smart City was a concept and dream of people in the past. It is not a dream anymore. The credit for converting the dream into a smart city’s reality goes to the internet of things. People who do not know about the internet of thighs are the system of interlinked different digital, mechanical, and computing mechanisms. It includes the various identifiers without interfering with the human. You can get an idea about it.
Today, there is a lot of talk about smart cities. But none of us exactly know what a smart city is? What are the different parameters that are counted for a smart city? What exactly defines a smart city? However, when we talk generally, we say that a city uses technological techniques to help people and solve problems in that city. One can say that a city that uses technology to improve accessibility, health amenities, and other services. The best of all a city that provides a voice to all citizens.
What makes a city a smart city?
A smart city is a framework that utilizes various technologies to compile data through signals or sensors. Then this compiled data is used to manage services, resources, and development practices. It is helpful to combat growing urbanization needs. To overcome all the challenges, there is a big need to apply these technological techniques in different city departments. It is far different from the regular cities. It induces the use of digital and electronic technologies in communities to make them more advanced. Information and communications technologies are implied in government systems.
A countable portion of information and communication technology comprises interlinked networks and machines that gather data through different procedures. So, we can say that the concept of a smart city is to make citizens’ lives easier and relaxed. It is not a new concept. We can see the verdicts of this concept from ancient Roman cities. The adequate water supply and drainage system in those cities are the real things in support of a smart city. However, technology has revolutionized, and there are a lot of modern mechanisms and machines. It isn’t easy to describe a smart city in a single line. A smart city does not have the application of technology in documents but provides it to the citizens.
Key Features of a Smart City:
When we read the term smart, most of us get the idea that more advanced technologies are used in the cities. It is not only about machines or technologies. It means that a smart city gives the right to citizens so they can speak up about different issues. It is something that works for the well-being of all the individuals of that city. They focus on the participation of citizens in the progress of the city. They listen to them and apply different technologies to overcome these problems.
In smart cities, the city’s administration focuses on the concept that citizens are building blocks of the city. The government uses tools like different advanced technologies like sensors to spot the empty parking spot, measure solar radiation, and check water quality and traffic problems to pamper them. They have implanted sensors at different locations to estimate the extent of all issues. We can see that in regular cities, the traffic lights work on routines no matter if there is no traffic. It is the wastage of electricity.
In the smart city, they implant sensors in traffic signals. When there is no traffic or less traffic as compared to normal routines, the sensors detect it. Then, the light of signals is dim, and electricity is saved. This is the real-time interaction of humans and technology to enhance efficiency. In this way, the government or administration of a smart city immediately solves the issues. All the citizens or users of these technologies can check the data in graphical form. It is helpful to understand the latest trend and methods of different technologies. A big thanks to the apps like Bicing and ApparkB that help people utilize the data in planning their days. It is worth using and giving the results to all the people.
Examples of Smart City:
When we think of a smart city, there are a lot of options. Some of them are emerging, and some are many advances. However, technology continues to evolve, and we cannot say that a specific city is advanced enough. So, let’s talk about the major smart cities.
New York City:
New York City is implanting different technologies like CyberNYC, MyNYCHA, NYCx Challenges, and many more for the city’s betterment. They have improved the transportation system, government offices, investment department, cycling spots, digital apps, and many more with these technologies’ help. Most importantly, there is open data for everyone in this smart city. So, you can get ideas about how advanced this city is?
Dubai:
Dubai is the favorite holiday destination for almost everyone. In 2013, they started the plan to make it a smart city. This plan will work till 2030 and bring major revolutions. They are now integrating the public and administration. The citizen can get access to different services by their smartphones. They have digitized government, autonomous transportation systems, business information, transaction information, and many more services. They are trying to bring different other projects for the citizens.
Final verdict:
Smart cities are the near future of the world. We know that technologies are evolving, and every country is adopting them. It is impossible to mention all the smart cities in this article. I have tried to mention all the aspects, characters, and other features of a smart city.