Smart City is a city concept that provides its residents with the most comfortable conditions. It was formed when people introduced modern technologies into public services and urban infrastructure.
Smart City technologies are being actively implemented all over the world. Singapore, New York, Amsterdam, Tokyo, and other modern significant cities are already claiming the status of smart cities.
Distinctive features of smart infrastructure
The point of the concept is to integrate information and communication technologies into people’s daily lives so that they manage urban infrastructure. For this, modern technologies are used, including alternative energy, a recycling water supply, video surveillance systems connected to the network, a complete waste processing cycle, ambient air quality control, and much more.
Smart infrastructure receives data from city residents and various monitoring devices and uses it to manage resources rationally and efficiently. The Smart City concept reduces the distance between officials and ordinary citizens, as the authorities receive up-to-date information about everything that happens in the city.
What does a smart city look like?
Creating an intelligent infrastructure requires introducing technologies in all fields of the economy and public life. It consists of many different elements.
Unified database and city application
A single data center can accumulate, store, and use information when necessary. This is important to maintain the city’s security, as the police can always use street video cameras to get information about criminals. In addition, people can quickly find out information about the victim’s location and state of health by calling the rescue service.
All information that may be important to the population can be collected in a single city application, where residents can find out about traffic jams and unexpected obstacles on the roads or check if there are free parking spaces. Chicago residents already have access to a similar service.
Unmanned vehicles
Google and Tesla are actively working and developing the technology of self-driving cars. They can read road markings, do not violate traffic rules, and react instantly to dangerous situations. Including unmanned vehicles in a smart city’s infrastructure will make it possible to avoid accidents and plot safer and better routes, taking into account all kinds of traffic jams.
Alternative energy
The smart city concept also focuses on ecology and the planet’s future. Solar panels have been recognized as the most efficient source of energy. Currently, alternative energy is widespread in the urban infrastructure of Japan.
Smart lighting
Smart streetlights can change their brightness depending on the situation, and when a car or pedestrian approaches a light source, it becomes brighter. In addition, street lighting can increase its brightness after rain, when the risk of accidents on a wet highway is higher.
Complete information about public transport
Smart infrastructure has unique displays at stops that provide information about specific public transport schedules and arrival times. This will help passengers choose the most convenient transport and save them time.
Waste management
In American cities, residents use smart trash cans to contain the smell. Moreover, they notify the garbage collection services when they are full. Nowadays, more than half of the world’s population lives in large cities, where 70% of the world economy is concentrated.
That is why the concept of smart infrastructure has become so popular. Its popularization will help people develop the economy and social sphere, control the consumption of scarce resources, and create a comfortable urban environment.