The Smart City

In technological terms, a smart city is the digital extension of the city. It measures status data and carries out analyses. Decisions are made on the basis of these analyses. Not by the smart city itself, of course, but by the respective urban developers.

The aim of a smart city is to design the infrastructure and all services in such a way that life in the smart city becomes more comfortable, more sustainable, safer, and ultimately more liveable. The organizational structure of a smart city therefore encompasses numerous tasks and areas of responsibility. It is crucial that the individual fields of application do not function as stand-alone solutions, but are networked with each other. In a smart city, the processes should be interoperably coordinated. One guiding principle is to create data connectivity in the smart city.

This area includes all planning tasks relating to housing, commercial areas, parks and green spaces, public squares, playgrounds, pedestrian paths, and traffic concepts.

The traffic sector includes planning for passenger and freight transport, road traffic, traffic-calmed zones, and infrastructure for cyclists (cycle paths, bicycle parking facilities, bicycle rental stations). The focus lies on optimizing the entire traffic system in the urban environment. Intelligent traffic guidance systems and innovative mobility solutions are being implemented for this purpose. In future, this will also include safety concepts for autonomous driving and, increasingly, charging zones for electric vehicles.

Energy management is a field of action in the smart city that deals with all topics relating to energy consumption and the use of resources. Smart grids, sustainable energy solutions, measures to reduce energy consumption in buildings, intelligent irrigation solutions, water management solutions for private and commercial households, and waste management are topics in this field of action.

A new field of activity in the smart city concerns the monitoring of environmental parameters. Due to increasing air pollution, especially ozone levels in summer, it has become necessary to measure certain parameters in the smart city. In addition to monitoring air quality, noise measurement systems are also operated, and the water quality of wells or canals is regularly checked.

In summary, these measurements serve to ensure the safety of the residents of a smart city. The focus is on the task of mitigating the consequences of climate change for residents in the smart city. For this reason, shading measures and water installations, as well as the increased creation of green spaces and windbreaks have recently been included in this field of action.

Ensuring security plays a special role in the smart city, as innovative wireless IoT solutions open up new possibilities for security, risk detection, and preventive measures. These include, for example, the already familiar video systems, but also smart lighting, and smart safety for smart city employees.

To enable citizens to participate in decisions in the smart city and actively support all developments in the smart city, digital services and platforms are being created that enable participation. These mobile apps or citizen portals offer opportunities to submit applications, take part in an e-vote, and submit suggestions for improvements. Citizens can notify the administration of grievances that are brought to the attention of the responsible employees in real time, for example.

Buildings are both part of the urban infrastructure and a component of building management. The intelligent monitoring of building parameters is possible in smart cities. This applies to room parameters in buildings, the predictive maintenance of passenger elevators, fire extinguishers or window locking systems, parking systems, and access solutions. The building functions as a smart building within a smart city.

In most cases, the entire leisure sector is privately organized, but nevertheless benefits from the technical possibilities of the smart city by pursuing cooperative technological approaches. This concerns the use of IoT sensor networks. The leisure sector includes innovative wireless IoT solutions in museums, amusement parks, educational institutions, restaurants, and sports stadiums.

An increasing number of people are living in urban infrastructures. The United Nations estimates that 68 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. There are already 34 megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants, and four of them are located in Asia. Currently, the largest city is Tokyo in Japan with 37.2 million inhabitants. The second largest city is Delhi in India. In Germany, Berlin is the largest city and the destination of 3.6 million inhabitants. The United Nations expects the world to have 43 megacities with over 10,000 million inhabitants by 2023. By that time, Deli will have overtaken Tokyo to become the world’s largest city with almost 39 million inhabitants.

The increasing urbanization of our lives is a driver for the integration of wireless IoT technologies. The Institute for Management Development at the University of Singapore (SUTD) publishes the global Smart City Index every year. This index classifies how smart cities are, based on citizen surveys. It focuses on the following topics: Health, safety, mobility, leisure, and work. The number of smart cities is increasing every year. The potential fields of application for wireless IoT technologies in smart cities are immense. The entire macro and microcosm of a city can be digitally recorded, evaluated, analyzed, and centrally controlled.

It is therefore understandable that pilot projects in smart cities have increased rapidly in recent years. The result: big data. It is understandable that some residents of smart cities and city planners are particularly keen to safeguard data protection, avoid movement profiles, and ensure the integrity of personal data. But there are also other examples. In Chinese cities, thousands of cameras are used to monitor citizens.

According to a report by ‘ReportLinker’, the global market for IoT in smart cities is estimated to reach 159.21 billion USD by 2022. The market value is predicted to reach 402.48 billion USD by 2027. The Asia-Pacific region led the IoT market for smart cities in 2022, with the increasing introduction of 5G technology driving further growth.

Examples such as the intelligent street lighting network in San Diego and Wi-Fi enabled public telephones in New York City show the savings potential of intelligent infrastructures. In the USA, companies spend around 100 billion USD a year on office energy. Smart buildings could save 20 to 25 billion dollars, covering a significant portion of the country’s energy consumption and operating costs. Cities like Barcelona are using smart waste management to save up to 10 percent of costs. By 2020, there are expected to be more than 26.3 billion IoT devices and connections worldwide.

The rapid growth of continuous and increasing globalization means that the market for technologies that make the Internet of Things (IoT) possible is growing rapidly. According to forecasts, the global market in smart cities is expected to grow from 300 billion USD in 2021 to 650 billion USD in 2026. A total of 41 trillion USD is to be invested to make digital technologies possible in cities.

This includes artificial intelligence, IoT, big data solutions, robotics and drones as well as the associated broadband networks. An enormous amount of real-time data needs to be secured. With increasing dynamic growth in data security risks, the capacity to increase data security must be expanded. Only two percent of the data generated in 2020 was actually stored. According to estimates, only one percent of the data generated in the Internet of Things is actually used.

Futurologists assume that by the middle of the century, almost 70 percent of the world’s entire population will be living in urban infrastructures. This poses enormous challenges for transportation systems, food supplies, the maintenance of critical infrastructures, and mobility concepts. Above all, emissions and the effects of environmental change will have an impact on life in cities.

The future application scenarios may seem futuristic today, but in the coming decades, they will play a crucial role in securing life in cities. The following examples show how wireless IoT technology in conjunction with IoT platforms can centrally control processes in the smart city, enable new applications, and facilitate the connectivity of devices.

Although the importance of smart cities has already increased significantly over the last ten years, decision-makers in cities and municipalities are still facing immense structural changes to urban development concepts and transformation processes. The strong growth of cities will lead to four issues in particular, making life in the city easier in the future. This includes efficient energy management with wireless IoT sensors.

The optimization of traffic systems is also important. Contactless IoT sensors can be installed in traffic lights, parking lots, and on public transport to optimize traffic flows and reduce congestion. This helps to reduce fuel consumption and the associated CO2 emissions. The issue of waste management is of great importance for peaceful coexistence in mega cities. Wireless IoT technologies can help to empty waste containers only when they are actually full. To do this, the garbage cans are fitted with fill level sensors. This reduces the fuel consumption of waste collection vehicles. The fourth focus is mobility in the smart city.

Guidelines and recommendations for action to reduce CO2 emissions are intended to help cities become more sustainable and ecological. Only on the basis of intelligent guidelines can the urban ecosystem enable a livable coexistence for all citizens. To achieve this, all stakeholders need to come together and discuss which model projects can significantly change life in the city. Sharing systems based on contactless technologies stand for convenience, spontaneity, intelligent parking solutions and the reduction of air pollution and CO2 emissions.

Wireless sensor networks and IoT devices in particular are part of the digital infrastructure in smart cities. They measure environmental parameters, the consumption data of electricity, water, or gas, the moisture content of the soil, the water level in canals, the flow rate in the sewer system, the volume of traffic, the utilization of parking spaces, and noise levels. These are just a few examples that already show that the integration of sensors in smart cities generates enormous amounts of data.

This data is received via LPWAN gateways and forwarded to IoT platforms. Ideally, the processes in the smart city are controlled centrally. LPWAN solutions are supplemented by RFID and Bluetooth LE systems. RFID is used, for example, to gain access to buildings, to authenticate people or to identify assets and containers. RFID tags are used on vehicles to identify vehicles in parking garages and enable access to the parking lot. Bluetooth LE sensors and gateways require very little energy. They are therefore suitable for lighting systems, heating, or climate control in buildings. The examples show that in the smart city, sensors in particular contribute to the control of processes. Depending on the area of application, the respective sensor network is supplemented by other wireless IoT technologies such as camera systems, smart cards or WLAN. In addition to hardware, software plays a central role in smart cities. The central control of all processes is not possible without management software.

In the previous section, the focus was already placed on CO2 emissions. By integrating wireless IoT technologies into a smart city, resources can be used more efficiently and sustainable areas of use can be promoted, which ultimately leads to a reduction in the carbon footprint. In addition to the soft skills of convenience, citizen participation, livable life, child-friendly living, intelligent work concepts, and smart buildings, it is above all the ecological factors that make life in cities future-proof.

Megacities rely primarily on technologies that conserve resources, enable automated processes, offer transparency in communication, involve citizens in decision-making, and, as already mentioned several times, that protect the ecosystem. If urban developers place these factors at the center of their urban planning concepts, the smart city can be a real opportunity for future life on Earth. 60 percent of all people will live in megacities in the coming decades, it will be inevitable that the entire infrastructure will be connected to intelligent and technologically mature systems. Data platforms and the networking of data will contribute to cities becoming increasingly digital and digitalization permeating all processes.

Data platforms and the networking of data will contribute to cities becoming increasingly digital and to digitalization for companies, as it impacts all processes.

As with all large-scale concepts that extend over large areas and are intended to cover a considerable number of people, as is the case in cities, for example, success also depends on monetary investment.

This is precisely where the challenge lies. However, wireless IoT technologies such as RFID, Bluetooth LE, or LPWAN already offer mature systems, products, and software, so that amortization can take place within a manageable time frame. A LoRaWAN network and the corresponding sensor technology can be installed quickly and enable need-based waste disposal for years to come. Waste collection vehicles are deployed according to demand, a route is only used when waste actually needs to be collected, and the CO2 footprint is reduced. In addition, incentives for waste avoidance are created, as waste fees are precisely linked to the amount of waste generated.

The previous sections have described numerous solutions in smart cities and highlighted their benefits and challenges It has become clear that intelligent solutions can make an enormous contribution to the optimal organization of a city. It is now up to urban planners to embrace modern and innovative technologies, and launch model projects together with all decision-makers and stakeholders.