What is smart city?

What is a smart city? This completely natural question is not easily answered, although the term 'smart city' has become popular as many major cities around the world seek to apply technology to improve the quality of life. of residents, in the face of rapid urban pressure in recent years. So the two 'smart' words associated with the city are more likely to receive encouragement from both the public and private sectors. But how to apply the technology so that the city becomes 'smart' can be understood very broadly, sometimes even ambiguously.

1. Bill Gates is building his own city
2. Concept of e-Government

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An easy-to-understand example of a smart city is the use of sensors to manage street lights, thereby greatly reducing energy consumption.

It is even possible to give specific figures on the benefits of such initiatives - something like saving some money for a long time.

Other good examples are: using sensors to monitor the situation of clean water leakage to prevent city-wide water loss. Or monitor pollution levels in the air to promptly provide warning information to people, especially those who are susceptible to timely respiratory diseases. Police can also use video sensors to track suspects in the crowd. The sensor can identify a full parking lot and send a signal to the electronic signage on the street to drive, but turn to another parking spot, away from driving .

Smart city as a fun place

Many smart city examples show the benefits that technology offers, but smart cities can be fun places. Late last year, the city of Briston (British) equipped with an integrated infrared sensor system for street lights to record the shadow of people walking by. The shadows are then projected back through the streetlights for the following people to see.

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Dubbed 'Shadowing', this public installation art initiative won the Playable City Award in the UK, and was discussed at a new international conference held in Wenchuan City (China) with participation of politicians and technology experts around the world. The project is seen as a good example of creating an open, programmable living space in the city, based on the high-speed telecommunications network and the latest software and hardware. It shows that the smart city is not just about saving money, but it can be an attractive place and a happy life.

'Many smart city projects don't bring immediate return on investment (ROI),' said Carl Piva, vice president of strategic programs at TM Forum - a global non-profit association of 950 organizations. members, aiming to guide the study of digital business transformation, including smart city initiatives. He thinks technology will become increasingly invisible, even to the extent that people do not really recognize the presence of technology. And to gain the trust of the people, the government will have to invest in making their city smart. It will need to attract businesses and individuals who can contribute to the city's development, becoming a place worth living.

Different leaders will have different focus, but Piva thinks that 'smart city' is a broad concept, sometimes difficult to imagine, disturbing many city people, by part of the tax they pay is used to pay for smart city projects.

For example, some cities want to focus on building technology communities, like Kansas City in Missouri (USA), which is working on an ambitious project to create a focus for technology companies. Start a business along a new 2.2-mile tram route. The city government is cooperating with Cisco to install a variety of surveillance sensors provided by Sensity Systems, to improve the performance of the LED street lighting system. Other types of smart sensors make the large IoT network (Internet of Things) be gradually added.

Many other cities, especially in Brazil, are focusing on applying technology to the tourism sector, to bring many advantages to visitors.

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It is not easy to measure the efficiency of a smart city

In the face of many cities that have a population exceeding 10 million, China is forced to move toward smart technologies, some of which may cause many people to worry about the potential privacy risks they cause. .

Piva said about 300 pilot smart city projects are being implemented in some of the largest cities of the world's most populous country. 'If you jump on a bus, you probably have to undergo facial recognition to determine if you have the right to ride the bus,' he said.

Piva said that the Chinese city of Yinchuan has reduced the number of licensing personnel from 600 to 50 thanks to the deployment of online procedures for city residents for anything, from applying for a building permit until driver's license.

The effect of applying technology to the Ngan Xuyen licensing procedure can be easily measured, but for many other smart projects it is difficult to calculate ROI.

For example, in Dubai, in the UAE (United Arab Emirates), the government tested a 'happy meter' that can collect digital data from residents' responses to many problems. It can be used to assess the level of street cleanliness, or the effectiveness of security checkpoints. In some other cities, people's happiness indexes can be measured based on their reflections through smartphones. People can also use digital assessment stations. For example, people using public toilets can click on smileys on kiosk if they are satisfied with the level of cleanliness.

The idea behind a happy meter is that if the city government collects a lot of data about people's wishes for the living environment, it may be better to care for the community, according to Piva. However, he admitted that it is difficult to calculate ROI and measure other effects.

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Temporarily define a smart city

Ask any city leader or technology engineer, you will get different answers about a smart city. It is difficult to have an exact definition.

Smart city seems to be a broad concept according to many people's understanding, but basically refers to the application of information and communication technology to connect sensors, high-speed wireless networks, Big data processing to improve the quality of urban life, improve the quality of city government service, reduce energy consumption, effectively manage natural resources. In general, to evaluate smart cities will have to rely on the level of intelligence of the infrastructure impacting the fields of transport, health, construction, energy, management .

According to Jack Gold, an analyst with J. Gold Associates, smart city means turning data from sensors into actions. He said that it is possible to define a smart city as a city with better managed infrastructure with the ability to change, based on input data and adjust to make the best use of resources. or improve security.

It can also be added to the definition of a smart city that the city can use data to improve the satisfaction of residents, visitors and temporary workers.

According to Gold, the smart city's primary goal is to manage energy efficiently, reduce pollution, enhance security, or improve the quality of services provided to people. But the big difficulty is the need to invest in infrastructure. And that is why many places are taking steps to build a smart city step by step.

Suppliers are eager

Not only big technology people like IBM, Cisco, Intel but also many suppliers of hardware, software and applications are also willing to participate in smart city projects.

In Kansas City, Cisco's partner, Sensity System, a provider of high-tech outdoor lighting, has installed LED street lights with sensors that automatically adjust the dimmer lights according to the Bright bales of surroundings. Although the city government has not said the budget for the new LED system, the Sensity System said the new system will help the city save about $ 4 million annually.

With a huge ambition to target billions of street lamps worldwide, Sensity has developed a technology, called Light Sensory Networks, that converts LED street lights into a platform for data and video for IoT networks. promising. Each LED street light can become a smart device that integrates sensors with a single IP address in a broadband wireless network. That smart device can power other smart devices, such as video sensors or Wi-Fi hotspots, to assist parking, monitoring or industrial applications such as warning systems. Let the city know when and where the snow is thick and need to be cleaned.

At CTIA Super Mobility Week 2015, the new ultra-mobile week in Las Vegas, US Verizon has introduced smart street lights produced by partner Illuminating Concepts. This streetlight system is wirelessly connected to the cloud and can provide general announcements broadcast through the loudspeaker or via electronic signage. They can also analyze air pollution and have other functions. Each of these points costs about $ 6,000, though the price depends on the built-in sensors and functions.

Major US telecommunications companies have jumped into the smart city game. In Kansas City, Sprint has recently invested $ 7 million in free Wi-Fi around the 2.2-mile tram route.

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Fears of the wrong side of the smart city

While the governments of many cities around the world and the technology industry are excited about the smart city trend, there are concerns about the downside that smart city technology can bring. For example, the face recognition system may be misused leading to privacy violations.

In an article titled 'The Spectrum of Control: A Social Theory of the Smart City', two social scientists Jathan Sadowski and Frank Pasquale mentioned some negative aspects of cities that covered the network with smart sensor. Sadowski is a doctoral student at Arizona State University, and Pasquale is a law professor at the University of Maryland.

The two warn smart city supporters are focusing on encouraging the intelligence of sensor networks, helping to solve the city's problems, ignoring its downside. An overlaying sensor network can be used to keep an eye on people's travel, such as through face recognition. Depending on the motivation of the technology user, such information gathering may be necessary but may also be misused for some shady purpose.

Many other social researchers also expressed similar concerns for smart city technologies, and some municipalities had to find ways to reassure people, commitment to sensors and systems. Other intelligence will not be taken advantage of to violate everyone's privacy.

The basic goal of smart cities is to effectively manage energy, reduce pollution, enhance security, or improve the quality of services provided to people.

Vaguely smart city brand

Sadowski and Pasquale are among social commentators who are skeptical of the phenomenon of smart city development, and criticize the term 'smart city' defined in a way that is too broad.

They argue that big tech players are trying to promote the ideal city model and seek to entice city leaders and investors to enter, opening new markets. However, with the current massive growth and investment, the 'smart city' brand is rather vague, and this creates many jobs for proponents and contractors to provide solutions for A smart city. Labeling also creates a cover for them to be willing to brush off responsibility in case something goes wrong or the results are not as promised.

On the side of proponents of smart cities, of course they see good reasons. They can compare to see a smart city somewhat similar to the dawn of a personal computer (PC) or an early Facebook social network. The original PC was often seen as a useful tool to replace typewriters, but the ability to handle it with a lot of rich features became an important device in life and work, the portal. Open up the vast Internet world. And before Facebook 'coverage' around the globe, few can imagine how important mobile connectivity is to millions of people.

According to pcworld