DailyPost 413
SMART CITIES TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION HUB
With two thirds of the world population moving to the cities, 900 million being slum dwellers, a billion vehicles on the city roads and more than half of the pollution emanating from the cities, the best case scenario as we call it, also seems to be bleak. Yet, heavily connected cities will define the economy, finance & trade. Smart City concept has to take shape into realty to make these urban conglomerates livable, useful & productive.
The Smart City dream of the developed world works on the concept of creation of useful data out of every activity & transaction. Then it is analysed through softwares & algorithms and put to use to improve efficiency & usage of assets and thus increase efficiency. Third world has a different story. Infrastructure is the spoilt sport. It could not become the critical nervous system of the city.
The recent rains has showed what we are capable off – in Bangalore, Chennai & Mumbai at least. Nairobi, a 4.2 million bustling metropolis, has over 150 ambulances but has no centralized system to operate. Seoul on the other hand runs a Transport Operations & Information Service, real time operations integration of the complete transportation system. The frequency & speed of the metro rail is dynamically decided.
The course seems nebulous yet the contours are clearly visible. A Smart Cities Technology Innovation Hub is the need of hour. It would give direction to the Smart Cities enterprise based on research, innovation, planning, design & the connect with the future we espouse. Rectification in infrastructure to high end digital technology in practice.
MIT’s Senseable City Lab, with a vision of technology blend with imagination for Smart Cities & 2017 Forum on Future Cities; Cities Preparedness for 4th Industrial Revolution are would be path finders. Smart Cities Technology Innovation Hub would do this for us & also align with such initiatives globally.
CREATING DATA DRIVEN SMART CITIES WOULD BE AN ARDOUS JOURNEY.
Sanjay Sahay