Envisaging futuristic solutions for the creation of smart and sustainable cities
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Envisaging futuristic solutions for the creation of smart and sustainable cities
Envisaging futuristic
solutions for the creation of
smart and sustainable cities
Introduction
The two terms, ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’, have considerably gained the attention of governments in
the Asia-Pacific region. The increase of population in metropolitan cities such as Seoul, Singapore,
Tokyo, Sidney or Beijing require sophisticated solutions to guarantee a well operating ecosystem.
Meanwhile, growing concerns about climate change and pollution have urged municipalities to
think of sustainable methods on urban development and improvement of livelihood. Technological
progress such as AI, 5G networks or cloud technologies, allow approaching these challenges in an
innovative and ‘smart’ way.
General trends
Apart from focusing on sustainability, and Nursing Care, Education, Energy and Smart city solutions
smart city solutions have shown different Water, Environment and Waste, Crime can be applied to
characteristics and trends in the Asia-Pacific prevention, and Disaster Control and Safety),
almost every aspect
region: and that the future societies must reflect the
viewpoints of its residents.
of our daily life.
Country-wide inclusiveness
Smart city concepts are increasingly being Streamlining government services
applied to rural towns. For instance in and renovating infrastructure
Australia, while Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide Popular smart city solutions are those
and Brisbane are developing comprehensive focusing on improving communication
smart city strategies, smaller towns implement between the city administration and its
ad hoc small-scale smart city projects. Similar citizens, improving city services (garbage
to Australia, India has chosen smaller tier 2 collection, parking, traffic, etc.) or renovating
compact cities as testing grounds so that the existing infrastructure. Measures have
model deployed can be replicated to bigger been taken in many countries to address
cities. While in Japan, the solutions developed the bureaucratic obstacles. Japan has
for smart cities are likely to be applied to passed a bill that allows swiftly overcoming
rural areas where the less dense population bureaucratic obstacles for accepted
is aging rapidly. The inclusion of citizens projects. India is also improving the
is an important aspect of the Japanese communication channel between central and
government’s Super City Initiative. For being local governments to increase cooperation
accepted, the project proposal should fulfill efficiency. Furthermore, India has rolled
certain conditions. For example, the project out the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) with
should cover at least five areas in the daily the intention of retrofitting the current city
life of ordinary people (e.g. Transportation, infrastructure by providing, in particular,
Logistics, Payment, Administration, Medical affordable housing, environment friendly
NEXTRENDS ASIA 2Envisaging futuristic
solutions for the creation of
smart and sustainable cities
transport solutions, clean sanitation, etc. Companies are encouraged to develop smart
Meanwhile, Singapore is studying intelligent technology to reduce industrial waste and
infrastructure systems through international develop sustainable materials for increased
cooperation. A research program on Future recycling and upcycling. For instance, CO2
Resilient Systems (FRS) is ongoing from the emissions can be reduced through Green IoT
Singapore-ETH Centre. The main objective technologies and smart public transportation.
is to develop methods and tools to make Big data analysis is also used for real time air
infrastructure systems more robust and quality monitoring. Specific project example
resilient with the help of digitalisation, data includes City Developments Limited (CDL),
acquisition analysis and intelligent advisory a real estate developer in Singapore. CDL
abilities that interact with users and operators. donated a total of $2.25 million to set up two
In China, by signing smart city development new research laboratories in partnership with
strategies and contracts, government and the National University of Singapore. The
enterprises promote the process of smart NUS-CDL Smart Green Home will focus on
cities together. The government has more of engineering innovations to enhance green
a guiding role. For example, Alibaba Cloud living indoors. Except the environmental
will work with the Shanghai government to challenges, medical technology is another
cooperate in fields such as smart government, trending area. Hospitals in Korea have started
industry internet platforms, social governance, cooperating with giant mobile carriers to
and traffic management. expand the use of 5G technology into the
medical sector. Smart technologies in public
Special focus on green environment and health, equipped with 5G network, IoT, VR
medical technology and AI technologies, will lead to smarter and
Smart city solutions can be applied to almost faster medical data sharing, cleaner and safer
every aspect of our daily life. Considering hospitals, and a more comfortable patient-
the severe global environmental issues we care system.
are facing nowadays, smart city solutions
offer us a gateway to a greener environment.
Funding
Mechanisms
Funding support from governments is research and development (R&D) hub through
essential for sustainable development. the Research, Innovation and Enterprise
Countries in the Asia-Pacific region have (RIE) 2015 Plan. The government will sustain
shown their long-term commitment to its commitment to RIE and will invest $19
developing smart and sustainable cities by billion for the RIE2020 Plan from 2016 to
providing sufficient funds. In Singapore, the 2020. ‘Urban Solutions and Sustainability
government committed $16 billion from 2011 (USS)’ is one of the four strategic technology
to 2015 to establish the country as a global domains, where funding will be prioritised
NEXTREND ASIAEnvisaging futuristic
solutions for the creation of
smart and sustainable cities
to create new urban mobility solutions. In funded by the central government as well
Korea, the project ‘Smart City, Seoul’ will as companies such as Panasonic, Toyota
cost 1.4 trillion won (approx. $1.2 billion) from Motor, Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsubishi
the government. And, in May 2019, Siheung Heavy Industries, NEC, Softbank and NTT
city also announced its plan to invest 42.5 etc. Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town, the
billion won (approximately $34.5 million) by first Japanese smart city built from scratch,
2022 and carry out the project in the fields of cost 60 billion yen ($740 million) and went into
environment, energy, living welfare, data and operation in 2014. A total of 18 companies
smart city business model development. including Panasonic led the development.
Because of the companies’ contribution, 1000
However, as smart cities continue to replace households in town can make use of solar
traditional infrastructure and global funds panels, batteries for energy storage, LED
become smaller, governments have started lightning, ride-share services and other smart
seeking innovative funding mechanisms. technologies. Cities are better positioned to
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models are attract private investors when the sustainable
widely applied in different countries. The projects already have local government
collaboration between governmental agencies supports.
and industry is also highlighted in Singapore
to create economic value and to establish the In China, local governments are more than
country as an international hub for sustainable willing to cooperate with leading internet
urban solutions. Equity co-investment companies, namely Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent,
schemes and research consortia formed JD.com, etc. With the advanced cloud
by industry and research performers will be computing, AI, IoT and digital solution
supported to stimulate and to commercialise capabilities of these big companies, smart
these urban solutions. cities are in rapid development. The municipal
government of Shanghai and Alibaba signed
In the city of Pune in India, three projects a strategic cooperation agreement to explore
have been recently approved including cloud computing to set a global benchmark
one PPP model project where there is no for a megacity streamlined by smart
financial burden on the Pune Municipal technology. Alibaba Cloud will work with the
Corporation (PMC) or the citizens of Pune. Shanghai government to cooperate in fields
All the expenditure will be taken care of by such as smart government, industry internet
the developer. Similar stories have emerged platforms, social governance, and traffic
from Japan, where smart cities are partly management.
Smart City Projects with Smart Technology
Smart technologies help cities to unlock new a country-to-country basis. Several pilot cities
solutions and approaches. In the Asia-Pacific are already in full operation in Southeast Asia
region, countries have taken steps towards and have drawn the world’s attention.
building sustainable cities with advanced Korea’s Seoul Metropolitan Government
smart technologies. Specific projects vary on (SMG) was nominated 7 times in a row as the
NEXTRENDS ASIA 4Envisaging futuristic
solutions for the creation of
smart and sustainable cities
world’s best e-government city and is now innovative urban development models in
Smart technologies
trying to push itself as a leading smart city China. In order to create an ecofriendly smart
under the city government’s project ‘Smart city, the integration of artificial intelligence, big
help cities to unlock
City, Seoul’. Under the lead of SMG’s effort, data, IoT technologies and cloud computing new solutions and
cities like Busan, Sejong and Siheung are has been emphasised in the planning and approaches.
also widely implementing smart industrial designing of the city. Alibaba’s City Brain
ecosystem with technology from the 4th project is another example in China. The
industrial revolution. Siheung City summarises project is located in Hangzhou, and Alibaba is
the aim of its Smart City Project as “safe granted access to 104 traffic light junctions in
city, convenient daily life and smart Siheung.” the city’s Xiaoshan district. Large amounts of
In 2018, Siheung was selected as the only data is gathered and processed by algorithms
National Smart City Innovative Growth Engine in supercomputers before the cloud brain
Project’s R&D demonstration city among 226 determines how they (traffic lights) are to
lower level local governments. function. Eventually the data is fed back into
AI systems around the city. As a result, traffic
Meanwhile, through its concept of ‘Society speed in the district was increased by 15
5.0’, Japan aims to cope with the challenges per cent during the first year of operation.
brought about by falling population and Also, road accidents are now automatically
aging society. The Kashiwa-no-ha Smart detected so responses are faster and more
City was inaugurated as early as 2006. The efficient, while illegal parking is tracked
project involves public-private-academic in real-time. The City Brain project is now
partnerships that are jointly developing implemented in 23 cities in Asia.
solutions to the challenges of environmental
resources, energy and aging. It has more than Despite limited resources and a growing
1800 residential buildings and features a next population in a limited land area, the city-state,
generation smart-grid that enables efficient Singapore, continues to develop numerous
energy storage, CO2 reduction and electricity strategies and initiatives to ensure that town
availability after disasters. Another project that planning and development take place in a
is scheduled to start in 2021 is Woven city, sustainable manner. According to the latest
the energy-efficient and sustainable smart IMD Smart Cities Index, Singapore topped
city in Shizuoka Prefecture. By combining
Toyota’s expertise as an automaker and
NTT’s communication know-how, the two
companies aim to promote autonomous, zero-
emission vehicles using 5G in Woven.
China is just building up its own experimental
zone. Beijing unveiled a plan to create the
Xiong’an New Area in Hebei province in 2017.
Xiong’an is located about 100kms southwest
of Beijing. It is now the testing ground for
NEXTRENDS ASIAEnvisaging futuristic
solutions for the creation of
smart and sustainable cities
the ranking as the world’s smartest city. The National Project for Smart Nation and is
expansion of 5G technology is one of the key set to become a tech-enabled, sustainable
factors. They plan to roll out commercial 5G town showcasing Singapore’s Smart Nation
services starting next year and are on track to ambitions. The 50-hectare Punggol Digital
offer nationwide 5G coverage by 2025, with District is on track for completion by 2023
at least 50% of the city-state covered with and will serve as a living lab to test out new
a standalone network by the end of 2022. concepts such as ‘Smart Transport System’,
Punggol, a whole area in the north of the ‘Next Generation Business Park’, etc.
country, has been designated as a Strategic
Table 1: Smart City Index 2020 (Source IMD, 2020)
Smart City Change Smart City Change
City City
Rank 2020 from 2019 Rank 2020 from 2019
Singapore 1 (0) Sydney 20 (-4)
Helsinki 2 (+6) Hong-Kong 32 (+5)
Zurich 3 (-1) Seoul 47 (0)
Auckland 4 (+2) Kuala Lumpur 54 (+16)
Oslo 5 (-2) Shenzhen 67 (-24)
Copenhagen 6 (-1) Tokyo 79 (-17)
Geneva 7 (-3) Beijing 82 (-22)
Taipei 8 (-1) New Delhi 86 (-18)
Risks and Barriers
Outdated Infrastructure maintain these sensors, not to mention
Outdated infrastructure has become a major smart solutions like solar power, battery
problem in adapting smart technologies. storage, etc. Taking into account the scale
Sensor technology is critical in smart cities and size of countries like China and India,
for data collection and analyses. However, the unbalanced development in different
decades-old infrastructure will not be able regions is slowing down the speed of smart
to provide necessary support to install and technology deployment. Technical glitches
NEXTRENDS ASIA 6Envisaging futuristic
solutions for the creation of
smart and sustainable cities
also tend to cause inability to implement aging population, smart solutions should be
smart projects to their full potential. For inclusive across social boundaries (income
instance, the CBRFree WiFi in Canberra, one disparities or education levels). In Korea, the
of Australia’s largest free outdoor public WiFi discrimination against elderlies and disabled
networks, is slow and impractical to use. In who are relatively apart from rapid changes
many cases, the ‘smart-technology-ready’ in technologies, exist. For instance, smart
infrastructure is complicated and costly and ordering services through electronic kiosks
the approval process may take years. All are reported to limit the usages by elderly or
these factors have made some second/ visually handicapped people, and many aged
third tier cities reluctant to renovate their citizens must either make the extra effort to
infrastructure. catch up with the new technologies or decide
to purely rely on the help of their children from
Data Privacy the younger generation.
Big data is the key for innovation in the
modern world, and smart technologies are no Talent Shortage
exception. Data collected by smart sensors, The availability of people with the required
cameras installed on every street, etc., have skills to carry out Smart City projects has
increased privacy concerns among the public. emerged as a critical challenge for local
Eight of the world’s top 10 most-surveilled governments. In general, digital skills and
cities are in China. Up to 626 million cameras smart city leadership are perceived as lacking
are expected to be in use by 2020. It does in the public sector at all administrative
help in crime detection and prevention, levels. A community with a ‘sustainable
but it also makes you feel you are being development’ mindset should be formed
‘watched’ 24 hours a day. The advanced so that the citizens can be more engaged
facial recognition technology and the amount in the process and up-to-date with the
of data that government has access to, newly released technologies. Take China for
aggravate people’s fear of leaking personal example. Smart city development is heavily
information. Public’s confidence in the storage government-driven and the government is in
and use of data by the administration is shaky. need of high-tech talents providing smart city
How to balance innovation and privacy is the solutions. According to a report published by
question that needs to be answered in the Tsinghua University, China is in shortage of
future. qualified talents in the big data field. In 2019,
the Ministry of Education has approved 35
Social Inclusion universities to offer degrees in AI. In 2020, the
It is important that smart city planning number jumped to 180. AI has now become
considers all groups of people, and not just the fastest expanding discipline.
the affluent and technologically savvy. In an
NEXTRENDS ASIA 7© 2020 swissnex Network in Asia The swissnex Network in Asia collaborates with a broad spectrum of partners related to international research and innovation, supporting them in their outreach and active engagement in the global exchange of knowledge, ideas and talent. swissnex is an initiative of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation and is part of the Confederation’s network abroad managed by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The activities of the swissnex Network in Asia are based on a collaborative approach, relying on public and private partnerships and funding.
You can also read
