CyberSightings

In the Spotlight

We live in an increasingly digital world, which is changing the way we experience ourselves and the places we inhabit. But will this change be for the better? One of the biggest challenges faced by digital cities is how to combine competitiveness and sustainable urban development. The UN estimates that more than 50% of the world population lives in big cities, and this percentage is rapidly increasing. To handle this large-scale urbanization, new ways are needed to manage complexity, increase efficiency, and reduce environmental impact.

The expression “smart city” was originally introduced to describe an urban environment that takes advantage of advanced ICT infrastructure (such as ultra-low power sensors, wireless networks, and web- and mobile-based applications) to improve citizens' quality of life, manage natural resources, and foster participatory governance. However, for others this definition of a smart city is too focused on technology. For example, Gartner's definition of a smart city is that of “an urbanized area where multiple public and private sectors cooperate to achieve sustainable outcomes through the analysis of contextual information exchanged between themselves. The sectors could include hospitals or emergency services or finance and so on. The interaction between sector-specific and intra-sector information flows results in more resource-efficient cities that enable more sustainable citizen services and more knowledge transfer between sectors” (Gartner, Hype Cycle for Smart City Technologies and Solutions, 2012). Clearly, in this definition, technology plays a less central role: what makes the difference is how different sectors connect, cooperate, and exchange information.

Although there is little agreement on what a smart city is, there is no doubt that technology giants consider it a tremendous business opportunity. Firms such as IBM, Siemens, Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco are developing solutions to address a range of city problems, from water leaks to air pollution to traffic congestion. This emerging market is particularly hot in the old continent, where the European Union is also supporting an large initiative on smart cities (http://setis.ec.europa.eu/set-plan-implementation/technology-roadmaps/european-initiative-smart-cities/) with the goal of disseminating throughout Europe the most efficient models and strategies to progress toward a low carbon future.

But what will the smart cities of the future look like? To answer this question, MIT Media Lab researchers have developed “CityScope,” a real-time urban data observatory and intervention simulator. It uses a combination of modular physical models, 3D computational models, advanced simulation, and augmented reality using 3D projection mapping (http://cities.media.mit.edu/). As MIT scientists explain, CityScope is designed “to help people understand complex inter-relationships, and to make informed decisions about urban design, public policy, and the introduction of new urban systems and technology.” The first experiments of this CityScope have been carried out to plan the mobility of a new Australian city and for the enhancement of the historical center of Quito, Equador.

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