We wanted our cities to be livable and prosperous that are built upon well-functioning urban infrastructure services like health, energy, buildings and transportation. Without proper planning, cities will see their social and economic growth stifled in congestion, air pollution, health issues and blackouts. We also believed cities can be smarter if cities can quickly respond to the needs of the people.

The Smart City’s End Game

The final aim of Smart City is to:

• Make a better use of the public resources
• Increase the quality of the services offered to the citizens
• Reduce the operational costs of the public administrations.
• Support better living, create more opportunities, support stronger and more cohesive communities
• Improve the quality of life overall for all residents

By 2050 more than 6 billion people are expected to live in cities. Cities are hubs for cultural and economic activities. They are the engines of economic growth. But the development was not always “smart,” sacrificing health conditions, for instance, for greater productivity.

The Challenges

Cities are complex systems that are difficult to understand without the right information. We need to create cities that address people’s needs. That means learning city challenges by studying the people who use them. With Internet of Things (IoT), it will help us rethink how we monitor, measure and manage cities so we can make them healthier places for their inhabitants. Cities are complicated and have their own set of challenges, such as:

• Multiple authorities and commercial parties manage them.
• They constantly evolve, reacting to the needs of their inhabitants.

To make it happen, it requires a process of negotiation, integration, iteration. And there will be lots of different parties involved: political leaders, civil servants, service providers, technology companies, health services, police forces, property owners and most important of all, the citizens themselves.

Hey, City! Are You Alive?

Ultimately, there is the need to correctly understand our cities and the interactions that make them “alive,” so that we can make more informed decisions about the cities future. But first, answer this question – “Have you measured the Pulse of Your City? How healthy is your city?”

Presentation Slides “Listen to the Pulse of the City Using IoT” – DOWNLOAD